Fells and Fens

It has been a while since I last posted on this blog.

We live in Cambridgeshire, one of the flattest counties in England. It also contains the UK’s lowest physical point of 2.75m below sea level (Holme Fen). It’s rather ironic that we love spending time in the mountains – enjoying their beauty, walking and running.

I’m sure this isn’t a unique situation, and I would like to share some of the options we have explored to achieve more time in the mountains.

Proximity to mountains is a challenge. From East Anglia, The Peak District is the closest range of reasonably sized mountains. The Yorkshire Dales, Lake District, and Snowdonia are a bit further afield.

The Day Trip

For a few months we trialled driving to Castleton and back on a Saturday or Sunday to get in a 4-5 hour mountain walk.  We had a few great days out on the Mam Tor ridge from Castleton, and up Ringing Roger and Grindslow Knoll from Edale. I’ll post these routes separately as they are interesting and enjoyable.

• Positives
  • Cheap, only the cost of petrol
  • Not much packing required
  • Kids will sleep in the car on the way home
  • Mountains are explored!
• Negatives
  • Very long, tiring day (3 hour drive each way + walking)
  • The Peak District is the only range within a reasonable distance
  • You need to be *very* organised
    • We leave early morning
    • All kit must be packed or laid out the night before
  • No drying facilities so dry change of clothes and shoes for everyone is essential for the trip home

With a 3 hour drive each way, this makes for a very tiring day, particularly for the kids.

YHA (www.yha.org.uk)

Overnight accommodation is definitely required for a trip to the Lake District. Cottages are expensive, particularly for one or two nights and it seems that even the ‘late bookings’ or ‘short breaks’ charge little less than a week.

One option we have recently discovered is YHA (Youth Hostel Association). Despite ‘Youth’ in the name, they cater well for all: individuals, groups of adults & children and also families. We spent two nights in the Keswick YHA and paid ~£75 which is significantly cheaper than a cottage or hotel alternative. They have basic accommodation, we stayed in a 3-person room and took our own travel cot. Self catering facilities are available including fridges, toasters, cookers and storage for food. Drying rooms are also available and essential for multi-day trips in typical Cumbrian weather (i.e. wet!)

• Positives
  • Medium cost 
  • Can rest before and after the long drives
  • Organisation is required, but doesn’t need to be as regimented
  • Drying facilities are available (and are excellent at Keswick), so kit can be reused
  • Longer trips are possible (Lake District, North Wales and Scotland are all possible)
  • Bigger mountains are explored!
• Negatives
  • Cost of accommodation (its not free!)
  • Food required for all meals to make it affordable

We did two excellent walks, I’ll post the detailed routes separately:

Latrigg to Skiddaw House and back again (the long way!)

• Latrigg Car Park
• Cumbrian way round the base of Lonscale Fell to Skiddaw House
• Halfway up Sale How (abandoned due to conditions)
• Back along the Cumbrian way at the base of Blease Fell to Threlkeld
• Threlkeld around Latrigg to the Latrigg Car Park

Honister Slate Mine to Dale Head

• Honister Slate Mine Car Park
• Straight up the fence to Dale Head
• Back Down to the Honister Slate Mine Car Park

Cat Bells 2013

Making the most of the ‘Spring’ Bank Holiday the family stayed in Grange Fell cottage for a few days with some friends.

I took the opportunity one warm evening to head out for my first fell run in a while. Absence due to London Marathon training definitely made the heart grow fonder!

Glorious conditions included clear sunny skies and very little wind. A bit apprehensive about how my legs would react to a fell run I decided to play it safe and take in the relatively ‘easy’ but beautiful ascent of Cat Bells.

Statistics

• Distance: 8km
• Ascent: 500m
• Summits: 1
• Difficulty: Easy
• Comments: There are many variations on this route including a ridge run along Maiden Moor and High Spy or descending from Cat Bells via its Northern flank to circle around by Derwent Water.

Route

Based in the village of Grange-in-Borrowdale I chose the same route as we had taken the kids up in snowy conditions a few months previous.

• Starting out from Grange head along the road to Manesty.
• Once at Manesty there is a very obvious path to the left of the road (NY250185) that zig-zags up the fell side to the col (NY244191).
• Follow the ridge up to the right (due North) and put up with a couple of false Summits before you reach the well trodden plateaux Summit of Cat Bells (NY244198).

Time for a few photos from the Summit and then head back down the same route.

• Just before reaching the road you can take a narrow path along a fence towards Hollows Farm.
• Follow this path around the foot of Maiden Moor and turn right once you hit the farm track (NY248175).
• Through Hollows Farm you join a road which ends up back in Grange to provide a bit of variation.

		Cat Bells 2013 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Despite mainly running on the fens of Cambridgeshire for the past 6 months or more I found the ascent wasn’t too taxing. I was very pleased to reach the Summit from Manesty in less than 20 minutes with the whole run taking around 80 minutes. It was a pleasant reminder that my general state of fitness and strength had not deteriorated too much in the quiet period after the London Marathon.

More posts to come on the rest of the holiday activities including Honister Slate Mine, Loughrigg, a scramble up Nitting Haws and a morning canoeing on Derwent Water from Kettlewell.

My London Marathon 2013

I did it!

4 hours 40 minutes 51 seconds of my life I will never forget.

Run For It

I raised more than £2,000 for ‘Run For It’ a collaboration between AgeUK and YouthNET. To find out more about them you can check out: http://www.runforit.org.uk/. A huge thank you all 51 of my sponsors. You can still sponsor me: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MartinInsley.

The support I received from the charity at all stages of my marathon journey was fantastic. It felt great to be part of a team.

Highlights

I don’t want to give the false impression that there was no pain or low points.

For now lets concentrate on the high’s!

Grand Canyon Training Run

An amazing 15 day holiday with the family to the south west USA 3 weeks before the big day was an opportunity to rest. A short run along the Grand Canyon South Rim Trail was incredible.

Hundreds of Random People Chanting My Name

A few days before the big day I reluctantly decided to use the iron-on letters provided by ‘Run For It’ and have ‘Martin’ on the front of my running vest. Such a great decision! Throughout the whole course but especially towards the end it was such a motivation to have hundreds of complete strangers willing me to keep going. Its a weird feeling and probably the closest I will ever get to fame and stardom!

Respect for BOSton

The whistle blew to signal the start of a 30s silence. More than 35,000 fellow runners at the start line of the London Marathon and you could hear a pin drop. An incredibly moving sign of respect for those affected by the terrible attack at the Boston Marathon.

Crossing the Start Line

The downside of mass participation events like the London Marathon is that it takes some time to actually reach the start line once the event starts. In my case it was 10 minutes. A great feeling to be finally underway and put some of the months of training to the test.

Drums in the deep

A percussion group under the Woolwich Road Flyover played a fantastic beat that seemed to resonate throughout my body and gave a whole new feeling to a very familiar place.

Tower Bridge and Half Way

Tower Bridge is such an iconic image of the London Marathon. I was oddly reminded of crossing the Tyne Bridge running the Great North Run in 2007. At halfway you can start to ‘smell’ the finish and I was really pleased with my 2.07 split at this point.

18 Miles

I saw Nic, George, Eliza, Joe, Billy and Evelyn for the first time on the course having missed them going the wrong way around the Woolwich Ferry roundabout a few hours earlier. It was a lift to the spirits much needed by this point.

Blackfriars Tunnel

The streets had been lined with spectators from the outset so it was quite odd to be running through a tunnel with only music and no people! A chance to gather the thoughts and try and dig deep for the remaining few miles.

Turning the corner at Westminster

It didn’t matter how much I was hurting. I somehow found the strength to run continuously from this point. The 200m markers positioned up Birdcage Walk showed just how close I was to completing one of the toughest endurance events of my life so far.

Turning the corner to The Mall

Sorry for another corner. Having very little left my entire body lit up when I saw the finish line for the first time and realised I really was going to make it. A huge smile spread across my face and my arms went up in the air. I dragged some energy from the very depths of my legs and decided it was the perfect time to sprint the last 200m and cross the finish line in style!

The Medal

What can I say – awesome.

Reuniting with the family

To avoid crowds I met Nic, George, Eliza, Joe, Billy and Evelyn at North Greenwich. Such a great feeling to have George running up with his arms wide open beaming at my medal!

The journey home

The bizarre experience of being congratulated by random strangers in the street across London. That feeling of stardom returned!

What next?

Less than 1 week after completing the London Marathon I am able to walk up and down stairs without grimacing. I cannot wait to start running again.

Another Marathon? Absolutely.

At some point I will attempt the Bob Graham Round. Three Marathon’s across some of the most challenging terrain in England in 24 hours.

For now I think I will enjoy reliving the moment of crossing the London Marathon finish line and some local running for pleasure.

Routes in the Northern Fells–Part 4 of many

This is a route that is equally great for running or a big family day out. There are several variations, in some of them you don’t reach the summit of any mountains but is a real opportunity to get in amongst some of the favourites (Skiddaw, Blencthra and others).
Obviously I do not provide any guarantee for the accuracy or current safety of these routes. They are simply a record of my own endeavours and if you decide to adopt them you do so at your own risk.

LaTrigg CAR PARK, Cumbrian way to Skiddaw House and back

On a clear day, there are some amazing views to be had of Kesiwick, a rarely seen rear view of Blencathra and of course the scree slopes of the mighty Skiddaw. I will provide two variations on the basic route which affect distance and especially ascent.
I first trialled this route (variation 1) as a family walk with my 6 year old son and 2 year old daughter (in a back carrier) – the distance made this over-ambitious.
The basic route and all variations are ideal for fell running beginners.

Basic Route

Statistics

• Distance: 11.2km
• Ascent: 233m
• Summits: 0
• Difficulty: Easy
• Comments: Large sections of this are walkable by all ages (my 2 year old daughter enjoyed some of the Cumbrian Way around the base of Lonscale Fell).

Route

• Park in the Latrigg Car Park (NY281254)
• Follow the path to Skiddaw until it forks (NY283256), take the right fork continuing on the Cumbrian Way.
• It is a very clear path from here until Skiddaw house (NY287292). This is a great place to stop for lunch as there are several walls where shelter can be gained.
• Here you can choose Variation 2 (see below), or head back along the same path enjoying beautiful views down the valley towards Keswick.
• At a prominent sheepfold (not on the OS Map, NY292280), you can choose Variation 1 (see below).

Variation 1 – Threlkeld Extension

Statistics

• Distance: 13.5km
• Ascent: 383m
• Summits: 1
• Difficulty: Easy
• Comments: This was too ambitious for my 6 year old son to walk and he was exhausted by the end.

Route

• Take the left path from NY292280 and follow the clear path which crosses Sinen Gill and Roughten Gill.
• It is a very clear path from here until the Threlkeld Car Park (NY303256).
• Take the path on the right through the wall down to the Blencathra Field Centre.
• Go through the Centre and follow the signs for ‘Derwentfolds’, following straight on at the cross roads (NY299255).
• Turn left when you get to ‘Derwentfolds’ and follow the path down to a small road.
• Turn right (North-West) to a four-way split in the paths (NY296252). Take the middle option which, after a short drag up towards the Latrigg Summit, follows the wall of a forest on your right.
• Follow the path as it turns NNE around the far corner of the forest (NY284252) – you can take a short detour over the summit of Latrigg to gain your one summit!
• The path leads back to the Latrigg Car Park.

Variation 2 – Loop over Sale How and Skiddaw Little Man

Statistics

• Distance: 12km
• Ascent: 550m
• Summits: 2
• Difficulty: Medium
• Comments: This is a great route in good weather, but Sale How can get very boggy and the route over Skiddaw Little Man is deceptively high (810m at the joining of the Sale How and the Skiddaw ‘motorway’).

Route

• From the northern corner of Skiddaw House (NY287292), follow the obvious path SW towards the summit of Sale How. This path crosses a peat bog and is usually very wet (even in the best of conditions).
• Continue beyond the short plateau and reach the summit of Sale How (NY276286).
• Head W following a less prominent path until you reach the Skiddaw ‘motorway’ (NY266284). This is your ‘high’ point of the route at ~810m.
• Turn left and follow the obvious path SSE – take a short detour over Skiddaw Little Man (NY267278) to bag your second Wainwright!
• Continue over Jenkin Hill and down the steep zig-zag path back to the Latrigg Car Park.

Snowdon: A journey

Having been surprised on my birthday in January with a fantastic GoPro Hero camera I’ve been avidly collecting lots of footage. Trial and error finally got me some great clips of a family day out up the Llanberis Path on Snowdon in February.

Some amateur editing and a fantastic soundtrack of Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture (Fingal’s Cave) has resulted in my first lengthy post to YouTube: http://youtu.be/nSxkeGatVuQ

Enjoy and please feedback any comments positive or negative!

Routes in the Northern Fells–Part 3 of many

In my first post I mentioned that I nearly completed a challenge to run all of the Northern Fells of the Lake District by the end of 2012. The relatively unimposing Meal Fell still eludes me. Here are some brief descriptions of the routes I followed with some helpful tips. For the most part they are around 10km with varying ascent apart from the Old Crown Round which I would highly recommend as a whistle stop tour of the Northern Fells.

Obviously I do not provide any guarantee for the accuracy or current safety of these routes. They are simply a record of my own endeavours and if you decide to adopt them you do so at your own risk.

Ullock Pike, Long Side & Carl Side

I foolishly picked a windy day for this run. The route is fantastic and the views even better but the wind has a habit of howling down both the Skiddaw and Bassenthwaite sides of the ridge. In my opinion this is one of the best short runs in the Northern Lakes.

The route is a straight up and back to Carl Side however it is possible to carry on around the ridge to pick up Skiddaw and end up back where you started. This adds considerable ascent and distance but is a worthwhile challenge if you’re feeling strong at the half way point.

Statistics

• Distance: 9km
• Ascent: 600m
• Summits: 3
• Difficulty: Medium-Hard
• Comments: Picking your way through the farm land in the first few hundred metres is annoying and the route below seems involved. However you are aiming for the visible ridge which appears to run S and the jagged summit of Ullock Pike.

Route

• From the A591 towards Keswick take the sharp left towards Peter House Farm at High Side (NY234305) and park in the first layby on the right (NY236310). 
• From the road take the track heading ENE.
• Take the first perpendicular right (NY237311).
• Follow the path as it turns sharply to the left due ENE (NY238308),
• The path is always gently ascending at this point and you can follow it round and through the gap in the wall due S (NY241307).
• Continue along the obvious path to Ling How (NY240299)
• Now the real ascent begins and you will climb nearly 300m over the next 1km.
• The OS map does not do this patch justice and what appears to be a gently curving patch around ‘The Edge’ is actually a rocky path which snakes its way up the ridge to Ullock Pike (NY245286).
• Even when Skiddaw is engulfed in cloud you get a fabulous view of Bassenthwaite Lake.
• Beyond Ullock Pike there is a brief reprieve in ascent until you start the relatively easy climb up to Long Side (NY248284).
• Cross the saddle to Carl Side Tarn (NY256282).
• A gentle push SW up to the final summit of Carl Side (NY254280).
• Retrace your steps back to the car taking care on the descent after Ullock Pike which seems even steeper on the way down!

More to come…

Techy Geek Corner

I am still trying to work out a decent way of getting OS Map extracts on here without having to pay large sums of money for Memory Map or the like. If anyone has any ideas, please tweet me @mcinsley83.

Routes in the Northern Fells–Part 2 of many

In my first post I mentioned that I nearly completed a challenge to run all of the Northern Fells of the Lake District by the end of 2012. The relatively unimposing Meal Fell still eludes me. Here are some brief descriptions of the routes I followed with some helpful tips. For the most part they are around 10km with varying ascent apart from the Old Crown Round which I would highly recommend as a whistle stop tour of the Northern Fells.

Obviously I do not provide any guarantee for the accuracy or current safety of these routes. They are simply a record of my own endeavours and if you decide to adopt them you do so at your own risk.

Great Calva

Watching the rain clouds rapidly approach across Skiddaw Forrest from a vantage point on Great Calva is motivation enough for anyone to start running in the opposite direction. Dash Falls is spectacular after there has been some rain.

Statistics

• Distance: 10.5km
• Ascent: 480m
• Summits: 1
• Difficulty: Medium
• Comments: Don’t jump Dash Beck at the top of Dash Falls as I did. If you continue but 10m you will cross the beck on a bridge! Great Calva can be boggy after heavy or prolonged rain.

Route

• Park in the layby opposite Peter House Farm (NY249323).
• Follow the Cumbria Way signpost Keswick and Threlkeld ignoring the left turn (NY261319).
• Continue to the unmistakeable top of Dash Falls (NY272312).
• After you have crossed the beck follow the fence to your left steeply up with Dry Gill on your left.
• Use the fence as a rail until you reach the Little Calva summit plateau (NY282315).
• Follow the contours round to avoid losing height and head for Great Calva summit (NY290311).
• On a clear day you can enjoy spectacular views of the Northern Fells from the ‘inside’.
• From Great Calva summit head SW to re-join the Cumbria Way at its intersection with Dead Beck (NY283303). This can often be very wet underfoot.
• Follow the Cumbria Way back to Peter House Farm.

More to come…

Techy Geek Corner

I am still trying to work out a decent way of getting OS Map extracts on here without having to pay large sums of money for Memory Map or the like. If anyone has any ideas, please tweet me @mcinsley83.