Borrowdale Valley

Wow what a day the sky was blue not a drop of wind the view's were stunning!! then the alarm went off and we remembered it was almost November looked out to the wind and rain lashing the windows,but the forecast was good so off we went.
Six runners Helen D Julie Mick P Tim and Chris and 2 dogs

Four of us parked at Stonethwaite, Tim and Chris setting off from the Rosthwaite we re-grouped at the fell gate and off we went for the first climb to Bessyboot the wind had picked by this time, making the conditions ten times harder leaving Bessy we missed the race path dropping too low on Rosthwaite Fell, good job I set the GPS watch earlier.

We were soon back on course and heading up towards the summit of Glaramara then the weather just got worse, strong winds blowing us around, driving rain in our faces which together sent the temperature plummeting and then clag came down, great stuff we thought! After topping out Glaramara we all decided to cut the route short the plan was to continue to Allen Craggs then turn right down to Styhead Tarn easy? think again.

Setting off in what we thought was the path to Allen Craggs quick check on the GPS, something not right, time for the map and compass taking a bearing off again double check with GPS and we seemed to be going around in a circle. True enough back to the very spot we had a re-group and butty earlier. Trusting the compass and using the GPS as a back up we soon found the path we needed only to find we had lost one of the dogs, so back up to the summit blowing the whistle he soon came running over.

Back on course we soon hit Allen crags with no let up in the weather we dropped off just before Esk Hause, at last a track which we could run on before long we came to a water fall below Sprinkling Tarn which was being blown back up the hill very bizarre never seen anything like it before.

The remaining descent went without drama, the wind and rain had dropped,we left the clag on the summits and the views were stunning. Hitting the road we left Tim and Chris returning to the car glad we had made it back in one piece I think all of us had taken a small tumble or tried our hand at skiing on the muddy bankings.

An event full day over all with this in mind I don't think our training over the winter will be taking in the high fells

A total of 13.25m 4576ft ascent and an ave speed of 2.7mph(bit slow but would get you round the Bg)