Author: Wainwrights Relay

Leg 9, Langdale to Rydal. Tom Carter and Rory Woods

I found this pretty tough! It was just about as far as I've ever run and not easy going in the dark. Really good effort from Tom who only joined the club a couple of weeks ago. I'm not sure he expected to be signed up for a 7 hour leg starting at 1am! He also twisted his ankle pretty badly on the ridge out to Helm Crag but pushed on, clearly in a bit of pain, being careful on the lumpy bits but then speeding up the climbs.

It was a run of 3 halfs, starting with a nice sensible 1st half over the Langdale Pikes but then dropping down towards Borrowdale, back up Ullscarf and then straight off the other side down into The Bog at Wythburn. Ullscarf is not my favourite Wainwright and I will definitely not be repeating that route in a hurry. The Third half got much better, getting light just as we were climbing up the summit block on Helm Crag, and stunning views from then on with the sun coming up and mist in the valleys. With a few less miles in our legs the final ridge down towards Loughrigg would have been very pleasant running but it felt like it would never end and I think Tom's ankle was complaining. Putting the climb up Loughrigg at the very end was a bit mean but we managed to scrape together enough energy for a final sprint into Rydal.

Leg 14, Martyn and Meghan

Quick out up Hallin Fell and back through the handover point in Martindale car park to test the legs. Steady climb up to Steel Crags, and headed down a direct line east for our first taste of bracken bashing and up Beda Fell. Down to the farmland at the base of Nab, mist limited visibility but I was feeling euphoric about finding the wall line up to Nab without issue. A slog up the wallside, thick bracken and no discernible trod made this really hard going. I made the mistake of following the wall for far too long and this cost us time. The sun was starting to rise at the summit of Rest Dodd and great early morning inversion views as we travelled to Brock Crags and Angletarn Pike without issue. My legs were feeling the slog up Nab and I got some pitying looks from early morning hikers as I winced my way up to Place Fell. Lovely runnable decent all the way into Patterdale and the welcome faces of Stan and Max.

Sent from my iPhone