Stolly's Running Blog: Bob Graham legs 1 and 2 with added snow

Sunday, 2 March 2014

Bob Graham legs 1 and 2 with added snow

Well yesterday's outing was totally brilliant (apart from the getting up at 4am bit that is). Me and Harry met up at Keswick Moot Hall with a group of fell runners all hoping to do the Bob Graham this year and we all had in mind running legs 1 and 2 of the Bob Graham route, circa 27.5 miles with over 11,000 feet of ascent, with a couple even hoping to forge on after that and get down to Langdale. Anyway 'just' running legs 1 and 2 was fine and dandy for me and Harry - thats Keswick to Dunmail Raise, not (at all) as the crow flies, via 15 peaks and the whole of the Helvellyn ridge line.

Ze route - starting Keswick (top centre) and finishing Dunmail Raise (bottom left)

It was almost springlike in the valleys but, when we got on the tops, there was snow in abundance (especially later on the Helvellyn ridge line). After nailing Skiddaw and Great Calva, the assault team broke into a couple of separate groups on the climb up Blencathra and, from that point on, me and Janson ended up just running as a pair. The snow on the top of Blencathra was completely gorgeous but helpfully all but disappeared at we ran down to Threlkeld on the sunny side of the mountain via Doddick Fell.

A few more runners joined in the expedition at Threlkeld for leg 2 but, rather than hang around, me and Janson again decided to forge on with the second leg as a pair. And when we'd successfully chuffed our way up Clough Head, always a tough climb, the snow was just magnificent - we could have been in the Alps! At Raise (one of the peaks along the ridge) the Lake District Ski Club were fully out to play, ski drag and small ski hut and all.

Unfortunately the clag came down after Lower Man when we hit almost white out conditions, adding some extra fun to tracking down the tops of Nethermost Pike and Dollywaggon Pike. After those two peaks my legs were really feeling the effects of Thursday's canal towpath 'speedy' 13 miler so the slog up Fairfield was not especially appreciated but me and Janson (who was breezing it) hacked our way up there and, at the wind shelter at the top, then found ourselves having to give directions to two separate groups of walkers wondering which way to go to go round the Fairfield Horseshoe. One chap just had what looked like a hand drawn map so no wonder he was confused and another was sure that he should be heading towards Cofa Pike (north) when in fact his actual route was more of a direct line south! Anyway we helped as best we could and wished them luck (lots of it) and then it was a quick run and slide back down the way we had come up, a scoot over the final peak of the day Seat Sandal before dropping down to Dunmail Raise to finish the run.

A grand day out Gromit. Oh, and Harry absolutely loved it too