Author: Wainwrights Relay

Leg 6, Meghan and Martin

Left from Hardknott pass, Martyn setting a strong pace up Harter Fell. I caught up a bit as the climb steepened and we hit the top with no bother. Down off the other side, a boggy splodge and up the gentle climb to Green Crag. Another top ticked and then we trundled down off the fell, catching the sneaky hidden footpath down to the stepping stones. Then Martyn smelt the finished line and put in a burst to the finish, whilst I huffed and puffed up the last little climb to the road. Changeover made, we waved Dougie and Alan off into what turned out to be a fabulous sunset.

Leg 3, Rory and Dan

Couldn’t have asked for a better night for running! Stars and moon out, and dry under foot. It was all going well until I commented how much being able to see all the street lights helped to keep your bearings and then missed the path in the dark and convinced myself we needed to head completely the wrong way to correct the mistake. Sorry for dragging you through all the bracken and bog and head high thistles Dan! The rest of the leg was uneventful and we managed to get down in time for me to get a bit of sleep and Dan to drive back home to go to work in the morning! I’m not sure how much I’m looking forward to going again tonight!

https://live.opentracking.co.uk/dfrw21/

Leg 2, part 1 report, Borrowdale to Honister; Martin Wilson and Duncan Archer

What a glorious day to be out on the hills! The tourists were getting in the way on the roads, and I was mildly nervous leg 1 might have a blinder and get to the changeover before us. Needn't have worried – Max and Paul's timing was exactly as estimated! Away Martin and I went after a very slick changeover of the tracker. Long drag up to Bessyboot – it was clear it was going to be warm out on the hills. Found a nice line on the vague trods over to Glaramara, and managed not to lose the path to Allan Crags. Sprinkling Tarn looked very inviting for a dip, but no time to stop as we trotted on to Seathwaite Fell: never been here before and great views down Borrowdale. A big down and up to Base Brown, then up to the Gables. What a rare treat to have the summit of Great Gable to ourselves – in fact we didn't see anyone else on any of the summits. Down the hideous screes off Gable, dodging rocks raining down on me from a following Martin. An annoying out and back to Kirk Fell, then just Brandreth and Grey Knotts. No-one knows which summit counts so we bagged both on Grey Knotts, then down to a patiently waiting Andrew above Honister, ready to carry to baton on to leg 2 part 2…

Leg 1: Keswick to Borrowdale – Paul & Max

The first leg of an excellent adventure, in the pipeline since before the virus, with many moving parts. Wouldn’t it be embarrassing if we ballsed it up right at the start?

Paul and I arrive at the Moot Hall at 07:45, dressed in our stripy club vests like a pair of escaped convicts. There’s loads of time before our scheduled 08:00 start. We can’t get near the Hall, it’s covered in scaffolding and surrounded by market stalls. It feels like the building has finally developed a defence mechanism after years of attention from fell runners – enough already!
We have a few minutes before the start and we each choose to mark this special occasion in our own personal way – Paul heads off to the loo (a reassuring expensive experience at 40p, if you don’t choose to jump the turnstile) while I grab a vegan sausage roll from Greggs. We check the tracker is warmed up and see the minutes count down on the watch. Then set off bang on 08:00.
Now I appreciate you are a busy person and there’s reports from other legs to read, plus I want to eat my tea, so I’ll keep this brief. I can sum leg 1 up as follows:
Weather – warm, light breeze, excellent visibility.
Latrigg – the first of many, found the top, confidence is restored.
High Rigg – easy top with a bit of bushwacking through the bracken on the descent to A591.
Walla Crag – A mini plateau by the lake.
Bleaberry – it does look a bit like that.
High Seat – quite comfortable.
Raven Crag – there were no ravens.
High Tove – a bit of a slog, no idea what a tove is (will google later).
Ambroth – kinda just sitting there like it got stuck in the bog.
Great Crag – quite craggy and moderately great (at least when viewed from the east). A nice complex of tops.
Grange fell – some nice folding in the bedrock at the summit. Another bracken descent.
Castle Crag – there was no castle, a quarry instead and a nice little climb. The one way race to the top sounds fun.
Borrowdale school changeover – we hand over to Martin & Duncan a whole 15 seconds early on our 6h30m schedule.
1 down, 23 to go!

The Wainwrights Relay

On Thursday 26th August at 8am Durham Fell Runners began their attempt at a continuous relay of the 214 Wainwright fells. Our aim is to run, in pairs,  non-stop, following the route pioneered by Steve Birkinshaw in 2014.

We successfully completed the relay on Monday 30th August at 2:50 pm in a time of 4 days 6 hours 50 minutes 15 seconds.

Despite the battery on the tracker failing you can still see the route taken and Wainwrights visited on the opentracking page: https://live.opentracking.co.uk/dfrw21/

There are notes and photos below but we’ll put together a tidier summary of the challenge once we’ve all had a bit of sleep.