BGR attempt 2 : 13th of May

Leg 1 : Penrith Stu and Steve

I had not meet Steve before. He is a mate of Stu's and for some reason I called him Chris for the next 3 hours (Sorry Steve). Stu really enjoyed this for some reason. Apart from a slight navigational error on my part coming down the parachute descent all went very well indeed. Stu did a good job of slowing me down. The weather was no problem, I eat and drunk a lot.

We set off from Moot Hall 10 minutes after a party of 14 which include Stef, Derby Tup (from the forum) and Linda. This was good as it gave me an incentive for a gentle chase. My aim was to gain the 10 minutes by Dummail, we just about caught up with them by Great Calva, though Yannis, their navigator took a cracking line back towards Skiddaw Haus, while we went down to the normal river crossing. Passed them again going down Blencathera via the Parachute Jump where I managed to take a wrong turn. Serves me right for passing Yannis.

What would I change? Though it pains every fiber of my being to say so, I agree with Stu. I would choose to go down Doddick Fell instead if I was doing a real round. If I was out for a leg 1 reccie and wanted some fun at the end, then Parachute Jump it is. The ground suits me, I like steep rough downhills and really enjoy it as a descent, but that is not the point. Next time Doddick fell it is for me.

This leg went really well and it was fun. We were about 20 minutes up leaving Threkeld. I did manage to leave Stu and Steve on the parachute jump descent which caused some handover confusion with Stu and Steve running up and down the road looking for us to hand over kit.

Leg 2 : Dave, Dave and Andy

Overnight stops were done by Bryn who knows nothing about running, does a bit of mild hill walking including meeting me on Snowdon during the Peris Horseshoe. and lets say he gets some pleasure out of seeing me suffer. Bryn did the stop by the book. Everything was perfect, drinks, porridge, feet dried, clean socks and shoes and we were off on leg 2 after 5 minutes.

It was odd to change pacers and a little disorientation in a fun way to leave Stu and Steve behind and have different people to run with. I felt a lot stronger than the previous attempt at this point and was happy to drop 5minutes I had gained to take Clough Head a bit easier.

I had meet both Dave Hindly and Dave Swift during some of Mark Smiths Winter rounds. I was very pleased indeed to have them on this leg. Both solid calm chaps. Since things started going wrong on Clough Head last time, they felt like the right characters to have along and I was right. Dave H and Andy (Daves mate) did the navigation, Dave Swift made sure I kept drinking. All went well until after Watson Dodd. We were probably about 15 minutes up and then the weather just got worse with navigation getting much harder. We would arrive at summits and have to spend a minute or 2 looking for the trig point or cairn. An other minute would go as they took a bearing to the next peak and an other minute or two might get dropped while we searched for the path. Visibility really was down to 5 meter or less at time with a fair amount of wind. On this section my stomach started playing up, I felt very full over the whole leg and I eat that much, though drank Nunn well. The peaks passed without event, it was just hard navigation work. We passed the other group and were probably about 5 minutes ahead by the start of Fairfield.

The weather on Fairfield was horrible, no really horrible as in hard to stand up. We went too far to the left on the descent and probably lost at least 10 minutes getting back to the col near Grisdale Tarn. Given the conditions I am surprised were did not loose more. At this point my nice 4 leg Hope Vision head torch decided it was over heating and turned itself off. My spare did not work either, what a fiddle and a few more minutes lost. Did the rest mixed in with the "Bus", chatted to a few new people and down to Dummail. We left Dummail about 10 minutes down on schedule.

The only thing I would change would be the to include a simple spare head torch instead of my old Hope Vision. I wish I had known about and understood a stomach settling drug, which Sam Smith later suggested on the next leg (and I ignored to my shame).

I would also have changed the weather, the Dave H and Andy did a very good job on navigation given the conditions. Dave Swift kept me well hydrated. At the end of leg 2 I still felt good and was going quite well.

I also need to plan a backup torch better or maybe walk some of it with a small torch and only use the Hope Vision where needed.

Leg 3 : Mark Smith (Nav), Dave Almond (water and spuds), Andy Blackette (Head gel suggester), Dave Swift (along for the exercise), Tim Hoskin (man of large minerals on Broadstand), Sam Smith (head of gentle persuasion).

Bryn thought his arrival at Dummail at 2.30 in the morning to be one of the most alien of his life. He claims it is the nearest to dogging he will ever get. A line of 14 cars on the side of the dual carridgeway and he had to wonder round them to see who wanted to interact with him.

I came into Dummail feeling quite good. Knew I had not eaten enough. It seems like I was only there about 8 minutes and we left about 10 minutes down on schedule as I remember it. I got some tea, mango juice and rice pudding down me, but I struggled to eat much as would be the pattern for the rest of the round.

If my stomach had been in the same zone as my head I suspect the outcome would have been a sub 23 hour round. Reflecting on it now, it still feels like I was in the right zone. The weather was still not great, but navigation was easier at it got light at about Calf Crag and Mr Smith knows leg 3 very well. I managed to eat some of Dave Almonds potatoes, the odd gel. I had some dried mango which tasted very sweet indeed. Dave Almond (and Swift when Dave A. we otherwise occupied) kept me topped up with Nuun. It was one of those days when layers were put on and taken off.

Peaks came and went. We were not dropping much time. I remember the climb up Bowfell was hard, and someone mentioned a great view I just continued with the job in hand and don't think I looked up. At Esk Pike Dave's Almond and Swift cut across to have a longer break in Wasdale. Mark, Sam, Andy and I continued over the rocky sections which were wet making OK time.

I have climbed with Tim since 1994(ish) and we have done some fairly hairy climbing together. Alpine ice, scottish winter, a far few lumps of extreme rock, winter mountaineering in Scotland and a fair few adventures. While I would be happy to solo Broadstand if it was dry, there was always going to be a chance it would be wet and slippy and I know Tim is experienced enough

to sort himself out and provide a rope if needed. Tim spent the night in a tent on top of Scarfell which must have been quite windy in itself.

When we got to Broadstand it was dripping. Mark Smith went straight down to Wasdale and Sam, Andy and myself went via Broadstand. I later got admissions from the other 2 and can confirm that we all put weight on the rope, it was horrible. The ramp above took great care and extra time. I am sure it still saved a good 10 minutes, but if you were not a confident climber it would have been very hairy indeed. Looking forward to seconding Tim on Cenotaph Corner this summer. We climbed it maybe 10 years ago together when I was leading a lot harder than I am now. To descend the section above Broadstand in boots with rucsack and rope as Tim did was a scary proposition.

I toped out 1st by a few minutes, went and did Scarfell and meet Sam on the way back. Andy caught up with us on the way down. I was descending really well and the scree was great fun. Came into Wasdale feeling really strong for having run over 40 miles with a few hills included, very different from September 2010.

What would I change? Probably only the weather and having taken something for my stomach.

I might also have taken a bin bag to do the last bit of the slope into Wasdale.

Leg 4 : Jim Mann (Boss), Andy Blackette (specialist in tough love), Sam Smith (Pharmacist), Dave Almond (Camel)

I managed to eat some chunky soup, some tea and mango juice and left Wasdale on the 23 hour schedule. Walking along the road from the national trust campsite with Jim, something had changed. I just did not feel anywhere near as strong as I had coming into Wasdale.

Going up Yewbarrow my head was spot on, but in a different gear to my legs. I did not stop, but could not move very fast. Not being able to eat much had caught up with me and I dropped time. I could sip an odd gel and nibble on a boiled potato, but anything more and I would start to throw up or my stomach crap up. Lost 10 minutes on Yewbarrow, same on Red Pike. We got hit by a real nasty hail shower and lost Jim for a few minutes around Steeple. I noticed I was starting to loose mental focus, mentioned this and had a gel squirted down my neck which almost got squirted back up again. Between Steeple and Pillar I lost my speed of descending. 2 paracetamol and a nurofen were prescribed and took about 15 minutes to kick in, but when they did the world got a lot better.

In the col between Pillar and Kirk Fell, I sat down. We were at the 24 hour schedule and I knew I was not going to recover enough to keep to time. While I had full on encouragement during this leg, once the decision was made and I think we all knew it was the right one. I descended with Jim to his car in Wasdale and the other 3 carried on to Honister.

There are a few things I could have changed on reflection

• Picked a day with better weather
• Not had stomach problems
• Taken the Ranitidine based stomach pills Sam suggested
• Taken the pain killer mix 2 hours earlier
• Gone down Doddick fell instead of Parachute jump

Apart from the 1st two they would not have made much difference to the overall outcome.

I am really pleased with what I did. About 53 miles and 23k feet of climb at a guess. Reasons for failure are obvious and largely outside my control, so no point in dwelling.

I will have an other go this year. Will probably be a lighter weight effort with potentially fewer pacers at short notice with good weather. I now know I can do it, so running legs with 1 strong pacer would work.

I do need at least an other 4 weeks to recover properly.

The thing that will stay with me, the really great memories, will be the quality and commitment of support from road crew Bryn who had no idea what was going up to the most experience BGR veteran pacers. They all did everything in their power to get me round, some days it just not your day.