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.

Stanhope 6 Trigs

Two new members to the ever expanding Stanhope 6 Trigs club. Yesterday (21 Aug 2021) saw Dan Hoyle complete it in 3.55.18 and today (22 Aug 2021) by Aaron Dobrianski in 3.58.23.

Stanhope 6 Trigs Completions

NameDateTimeComments
Meghan McCarthy + Rory Woods01.08.204.43.50
Michael Sturla03.02.223.33.06
Martin Wilson04.08.184.29.00
Adam Bridges04.10.214.18.24
Stu Ferguson05.09.205.10.00
Mark Marchant09.05.214.41.17
Paul Brunger09.05.214.41.17
Peter Storey09.05.214.41.17
Paul Hodgson09.06.174.34.55
Fran Blackett09.10.215.03.43
Matt Santo10.04.213.34.36
Kate Fogelberg10.04.214.24.34
Stan Gibson10.05.214.56.35
Steve Lumb12.08.184.15.57solo
Adam Bridges14.08.214.36.32
Fran Blackett14.11.205.35.49
Ian Hutchinson + Liz Gray15.09.195.27.47
Graham Bradshaw15.10.183.49.00
P Hodgson + Max Wilkinson15.12.174.54.00Winter + evening/night
Stan Gibson16.05.214.44.46
Andrew Foster16.05.214.44.46
Mike and Steve Lumb16.10.113.58.00
Andy Blackett17.04.213.11.43
Owen Carter17.12.203.52.00
Andy Blackett18.06.204.57.48solo
Ian Hutchinson, Alison Hardy, Lorraine Collier19.11.195.07.38
Chris Bird20.08.183.51.00
George Cooper20.08.183.51.00
Paul Hodgson20.11.204.49.22Clockwise, semi-solo,winter + night
James Ridley21.04.194.05.00
Dan Hoyle21.08.213.55.18anti-clockwise. very wet
Aaron Dobrianski22.08.213.58.23
Duncan Archer22.12.173.09.11
Tom Carter22.12.203.07.11
Will Carter22.12.202.56.24
Mark Bevan23.03.194.06.00
Michael Sturla23.10.214.00.19anti-clockwise
Andy Blackett + James Osborn25.06.204.17.18
Ron Brown25.08.185.08.00
Colin William26.06.213.39.14
Dougie Nisbet26.11.206.11.00Clockwise + solo
Chris Dale27.09.174.03.00
David Catterick and Mark Gayer31.01.225.10.00anti-clockwise (Mark: 5.09.57; David 5.10.13). Part assisted (nav) by Steve Lumb
Marie-Louise Ridley31.05.204.20.00?Suzy Cramb also
Shane Harris26.02.226.16.47solo, anti-clockwise (and coffee/sausage bap stop at Parkhead)
Graeme Watt (Elvet Striders)27.03.223.36.28
Stuart Scott (Elvet Striders)21.03.224.31.00
Stuart Scott (Elvet Striders)06.04.224.27.16
Tom Chapman18.06.224.45.56
Martyn Farnsworth10.06.224.47.08
Chris Alborough03.09.222.55.20solo, clockwise
Chris Alborough03.05.232.40.10solo, unsupported, clockwise.
Ian Hutchinson07.03.225.17.29with Simon Byrne and Scott Nichol
Start and Finish in Stanhope. Visit the 6 trigs. Submissions/Comments/Edits to website@durhamfellrunners.org

Stanhope 6 Trigs

The results table for the Stanhope 6 Trigs has been updated.

Stanhope 6 Trigs Completions

NameDateTimeComments
Meghan McCarthy + Rory Woods01.08.204.43.50
Michael Sturla03.02.223.33.06
Martin Wilson04.08.184.29.00
Adam Bridges04.10.214.18.24
Stu Ferguson05.09.205.10.00
Mark Marchant09.05.214.41.17
Paul Brunger09.05.214.41.17
Peter Storey09.05.214.41.17
Paul Hodgson09.06.174.34.55
Fran Blackett09.10.215.03.43
Matt Santo10.04.213.34.36
Kate Fogelberg10.04.214.24.34
Stan Gibson10.05.214.56.35
Steve Lumb12.08.184.15.57solo
Adam Bridges14.08.214.36.32
Fran Blackett14.11.205.35.49
Ian Hutchinson + Liz Gray15.09.195.27.47
Graham Bradshaw15.10.183.49.00
P Hodgson + Max Wilkinson15.12.174.54.00Winter + evening/night
Stan Gibson16.05.214.44.46
Andrew Foster16.05.214.44.46
Mike and Steve Lumb16.10.113.58.00
Andy Blackett17.04.213.11.43
Owen Carter17.12.203.52.00
Andy Blackett18.06.204.57.48solo
Ian Hutchinson, Alison Hardy, Lorraine Collier19.11.195.07.38
Chris Bird20.08.183.51.00
George Cooper20.08.183.51.00
Paul Hodgson20.11.204.49.22Clockwise, semi-solo,winter + night
James Ridley21.04.194.05.00
Dan Hoyle21.08.213.55.18anti-clockwise. very wet
Aaron Dobrianski22.08.213.58.23
Duncan Archer22.12.173.09.11
Tom Carter22.12.203.07.11
Will Carter22.12.202.56.24
Mark Bevan23.03.194.06.00
Michael Sturla23.10.214.00.19anti-clockwise
Andy Blackett + James Osborn25.06.204.17.18
Ron Brown25.08.185.08.00
Colin William26.06.213.39.14
Dougie Nisbet26.11.206.11.00Clockwise + solo
Chris Dale27.09.174.03.00
David Catterick and Mark Gayer31.01.225.10.00anti-clockwise (Mark: 5.09.57; David 5.10.13). Part assisted (nav) by Steve Lumb
Marie-Louise Ridley31.05.204.20.00?Suzy Cramb also
Shane Harris26.02.226.16.47solo, anti-clockwise (and coffee/sausage bap stop at Parkhead)
Graeme Watt (Elvet Striders)27.03.223.36.28
Stuart Scott (Elvet Striders)21.03.224.31.00
Stuart Scott (Elvet Striders)06.04.224.27.16
Tom Chapman18.06.224.45.56
Martyn Farnsworth10.06.224.47.08
Chris Alborough03.09.222.55.20solo, clockwise
Chris Alborough03.05.232.40.10solo, unsupported, clockwise.
Ian Hutchinson07.03.225.17.29with Simon Byrne and Scott Nichol
Start and Finish in Stanhope. Visit the 6 trigs. Submissions/Comments/Edits to website@durhamfellrunners.org