The month of December so far has seen me making more trips to the Lakes for recces of the Bob Graham route.On 3 consecutive Saturdays i have been meeting up with some fellow fell runners that i have met through the FRA forum. The first recce was of leg 1 with KeswickSimon a very experienced runner who this year completed the BG challenge after quite a few years of planing. Simons knowledge of the route is absolute amazing so this proved to be a great day out with him in which i learnt a lot about the challenge. The second recce was over leg 2 and saw me meet up with Jackd who is also planning an attempt at the BG next year. With lots of snow still on the fell tops this was going to be a hard day out for the both of us. The climb up to the top of Clough Head was not bad going with very little snow on the ground, but as we dropped off the back of the summit and headed up to Great Dodd that is when conditions changed and we were running in the snow with low cloud. Just before we reached the top of Great Dodd we decided to put on our microspikes as there was some ice as well. After reaching the top in poor visibility we went slightly off course but soon realised our mistake and took a compass bearing which pointed us in the right direction. From Watson Dodd, Stybarrow Dodd & through to Raise & White Side was hard going with deep snow and strong winds. But the the next section Helvellyn Lower Man & Helvellyn Summit was even harder with driving rain as well as the afore mentioned weather conditions. So when we reached the summit of Helvellyn we made a decision to cut our day short and get off the tops as we were both suffering from frozen feet and hands. We descended via Birkside Gill and made our way to Dunmail where our lift was waiting for us. Sometimes when you are out on the hills and the conditions are against you it is a sensible thing to do as to not put you and others at risk.
The third Saturday was a planned out and back recce of leg 3 starting at Dunmail. This time i met up with Jackd, Arkle, Adnan, old un & Vespa from the forum. Again this was a hard day for us with the weather, but it was more of a meet up and get to know one another as we are all planing a BG attempt next year.
I have done recces on this leg before but on this occasion when reaching Calf Top instead of going the Sergeant Man way first which i have always done we decided to go the High Raise way instead. With not knowing the route upto High Raise it seemed quite a hard slog up to the summit giving that the ground under our feet on the lower parts was very wet and boggy turning to snow and ice on the tops. The section across to Sergeant Man was tough running through the snow and ice and also driving rain. So when we reached the summit we made a decition to make our way back to Dunmail. Even though it was a short recce in some bad weather it was a great day out on the fells with some great people.
