lives up to the name.. However, it was a crackingly good weekend.
Arriving to curry, beer and a chat friday night was brilliant as i'd not seen Don for a bit and we'd been emailing back and forth like mad beforehand. Had a minor gear faff/pack and decided no extra food shop needed. Which meant early-ish to bed, and early-ish to rise the next morning.
Bit of a grey day all in all, with stronger winds than i'd expected. However, i persevered with shorts, but sensibly went with a longsleeved top. The day itself is a bit of a blur, hard uphill, better on the flat and down. My nav wasn't as bad as i'd thought, but my stamina was. Lots of DofE groups about lounging and generally being wide loads. Which considering we too were camping that night did seem a bit OTT. But then DofE was/is always like that ;-) I had to borrow a gilet from Don at one point as it got a little chilly. The final descent had us chasing after a chap (blatantly out for his local run, NOT with a 7kg pack on) but that didn't stop us trying to chase him down. I'd have been ok with that, but my stomach was cramping like mad and wasn't quite letting us catch him. Ho hum..
Camping was interesting in a tent the size of a small rug. Cooking inside it even more so. Luckily it wasn't raining, but keeping warm was a priority so snuggling up in sleeping bags was the option whilst waiting for food. Then as whilst it was a training weekend it wasn't a full on wild camp we went to the pub for a crafty beer. This gave the full SLMM experience as you can get milk and beer at the overnight camp ;-). It also helped to provide much needed calories for what turned out to be a cold night. Brr
Sunday dawned to blue, blue skies and a hard frost, even on the inside of the tent! We lounged outside to warm up like reptiles in the sunshine.
Cracking on with the run it was straight up and a bit of a river scramble. Then up top it was hard, hard work thankfully dry, but deep peat riverbeds to cross, run along, get sucked in, loose a shoe to.. Thankfully down off that then along a lovely twisty, technical, narrow path.. We were pounding along this, loving every minute. Untill i misjudged a tree and forgetting that my pack was wider than me! Had a slight pause whilst i soothed my ankle in the stream, then back on it. Pausing on the next ascent and just soaking up the warmth, sounds (or lack there-of) and eating a bit. Contouring round some more until the final ascent (boy that was hard work). Then on down, not running on the really steep bit (knees/quads just saying no!) but then cracking on with the rest of it. Till the sheepfolds marking the start came into view and a final burst of speed got us there under 5 hrs. Wash off in the stream then back to car for chocolate, recovery drinks, onto chips, sleep, more food and the long drive home..
Tired now |-)
the routes:
day 1
day 2
hopefully another weekend to be planned soon.
Sounds pretty full on and an awful ot of fun. Nice one! Dan.
ReplyDeletecheers, quite happy with how it went as a training excercise really. But there's some definate things to improve if possible (food, gear choice, managing stamina/rests).
ReplyDeleteThe weather played a wonderful part in the enjoyment factor.