26/28/32 miles and 4900/6700/6800ft ascent from Ambleside via Kentmere and Mardale Head, organised by Westmorland & North Lancs LDWA Group
Entering this event required some difficult decisions. Firstly, there were three routes to choose from. After some thought, the compromise ‘B’ route was chosen. Next there was the start time to choose. Considering myself as midway between a walker and a runner I had the option of the horribly early 8a.m. start or the civilised 10a.m. start. It was only when the final route description arrived that I realised that I had committed myself to some serious running in order to get to checkpoint 2 before the cut-off time.
The main difficulties over with, it was now simply a case of deciphering the route description. Try as I might, I couldnt seem to match it up with the map. Never mind – I was sure that it would all become apparent on the day. It did – the starting point, at Ambleside Rugby club, was not at the junction of the A591 and A593 where the instructions put it; and the path up to Wansfell Pike was not on the map! These minor problems over, it was only a case of deciphering the abbreviations used on the route description. TL and TR were clearly "turn left" and "turn right". TK was, I decided "track" and not "turn klockwise". But KG and LS had me puzzled for a while; and BR was "bear right" or "bridge" depending on context. Easy really – Im probably just stupid.
My concern about not really being a runner was compounded by overhearing, at the start, some real runners discussing their Bob Graham rounds – the B.G. is a ridiculously long ‘walk’ of 72 miles / 27000ft (the ‘official’ figures may differ!) over 42 Lake District summits to be completed in 24 hours. I dont think I saw any of those runners again.
As it happened, I made it to checkpoint 2, at Kentmere institute, with ten minutes to spare. To try and describe the three routes would be rather difficult without resorting to a diagram. Suffice to say that they all started and finished in Ambleside and passed through Kentmere twice. Kentmere Institute functioned both as checkpoint 2 (cake) and checkpoint 7 (sandwiches) depending on your arrival time. Considering that people were arriving and leaving in all directions at all times, it all seemed to go very smoothly.
I suffer from a condition known as path blindness. If I dont have anyone to follow, I am prone to wandering off the path – however obvious it may be. Since I had had to stop to study the map on several occasions to make sure that I really was on the right path, I was astonished to come across two people walking the route with nothing other than the brief route description (and it was very brief) issued by the organisers. They werent sure exactly where they were, and neither was I; but a careful study of my O.S. map and compass (they were carrying neither) sorted us out. Actually, I rather admired them; but maybe they knew the area well to begin with. And if you dont suffer from path blindness, it's probably quite difficult to get completely lost in the Lakes.
Not being a proper runner did not seem to disadvantage me too much. There was very little of the route that was anything but walkable. It was all either steeply uphill, or steeply downhill on ankle-twisting stony paths. The weather kept mostly fine and the views were exactly what you would expect to find in the Lake District! It was an excellent day out and a well-organised event. Next year, I’ll try the ‘A’ route.