After missing out last year, it was great to be back on the Saunders this year. The week before was the second extreme heatwave of 2026, but by the time the Saunders weekend came along it was pissing down, at least in the north of England.
We left home about 5, picking our club mate Mandy up on the way and got to St Johns in the Vale about 8pm. Friday hadn't gone to plan - Claire had been out all day and had just thrown everything into a washing basket. I'd packed on Thursday night but there were a few bits to add. We'd picked up some buffet food for dinner in the services, so once we'd registered I helped Mandy with her tent while Claire packed her race bag, then we settled down with wine & food.
Our start time on Saturday was 8:54, so at 8:25 we set off walking the 1km/100m up to the start, arriving with ten minutes to spare. We passed through the start gate bang on our official time, and found a spot to plan our day.
Looking at the map, I reckoned we could get as far south as Fisher Gill then start working our way in. There was a big area of OOB channeling us into the mid camp, so the aim was to loop as far south as possible to leave maximum scope for day 2. We can count on 3km/h walking, so we wanted about 21km in total.
After lots of last minute kit faffing with the changeable weather, I'd set off in my old Paramo windproof. Climbing up Clough Head I soon put my waterproof over the top of it. The Montane waterproof isn't that resistant to driven rain, but it's very breathable and in combination with the windproof I was comfortable all weekend. I use that combination quite a lot and it works well, regardless of which layer is on top.
The first control was by a small pond next to the path at about 550m and would have been easy to find even without the cluster of people around it. Following that we took a path most of the way to the next (a reentrant) then crossed the col to a sheepfold, then a longish contour on not-too-steep ground to a small hill top, then crossed a deep reentrant and contoured on a long way, past Stanah Gill to a small reentrant. All the way down this side of the Dodds we were below the cloud. The worst weather was the occasional blast of rain & wind, but we could see controls surrounded by people from some distance. We were mostly contouring on gentle slopes, just above the steeper ground that descends sharply into the Thirlmere valley.
Crossing Fisher Gill we climbed steeply to a spur, close by a footpath, then turned east and climbed up the gill to a sheep fold by a re-entrant.
From here our climb up to Raise at 884m took us into the cloud, and with no one around the next control under a boulder was a bit more interesting, but still fairly straightforward. Then down the hill through a lot of bog and reeds to a sheepfold hidden in a reentrant. That was quite a nice control - the sheepfold wasn't obvious until you were practically on top of it.
Following what seemed like a catchwater drain from there (and saying hi to Claire's friend Ali who passed by with her daughter on the Bedafell course) we dropped off the contour to a hill top control below. Then down to the old quarry workings, picking our way through the heather and rocks.
The bridge in the quarry workings was a little inexplicable. We went to it thinking the stream might be impassible any other way as it's quite significant on the map, but it just seemed a bit pointless and we could have saved a couple of minutes by skipping it and crossing to the col 100m further east.
Up to the col, then down the other side to take a control in a steep reentrant, then a long slog back up and up Green Side in growing cloud. At the top we went on past the summit to a control on a small pond, then cut across to a clear path heading towards Hart Side (a new Wainwright for both of us). We dropped off to a control at a stream junction that was a bit deeper than it looked (and seemed to be foxing people a bit), then back up to the summit of Hart Side and on to a control on Birkett Fell.
From here we were dropping gradually in to mid camp via 3 controls. The first, a ruin in a bog, the second, a stream junction, then contouring round to a hill top control where we could clearly see the mid camp. Claire's knee was starting to bother her, but we made it down to Dockray (and back up the steep road to mid camp - cruel!) with 15 minutes or so in hand. Looking back at our path I can't improve on it, so a really good day with 300 points in hand.
Day one total: 22.74km/1452m - 6hrs 47min - 300 points
From a distance, mid camp looked very sloped indeed. Once we'd picked up our beer (only ordered one each, idiot that I am) and milk, I looked around and spotted a really flat area at the top of the site that no one had opted to pitch on. It was a fair way from the loos and water, but that's no big deal for us and we like the quiet, so we pitched up on a nice flat spot.
No one else pitched up there for ages so it was really quiet. Windy, but probably no more so than further down the hill. We sat around drinking cup-a-soup, then tea, and eventually a couple of teams pitched nearby and it wasn't quiet after that.
There were intermittent rain showers all evening, but I managed to dodge them all. I'd realised during the day that I had my watch on "walk" mode, which doesn't include altitude, so I created a new screen with just altitude and elapsed time, which helped with nav in the clag on day 2.
One mixed pair nearby were sharing a tiny single person bivi tent, which must have been extremely snug. On our other side two young men were having a conversation that regularly veered into the surreal...
"Shall we have custard with the cake?"
"Yes, but maybe we should save half the cake so we have cake tomorrow."
"OK. Shall I put electrolytes in the custard?"
"Electrolyte custard? Why not?"
"OK, are you ready for pudding?"
"Oh yes sir, I can pudding. Pudding pudding." (to the tune of "Yes sir, I can boogie", rather an oldie for two 20 somethings).
We woke up at about 6am - my snoring had bothered Claire a bit but she'd eventually got to sleep. We started packing while we ate choc-chip brioche for breakfast and made a cup of tea.
The rain held off while we were getting ready and packing the tent up. My shoes were horribly cold and wet, and my waterproof socks unusable. I'd dried out my insoles though, which made my shoes slightly nicer. With the extra water saturating everything my bag felt really heavy (I later measured it at 8.5kg).
We dropped down the field with 5 minutes to spare for our start time, but everyone was just queuing and going out ad hoc. By the time we left it was probably 8:05.
Up the field, and out onto the road. We followed the road for a km or so, then went straight ahead onto the fell where the road turned. Claire had worked out an optimum route for the day that should allow us to take almost every control we'd left available for day 2, leaving just a couple of easter eggs that we could get if we were lucky.
Lots of people were heading for this control, so it was easy enough. Then the next was a sort-of-reentrant at the other side of a massive bog. We encountered Jackie Scarf coming the opposite way and waved hello.
After the reentrant we got onto a main path that took us all the way up to a control at the top of Randerside, then we contoured round to a hill top on the east side of Great Dodd. This feature was hard to see until we were very close as the cloud had come down, and lots of people were wandering the hillside looking perplexed.
We dropped down to Browndale beck and picked up a steep reentrant that took us up to the next control, spotting Mandy and Helen just above us. From there we carried on climbing up Stybarrow. We had a spot of confusion here and took a couple of minutes to re-orient ourselves (details below in "lessons"). It was pissing down and really windy at this point.
Down to a nice clear reentrant (although it was a fair slog down to the control), then right down the reentrant to meet Stanah Gill, then a long steady spiral traverse to a sheepfold under Little Dodd. Claire read this one more efficiently than me - I was going to climb further up the reentrant to the right height then cut back, but she took a neat shortcut straight up the valley side that saved a couple of minutes. Then on to a hilltop by a stream that I should have read better (it was clearer when I looked at the map later without contact lenses).
Dropping down towards Mosedale Beck we followed a succession of sheep/runner trods through the tussocks almost all the way to the next control - a sheepfold under a nose near Wolf Crags. At some point Claire tripped, wrenching her knee, but she kept marching along almost faster than I could match.
We reached the bridge at what looks like "Marier" on my rather wind and rain battered map, then followed a wide track towards the finish, briefly climbing out and back to a metal hut on the side of Clough Head for a bonus control. We debated dropping off to the right within a km of the finish for one more 10 pointer, but decided we couldn't quite afford the time. That turned out to be right as we finished within 5 hours... by about 20 seconds.
Once we'd dibbed at the final/clock stopping control, we walked back in and downloaded, got changed, had some of the usual delicious veg chilli and headed home to clean and dry kit. The tent is currently hanging off a clothes airer in the bath, sleeping bags over doors and everything else scattered around waiting to be dry enough to put away.
Day 2 total: 20km/1062m - 4hrs 59mins - 180 points
So that was our best ever Saunders result, without running a step (well, maybe a gentle trot in the last 100m of day 2 when we were about to get a penalty time!). 5th mixed pair, 9th vets, 26th overall. The big lesson was that moving slower allowed us to navigate and plan better.
Lessons Learned
Somewhat by accident we landed on a very successful division of labour. Claire is really good at micro-navigation but struggles with the "how far can we go in 7 hours?" bit. So during the day Claire keeps the next couple of controls in mind and does the bulk of the precise nav, while I look at the whole map and keep us to plan, just occasionally taking over the nav when she needs a break.
Walking is mostly just as fast as running on this kind of terrain if you climb fast. We could reserve running for the very definitely runnable bits (like the run-in) when Claire's injuries finally abate.
We had a bit of confusion on Stybarrow Dodd. We thought we were on the blue line so were expecting to turn left along the path, then right. Actually as we'd climbed up the featureless S->N slope in the fog, we'd veered round to keep climbing, as you can see from the red line, so we were facing more east than west, and needed to turn right then right. That threw us completely for 2 minutes while we relocated ourselves - we were startled by the compass reading 180 degrees from what we expected!
With hindsight it should have been easy - I could see that (broken) wall going off to the left, but didn't make sense of that at the time.
There were lots of places with controls in neighbouring reentrants (between the series of noses that characterises the western side of the Dodds). Spiral traversing up/down is a lot easier than contouring, provided you keep a close eye on the altimeter to arrive at the right height on the other side.
We carried both titanium pans (Claire's alpkit and my MSR 850ml), but I can't quite remember why. Something to do with the amount of water needed for Tent Meals. We didn't really need the Alpkit, the MSR is a bit bigger which gives us enough water for the food.
We had a bit more food than we really needed - a couple of brioche and a couple of pancakes were left over, plus half a dozen bars and half a bag of nuts.
Kit list
- UD Fastpack 40 rucksack
- Nordisk Halland 2 LW tent
- Rab Neutrino 200 down bag
- Alpkit air mat
- MSR Ti mug
- MSR Ti kettle
- Long Ti spoon
- Montane Element stretch waterproof
- Rab grid fleece hoodie
- Patagonia primaloft gilet (used by Claire when her primaloft turned out to be drenched)
- patagonia t shirt
- OMM 3/4 tights (on)
- Waterproof socks (on)
- Paramo Fuera windproof (on)
- Altra King MT 2.0 shoes (on)
- Bridgedale trail socks (for day 2)
- patagonia leggings
- t shirt mid camp/day 2
- montane coda cap
- Evadict waterproof trousers
- compass
- Couple of chinagraph pencils
- Boil bags for food (2 + spare)
- First aid kit & multitool
- 230g gas cylinder
- Buffs * 2 (one round wrist to guard SI card)
- Emergency glasses
- Smidge
- OMM gloves
- ZL HL600fw torch
- Hydrapak bottle with Pure Clear filter
- 2l water bottle
- midge net
- phone
- SOL survival bag
- contact lenses
- Coros Apex Pro watch (set up to just show height/time and no distance alerts)
- Some mini cheeses
- Scotch pancakes * 6
- Choc chip brioche (breakfast)
- G&B Chocolate
- 4 Kind nut bars
- tea bags
- 250g bag of salted peanuts
- cup a soups
- 1 large & 1 small tent meal
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