Long Hard Day In The Hills

Looking Towards Wasdale Head From Great Gable

After a couple of weeks of planning recces then having to cancel them at the last minute due to the weather conditions, I managed to get a recce in on Saturday over leg 4 of the Bob Graham round. Leg 4 starts from Wasdale and takes in some of the most challenging and well known hills in the lake district. Planning a recce over leg 4 can be hard for logistic reasons so we decided to start from Honister which would give us a longer day out but would mean that we could start and finish from the same place therefore making things alot easier for us. Leading us on the recce was the very experienced Simon Noble, along with Jack Davis, Lee Newton & not forgetting Lee's dog Jess this was going to be another great day out on the fells. Setting off from Honister we took the path that leads you onto Mosses Trod which is on the north side of the fells and takes you to Beck Head which is inbetween Great Gable & Kirk Fell. From here we descended down the side of Great Gable and into Wasdale Head following the road to the bottom of Yewbarrow which is the start of leg 4. Once onto the lower part of Yewbarrow we stopped for a quick bite to eat, then we headed up to the summit which was shrouded in low cloud and was going to be with us for the rest of the day. With still plenty of snow in places on the tops it was going to be quite hard at times and especially when the wind picked up after we reached Red Pike. Running across towards Steeple is where we encounted more snow, and when we reached the top of the path that descends down to Steeple the decision was made to miss this one out for safety reasons due to lots of snow and ice. After another quick bite to eat and to put some more warmer clothes on we set of towards Piller, and just to give you some idea how cold and windy it was on the top of Piller we came across some people inside an emergency storm shelter protecting themselves from the weather while they were having a break. From the summit of piller we made our way to Black Sail Pass then onto Kirk Fell. With us ascending Kirk Fell from the north side via the gully this is were we encounterd  even more snow and it was going to require a little bit of mountaineering skills to climb to the top of the gully, with Simon leading and making steps into the snow we all managed to reach the top safely.




Lee & Simon Climbing The gully On Kirk Fell



                                       

Myself & Jack Traversing the top of The Gully On Kirk Fell

Next up was Great Gable and by then we were all feeling a little tired from the hard going in the snow and wind, so from Beck Head all the way up to the top of Great Gable nobody said much at all and put their energy into the climb to reaching the top. Upon reaching the top the hard work for the day was done and the descent down Great Gable to Windy Gap was a challenging one to say the least with lots of snow covering the ground. Green Gable was soon reached as was Brandreth and Grey Knotts, and as we descended down out of the cloud line off Grey Knotts towards Honister this ended a great but long hard day in the hills. Total miles for the day was 17 with 7000 ft of asscent.

Jack, Lee & Simon On the Summit Off Grey Knotts

Nice Day For A Walk

Great Whernside Summit

After a good couple of weeks training averaging 60-70 miles each week something had to give and I ended up going down with a cold. On a training run in the Lakes last Sunday with Lee & Ian in which we set off from Threlkeld and went up Blease Fell across the top to Blencathra then descending via Scales Fell before returning back to Threlkeld and is a route that normally I would find quite easy but turned out to be harder than normal with my body having no energy at all. So for the rest of the week it was a case of resting and letting my body recover from the cold. After 5 days off  on Saturday I meet up with another training partner of mine Eddie who has also been out of action with an injured calf muscle and we decided to do a walk instead of a run. On a lovely sunny but cold frosty morning we set off from Kettlewell in the dales and climbed to the top of Great Whernside. On reaching the top we had some fantastic views all around so good that we could see the Lakeland Fells in the distance. From the top of Great Whernside we made our way across to Buckden Pike, passing the memorial to the Polish airmen that crashed there during WW2, where we saw a couple of runners out on a recce of the 60 miles Fellsman route. After a quick bite to eat on the top of Buckden Pike we followed the path down to Buckden village then followed the Dales Way path back to Kettlewell to end a nice day out for a walk.

Polish War Memorial