Notes
Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon w W, starting at Grasmere w overnight camp by Greenup Gill near Seatoller. Sizzling weather, brutal course. We well and truly bit off almost more than we could chew ... but did v well and finished 18th out of 100 entries (70ish finished?) after 24th at the end of day one. Quite impressive.
So where do you start with that? Seven hours on day one was a lot more than we were expecting. Low points getting stuck on crags w very poor route choice (!) above Far Easedale ... then the route went straight up the south-facing valley wall, through head-high bracken, exceptionally steep ... and on and on and on. High Raise and the back of the PIkes - we considered Jack's Rake (!) but obviously not, and swam briefly in Stickle Tarn before going up the steep slope by Harrison Stickle with everyone else. Ullscarf. Amazing views. Swam at the overnight camp!
Five hours on day two was slightly more manageable, but started with a brutal climb through beautiful woods on Bull Crag. Swam in lovely pool in beautiful Langstrath just by the bottom of the Stake Pass. Annoying navigation near Codale Tarn, and fiddling / irritating on Silver How too ("Hill south side" did not make it too clear which of the 1000 lumpy crags they meant!). Annoying nav mistake at the finish where we followed people the wrong way, so we ended up clinging onto steep bracken instead of jogging down the obvious track beneath!
Ross family were there. Calvin 5th in score category. Slightly short of food but just got away with it. Chilli con carne / flapjacks / wraps were good. Went to my mum's house and fell asleep on the sofa before going home. Quite proud of us! - but wow, it really was very, very tough.