Finally the big day arrived and I hoped all my training was going to pay off come 21:18 on Saturday night.
We all assembled outside ‘Moot Hall’ just after 9pm and counted the minutes down to our start time 10pm, which seemed to take forever.
22:00 ticked past and we were off with shouts of ‘Good Luck’ from all. Picturing in my mind as we ran through ‘Fitz Park’ what lay ahead for the next 24 hours, I so hoped id be back in Keswick within the time and bag my place in the ‘Bob Graham 24 hour club’.
‘Skiddaw’ came and went fairly quickly as did ‘Great Carva’ and before we knew it we were starting our descent of ‘Halls Fell’.
The Descent of ‘Halls Fell’ went well and progress at this stage was good, by the time we got to the eagerly awaiting Phil and Tim in Threlkeld we were up on our time.
Big thanks to Andy F, Andy A and Steve for your support on Leg 1
Leg 1 behind us now, let’s av it Leg 2. Tip toeing our way through Threlkeld at 2 in the morning trying not to wake the neighbours we slowly drew nearer to the ever rising ‘Clough Head’. Good banter and waffling away to each other soon got us to the top, and in good time. That was summit number 4 bagged.
As we continued running south knocking off ‘Dodd’ after ‘Dodd’ we couldn’t stop looking over our left shoulder, hoping to get that first glimpse of the morning sun.
At this stage I think my body clock was getting a bit messed up and odd things were going on inside me, the same thing happening to the others too. What I found soon helped my dicky head and tummy was been able to finally run without the torches and run under the gorgeous morning sun.
After the ‘Dodd’s’, ‘Raise’ and ‘White Side’ it was onto the ‘Helvellyn’s’ where I found a large piece of sheep’s wool. I decided to wrap it around my head and raise a laugh or two and to keep spirits on a high. I think it worked.
After ‘Dollywaggon Pike’ we chose the OCT route down to ‘Griesdale Tarn’ and as we were starting our climb up onto ‘Fairfield’, looking back we could see that Paul was dropping back a fair bit. This concerned me as I knew a lot tougher terrain lay ahead. As we were nearing the top of ‘Fairfield’, Phil, who had stayed with Paul caught us up and said Paul couldn’t carry on and had thrown the towel in.
‘Keep training Paul and I look forward to supporting you on your next attempt’
With ‘Fairfield’ ticked off the list and ‘Seat Sandal’ causing very little problems, ‘Dunmail Raise’ was soon springing into view. Tim had peeled off early to get food and drink orders in and to let roadside support know we’ll soon be coming in. On arriving at ‘Dunmail Raise’, tables and chairs were all laid out with our personal bags of food awaiting our digestion. Support was continually offering aid to now the three of us. Dunmail support, you were fantastic. Thank you.
Big Thanks to Phil, Tim and Steve for your support on Leg 2
Time to get going and begin the tough section of Leg 3, thou we could’ve had another cup of tea, because we were still up on our time.
Our climb out of ‘Dunmail Raise’ took us up to ‘Steel Fell’ and we now had Julian, John, Phil, Caitlin and Sue on board for support. By the time we ticked off ‘Steel Fell’ and ‘Calf Crag’ the morning sun was really starting to say hello. A good covering of sunscreen at Dunmail would protect us for a few hours at least.
With the glorious morning sunshine and magnificent views it made for very pleasant running. At this stage of the BG I was feeling very happy, my dicky head and tummy had sorted itself out, I was running well and feeling very strong. I was feeling hopeful. The only thing that was pissing me off was the thousands of bloody daddy longlegs crash landing into my face.
By the time we had ticked off ‘Harrison Stickle’, ‘Pike of Stickle’ and ‘Rossett Pike’ we were starting to see the last of the flying nuisances.
As we started our climb up onto ‘BowFell’ the terrain began to change, the rather pleasing grassy boggy running now started to become more stoney and rocky, and it was at this stage that I started to feel soreness in both feet. ‘Just ignore them I thought, and keep running’. We had a good scramble over ‘BowFell’, ‘Esk Pike’ and ‘Great End’, still at this stage well up on our time. Looking Good.
The heat of the morning sun was very strong by the time we were at the ‘ScaFells’ and we were having to ration our water.
The highest Mountain in England was briefly visited with only ‘ScaFell’ to do before the descent down to Wasdale. ‘Lords Rake’ was our choice of ascent up onto ‘ScaFell’. The Rake itself was a mass of very loose scree which took some time navigating but it did have a slight advantage, it was a little cooler in there, if only for a brief moment.
With the ‘ScaFells’ done, Wasdale here I come. Julian guided us onto some red screes which made for a very fast descent, with us all safely off the hill and trotting into Wasdale, we were 15/20 minutes ahead of schedule. Whopee…
Big Thanks to Julian, John, Phil, Caitlin and Sue for your support on Leg 3
Also Thanks to Nev for controlling the gate and Sikobe for supplying water at the bridge, nice touch.
Stuart guided us to the refreshment stop, where I couldn’t wait to sit down and take my shoes off and air my feet. They were on fire, and I was starting to get an uncomfortable pain in my lower right shin. I rehydrated quickly and ate my pasta, looking in my bag I realised id not eaten half the stuff I brought.
Time to put clean socks on and more sunscreen, the sun was very hot at this point. I wet my flannel and tucked it under the back of my cap to stop my neck from getting burnt.
It’s now time to tackle Leg 4
A Big Thanks to all Support at Wasdale.
‘Yewbarrow’ ‘YEWBASTARD’, I didn’t need you right now, but I wasn’t going to be beat. ‘Keep Going’ I kept telling myself, ‘Keep Going’ as we gradually climbed.
Our support for this leg was Julian again, Tim, Andy F and Andy A who was already at the top waiting for us. The climbing didn’t really bother me that much, it was more the inferno on the balls of my feet, it felt like constantly running on drawing pins bare footed.
‘Yewbarrow’ finally got ticked off and in good time too. Next ‘Red Pike’.
We were just about to start our ascent up ‘Red Pike’ when Andy O suddenly dropped to the ground saying he wanted to be sick, I shouted to the others to hold on and that Andy wasn’t feeling too good. We waited while Andy did a bit of muck spreading but he was still unable to get to his feet. With plenty of support at his aid I decided to push on to ‘Red Pike’ with Andy A and Andy F, hoping soon that Andy would get to his feet and battle on.
We were looking back down towards Andy O to see if he had it in him to carry on, but there still didn’t seem to be any urgency, I feared at this point that it was all starting to go wrong for him and I could now just make out Dan and Tim making their way up to ‘Red Pike’ leaving Julian to get Andy safely of the Fells I guessed.
‘Keep up the training Andy and I look forward to supporting you on your next attempt’
I now decided to push on with Andy F in the hope that Dan would catch me up and re-group. The out and back to ‘Steeple’ was swiftly done but it was now becoming very hard blocking out the pain in my feet and shin, the ascent onto ‘Pillar’ was slow, as was the crossing over to ‘Kirk Fell’, It was at this stage that I really started to feel the worst. In my mind I kept saying, ‘Keep Going’ ‘Keep Going’ and stay on the heels of Andy F.
Andy chose an interesting scramble up onto ‘Kirk Fell’ where we were soon joined by Dan and Tim again. Well done Dan pulling that back.
I asked for a painkiller which Dan kindly gave, and it wasn’t long before the pain eased in my feet and shin and we were all rocketing up ‘Great Gable’.
Our descent of ‘Great Gable’ went well and ‘Green Gable’ was a doddle. Two more summits then feet up time again. The speed was picked up slightly over ‘Brandreth’ and ‘Grey Knotts’ and the descent to Honister went well. I waved down at the Honister support and it was nice to hear the cheers and claps returned. I couldn’t wait to sit down and when I arrived I was promptly directed to the middle chair. ‘What can I get you’, ‘Can I get you anything’ was all I kept hearing and it was just so nice having you all there caring so much, My body at this point was so physically and emotionally drained and I found it hard to keep back the tears. Water, Water, Water was all I wanted and I found it hard to stomach any of the food I had prepared, so one of you gave me some polenta I think, which was a lot easier on the palate.
A Big Thanks to Julian, Andy A, Andy F and Tim for your support on leg 4
And a Big Thanks also to all the Honister support, it was so nice the way you looked after me and Dan.
Here we go then, this is it, the final leg. Leaving Honister 15/20 minutes up on our time, surely it’s in the bag.
With Caitlin, Sue, Lins, Hannah, John, Nev, Sikobe, Tim and Andy F as support for the final leg, Oh, and not forgetting zena, we headed out for the last of the real big climbs up onto ‘Dale Head’. A nice slow pace was set and this got us comfortably to the top.
40 down, 2 to go.
‘Hindscarth’ was easily bagged and all that was left to summit was ‘Robinson’. One last little climb would see us to the top then it was downhill all the way to the road.
We hit the tarmac and ran a short distance to Newlands church where Stuart was waiting for us with our road running shoes. A quick change of socks, trainers on, and off we all jogged. I thought my road trainers would be more comfortable but they made no difference to the pain I was still feeling in my feet.
Dan was slightly ahead of me running at a good pace, so I decided to catch him up, when out of the blue this surge of energy thrust through me and I soon found myself running along side him. ‘We’re easily going to do it within our scheduled time’ I said, ‘why not try for a sub 23 hours’.
This would be our last and final target, no more Mountains to climb just Moot Hall, Keswick and a sub 23H BG.
Suddenly I had to stop, nature calls. When I got going again Dan and his support were a good distance ahead, too much for me to catch them this time. So I battled through the last few miles with Tim, John and Lins in support. John was kindly giving me small pieces of banana malt loaf which was a nice touch and much needed, and Tim was constantly supplying me with water.
I kept dropping of the pace slightly and Tim would say ’No, let’s bring it back to that faster pace’ so I dug deep and kept Tim happy. After a long path through a field and a few twists and turns I was on the home straight, Keswick town centre was coming into view and I could now finally see Moot Hall. 30m, 20m, 10m, lots of clapping and cheering, DONE IT.
WHOOOPEEEE
In true traditional style I climbed the few steps on Moot Hall and gave my Big Thumbs Up.
My Bob Graham experience has to go down as one of the best Mountain days I’ve ever had.
Glorious weather, amazing views and absolutely fantastic company. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my account of the BG as much as I have writing it and reliving the whole experience again, an experience I never want to forget. Thank you all ever so much for making it a very special day for me.
Kind Regards
Alasdair
