The event started at 8am, and the first ring went along Wet Sleddale to Mosedale Cottage, then over Branstree and Selside Pike before heading back to Shap via Swindale (where you can see J Mascis from a distance, a problem I've had on my list for a while). I had wet feet from the Selside descent so changed socks at Shap (under 6 hours, ahead of schedule) (wet shoes though) and set off on Ring 2........
The second ring was my least favourite. It involved a lot of ups and downs through grassy fields and lots of stiles plus a couple of sections where I had to fight through fallen trees and nettles, cross felled tree plantations and go along river banks covered in roots. Feet soaked again early on and I had the start of good blisters by the time I got back to Shap. Oh well, only 20 more miles to go, and still ahead of schedule......
I changed to my dry road shoes and fresh socks. Ring 3- I headed out on my own with two hours of light. A lady caught me up and ran/ walked with me- she knew the route. We both plodded round, getting past the first tricky section before dark. We managed to get through the Nature Reserve in the dark without getting lost, despite it having started to rain heavily. After the checkpoint at Great Asby, we struggled getting to Gaythorne Hall - this involved heading on a compass direction across open land for 900m to hit a stile. After using the GPS we were back on track. My companion was obviously flagging, actually falling asleep on the move. My feet were pretty caned by now, but there was no way I wasn't going to finish. We kept going all the way back to Shap, bedraggled. I think it was around 20 hours and 15 minutes, but the official time is awaited. Disappointed, but it was tough and I couldn't have left my colleague alone.
I started driving home, keen to be back in bed with my wife, but I was falling asleep, so I stopped at Killington Lake services and had 45 minutes sleep on the back seats under the sleeping bag. I was home by 7am.
Yesterday my legs were OK, but my feet weren't. I've had some fun driaining the worst blisters. Bring on the Lakeland 50. If that goes OK, where do we go next???? Maybe back to bouldering. Or have a good think about foot care.
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