Tag Archive: Wainwrights
I definitely said to Sarah, as I trudged dejectedly into Wasdale, refusing to believe the profuse encouragement that said I could do it, “here’s Fiora, she’ll let me quit”. With the benefit of hindsight, I’m not sure how I reached that conclusion. Maybe I was hallucinating and thought I saw someone who’d let me walk away. That’s not what I got. As we walked to the gate of the car park, she looked me dead in the tear filled eyes and said, “okay, when you go through this gate you’re on leg four. We’ve made you some of that whiskey tea, then you’re going up the next hill.” I was not impressed. None of my support crew would listen when I explained I was quitting. I was being spoon fed porridge. My shoes were changed. I went to the loo and stared down a long drop realising my options were... View Article
October 14, 2022,
by Pete
“The earth,” wrote Antoine de Saint Exupéry in his classic fell running memoir, Wind, Sand and Stars, “teaches us more about ourselves than all the books in the world, because it is resistant to us. Self-discovery comes when man measures himself against an obstacle.” Okay, so maybe the book was about flying not fell running, but the sentiment fits. The Langdale Horseshoe is a classic fell race; runner against a collection of all that the Lakeland fells can throw against them. It’s got everything from scrambling to fast runnable sections, river crossings to waist deep bogs. And it’s ran in October, because fell runners are daft in the head. Why go into the mountains on a nice day when you could go up in whatever Autumn is throwing at you? Last time I ran this race I was recovering from flu and my body just didn’t want to go. It’s... View Article
It was supposed to end in champagne, not five minutes of dry retching by the side of a b-road. I wanted to tell you all how it felt to dash up to Moot Hall, surrounded by friends. Whether I’d managed a jog up the hallowed steps or had crawled on my knees. But instead, it’s time for a different tale. For the day before an attempt on a lifetime ambition, you’d think Friday would’ve been stressful but a strange calm had descended. I was neither scared nor excessively psyched, just very matter of fact. I would run 66 miles over 42 peaks because I’ve trained myself to do just that. I bought supplies, had a short nap, and chatted to my support team as they rolled in. By five to eleven I was stood at Moot Hall chatting to another round going the same time. A photo opportunity, an extra... View Article
December 22, 2021,
by Pete
The best adventures are almost always spontaneous. Going from the thought of an average few days ahead to adrenaline, dopamine and challenge in the blinking of an eye. No time to dwell, anticipate or expect, just go and get it. I’d planned to do a winter tea round last January, start as I meant to go on. Unfortunately it was illegal to travel alone to the hills, and I didn’t have enough cheese and wine to pass it off as a business meeting. The hills remained a dream until the end of March and the winter tea round was forgotten. Forgotten, that is, until I indulged my Thursday tradition of checking the mountain weather. Warm on the tops, it said, with a cloud inversion thrown in for good measure. The kind of forecast you’d happily take any time of year, let alone three days before the equinox. If ever there... View Article
October 14, 2019,
by Pete
I’ve often wondered what happens if it’s race day and your body just doesn’t turn up; today, I found out. I left work on Tuesday morning ice cold and aching all over. Having spent two days in bed and one on the sofa, I decided I should return on Friday – not least to prove that I was well enough to run on Saturday. Several people told me this was a silly idea. “You’re not well,” they said, “have a rest day and recover.” I listened and understood that what they were saying was wise. So, needless to say I woke up on Saturday morning and drove to the Lakes for Ambleside AC’s brilliant Langdale Horseshoe. It’s an AL fell race, which means it’s pretty much the best kind, if by best you mean hilliest and longest. It’s known for being brutal underfoot and attracts a good crowd of fell runners. It’s... View Article
There was a moment of joy, in amongst it all. One of those moments where your lungs seem to find an unlimited capacity and your legs float along, leaping over rocks like a mountain goat. There was a moment of joy, but there’s far more to my experiences at the weekend than that. The Turner Landscape is a fiesty little race on paper. It’s a shade over ten miles and a thousand metres of ascent – not to mention giving the opportunity to bag a few Wainwrights en route. The drive down through Wrynose Pass to Turner Hall Farm in the Duddon Valley, where it all starts, is enough to leave you breathless at the beauty. I’m not sure if J M W Turner influenced the naming of the farm, but he certainly spent a fair amount of time in Coniston and the surrounding area. He painted and sketched The Old Man... View Article
I’d been driving west for about an hour and a half when it happened. The A66 swept round towards Keswick and Blencathra appeared majestically on the right, a healthy dusting of snow on the summit and the ridge lines. I’m not ashamed to say I eased off the accelerator and whooped for joy. That view is like the gateway drug to the Lake District and to see it with just the right amount of snow, on a clear day, is pure joy. It was the Coledale Horseshoe today, one of the classic Lake District fell routes. Having spent the best part of last week reading past race reports, studying the OS map, looking at elevation profiles, and hitting refresh on mountain-forecast.com and the mountain weather information service, I arrived with peak anticipation for what was ahead. The weather was sublime. It felt as though a benevolent creator had designed days... View Article
