A Date Is Set

It has been a while since I last posted on my blog due to the fact that I have been very busy through the summer months due to work commitments, organising at various sports meetings & also a 2 month period without a computer. But now with a new computer and a little more time to spare I thought that I would get my blog up and running again.
So I will start by announcing the date for my Bob Graham challenge attempt which is hopefully going to be on 17th & 18th May 2013. This summer has seen me doing more and more recces over the route and also helping with support & navigation for a couple of people attempting the challenge, one who was successful & one that was not. Having seen both sides to this it makes me more determined to get it right the first time of attempting the challenge.
At the moment I am building a team of people to help support me on the BG, people that I have known for a lot of years in fell running & some people that have said they would be glad to help me out after I posted a notice on the FRA forum website. One thing that I have done in my preparation for the BG is to talk to as many people as possible that have done the challenge to find out what advice they had to offer which may prove invaluable as you can learn a lot from peoples experiences good or bad.
Last week saw me have another run over leg 1 of the BG route starting at Moot Hall Keswick. Setting off at 10 am on a cool morning I reached the top of the first summit Skiddaw in 74 minutes which was covered in cloud & blowing a strong wind. Next I dropped down off the back of Skiddaw & headed for Hare Crag where the ground around this area was very wet & boggy. From here I climbed upto the summit of Great Calva, and upon reaching the top had some good views all around with clear a blue sky. Next I headed down the fence line into the bottom & along by the sheep fold to the river Caldew. After crossing the Caldew it was then the long hard slog across Mungrisdale Common up to the top of Blencathra. At the summit of Blencathra you have a couple of choices on decent routes to take you down to Threlkeld which is the end of leg 1, one been the very rocky Halls Fell , & the other been Doddick Fell, on this occasion I chose Doddick which is a much smother fell to descend but is probably a little longer than Halls Fell. My time from top to bottom was 23 minutes. My time for this section of the route was 3hrs 28mins which I was very pleased with as conditions under foot were very wet and boggy.