BGR Leg2 Reccy

Bob Graham Training

May 2^nd 2011

Decided since it was such a nice day to do a reccy of the BGR leg2, the plan being to park in Keswick, jog along cycle path to Threlked do the leg and run back from Dunmail raise either to Wythburn church or the King’s head pub in Thirlpot to catch the bus back to Keswick. Guessed it would be about 20miles so would treat it as a long run and carry water and food accordingly for a five to five and a half hours day mainly in the fells. The mountain forecast said gusts of up to 50 mph but otherwise a good clear day for running. Cereal bars, fig roles, energy drinks and water along with the standard kit packed I set off. The only problem was I was going to have to run in my old Walshes (550 miles+) as the studs on my mudclaws were dropping of and cracking so they were back at the shop to be checked out…



Start of BGR leg2



Got nicely warmed up along the cycle path to the start and was ready for it. From looking at the map before hand there appeared to be very few navigational decisions to make on this leg, the first being at the start as to which route to take to the top I chose the line to the left of the first main craggy outcrop, which turned out to be a popular route as there was a well walked trod all the way up. Clough Head was reached with no problems just a quick pause for photo’s and extra clothes then off round the horseshoe to Great Dodd. I Considered cutting a tighter bend and going up the ridge without the path but thought better off it, that was an option to try on another day and on the run itself the visibility by this point would most likely be poor with the morning mist still clinging to the fells and/or most probably it would still be dark.



Great Dodd



Navigation from Great Dodd to Helvellyn was relatively straight forward, a slight error at Stybarrow Dodd following the path round meant about 50m cut back to the cairn an the top. Google Earth shows I missed the top (has me missing raise, nethermost pike and Fairfield too!), though this may be down to GPS inaccuracies or map placement errors on Google earth! Either way this bit needs looking at again. I took a more direct line down from White Side to the col before ascending Helvellyn Lower Man and on to the top while being buffeted by the wind. On the decent of Lower Man I tripped going automatically into a Jitsu roll coming up with only a grazed elbow and two tops with holes in – could have been a lot worse!



The Helvellyns



Took it the top of Helvellyn was the trig point and carried on to Nethermost Pike, then Dollywagon Pike, where the two cairns made in unclear which was the top, so I decided to go to both to make sure, though the one before the peninsula looked the most likely.

Now for the next navigational route choice, down to the right or left of Grisedale Tarn? I chose to follow the fence posts down and go round the tarn to the right then on up to Fairfield. It was here where the Walshes failed in their job as I kept slipping on to my arse and sliding for a bit on the decent making what should have been a faster section a slow one! They failed on the way up Fairfield too so I took it slow and refuelled on my way up the heavily eroded slopes. Another top covered in cairns so went to three possible but Google earth says I missed the real one! On the decent once again slow due to lack of grip my Garmin ran out of battery so had to use my mobile to record splits etc

For the final accent of Seat Sandal, I took a route to the right of the path as the path looked like a surface my old walshes would struggle on. As it flattened out I followed the wall to the summit and descended Ok until the steeper section where once again the walshes gripped badly meaning a slow decent. Not too bad a time for a first reccy in the end so fairly pleased with the run and just enough time left to run to the King’s Head to catch the inordinately expensive bus the last few miles back to Keswick, I think I’ll drop my bike of next time and cycle the last bit back what a rip[p off!

Splits:

Clough Head – 0:44:44

Great Dodd – 1:13:15

Watson’s Dodd – 1:20:36

Stybarrow Dodd – 1:28:47

Raise – 1:44:23

White Side – 1:50:20

Helvellyn Lower Man – 2:01:26

Helvellyn – 2:07:48

Nethermost Pike – 2:13:56

Dollywagon Pike – 2:31:14

Fairfield – 3:02:28

Seat Sandal – 3:21:38

Dunmail Raise – 3:39:37