Over The Contours

The dreaded leg 3; the leg that I'd read so much about..."the climbing leg". Well, on Sunday it was my turn to see for myself. Leg 3 poses some logistical challenges for a recce; namely because the start (Dunmail Raise) and end (Wasdale) are a good hour and thirty minutes away from each other by car. Because of this, I'd arranged with Abigail (the BGR widow) to collect me from Seathwaite in Borrowdale. To that end, I'd run leg 3 and then walk from Wasdale Head via Sty Head to Seathwaite. After a short and slow walk from Grasmere, I reached the starting point at Dunmail Raise. It was 6.00am and there was a little collective of people parked in the lay-by. I didn't get close enough to say hello, but I have a pretty strong feeling that they were a support crew for a Bob Graham attempt. I crossed the stile and began the steep climb up to Steel Fell and Dead Pike. The weather was pretty good; no rain and relatively mild. Some patches of blue sky were appearin...

It was a typical Cumbrian morning; wet and breezy. I was staying near Sedburgh for a friend's stag-do-that-wasn't-a-stag-do; basically a collective of geeks, nerds and outdoor enthusiasts in a converted barn in the middle of nowhere. I reckon more board games were brought than alcohol. Anyway, never one to miss an opportunity I escaped early and made the seventy mile round-trip to Fell Foot park, Newby Bridge. This is a parkrun that I've wanted to do for ages. We travel to the Lakes four or five times a year and I'd never managed to get it to work logistically; until now. I parked in the National Trust car park (free for members, obviously) and decided to brave the rain and go for a warm up. A couple of hardy volunteers were already out and about placing cones and putting up signage. The park is beautiful, even in the greyest of conditions. I had a vague idea of where the course would run and followed this as part of my warm up. I followed the shore of Windermere...