The South Lakes Weekend

Saturday 27^th Feb 2010

2 Dallam runners 2 Dogs

Ingleborough 8:30am

With the Three Peaks route planned for Sunday and snow and rain falling all day Friday, Ingleborough was looking very white from my house so Mickey P and I decided to take a look. There was a hard frost on Friday night making the walled path almost impossible to run, we didn’t risk it we walked to the farmhouse, the next part we ran a little but the fresh snow was making our progress very slow, it was at this point we kicked Sundays planned run into touch, but what would we do instead something long we didn’t need big climbs just a long day out.

We reached the Summit to find around 6 inches of snow under foot, we scanned the two other intended hills, they too were covered in snow, I think we had made the right choice for Sunday. Our descent was a slow one as we battled through 3ft of snow making our legs and feet numb from the ice. We arrived back at the walled path which was now trickling with water from the melting ice giving us a chance to run we arrived back at the car with a time of just under 2 hours pretty slow but we did walk most of the way up, but still a good work out for a Saturday morning.

Totals 8miles 1900ft Ascent 3.8mphave speed

Sunday 28^th Feb 2010

6 Dallam runners 1 Colt and 2 Dogs

The South Lakes Peaks

Warton Crag, Pepper Pot, Arnside Knot, The Fairy Steps, Farleton Knot, Hutton Crags , Dalton Fell, Borwick, Carnforth via Cannel

After a few texts and a new message on the web page Sundays run was to be The South Lake Peaks, we gathered at the quarry car park in Warton. Our first few miles were very quiet I think every one was saving as much energy as they could. I was feeling heavy like I had ball and chain on each ankle but this soon passed as we passed Leighton Hall. We went a slightly different way this time heading to Yealand Storrs then onto Hawes Water by which time people were starting to chat. The climb to the top of Arnside Knott was good and I was feeling strong again hitting the trig point and pushing on. We said our goodbyes to Doc Martin, as we dropped off the Knott. Lunch was at the foot of the Fairy Steps, jam butties, flapjack and coffee for me and I was ready for it. We dropped into Beetham and headed up the A6 to try a different route passing through Pye’s Bridge Farm, at which point Milly decided to chase the farm chickens. We had chickens flying everywhere but the farmer didn’t seem to mind. With Farleton done we passed onto Hutton Crags but without Coach McKenna we were unsure of the route to Dalton Fell, we had a slight detour and crossed some open fell but we found the trig point and that was the last of the climbing done but still some way to go.

We crossed the fields dropping into Borwick then to the church at Tewitfield where the group split, 6 runners heading straight home with 22 mile and a little over 5hours under their belts, they had done a great job. This left me and my dog to finish the day, the run home was going to be along the canel to Carnforth then across the fields to Warton, a run that I had done many times whilst marathon training but today the pace was going to be a bit slower. The sight of Warton Crag in the distance seemed so far and I was beginning to think maybe I should have taken the shorter run back with the boys but that’s not going to get me round the BG come May so it was head down shut off and do the run for home, I’m sure I heard the dog say, ‘why are we doing the extra miles’ when he stopped and was looking back for everyone else and it’s not often that he runs behind me even he was tired. I passed Millhead football pitch and rounded the final bend to the very welcome sight of Warton village, me and Bob had made it bang on 6 hours after we started which was my target for the day.

After the disappointment of having to cancel the 3 Peaks route we had a great day out I think everyone who came along was happy with their improved fitness since the last time we ran this route I know I am.

Total 27.5miles 3861ft ascent 4.6mph ave speed