UTLD recce Buttermere to Dacre

The family had a weekend at a cottage in Thornthwaite at the weekend, and the Iron Man came up to recce the second "quarter" of the Lakeland 100 route on the Saturday with me. This is the bit we missed because I pulled my hamstring, and as half of it will be done in the dark it was important to have a look at it.  On the day I really want to get this section done in under 11 hours, plus the 9 for the first bit, meaning we hit Dalemain at 20 hours.  Ambitious maybe, but it's a plan.

We drove to Buttermere and set off at 7am.  We were lucky with the weather on the day.  Dry, but pretty hot later on.  The first leg over the tops to get to Braithwaite was nice, a good section uphill followed by interesting down sections to the checkpoint.  We had a drink and some fluid here.  1:54 for this bit.

The next section drags along by the A66, then along bits of railway (all of which I found a little dull) and then sneaks uphill to contour round Lonscale fell to an unmanned checkpoint, then back down the other side of the valley to the Blencathra centre.  Another drink and snack.  2:14 for this leg.

A good bit of down then leads along the railway again until a boggy up section to gain the old coach track around Matterdale Common and eventually to Dockray checkpoint, in a car park a couple of km before the village.  1:59 to here.

The next bit worked through some woods past Aira Force, which needed a bit of attention.  Then up and around Gowbarrow Fell, which was a bit of slog in the heat.  After this was a few boring km on roads to get to Dacre.  Under 8:30 for the whole lot, which is great.  Although, add on a bit for the next couple of km to Dalemain.

Some interesting points in a UTLD presentation by Dr Ian Boardley, available online here.