Kentmere Valley

20th December

6 Dallam runner and 4 Dogs

I stepped out from the front door to find a covering of Snow just a dusting but it was starting to snow. I was up now and ready to go so we did as I pulled up to the bottom of Mick's road he was waiting for me he been out early and gritted the road. As we left Warton the main road was ok heading along the A6070 and into Cumbria the roads got worse no gritting around here we drove on very slowly and into the car park the rest of the gang were waiting for us.

After a look at the map and the snow filled clouds we decided to do a lower level run which was to take us to Kentmere Hall the snow was still falling and the ground was covered with around 3 to 4 inches of snow making the tarmac section very enjoyable but the rough tracks very different not always sure what was under your foot but we made good time and as we progressed up the track we past Jarvo's 1000 mile since 20-12-2008 which we mark with a cheer and told him that next years target was 2000.

As we dropped into the yard at Kentmere Hall an old chap appeared so we stopped and had a little chat with him the banter was good but he thought we were daft running around in the snow. We pasted the church and crossed the valley to start the second half of the run and our second climb of the run as we left the village a family were building a snowman , bet it still there next Sunday, well we say a family Dad was building Mum was watching and little Johnny playing in the snow, they also said we are daft but praised us for turning out. The final climb was slow the ruts seamed deeper with more ice in them but we battled on coming across a couple of Mountain bikers and a lonely runner coming up at us. We came off the fell side and started our descent into Stavely passing the Jaw breaking spot(Julie falling a few years ago and breaking her jaw) and out onto the tarmac lane, the snow still falling the lane covered with nice soft snow making running on tarmac a pleasure. we returned to Wilf's car park and a big mug of coffee and a debrief with everyone about the route.

As we left Stavely the roads were not so good and we where straight into big tail back of cars our progress home was to be a slow start taking us 40mins to get to the BP station but as we come to the bottom of the hill we could see a couple of lorries stuck in the snow blocking most of the road some dip stick drives seem hell bent on revving the engines and spinning the wheels causing both me and Mick to shout at them ( total out of character for us I know ) all I can say is its a good job they didn't stop us because Mick would have been out to them.

A great little run with some nice climbs but still a low level route.

Totals 11.2miles 2200ft ascent 4.6mph ave speed