This is a mini-blog-ette. Not a full blow ramble-on-a-thon, just a lightning quick write-up of the grand day out that is THE OLD COUNTY TOPS FELL RACE.
Other stuff.
The gorgeous summer-like-spring, (but we do need some rain!) A successful and semi-enjoyable car boot sale (after saing “NEVER AGAIN” at Rufforth in winter 2004).
The Old County Tops
I was born (a long time ago) in Westmor(e)land, in 1974, Westmorland (Wrestling in long johns with fancy undercrackers) joined forces with Cumberland (sausages, mmm) and Furness (Barrow RLFC) to form the mighty CUMBRIA.
All of which was reversed 2 years ago, when Cumbria reverted back to the old 3 counties, a rant I won’t even begin here.
The Old County Tops are the highest points in each county. In Westmorland it was/is Helvellyn, in Cumberland it was/is Scafell Pike and in Furness it was/is Coniston Old Man. In 1988 Achille Ratti Climbing Club hatched the idea of linking up all 3 tops in a fell race, starting and finishing in Great Langdale with a distance of 37 miles and 10,000ft of up and down, (59.5km with 3049m of climbing). A grand day out!
My mate John and I had chatted about having a crack at the race a while ago. It is the longest A race in the FRA calendar and was planned as my “A” race of the year. Up to April things were going well, then the usual suspects (niggles and dodgy guts) started rearing their ugly heads and suddenly it was time for kick-off, now or never!
We went up to Great Langdale on the Friday night, the A65 stretched out 105 miles into a 4.5hr journey, but we were there. Me running, the girls marshalling/helping out. The Langdale hut was a hive of activity.
Dawn dawned into a beautiful day.
There is a VIDEO at the foot of the page, so I won’t bore you with a blow-by-blow account here, but it was an awesome day out.
Busy Bees at Cockley Beck feed station.
The race is expertly organised by ARCC and it was an extra bonus to see the girls at Cockley Beck, (they were working on the feed station).
Windy on the tops and hot in the valleys, we played the long game.
After chasing the cut-offs, we got in under the 12 hours to get our well earned OCT T-shirts and less than 24hrs later, we had agreed to go back next year. Sub 10 hours maybe 🙂
Pennine Way North…
Providing my knee is moving and my trench foot has cleared up (big ask), a week on Wednesday I will be running/walking/stumbling/rolling/hallucinating my way down the Pennine Way from Kirk Yetholm to Hawes.
How will it go? I have absolutely no idea at all. Watch this space!
Raiders round-up
After a last minute draw away against Batley, the mighty Raiders are in 4th position in the league. A tough trip away at Toulouse (hopefully with a win) this weekend.
The Raiders ladies started their Superleague campaign at the weekend, but got off to a bad start with a defeat away at Leigh. No easy games in the top flight.
And finally…
A video that took longer to make than it took to run. My on-the-run effort, filmed on my phone, trotting round the Old County Tops with my mate John, on a glorious sunny day. We’ll be back next year!
Thank you for reading/watching. Until the next time.
Here is the latest write-up of events that is the jumbled nonsense which I call my blog. No messing around this month, let’s just crack on with it.
Evaporating April!
Where did it go? After the “glacier-in-reverse” speed of January, (definitely not helped by being paid mid December), February cruised, March sprinted and April positively disappeared. Whilst typing this out in a mini-heatwave and wishing that it would last forever (spoiler – it won’t), having seen the reservoirs up on the parched moors, there is a part of me wishing for rain, but only during the week and at night please!
Up the road…
I have been lucky with travelling. I lived in Western Australia as a youngster (& blagged my way into a job as a kind-of-chef in Sydney as a young man), Lina and I drove to Mongolia in our little silver Micra, I somehow survived living in Peru for a few years and I went round the world on a £997 RTW ticket, what an absolute bargain that was.
However, I am THEE most hopless tourist, best exemplified by the fact that I never actually got to Macchu Picchu!
I am a Cumbrian, I was born in what was (& now is) Westmorland. I am blindly loyal to the Lake District. The Berlingo pulls northwards towards the A1/A66 whenever I drive anywhere else and I would chop off both little fingers and both little toes to move back there.
HOWEVER, my favourite place in the whole world is the Scottish Highlands.
This love affair began in 1986 when I went on a winter mountaineering trip in 1986 to “The Great Wilderness” between Kinlochewe and Dundonnell. People say they are “blown away” by places, events or experiences, it was more than that for me, I was completely enchanted.
Yes, it is a long drive and yes, the traffic around Loch Lomond can be a right royal pain in the ar$e, but I love it up there. My favourite trip of all time remains as the one I did on my trusty old Honda C90 in 2014. 1500 miles in 10 days on a budget of £100, (did it with 5p to spare!)
Put simply, I will drop everything for the chance of a trip up north.
So, when my mate John mentioned a trip to Kintail, I was there.
Obsessing over the weather at a time when it had been glorious, but looked to turn crap, we actually lucked out with the weather and despite monsoons in Glasgow, had 2 fine, dry days. Staying at the outstanding Ratagan Hostel (cheaper than the local campsite at £28 per night, with the best showers I have ever had), we had 2 days on the hills, (The Scots call them “hills”, but they are bloody big hills!)
Day 1: The Five Sister & Four Brothers of Kintail.
Day 2: The Forcan Ridge and The Saddle.
Day 1 was longer, day 2 was spicier!
The Five Sisters is an outstanding roller-coaster ridge rider of a day out & best of all, we only saw one person all day. After the first mile/3000ft of climbing, it is a joy, the views are both panoramic and aerial. I lost count of the times I said “What a day!” Thankfully the van was still there at the Cluanie Inn at the end.
The Forcan Ridge is a different day out… On paper it looked shorter (as it was) and apart from a bit of scrambling, fairly straightforward, (which it was, straightforward apart from “a bit of scrambling”).
On a sunny, warm day, it would be an amazing walk. Although it was clear, it had turned very windy and the wind seemed to be coming from an Eskimo’s freezer in the North Pole! Fellrunning (hill running north of the border) is sometimes marginal, especially regarding kit (choice). If you do venture out onto the hills, especially as a runner, although watching YouTube videos does not substitute experience, if you have 4 minutes and haven’t watched THIS VIDEO, watch it now:
(Even better, if you have 10mins, watch the extended version, it might just save your bacon and/or make you think, whilst packing your bumbag (fanny pack for American subscribers!)
Back to the Forcan Ridge.
After a steady climb, the ridge bares its teeth fairly soon, then tricks you into thinking that the tricky bit is behind you, when it is not!
Definitely not a day for loitering and most definitely not a place where you would want a fall! We were only a couple of miles from the road, if you fell off the south side of the ridge, you might as well be on the moon! John and I are both experienced mountaingoers, and John is an A&E nurse, so I was in safe hands, (I had a St.John’s First Aid course 20 years ago, I have experience with paper cuts!)
Edward Whymper’s wise words were going round my mind:
“Climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength are nought without prudence, and that a momentary negligence may destroy the happiness of a lifetime. Do nothing in haste; look well to each step; and from the beginning think what may be the end.”
Only a Grade 2 scramble, but a bit dicey on an icy day. After the ridge, the rest was plain sailing and we cooked up future plans, before waiting an extrordinarily long time for some tucker at a not especially busy local boozer. It was like a Scottish Fawlty Towers.
Next day, I had an appointment at a local (Yorkshire, not Highlands) Optician to have my ears looked at on the Thursday, as I had gone deaf in my right ear a few weeks previous. A week of Otex Express (useless) and a week of intense Olive Oiling (marginally better) had lined me up for a 4:30pm appointment. Rising at 5am, away by 6am, home by 3pm. I rang to check and was told that my appointment was actually the week after Ironically, my phone rang soon after but I didn’thear it. By the time I saw the missed call and rang the Opticians back I was told that they had had a cancellation, but that I was too late.
I did go for my ears sucking out the week after and had enough wax to start up a candle factory and learned more than I ever knew about my Tinnitus, which although it will never go away, it can be managed without losing one’s mind!
With hearing restored, after a cracking Caledonian trip, my thoughts started drifiting to future trips to the fells/hills…
P.S. A not too welcome souvenir. One of seven ticks exported from Kintail, horrible little beggars!
“Training”
Thishas become a competely running-centric blog, so I won’t bore you here with a blow-by-blow account of my training diary.
I will only mention “The Carb Revelation”
Also Doni’s uphill treadmill revolution, a very cheap road bike from a man near Whitby (tied in with a day trip which was planned before the bike acquisition).
A half price Halford’s turbo trainer justified by the sale of some tat from my shed, cross training (even bloody swimming, which I hate) and sidestepping the Eskdale Elevation, to hopefully make sure my legs are intact for…
O.C.T.
The Old County Tops Fell Race.
“Held in May, The Old County Tops Fell Race covers 37 miles and involves around 10,000 feet of ascent.
The exact distance and amount of ascent are dependant on the route you choose!
The Race starts in Great Langdale and takes in the tops of Helvellyn, Scafell Pike and Coniston before returning to Great Langdale, after which the competitors are fed and watered.”
That is how it is described on the race website. It sounds like a jolly day out when you read it, but after helping out on the feed station (not common in fell races, which are mainly self-sufficient affairs, where you might get a swig of water or a couple of jelly babies from a friendly marshal), and seeing the state (& disparity/decline) of some runners, I know very well that it is one of the hardest fell races in the calendar.
One big difference abou this race is that it is run in pairs. And finding a well matched partner is not that straightforward. It is not just about fitness, although both runners have to be fit. It is also about mountaincraft, navigation, “admin” (keeping your $h!t together with feeding, drinking and all that stuff which if neglected will mean the wheels will fall off). In my eyes, (as a competitor, but not a podium challenger/record breaker), one of the most important things is to find someome who you get on with. Someone who you can take the mickey out of/have the mickey taken out of you by, who you kind of know when they go quiet, do they want to have their ear chewed off or do they want a bit of P&Q.
For all the reasons above, that is why John & I are teamed up for the OCT. It is going to be a BIG day out 🙂
John & I did a brilliant (crack, but maybe not brillliant weather, we got our asses wupped by Storm Babbet) trip a while back which can be seen/summarised here:
On the Way.
What started as a daydream will most likely be a reality by the time of the next blog. The “Northern Challenge” is our little adventure running, jogging, walking, crawling and hallucinating along the top half of the Pennine Way, southwards from Kirk Yetholm (Scottish Borders) to Hardraw (near Hawes). When I say “our”, I refer to a very hardy bunch of athletes from Marsden and myself (maybe not so hardy).
Sinead is the brains behind the organisation and (extremely complex) logistics and support. I did once do the road support for a P&B Bob Graham Round with a clubmate called Boff, and it was simply a case of being at the 4 road crossings on a circular-ish route at a certain time, with a bootful of running kit, pasta, pasties and drinks. Tiring, but only lasting 24 hours, with runners either being there and carrying on, or being there and dropping out!
The PW will be different as it is linear (A-to-B) and we may well be strung out like the washing, meaning headaches for road support.
I haven’t done anything near this distance (ever) and haven’t done any mega-long stuff (100 miles, which I only did once) for many, many years, so it is into the unknown a bit and will be entirely on-the-hoof experimental when it comes to eating and sleeping, but it is good to try something that you know there is a good chance that you might not be able to do!
Second in the league and flying high with confidence and results. Success is not a regular bedfellow of our’s at Craven Park. Since our Challenge Cup victory (a while ago in 1955), it has been lean pickings. League Two champions in 2004 and Championship Grand Final winners in 2009 (what a match that was). That is the sum of victories since 1875. 150 years!
However, this season, 8 games in, things have been different and although we never take victories lightly, the team spirit has been nothing short of phenomenal. Let’s hope we can hold the form for the next 16 matches/until September!
And finally.
My mate John is what is known as a YouTuber. He makes high quality, entertaining videos of forays into the fells, and most of all, people (3000 subscribers) watch and enjoy them! (One of his videos has had 188,000 views!)
At the other end of the scale, there is me! I have 45 subscribers and have had a total of 8751 views, and I think that is including me watching my own videos.
The difference is that he knows what he is doing 🙂
On our Scotland trip, I took along my camera for posterity. It is purely a point and shoot capture of a day out. So here is the ladfromtad.com vlog for your entertainment
That’s all for now folks! Hasta la proxima amigos 🙂
Johnny
p.s. Thanks to John for the Scotland pics (his are the good ones, my camera is diabolical). Less pics than usual this month, lost my new hard drive, d’oh!
I hope you are in fine spring fettle. Been a while since my last ramblings, busy old time. 3 races in 3 weeks, for an unprolific racer like me, that is heaps! Apologies in advance, the blog is a bit running-centric again. Glad to see the back of winter and hopefully things will be a tad warmer with more daffodils, rabbits jumping around and blackbirds building their nests 🙂
Oxymoron redefined, barely bloody tepid these useless things!
The girls are both full of the lurgy, as it seems are half the population right now 😦
The Nipper is 11
How did that happen? Thankfully before the lurgy.
Fish and Chip birthday tea and a lively party with her mates. All good fun 🙂
Haworth Hobbling
After the Wadsworth Trog I wasn’t exactly giddy about the prospect of a 32 mile race in the Pennines. The Wadsworth Trog (The Beast) didn’t go too well, but to be fair, 2 weeks before the Trog, I could barley put my shoes on nor wipe my backside, so bad was my back. Thankfully this passed, but had left a hefty dint in any sembleance of training/mileage. I had done the Hobble before in 2009 (everything at the time was a lead-up to the Bob Graham Round, on which I was so focussed at the time that I can remember nothing else that happened in 2009!)
My only route knowledge was that I had run on Stoodley Pike countless times (coming from the opposite direction!)
The Haworth Hobble is BIG. It sells out in under a day and gets about 1000 entries. I get a bit freaked out in races of over 100 people so it was a big deal. It is in essence a trail race run under FRA (Fell Runners Association) rules. As trail races go, it is cheap as chips, hence selling out so quickly. It prides itself on the tucker available at the feed stations on course, it is basically a series of buffet tables with some running between. From Haworth, over the tops to Todmorden, up Stoodley Pike, to Hebden Bridge and wandering back across the tops to Haworth Hot dogs, chip butties, Thai Yum Yum soup, (non-alcoholic) lager, (alcoholic) whisky and more.
I started too close to the back and spent the first 2 miles trying to get past people, not that I was going to be anywhere near the sharp end, but as cut-offs are pretty relaxed, some folk don’t really rush.
One plus (a big plus) was that the weather was amazing! Sunny and warm. Joy, joy, joy.
I took a while to get into my stride but after 5 miles, I started running with a lass from Bowland Fell Runners. We were running at the same pace, so kept together until the end. It is infinitely easier running and chatting, than running on your tod. The miles flew by. I resisted the temptations of hot dogs, yum-yum soup and (despite the hard sell), chip butties, saving myself for pizza at the end. Ended up finishing 20mins quicker than my last time, so that is definitely progress in my book 🙂
Shout out to RUN.REUSE.RECYCLE for their awesome work. Check them out!
Beater Cloughfell race.
This was a race I was really, really looking forward to! Sold on the idea by the man, the legend, Doni Clarke. This low-key grassroots fell race was also Lina’s fell race debut for 2025.
Run over private land (with permission), the race has a bit of everything, including a brilliant, brilliant steeeeep descent and ascent (enjoyed twice). We did manage to get a bit lost (on a flagged course), but it was an ace day out and a race I will go back to. Starting in a field, registration in a lay-by, with water at the finish. No-frills racing at its best!
Short shorts courtesy of run.reuse.recycle
Muncaster Luck fell race.
The Muncaster Luck bowl.
As the legend goes, Henry VI, who was made King at the age of 8, had lost the throne to Henry IV and had been imprisoned at the battle of Hexham, he escaped, fled and lived rough in the fells for a year. He was found in a bit of a sorry state by a shepherd and taken to Muncaster Castle, where Sir John Pennington (owner of the castle) gave him food, water and lodgings, for as long as he needed it. In payment for this, King Henry gave a glass bowl with a prayer that the family would prosper as long as the bowl remained unbroken, (which is a miracle in itself, as the King had lived rough for a year!) It still remains unbroken to this day and Muncaster Castle did seem to be in pretty good shape when I was there. (It is also, apparently, one of the most haunted buildlngs in Britain!)
Back to the modern day, I really, really do hang on to the past so hard. Is this nostalgia, or just clinging onto a part of life you don’t want to end? The race organiser is John H, an old school P&B friend, a goodfella. He kindly offered to take me round the course on a recce the week before, on a glorious day in a corner of the Western Lakes which doesn’t get many visitors, it was a real treat to be out, but as I spent so much time chatting, taking photos and generally not paying attention, so when it came to race day, I realised I did not have “the lines” as dialled in as I should have!
The day before I headed up to the Wasdale hut and arrived very early to the race, on the most glorious of spring days, sunny and warm, clear and dry.
The race is mainly off-piste, the “lines” are the best route and a Calder Valley bloke who had been behind me at the start suddenly popped out 200yds in front and proceeded to disappear into the distance, I ran with a bloke from Black Combe and another from Macclesfield. Despite an almost certain death near miss fall on the final descent, I crossed the barely ankle deep river Esk and gurned my way up the last steep climb into the amazingly beautiful Muncaster Castle grounds to finish 5th (there were only 30-ish runners and all the best runners were getting lost in the clag at the Edale Skyline), my best run in years 🙂
The Waller’s Way.
There is hardcore, and there is Bobby Gard Storry!
Bobby is a fellrunner who I have got to know through the (ON THE BACK FOOT) podcast. A top bloke, great runner and a Dry Stone Waller. (I have floundered whilst trying to explain this to people, so please bear with me!) Bobby decided, for his 30th birthday, (for he is a young man) to spend 30 days and 30 nights, running from a different valley each day, over the fells, to a different valley, where he would repair dry stone walls, either camping or staying in a bothy or hut. Sounds simple, which in essence it is, carrying enough kit and food to be self sufficient and painting daily life onto a new, blank canvas every day, but the logistics, as always, are what makes simple things complicated!
Not this one, this is Dubs Hut.
As I was up in the Lakes for Muncaster (the far west Lakes, i,e. next stop Isle of Man), I told Bobby I would meet up. So I drove r-o-u-n-d to Honister (central-ish Lakes) and spent an awesome night in Warnscale Bothy. A basic but cosy stone abode overlooking Buttermere, made famous in recent times by the new breed known as “Influencers”.
Bothies are simple properties, in the mountains, in England, Scotland and Wales, which are free of charge. Facilities are basic, there may be a fireplace, or a woodburning stove, with a space to sleep, but that is about it, as that is all one needs, (it is free remember!)
So, myself, Bobby and 3 other people (we didn’t know each other beforehand, only through Bobby) spent the night in the bothy, we had all carried in firewood, so kept the woodburner going all night, and despite snorers and the scurrying of a midnight mouse, I had a great night’s kip.
The next day, which was approximately halfway through Bobby’s walling tour, I dashed back to my car (for fear of reports of Bobby being uncatchable, despite his 10kg giant rucksack), to ditch my sleeping gear for enough running kit to keep me safe on the fells, then dashed back to meet Bobby and we trotted over the Buttermere fells as far as Red Pike, where Bobby dropped into Ennerdale to find a wall to fix, and I reversed my steps over the fells back to the car.
Think my phone camera was on “False tan & extra grey hair” setting!
It was a long, but uneventful drive back home in glorious sunshine and was the start of a week, that started great and gradually turned to ratsh!t, but c’est la vie, at times!
Pennine Waying.
Long story short (not like me). Jogging back to the start of the Calderdale Way Relays 2 years ago, I met a bloke called Scott, from Marsden. Scott was doing his Bob Graham Round that year, so I offered to help and became friends with some of his friends.
(Windy out! Jake, me & Scott on Broad Crag – July 2023)
Fast forward to winter 2025, chat group chat turned to “The Spine” race. An epic, but VERY expensive race running, walking and shivering its way up the full Pennine Way from Edale (Peak District) to Kirk Yetholm (Scottish Borders), with options of a Challenger South and North, one doing the bottom half, the other the top half. 268 miles or 431km in new money. The top half is approximately 160 miles. “Why don’t we just do it ourselves?” was an idea floated in the group.
“Who’s in?”
One of those impulsive “why not” moments, so I said yes.
So, at the end of May, the plan is to run/walk/crawl the top half in reverse, from Kirk Yetholm to Hawes (Hardraw to be exact), taking 3 days, sleeping wherever.
There are currently 5 loonbags up for the challenge, what will happen? Watch this space!
Up the Road
Cooking up a last minute Caledonian trip with my mate John, to Glen Shiel in April. Not been up to Bonny Scotland since that disastrous weekend that was the Jura race last year. No racing this time, just some big days out in the hills, in readiness for our assault on the Old County Tops race in May. The OCT is a pairs race linking Great Langdale and the Old (now current county tops, with the disgraceful abolition of Cumbria in April 2023). It climbs the highest point of Helvellyn (Westmorland), Scafell Pike (Cumberland) and the Old Man of Coniston (Furness) athen heads back to Langdale. 37 miles with 10,000ft of up and down. A BIG day out. Work to do for sure.
Raiders round-up.
TOP, TOP, TOP, TOP, TOP OF THE LEAGUE!!!
At least briefly! Despite Bradford calling a Friday teatime kick-off, meaning players and fans having to take time off work, last Friday was a joyous evening! Although it is still early days in the season, Barrow won and went top of the Betfred Championship table, briefly.
Halifax look like the team to beat this season. In true Raiders fashion, we crumbled today against York Neets. The Raiders were third in the league and although it was great to go top, for a fleeting moment, I am not overly confident and did say that I would do a streak around Craven Park, if Barrow do win the league. (I think I will be keeping my clothes on). Onwards and upwards!
DOGMAN!
The Nipper and I went to see DOGMAN at the Flicks. Thought we had a private screening and the place to ourselves, but it filled up soon after. Top film 🙂
And finally
I miss the 90’s, so much
That’s all for now folks. Hasta la proxima.
Johnny
p.s. The Youngster made me this, the night before the Hobble 🙂
I hope you are all in finest February form. After the 527 day long month that is January, it is always a massive (financial) relief to finally get to the fleeting 4-weeker that is February. I am determined to keep this particular blog relatively short, and not the sprawl-on-a-thon that it normally is.
After a few false starts and a strange back problem, things are kind of coming together-ish fitnesswise. I have found a brilliant Chiropractor, for whom I don’t have to sell all my internal organs for. Reasonably priced & bloody good! Still not sure what the problem is, but like the battered Ford Cortina that I am, I keep limping on. It is wrong to wish time away but I am really not a fan of winter one bit, so roll on spring (or even straight into summer) for me please.
The Beast!
It seems that nowadays runners are keen to part with lots of their hard-earned for something even bigger, even better and even harder than the last thing they did. I get that to a point, but it is also good to keep things simple sometimes.
The Wadsworth Trog fell race is a big 20 mile/32km loop from Old Town, above Hebden Bridge. A classic winter bogtrot, also known as “The Beast”. It has been going for years and is a great no-frills winter Pennine race.
There are harder, higher and longer races, but the weather on the first weekend of February can be rather fickle, so 20 miles is more than plenty long enough for me thank you 🙂
It was an 11th hour decision to race. I was entered for the Mickleden Straddle on the Sunday but plans for that all fell through and after saying I would never, ever go back to “The Beast” after a disatatrous race in 2002, I entered on the Friday night, for the next morning.
What happened in 2002? At the time (apart from being 23 years younger) I was actually running quite well. Hindsight wisdom tells me now that it is an ominous sign to be running well in February, as it meant a lifetime best run in the Three Peaks race in April and then an off-a-cliff decline straight afterwards!
In the 2002 Beast, with 2 miles to go, myself and a lad called Dave from Darwen Dashers were 4th & 5th. The clag was lower than our shoe laces and neither of us were especially au-fait with the route (which is a nightmare in poor visibility). Back then kit rules were a bit more lax. I was going through a ridiculous everything ultra lightweight phase and had a compass that weighed one nanogram, but was worse than a compass out of a Christmas cracker. Convinced that we had gone wromg, we stopped, took a bearing and headed back the way we had come, eventually meeting a massive group of runners coming towards us, so we went from 4th & 5th places to 24th & 25th and had a bit of a motivation dump! What had gone wrong? I had a good map, all marked up properly, but did I?*
Fast forward to 2025. As I was originally going to race at a different race on Sunday. (The Mickleden Straddle, a beauty of a race, fast, runnable, good going with one tricky bit of nav. Only 12 miles, so no great shakes if you blow up), I didn’t really have any good race food in, gels would have to do, plus some dubious (very) out of date peanut butter and mystery bars. I did know that I had a map in the chaos zone that is “somewhere in the shed”.
I located the map, packed my tucker and all was set. My first mistake was making the error of arriving mega early. Give me an hour and I am absolutely fine. Give me 2 hours and I will ALWAYS faff/chat 1 hour and 55 minutes of that 2 hours away. Chatting to a friend, I asked if the course had changed (since 2002) and was told “Yes”. As I frantically tried to get a fuller picture of this route change, time was evaporating away. As luck would have it, it was a clear day. Otherwise I might still be between checkpoint 7 and 8 now.
Always check your expiry dates!
Kick-off time arrived and we were off. I did not feel good early on and felt worse later on!
(Excuses time)…
I had bought a new racevest in the sales, basically a close fitting rucksack with a multitude of pockets to hide/lose all your food, junk and clobber. As I am stuck in last century where/when folk used to stuff everything into a bumbag (fanny pack for any American readers!) I have still not got used to using racevests yet. As I had spent all my pre-race getting ready time, not getting ready, I had stashed away my food badly in the racevest, this was further compounded by my Raynaud’s Syndrome problem (which is a major ballache this winter! Plus, I had no handwarmer teabags). On top of this, what I call in my head “training” had been pretty inconsistent all of January and in a nutshell, the course found me out. After 10 miles, I was blowing out of my backside.
I got really cold, couldn’t really get to my food with frozen Raynaud’s hands and fumbled, tumbled and bumbled my way round the second half, but ultimately finishing. Mid-table obscurity.
P!ss poor preparation generally equals p!ss poor performance!
My main motivation in the latter stages was the box in my boot with a veritable banquet of tasty army ration packs (which I got a bit obsessed with buying a few years back, resulting in a huge stockpile of pouches in my shed).
Pulling into a layby just outside a nameless village on the way home, I was saddened to then remember that I had been to the tip earlier in the week and emptied the boot So, it was a long, hungry drive home and a very late lunch at 5pm!
Photo courtesy of the legend that is Dave Woodhead
Next stop is the Haworth Hobble, which is 11 miles further than the Beast! What could go wrong? All good training for the Old County Tops (my main race of the year) and my accidental entry into the Lakeland 50 in July.
A week after the Hobble, it is on to Beater Clough fell race, which I am very excited about. A new race for me, it is a P&B Championship race and Lina is running too. It is however just one short week after the Haworth Hobble and I will be hobbling, then we are off up to the Lakes for the first time in AGES for Muncaster Luck fell race. March is busy!
I will talk about a ridiculous Pennine Way thing I am doing in May next time.
* Looking at the map after the race, I noticed that I had marked up part of the route wrong in 2002. Dave, if by chance you are reading, I apologise, it was my mistake!
The Synges!
Most people have heard of the Wainwrights. 214 Lakeland fells climbed and beautifully drawn by Alfred Wainwright in his 7 guidebooks.
AW was a Lancastrian, who loved the hills. Runners have done “the round” in under a week, which is an eye-popping 325 miles/525km with 36,000m of climbing (a number too big to convert into feet). Personally, I never set out to “do” the Wainwrights, but I counted up that I have 31 left, which would entail 31 separate outings. They are not laid out in any logical order, there is no set route, they were just tops that AW liked the look of!
Most people are happy to do them all within a lifetime.
Enter “The Synges”, Tim Synge wrote this book, which contains 647 summits! Just in case you needed a target after you have done the Wainwrights 🙂
My good mate and Old County Tops partner, John, has been making videos for a good while now. My videos are shaky, induce motion sickness and are patched together. John’s videos are proper videos, another level of professionalism and are great viewing. Check this out:
Raiders round-up
Good old Barrow. Winning all their pre-season friendlies, including Superleague Salford and the first round of the Challenge Cup.
Then losing their first real cup game of the season against Oldham. Best to focus on the league!
The bookies are giving us a 600/1 likelihood of success!
First league game (today) is against newly promoted Hunslet. Will this be our season or another campaign of nail biting?
And finally
As a veteran of flogging my heart, soul and worldly goods on ebay, this video is so, so true!
Hasta la proxima amigos 🙂 Johnny
p.s. An abandoned boat? On a quiet country lane? More questions than answers…
I trust you are in fine post festive season form and that the fat bloke in red was good to you. Scribbled a very quick new year blog, here goes.
Seeing out the old year.
We had been tipped off about a cracking little race in Calderdale by our good friend, Doni. The Bilberry Fields fell race makes good use of every inch of climbing out of Todmorden and I thought it would be a good winter AS fell race for Lina to get her shoes muddy, get a bit of fresh air and most importantly WEAR HER NEW PUDSEY & BRAMLEY VEST! (Lina is now second claim for P&B on the fells, but remains first claim with Tad Harriers).
Although there is nothing better (in my eyes) than a long Lakeland round, when you finish absolutely destroyed, I do love a Pennine race. Different terrain, different people and the novelty of being able to walk normally the next day.
Lina said to me afterwards that fell races are “hard”. I said that it was hard for everyone, for the winners, for midfielders, for tail-end Charlies, and if it wasn’t hard, you’re simply not pushing it enough (or you’re a freak of nature!)
Top morning out followed by a brew and possibly the best cake I have ever eaten, at Doni’s.
Todmorden is a top spot, I could happily move there, but we ain’t moving house for a while just yet, still got a score of boxes to sort from the last move (and the one before that, and the one before that…)
The legendary Olga was out and about and filming. Olga makes great videos and here is her film of the race itself.
Año Nuevo.
(You need to have the little squiggle above the n, otherwise it translates as new bumhole!)
NYE is a funny old night!
I gave up the pop 4 years ago on final day of 2020 (what a year that was for everyone). I don’t miss drinking beer, but I do honestly miss getting wrecked. Nights out are not quite the same without a tipple, and you do feel on a different wavelength if you are sober with Tipplers as the night/alcohol wears on. The decision to give up alcohol wasn’t difficult, nor was giving it up. I was a weekend warrior binge drinker, but things tipped over the edge a bit in lockdown and as I am absolutely crap at moderation, it was much easier to give it up completely.
All or absolutely nothing at all!
I did it off my own back, but I do owe a lot to my friend Neil. B for his support and advice on this matter.
So, NYE, is it potentially one of the most overrated nights of the year, or simply a chance to reflect/dream? You decide.
As a young man, it to feel ridiculous and almost unfair that the 2 of the biggest nights of the year were only a week apart. NYE nowadays for us is normally spent at a Latino house party, which is good crack, with plenty of decent tucker, 12 grapes at midnight.
New Year’s Tradition: Twelve Grapes on the Glasses and a Festive Tree.
Then a quick sprint round the block carrying suitcases, for if you would like to travel in the ensuing year (we almost did travel in 2007, to the local police cells via a Bridewell Taxi, when the Old Bill in Morley saw us both dashing round the block at midnight with 2 suitcases! It took some explaining to the Old Bill…)
(I didn’t take my suitcase this year, plus it was tipping it down, so I probably won’t get far this year).
Reflection on 2024? Daydreams for 2025?
Both of which left more question marks than answers, but hopefully a generally positive feeling. It was a late night and an early morning.
In with the new.
New Year’s Day is normally a complete write-off, but now I am a self righteous teetotaller (!), I set my alarm early and headed off towards Cleckhuddersfax for the Giant’s Tooth fell race, on a very soggy morning, with an 11am kick-off.
Good enough for Barru Sheene
A good turnout from Pudsey & Bramley and a course I had not looked at, and one that I really should have at least looked at on the map…
Ogden Water (named after Hilda) is a lovely little corner of Calderdale, well worth a visit.
“Flagged” courses mean that you don’t need to read a map nor navigate your way round the route. GPS devices are banned in fell races (although not in trail races). As this was a flagged course and confident that I definitely would not be in the lead, I relaxed a bit too much. All I knew was that it had a fast start and a fast finish, with a climb in the middle. Prior to the deep freeze, it had been rain, rain, rain and this left the course rather muddy and with treacherous tree roots extra treacherous. (Not a fan of roots personally). Less than 3 miles meant it would be a sprint, and it was.
!On your marks, get set, GO!” Head down, followining the bloke in front, watching out for bloody tree roots, the slippiest surface known to man, the race was over before I realised and somehow I managed to scoop first V50 prize. My first pot in years. (I coudn’t hang around for prizegiving, so I missed my 5 seconds of fame!)
Chuffed to bits, totally over the moon. A great way to start the year/season 🙂
(Whilst eating this in a blustery lay-by outside Bradford, I could have been in a warm pub receiving my sportsshoes.com voucher, to a round of rapturous applause!)
Stumbling blocks.
As the saying goes.
Knacked my back My back has been pretty good for a few months, but then I knacked it 2 days after NYD and now I am struggling to get dressed and wipe my backside!
A lifetime of bad posture? (I blame being tall and then living in Peru, with too much time on buses/Combis too low for a man of my height).
I must remember that I am not: – Just about to pull on a GB vest, (well, maybe one for moaning). – A professonal. Running is only a hobby. – Going to die (yet, nor through not running, although I might be a bit more grumpy than usual!)
It’s a bad back, get over it man!
T’Lakes
We had Lina’s brother and wife (her brother’s wife, not Lina’s, that would be awkward) visiting over New Year, so keen to show them Blighty at its best, I became totally obsessed with the weather and started fretting when the forecast 4 days of “Full Sun”, changed to generally crappy weather over the course of a week, just before they arrived. Thursday 02/01 looked spectacular in the west and Friday looked ace on the east coast, so that is where we headed.
Stonehenge had been mentioned, but Castlerigg Stone Circle is: a) Closer. b) Cheaper (free in fact) c) In Cumbria!
So we did a full day driving tour of the Lakes, taking in Penrith, Castlerigg, Keswick, Ambleside and Kendal.
Just a shame I didn’t have chance to set a foot upon the fells, as the weather was glorious.
Up the Road…
Latinos are an impulsive bunch (I try, but I am not!) I love planning stuff and being semi-prepared, I think I lost any spontaneity I had when the Nipper was born. I had suggested a day trip to Whitby, then Northumbria was mentioned and Scotland looked close, on a map, on a phone screen, so Edinburgh was nominated!
We got there and found some digs, and then wandered into town.
Now I confess I am the world’s worst tourist for countless reasons: – I hate crowds. – I hate being blatantly ripped off. – I hate cities. – I am the reincarnation of Victor Meldrew.
Edinboghorror ticked all these boxes: – It was rammed. – £3.90 for a lime & soda for the young ‘un. (That must be a 4000% mark up). – Edinburgh is a city. A busy one, full of tourists. – Within one hour of wandering around, I was ready to kill someone/myself. (Tourist spots are naturally/obviously/inevitably busy, I get that, they are just not for me).
I didn’t exactly have a J-Lo style meltdown, but my back was giving me a lot of jip and I made it clear I wasn’t really having fun. So, I headed back to the digs and did my last Carla Molinaro work-out of my subscription and probably knackered my knackered back just a little bit more.
The next day it was decided as best that I should do my own thing, so everyone was happy.
I have been to Edinburgh twice, once on a stag do and the other on a Heineken trip, neither of which gave me time to go up Arthur’s Seat, possibly the most urban hill ever! It just stands there, proud, begging to be climbed.
With yellow warnings of ice, it was a spicy mixture of black ice, verglas, bullet ice and generally frozen surfaces that would put one on one’s ar$e quicker than Giant Haystacks. That didn’t deter the 20,000 tourists teetering up and slipping down this diminuitive lump, to get an aerial view of the city, the amazingly Alpine looking Pentland Hills and the Firth of Forth, (* I scoured the internet for Border TV’s birthday greetings with Uncle John and Eric the Monkey and Fearless Fred the fire fighting fusileer from the Firth of Forth, and failed).
After 90mins, I was about frozen, so headed back to the car and tried to get changed/dressed with useless frozen claws for hands and a jeffed back, which made it difficult to get changed, put my shoes, socks and trousers back on, in a (very) residential street, and then waited (& waited) for the others to get back. It was a long, dark drive back to Taddyland, but I do love Bonny Scotland.
* If you are of a certain age, and you grew up in Cumbria, you will remember “Uncle” John Myers & Eric the Monkey, who sadly passed away in 2019.
Winter Wainwrights record!
Apart from my V50 victory at the Giant’s Tooth, one other thing that really caught the attention of the fellrunning world was the news that Carol Morgan was to attempt a winter Wainwrights round.
Now putting this into context…
Alfred Wainwright was a hillwalker and artist who completed a multitude of routes up and down 214 of his own favourite fells. He created some amazing drawings of his chosen 214 peaks in his 7 volume pictorial guidebooks, over his lifetime. Most people are happy to complete the Wainwrights in their lifetime.
There are 214 peaks, some popular, some obscure, some are remote. I have 32 left on my list, but it would take me 32 separate day outs to do them all. There is no natural route, nor line to link them up, as AW would never have dreamt that anyone would be mad enough to do so, even less so in winter!
The late, great Joss Naylor set the record in 1986, when he was 50. A record that stood from 1986 until 2014. Steve Birkinshaw broke that record, captured magnificently on film by Al Lee here
Also documeted in the harrowing read that is “There is no map in Hell”.
The (summer) record currently stands at 5d 12h 14m 43s, by American athlete, John Kelly, who was “good but not great” at running at school! That was in summer, tough enough.
Imagine it in winter?! Snow, ice, cold, generally crappy weather and not a lot of daylight. James Gibson held the previous winter record of 8d 6h 44m 0s.
Photo thanks to Stephen Wilson PhotographyPhoto thanks to Stephen Wilson PhotographyPhoto thanks to Stephen Wilson PhotographyPhoto thanks to Stephen Wilson Photography
Carol knocked 5hrs of this with an imcomprehensible time of 193 hours, 51 minutes and 47 seconds or 8 days, 1 hour, 51 minutes and 47 seconds.
The 320-mile (515km) challenge, which includes England’s highest mountain, Scafell Pike (& a multitude of obscure and rarely visited peaks), involves a total ascent of 36,000m (118,000ft).
Bonkers award of 2025 (so far) goes to Carol Morgan 🙂
Almost as bonkers!
The Spine Race is a good way to “do” the Pennine Way in a week. At 268 miles/431km, the PW is England’s longest footpath, starting at Edale, Peak District, and finishing in Kirk Yetholm, in the Scottish Borders, passing over all the bumpy, lumpy and boggy bits in between. Joss Naylor (that man again) used to hold the record (3 days, 4hrs & 36mins in 1974), but that was on his own. The Spine is a race, and it is a serious race, held in the middle of winter. There are checkpoints, but if you sleep, the clock does not stop. The winners will take just over 3 days to finish and the cut-off is 168hrs or one week. The current deep freeze weather is due to give way to milder climes midweek, so the going will go from frozen to firm to good to boggy as hell!
First of the pre-season friendlies fell foul of the weather and thus was postponed , but the mighty Raiders opened up the season with a superb win over local jam eating Marra rivals, Whitehaven, with a conclusive 42:4 victory.
Photo courtesy of Alan Twinney
Next up are Workington and then Superleage Salford Red Devils, before the season proper, when we face newly promoted Hunslet RL at home. Big season ahead.
COYR!
And finally
Stay warm this winter!
Peggy from Feltham was light years ahead. I am not looking forward to my heating bill this month
I trust you are in fine festive fettle and more ready than me, for the big chap in red to come down your chimney. Taking full advantage of a full day waiting in for a BT engineer, to scribble up an end of year review style blog, so here it is!
(Apologies, this blog has become a bit fellrunningcentric this year, this will only continue until my legs drop off, which will probably happen soon).
A wrap up of 2024
It is natural to compare the present with the past, but with age, one does not want to go back too far, due to the laws of diminishing returns!
So I will go as far back as last year (2023), which was a bloody good year (up to bashing my ribs at Borrowdale) compared to the previous year (2022, written off with Long Covid) or the year before that (2021), which was a weird kind of post pandemic cocktail of getting settled back in the UK, unemployed/frantically looking for any job at all, dabbling (& ultimately failing) in Cyclocross and ultimately squandering a whole year in effect.
2024 high highs and low lows looked something like this:
March Eskdale Elevation. Misjudged the (biblical and cold) conditions & subsequent kit choice. Messed up the nav completely, ran an extra 3 miles, missed last checkpoint, disqualified!
May Jura This should have been a highlight of the year, but it was a definite lowpoint in general!
Jura is an absolute gem of a race, a Scottish classic. A tough and rocky route, 3 BIG climbs over the Paps with a bit of bog and 3 miles of road at the end. A tough race to get in and (as fell races go) not cheap. The race is only half of the weekend and experience… To get there, one must take either double car ferry option (Mainland-Islay-Jura) or the fast (non-car & non-chaepo) Hydrofoil Most folk travel on pushbikes and camp, in a big field by the sea, in front of the pub/distillery. A very sociable weekend and quite unique. I drove over to the Lakes early on the Thursday morning, we then travelled up north catching the 2 ferries and then pedalling the last 10 miles, bagging an early spot on the field (a pitch that was moved after 1 night, due to the incessant midges). A real carnival atmosphere ensued as the campsite filled and suddenly it was kick off time on Saturday morning. Why was it a lowpoint? I had a LOT going on in my life just then, had been promoted at work and neither my head nor heart was in it (work or the race). I was massively in 2 minds about the whole weekend. If John had said “I don’t fancy that drive, let’s do something like a Wasdale recce”, I would have agreed before he had finished the sentence! As it happened, the journey went well and it had a bit of an adventure feel to it. In the race itself I got this really weird back spasm/seizure really early on in the race and I just could not straighten up, even though I still had a lot left in my legs for the road bit, I was doubled over like a 100 year old man. This VIDEO explains everything:
June Ennerdale
I would move to the village of Kirkland in a heartbeat!
I have run Ennerdale more than any other classic. I love it. It is a bit quieter than other races, a bit tricky to get to and very, very committed, If you bail out at half way, you still have a 10 mile walk of shame back to the start. The last 6 miles are fast and runnable, it’s just the first 18 miles of rough and rocky stuff that is not so easy! I had saved a bit in the tank and had a special supercharged Kendal Mint Cake gel (and a BIG slab of KMC too), so I felt like I was on speed for the last 10km (although my legs/time maybe didn’t reflect this!) A joy of a race, even if it does look absolutely bloody MILES to the finish from Pillar (because it is!)
Buttermere Horseshoe A new one for me, and boy did I underestimate it hugely! Had a major cock-up at the start, getting there really, really early, chatting way too much and then leaving everything to the last minute. As a result, I left the bulk of my food in my coolbag in the car, and only realised about 1/3 of the way round. It was a l-o-n-g day out, as a result. I did meet and make a new friend, in Darren of CFR. Great bloke and a navigational wizard. I finished absolutely trashed. (Outstanding tucker afterwards made up for everything!)
July – Wasdale The Wasdale Horseshoe is arguably the toughest race in the English calendar. 20 miles with 9000ft of climbing and all the tricky stuff in the second half. A BIG field for an English championship race this year. Made a weekend of it and took the girls up. The plan was to meet them en-route at Greendale Bridge, with my sumptuous pack-up. Best laid plans and all that…
Wasdale is tricky, in that the first ¼ is fast and runnable, and the cut-offs are tight. However, it is all very well getting to Great Gable inside the cut off times, but you need some legs left to then get over the Scafell Pike ridge and then get down off Lingmell. One of the greatest run-ins in any race. A mix-up with timings/communication meant that I arrived to Greendale Bridge bang on time (in my timings in my head) but 10mins earlier than the timings I had told the girls. What to do? I couldn’t hang around, as the cut-offs were not giving me much room for loitering, so I carried on and got round on just gels. Somehow survived and was faster than last year, so that’s a result for me 😊
Rydal Round (Fairfield Horseshoe) The first day of our Lakes summer holiday and the start of the 2024 lazy taper! The race is part of the brilliant day out that is Ambleside Sports, but I ran an absolute stinker of a race, never got out of first gear, got lost and then ended up in the crags near the end. One to forget.
August Borrowdale My birthday and a day of decisions, as I could have been an extra as a walk-on zombie in the Danny Boyle film “28 Years Lates (The Bone Temple)”. Fellrunning came first and it was a great day out with no mishaps, (apart from a near certain death head first fall at the top of the steep screes off Scafell Pike, where I got my size 13s tangled up!) Didn’t bash my ribs this time and it was a top day out. Still some life in this old dog 🙂
Rusland Show Lina’s first fell race and a podium finish + cash prize! In her first race, she won more than I have won in the last 38 years of running 🙂
Thanks to BGS for the tip off about the race, always the bridesmaid and never the bride, until next year!
Steel Fell A last minute decision. The rare treat of a midweek straight-up-&-straight-down 3 mile dash with free entry! I have avoided short fell races since forever, but I don’t know why, as they are just brilliant, brilliant fun and don’t take weeks to get over. A cracker of a race.
Grisedale Horseshoe Having tapered (for what I am not sure) for a whole month, I felt fresh for Grisedale. A red hot day (just how I like it) and a relentless cat-&-mouse ding dong with a mate Stewart, from Bingley. We both buried ourselves on the last (cruel) climb, then at the last checkpoint, he went left, I went right. I ended up in head high bracken, he ended up beating me by 15 minutes.
September Laid low by mystery virus. Possibly/probably Covid, but who has tests these days? Felt like death for a week, took 3 weeks to feel remotely human again. Missed Peris Horseshoe and Three Shires. The start of problems with asthma. Not good.
November Dunnerdale An end of season condensed Lakeland classic and Lina’s first proper fell race. Did a full write up in the last blog, but just to reiterate how good the course is and how tasty the pies were. Great social afterwards and the end of the season for me, having been a cheapskate with my subs and opting out of UKA affiliation, thereby writing off any cross country action!
December Trying to cook up some kind of training plan, after having tapered since July!
Whilst it would be wrong to class it as a highlight, the most special day out of 2024 was attending the late, great Joss Naylor’s funeral, at Wasdale in July. A pre-dawn start up T’Lakes and a very enjoyable trot over from Langdale (& back) with Ambleside AC, for a very special funeral service for a great man. A perfect summer day and a huge turnout of fellrunners, in club colours as Jos had requested. I felt very proud to be part of such an amazing community.
RIP Joss
Photo courtesy of Dave Woodhead
ON THE BACK FOOT!
Absolutely out of nowhere, came the amazing fun that has become our cameo nonsensical ramblings that is our guest spot on the ON THE BACK FOOT Podcast. “Our” being the bairn and myself. One of the original founders of this fantastic ocular entertainment spectacle is Mr. Charlie Barker, who we all met for the first time at Wasdale.
Señor Barker handed over the reins (of a runaway horse) to Sir Jacob Tonkin, a man widely known in fellrunning circles.
Apart from our “contributions”, we were also invited to the incredible day out, organised by Lord Ted Masoneer of Appletreewick, that was the British FRA Relays, where Valentina and I had composed 60-odd (they were indeed odd) songs, one for each team running, as we were part of the commentary team, inside an ice cream van. Almost impossible to describe here, you just had to be there 😊
Behold, the Brown Cow!
We both agreed it was our best day out of the year and hopefully, we might be invited to next year’s event in North Wales. Watch this space. If you haven’t heard ON THE BACK FOOT, check it out here
Special THANK YOU to the following folk: Angela & Steve S Mr. Barker BGS Charlene B Darren P Doni C Emma H George F Glen JT John M Pete T Ted M Everyone in P&B.
A special thank you to Josie for getting Lina into/onto the fells 🙂
Dashing blindly into 2025
Desperately trying to not fill the calendar too soon, it is currently looking something like this:
February – The revival of the Mickleden Straddle, it’s back! Hoorah for a Pennine winter classic. Followed swiftly and boggily by the Wadsworth Trog (The Beast). A boggy and tussocky legend of a tussocky Pennine bogtrot.
March – The Haworth Hobble. 900+ entries and basically a series of massive buffets with some running in between. Eskdale Elevation – Hopefully not making the schoolboy errors of this year!
May – Old County Tops. After marshalling this year, I was mega inspired and I am teaming up with my mate John, for a crack at this long distance Lakes classic. BIG day out.
June – Ennerdale and Buttermere Horseshoes. Will hopefully remember my pack up this time. July – Wasdale Horseshoe Will pack my pack-up this time! Lakeland 50. A race that I entered, not really expecting to get in, but I did and felt obliged to take my spot, as over 7000 people entered. Will need to knuckle down on training for this one!
August – Nada/nothing/zilchio, summer break! September – Grisedale Horseshoe & Three Shires.
October – Langdale Horseshoe. Normally I am crocked, ill or avoid it, hopefully not in 2025. An autumn classic.
November – Dunnerdale (mmm, pies), Tour of Pendle (not sure why) & 2024 Lee Mills Relays (carried over from this year’s cancellation.
Other stuff!
We moved house (horrendously chaotic and overcomplicated but worthwhile, no more moving until the youngster leaves home, (she is currently 10 years old!) Jimbo & the Crazy Gang came to visit 🙂
The little red rocket Micra went 😦 The blue Berty Berlingo came 😊 Got promoted and stepped down at work (progress?) Did more S&C in one year, than I have done in my entire life!
Most importantly, and above absolutely everything else, the Nipper bounced back from a nightmare month in and out of hospital last December. Christmas 2023 never happened and it was a New Year to forget.
2024 has been ok and hopefully 2025 will be even better for everyone!
Raiders round-up
Another emotional season and year. After bouncing up a league the previous season and finishing in a highly respectable position at the business end of the league, this season was a more common Hanging-on-by-the-fingernails-that-you-haven’t-chewed-off season!
It all went to the wire and in the end we relied on our local rivals, Whitehaven, to mess up at the end of the season, which meant we stayed up for another year of emotional rugby league. COYR – Onwards & upwards!
And finally
28 Years Later – The nightmare continues…
I suffer from nightmares, they are trigggered by I don’t know what, but when they come, it’s bad news. I have always been a bit of a wuss with guts, blood I can handle no problem, I can mop up sick all night and I have had plenty of jobs cleaning khazis (and experienced toilets infinitely worse than in Trainspotting, in Latin America), but the sight of guts and innards send me dizzy:
Dissecting a rat in Biology – Had to go outside for air. Watching a brain operation in Biology – Fainted, smacking head on door on way out. Watching a graphic anti-abortion video in a wedding “charla” in Peru – Not good. I am destined not to be a Surgeon. (I can gut fish all day though!)
So what started the nightmares? I pin it down to watching “Seven” with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. (They were in the film, I wasn’t watching it with them). Not a horror film, but one that really plays on your mind. Ever since then, anything a bit scary is off the cards for me, for fear of the nocturnal torment guaranteed to follow.
In 2004, I was in Patagonia, the windiest place apart from the draft howling through my back door (absolutely not a euphemism) last weekend.
I was doing a lot of walking with 3 Irish Radiographers (I don’t think there were any young people in Ireland at that time, as they all seemed to be travelling).
El Chalten feels like the absolute end of the world, wild, one of my favourite places. After a day of high speed hiking (them more than me, I had spent 2 weeks in Buenos Aires on a Quilmes cerveza and pizza diet, I suffered as a result). Post walk it was suggested we go to watch “28 Days Late” at the local cinema, which was actually set in a barn (which served beer and pizza), very atmospheric.
Way before Arthur Shelby Jr. lost his rag in a flat cap.
Especially when a Patagonian blast of wind almost took the corrugated roof off, at a very tense point in the film!
I didn’t faint, so I was quite proud of my little self.
28 Days Later was the sequel (but not directed by Danny Boyle, but starring Robert Carlyle, but not playing Begbie!) Scary in a different way. I didn’t faint.
I won’t revisit the sad tale that was me missing out on certain Hollywood stardom &/or getting my tackle out on screen as a zombie (although they are not essentially zombies) extra in 28 YEARS LATER – THE BONE TEMPLE (Story here: )
I hope you are in fine pre-festive fettle. Here is the latest hotch-potch of bobbins from the blend of chaos that is called my life!
The BIG move
And hopefully the last move for a good number of years! A move that came out of nowhere really. We have been renting since departing the caravan in 2023 (& probably will be renting until the end of time now). I went to see the Landlord about something and this new place was mentioned, so without thinking (about timescales and the practicalities of shifting soooo much junk), I agreed to a move date in 2 weeks time.
Without going into the boring details of a more-than-usual-chaotic-move, it was hellish. I was not a well man before we started and ground myself into the ground to get it done. Nosebleeds, conjunctivitis, dizziness (more than normal) and a weariness I have only felt whilst doing shifts on that bloody awful once every 3 weeks, L-O-N-G W-E-E-K, which was a 72hr grueller, I ended up doing four 14hr days back to back, just to get the flat emptied and into the new gaff.
Drink, repeat…
As it was a midweek move, I couldn’t ask my usual moving crew (my Dad and my brother), so I thought I would get some hired muscle.
Obviously living in 1970s price land, as I do, I got a shock when I checked prices.
If you are thinking about moving, discard ANYVAN.COM
Website looked ok, easy enough to book. Got a follow up phone call straight away. Paid upfront (always risky). All looking good until a week to go. Half the price of cheapest local mover, who had warned me about going on prices!
Email: “Check your removals information, as it will cost you more to add items on the day”
So I checked and realised that the original booking (which I had checked and rechecked and written down in my yellow “House Move” pad, was missing a few items: Fridge freezer, washing machine, tumble dryer, sofa and two armchairs!
Add to booking, which then asked me for all the measurements, which I did (all a bit of a pain at 6am, whilst trying to get out of the door to work).
“Recalculate price”
“£133,615” (no word of a lie, I wish I had got a screenshot).
I must have missed a decimal point, so I did it all again and the price came in as roughly double what I had paid (and now the same price as local bloke).
I rang to check the day before that all was set and that van and two burly blokes (or ladies) would come to my flat in a big (enough) van, walk up my stairs, carry my dismantled stuff downstairs, transport it roughly half a mile, then carry it in/upstairs to the new place.
“You have booked a ground floor to ground floor move!” was the reply.
Bugger, so the wallet and card came out again (struck a side deal on the day with driver).
Removal day arrived, I was up at 5am and ready, even carrying some stuff down the stairs to save time (I know, I know, you don’t buy a dog and bark yourself, but I just had a bad feeling).
At 8am, Tadjudeen texted, “Just leaving Manchester, will be there at 9am. 9:30am, a HUGE, long Mercedes Sprinter did an audacious sweeping reverse into the side street and straight away his grumpy mate was not happy about the stairs. He asked to use the toilet and piddled all over the seat, floor and everywhere. Dealing with professionals then, good start, keep calm…
“Please do NOT take the legs off the sofa, as one is dodgy and won’t go back on again.” Did they listen?
Washing machine got damaged on the way (it was on its last legs), so had to source a new/second hand one the next day.
After about 6hrs, they were done and off. Then it was just a case of 5000 shuttle runs with the car…
So, for the next 4 days I worked my sorry ar$e off and somehow got the old flat empty and filled the new house and shed with a million boxes.
I have enforced a ban on any question starting with “Where is the…”
Wish me luck 😊
Dunnerdale fell race.
Way before I knew we were moving, I put two entries in for the Dunnerdale fell race. One for myself and one for Lina. She had done the Rusland Show race and enjoyed it and had a shiny new pair of Inov8s, so I thought I would show her a classic Lakes race, without trying to kill her round Ennerdale, Wasdale, etc…
“A condensed Lakeland Long” I was told.
Just 5 miles/8km with 5 climbs and a good social do afterwards.
As it happened, it fell on the weekend before the move and common sense said “Scrap the race, pack some boxes”, but we had already sorted for my parents to look after the bairn and the atmosphere was a bit over tense in the flat, (plus I had paid for the race and heard good things about the pies!)
So, ignoring the half packed boxes and work to do, we snook out at dawn to get to Dunnerdale. A drive that is not straightforward, even for runners in the Lakes!
A good turn out, a semi decent day (for early November, I,e. it wasn’t snowing) and a rare chance to run together! We set off at the back of the back and watched the leaders disappearing into the distance. A race with a bit of everything; mud, rocks, bracken, some good running, more mud and more rocks. It felt like a longer Lakes classic, but over much quicker. What is not to like about that 😊
The pies at the end were outstanding and it was great to catch up with the likes of Mr. Tonkin, Darren Parker (the mapmaster man) and Rob & John (old school P&Bers).
The A65 has become an absolute nightmare drive, so it was the long way round via the M6-A66-A1, which is longer but as quick in my eyes.
Next stop, persuading Lina to join P&B!
Lee Mills is not happy!
The last Sunday in November was supposed to be the auspicious LEE MILLS RELAYS. A four person/four leg/same leg relay from Bacup, in deepest, darkest Pennine Lancashire. Lina and I had been chosen as half of an all-star (!) team of 4 by the legendary Doni Clarke of Todmorden (who was in another one-man team, running all 4 legs himself!)
Lina & I had been for a recce round the course a few weeks back and everyone was psyched up for what is an end of season low key but competitive relay.
Nobody was quite as competitive as the weather, which snowed heaps, then melted and then flooded everywhere.
After weeks of trepidation, the race organiser did the only thing they could do and called it off. All bets carried over until next year!
2024
Early December is too early for a review, so will try and shoehorn one more blog into this year.
2025
(This is about as close to the Lakes as I am getting right now!)
An empty calendar is a dangerous thing (as it gets overambitiously filled with races), but as a rough draft, next year looks something like this:
(Something will happen in April & May, but I just don’t know what yet!)
So with an unbalanced mixture of mystery cardboard boxes and lame arsed running, that is all for now.
Raiders round-up
New home shirt
Close season, which means no victories nor defeats. A time to calm one’s nerves before the nervous-breakdown-in-weekly-instalments that is the new season!
Hurrah for OTBF.
On The Back Foot podcast signed off for the season and the Nipper & I scooped an award 🙂
I trust you are in fine fettle. Here is a wrap-up of recent events and happenings.
A quiet-ish time. The lurgy gave way to back issues, so not much running action. One BIG day out made up for everything though 🙂
Ted’s Ice Cream Van & ON THE BACK FOOT PODCAST LIVE!
How on earth do I even start to explain this one?
The youngster and I have been involved with a fellrunning podcast called ON THE BACK FOOT for a while now, our main slot is a generally light hearted/nonsensical look at what people eat when they are “Munching on the moors”. It is good fun and we both love it. Jacob Tonkin is the main man of the show, who took over from Charlie Barker, who won the Pools and moved to Devon to join the circus. Bobby Gard Storry is another star of the show. Awesome people who we have got to know this year.
Anyway, the British Fell Running Association (FRA) relays were held at on Ted Mason’s farm. in Appletreewick this year, in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales. Ted is an outstanding runner (& cricketer, and rugby player and an all round Sport Billy, plus a good dancer and he is also outstanding at climbing up to the top of Big Tops/Marquees, but that is another story).
I have known Ted for 20+ years, he is a fellrunning legend. The team worked their backsides off to get everything ready and it was an absolute showcase for fellrunning, an amazing day.
The FRA Relays are a BIG event, the end of season relays are more fiercely contended/contested than the World Cup. It is different to normal individual races, you have to absolutely bury yourself for your club. It is where all the best teams of British fellrunning come together in teams of 6, running 4 legs, all starting and finishing in the same place, which was, right in front of a green ice cream van used by Appletreewick Cricket Club and although not serving ice creams anymore, it is decked out for sound, so Ted asked Jacob to bring his OTBF team along to do the commentary!
So, having absolutely zero experience of commentary, we composed a song for each team (thankfully Jacob, Bobby & Darren were all experts at actually commentating!)
I actually started scribbling songs a week before the relays and thought I was ready for the big day until I glanced at the entry list on the Thursday night and saw an additional 22 teams, so it was a late night.
I won’t go into the full details here, but if you listen to OKTOBERFEST, it is all in there 🙂
Definitely our best day out of the year 🙂
p.s. ust what is “THE BROWN COW”? Find out on the podcast above!
Jog on? So, the grand finale to the fellrunning season (for me) was supposed to have been something like:
Peris Horseshoe – Langdale Horseshoe – Tour of Pendle.
However, after the lurgy has disappeared I picked up a mysterious back injury and all the shops shut early for my season! (Although Langdale did sound like a grim exercise this year!)
Tour of Pendle is a great bogtrotting curtain closer, but I just have no miles in my legs, so my last race will be DUNNERDALE.
Never run it, have heard good things about it, taking Lina for a trot round her first proper fell race, so I am looking forward to it.
In my quest to become as bulletproof as humanly possible, I am regularly torturing myself in my lounge with various instruments of S&C pain, the latest being a plyo box.
All good fun!
New wheels.
Nostalgia is a bloody powerful thing!
User comments
I learned to drive in a Nissan Micra, my first car was a Nissan Micra, we drove to Mongolia in a Nissan Micra. I have had 6 Micras in total and none were duffers. After the Honda Jazz debacle that we don’t mention, I bought the little red one from a very nice man in Kettering. It was a brilliant car and never missed a beat (as Micras don’t), but… We needed more space, after the Tetris/Rubik’s cube exercise that was packing-our-car-for-the-summer-holiday, where the poor Nipper had about a foot square space in the back!
I won’t bore you with all hours and hours and hours of ebay browsing and all the non-starters, duffers and plain old wrecks that I trawled. The big news is that the Micra has gone 😦 Sold to a man in London, (I never get a simple local sale on ebay). To be replaced by Berty the Berlingo, bought from a friendly car salesman called Nick from Castleford. I have never bought from a car dealer before, but it was easy as pie, he even delivered it to our house.
I wanted a van, and had been looking for an unhealthy amount of time for one, but they had all been ragged to death to Jupiter and back, plus we needed something we could use on a daily basis, so the Berlingo is a good compromise. Thanks to Aly for the tip 🙂
Planning a big road trip next summer 🙂
Met our match?
Fishing has been light this year. We have only been a handful of times and maybe we have both lost a bit of enthusiasm for the sport, but the last junior match of the year popped up on a free weekend, on a nearby pond, so went along. There were only 4 others, all mad keen young and experienced teenage Anglers (all with very keen and competitive Fisherman dads), then there were us 2 chancers!
Valentina started catching a fish every cast and at one point we thought she was going to pull off a remarkable victory!
However, all the fish were tiny little tiddlers and as results go on total weight and not quantity, it wasn’t to be. Cracking day out though 🙂
Trick or treat???
Another year, another make-up job! Pushing my pronouns to their limits this year with a bit of cross dressing. Valentina did my make-up, but as every year, I am still disappointed that this face slap doesn’t dissolve overnight, it takes as long to get off as it does to put on!
A good time was had by all and nobody died!
Joker part II
Continuing with the theme of make-up, but with more casualties than a kid’s halloween party, went to the pictures to see the latest Joker film. I loved the first one, although it was at the cinema in Peru, when I was wearing my infamous mail order “Colourblind, I thought it was blue and it was closer to silver” Elvis suit, and we arrived late and there was only space on the front row, and Lina thought that (apart from all the killing bits) that the film reflected me a bit too closely for comfort!
Moving on to the new “Joker Folie Deux“, which opened to mixed reviews, although I am no Barry Norman, I thought it was definitely worth a watch. If you want a film to make you feel better about yourself, but not in a Jennifer Aniston way, go and see it, now!
Raider’s round-up
Life is always an emotional roller coaster being a Barrow Raiders fan! Nothing is ever easy nor clear cut and as expected it went to the very last match/points difference/relying on another team to lose, to avoid the drop, but we survived.
A gutsy performance against Widnes was a losing one (just), but Swinton did us a favour and lost, so we live on for another season in the Championship.
Hope you are fit and well. I am netither right now, hence haaving patched this twaddle together on a Monday off work, wearing 100 layers, on a sunny day! Being the sad sap that I am, I took a day’s holiday, not wanting to tarnish my 30yr sick-free record, (apart from Covid) 30yrs though?! What has it gained me? Absolutely bugger all. Take a day off sick right now folks 🙂
Mustn’t grumble, (but I will), been struck down with some kind of back-to-school-lurgy/flu, it has kind of buggered up my plans, but “life is not linear“, as someone once said. (I had started to write this blog a week ago, but it has all been scribbled out and rewritten).
The Bone Temple
Where to start with this one? This was potentially the most exciting news ever!
28 Days Later was the 2002 Danny Boyle produced ” post-apocalyptic survival horror” film, exploring societal collapse following an infection cross-contaminated from animals (sound familiar?) Starring a young Cilian Murphy (Ewan MacGregor was first cast, then Ryan Gosling and then James McAvoy, but it was our Peaky Blinders man who woke up in a London hospital after very bad things had happened, and even worse things continued happening). Shot on a £5M budget on a Canon XL1 digital video (DV) camera, I am not Barry Norman, but it is an absolute Genre classic!
28 Weeks Later was the follow up, but not directed by Danny Boyle. Starring Robert Carlyle (sadly not as Begbie, from Trainspotting, he would have sorted them all out in the opening scene), it is also definitely worth a watch.
Fast forward to 2024 (not quite 28 years later, but near enough). THE BONE TEMPLE…
(I have signed a confidentiality agreement on this, so cannot give too much away for fear of being sued!) About 3 months ago, I saw an advert “Extras needed for film, ultra-runners & cyclists”. (I am guessing because they can run like zombies and are generally skinny, whereas it maybe wouldn’t be PC to just ask for a load of skinny people?)
It piqued my interest but the application process was really overcomplicated, so I left it. Then, whilst on holiday (1st of August to be precise) a friend sent me another advert “Extras urgently needed for new DANNY BOYLE film, ultrarunners and cyclists…”
(In my brief and unillustrious previous ventures into the world of acting, everything seems to be URGENT, or perhaps just last minute, or both!)
This time, I filled in the application (ticking a box to say “Yes, I will bare my bottom to the World on cinema“, so very, very desperate was I to be in that film! So, I sent my application that same evening and the very next morning I got a text “URGENT, BE AT HARROGATE TOMORROW AT 08:00…”
Therein laid a problem.
We were on our way from Kendal to Wasdale, the next day was my birthday and I had an entry for the Borrowdale Fell Race, the feature race of the whole summer! It was basically slap bang in the middle of our jollies. Could I pull the plug and go to the film set for my own selfish needs? To be honest, neither of the girls were overimpressed that I might be going nuddy in this debacle anyway.
The pros: – 10 days filming at £600 per day. (New van! A decent van, not the sheds I have been looking at forever). – Get to be in a bloody DANNY BOYLE film! – Worldwide fame and fortune to follow, with free cups of tea and fish and chips, wherever I went, plus the opportunity to possibly retire before the age of 80. – Starring in a DANNY BOYLE film (have I said that already? This was a seriously big deal for me, AND getting paid 6 grand! Winner, winner, zombie dinner!
The cons: – I didn’t have 10 days leave (I could worry about that minor detail later). – It would mean missing the August classic Borrowdale fell race (& the slight chance of getting on “Countryfile!”. – Messing up family week in Wasdale. – It would stop the holiday show to go home!
I spent several hours deliberating over and over and over, but ultimately a decision had to be made.
In the end, Borrowdale Fell Race won. I had a few ghosts to banish after my fall the last year. A love of fellrunning won over film-fame-fortune. I thought that was it…
Then, a week later, another “urgent” text. “YOU ARE REQUIRED IN SKIPTON FOR FILMING AT 06:00 ON MONDAY 23/09/24”
Bloody ‘ell. A second bite of the cherry!
So, I booked the day off work, started a starvation diet and didn’t shave off my moustache (as that had been in my application photos and description. A good zombie always has a good tash, obviously!)
Then, a painful bombshell, “URGENT TEXT, YOU HAVE NOW BEEN RELEASED FROM FILMING…”
So, it was not to be, absolutely gutted, but it was bloody exciting for a few weeks whilst I thought it was going to happen!
All change!
The Grisedale Horseshoe was my last outing, on a glorious hot August Saturday. A sprint of race at 16km/10 miles with1525m/5003ft of climbing. I have a mate who runs for Bingley called Stewart. Good fellrunner. If I am really on top of my game, I can just about beat him (thinking about it, I have only ever beat him once). At Grisedale we were neck and neck all the way up Catsycyam, Helvellyn, St. Sunday Crag and still, with only a cigarette paper betwen us, on the last brutal vertical climb to the last checkpoint. Then, being the navigationally inept dipstick that I am, I took a duff route choice, losing 15 places and 2 minutes, whilst I extracted myself from a field of head high bracken. Stewart beat me by 2 minutes! (On a day when visibility was about 100 miles in every direction, I can’t even blame it on the mystical, magnetic properties of the magical P&B vest, known to make a compass spin wildly!)
Before being struck down with the lurgy, training was going well! I have increased my S&C (not to be confused with S&M) by 6000% from previous years, the dedication to which included selling our fishtank (minus previous inhabitatts, after 3 baby booms in short succession, sadly they all had to go, back to the shop, not down the toilet, or in Tad River!) Thereby making space for a growing armoury of things to try to lift, wobble on or jump on/off.
Plyo box – The latest toy!
Plyometrics and callisthenics were words that were new to me until recenty.
Must have springy shoes?
All of which is good, and will hopefully prevent me from getting crocked (the constant worry of a runner), but… The only thing that will get me good at running up and down hills, is running up and down hills, a bit tricky in the flat wastelands of the Vale of York. So run I must, up hills and down dale if at all possible.
Racewise, all I had left were – Three Shires Race – Pulled out. – Peris Horseshoe – Pulling out. – Langdale – Unlikely now. – Dunnerdale – Hopeful. (It will be Lina’s first “proper” fell race, so I will be jogging around with her). – I am sidestepping Tour of Pendle. – November – two-dayer adventure in the Highlands with my mate John, hoping to avoid getting walloped by a 2024 version of Storm Babet, like last year!
As 2024 has suddenly/prematurely fizzled out, 2025 is already off the back burner!
2025 Plans?
On our jollies in August, we were lucky to be in the right place for a sporting spectacular day including the Blisco Dash and the Lakeland 50/100.
The Lakeland 100 is a trail race loop of the Lakes, starting at Coniston, passing through Eskdale, Wasdale, Ennerdale, Buttermere, Braithwaite, over the Coach Road to Ullswater, to Dalemain House (halfway, and start of Lakeland 50) through Pooley Bridge, Fusedale, Haweswater, Longsleddale, Kentmere, Ambleside, Chapel Stile, Langdale, Tilberthwaite and back to Coniston.
I did the Lakeland 100 in 2011, as part of a NYE bet. The event was in its infancy then and I just clicked online and was in. (The race itself wasn’t quite so easy, I was the only person without walking sticks, long socks and a fancy rucksack, but I somehow got round!)
Fast forward to 2024, Lina was so inspired by the sight of runners with headlamps, passing through the valley, that someone/one of us said “Let’s do it” (Dejavu of Mongol Rally. Who said “Let’s do it” then?)
I had already made a plan to train, coach and coax Lina round.
Nowadays it isn’t quite to simple to get in. There is a ballot for everyone. 6000+ people applied this year. Unfortunately Lina didn’t get in, but I did.
Now going solo wasn’t really on my gameplan, it’s not a race I would normally target, but at least it would make me get some miles in, something I have been sorely lacking this year. so I am going for it!
So, the 2025 “lightly racing” plan (rather than shoehorn everything into the calendar), is:
March – Howarth Hobble
May – Old County Tops
June – Ennerdale
July – Lakeland 50
August – Tranter’s Round!
September – New legs please! (I have finally learnt to not plan past August, anything at all after August is a bonus!)
Watch this space…
There is No Wall.
Quite simply, the best book I have read in ages. (I am a snailpaced reader, but I read this in a week, which is a record for someone who reads for 10mins per night!)
Allie Bailey is a UK Ultrarunner, sponsored by Inov8. She was also a chronic alcoholic, with very serious depression (depression is never not serious) and mental health issues.
This is her story.
We have all got our demons to battle and all have a different “why”. If you have issues or know someone with addiction, drinking, depression or mental health issues, this book is definitely worth a read. Not a feelgood book and you won’t learn anything about ultra running, but it is a very, very honest read. Thanks to Angela for the lend.
“Running won’t save you, but it might buy you the time to save yourself”.
Berlingo-a-go-go
In the latest quest for a new Batmobile, the search has most recently led me to deepest, darkest Castleford, twice in 24hrs no less. Berlingos/Kangoos/Partners are basically all the same dog with more hair. Zero fashion points, but with ACRES of space, cheaper to tax/insure than a van and if looked after, they last forever!
We did recently go all the way to Keighley on the Berlingohunt, but the van was an absolute wreck and (probably fortunately) there was nobody at the car dealership anyway, despite making an appointment. Which in itself had caused problems as a previous enquiry with a different private seller (who when I called previously didn’t seem to want to sell their vehicle) in South Yorkshire had led to a missed call on my phone.
I (wrongly) assumed it was Mr. Keighley.
Text conversation: Unknown: “Hi, are you still interested in the car?” Me: Yes, we are on our way. Be there by 2:30pm. Unknown: “Okay, will be waiting for you. Do you have the address?” Me: (Sends Keighley postcode). Unknown: “I’m from Doncaster!”
“I’ll get my coat then…”
Watch this space…
Leeds United Ladies
The Youngster’s last outing with Brownies, being a mascot with Leeds United Ladies, before stepping up to Guides. A match that was postponed from last autumn.
Leeds United Ladies play in National League Division 1 (North). They used to play here at Tadcaster (Albion), but the Albions is a pitch that too many times become more suitable for water polo. They now play at Garforth Town, so that is where we headed on a soggy Sunday morning.
Big THANK YOU to these 2 amazing ladies, Bev & Jenny and their team for everything. And now, into the world of Guides!
Raiders round-up
Local derby – it’s been emotional.
It’s always extremely nerve racking and never a simple task being a Barrow fan!
7 goals for Ryan Shaw!
The wrap-up to a scrappy season is as follows:
We went to Toulouse – to lose 😦 We beat Whitehaven, the “Jam Eaters”, in a highly important local derby at the weekend. We face Wakefield – Top of the league, on their way back into Superleague. And finally, Widnes – Who are aiming for the play-offs. so will want the best result possible to ease their plight.
(Why do so many rugby league teams begin with W?)
So basically, Barrow are on the edge of a relegation cliff and partially relying on the 3 teams below them to mess up!
The ladies beat Huddersfield at home but got trounced by Saint Helens away. They did however secure 5th spot in their first Superleague season, which is brilliant 🙂
It’s not going to be easy for the men!
And finally…
Another reminder (for me) of yet another squandered opportunity and possible bad life choice 🙂
Stay safe folks!
Johnny
p.s. Next blog. On The Back Foot British Relays gig!
Here is the latest ladfromtad.com blog. Less writing and more pics this time. Just back from our first family jollies in the last 6 years. T’Lakes. (Which means this blog is heavily Lakes & fellrunning biased). In this mixed bag summer of sunshine and showers, we didn’t do too badly.
Packing as lightly as possible for 2.5 weeks was always going to be one of our biggest hurdles, but as long as we packed the car in exactly the same way, each time, in between moving around the Lakes, we would manage!
Valentina “borrowed” my phone whilst I was driving, and I found this, and others, later on 🙂
Ambleside Sports
So, we loosely planned our trip around the school holidays, my holidays and a few things going on in the Lakes. kicking off with Ambleside Sports.
The Nipper & I have got involved with a brilliant podcast by the name of “On the Back Foot“, which is mainly about fellrunning, but interspersed with other (mainly daft) stuff too. Although I had met mein host, JT, today was the day that Valentina first met the man himself 🙂
Meeting the legendary Jacob Tonkin, from ON THE BACK FOOT podcast.
Rydal Round fell race, the less said the better! In a nutshell, I got everything wrong; pacing, training, food, navigation, shoes, and more.
Blue ice cream, before watching the Guides Race and Hound Trailing, after the Cumberland Westmorland Wrestling, what more could a person want?!
The Bridge House wasn’t quite as impressive, as in the photos!
Whilst I do like to support the local community, the price of this loaf came as a shock, and it wasn’t made with cocaine and saffron either!
Saturday sporting spectacular!
Saturday 27th August was a bit of a mad day sports and weatherwise. Awaking to torrential rain, we headed from Langdale to Whinlatter Pass, near Keswick for Lina to take part in one of the hilliest Parkruns in the country, for which the monsoon halted and it slowly turned into a cracking day!
Back to Langdale for the British Championship race, The Blisco Dash. It was a bit of a Challenge Anneka for us to get there in time, but we did it.
Still haven’t seen any famous climbers at the ODG.
The men’s winner, Matthew Knowles (Lancaster & Morecambe AC).
Pudsey & Bramley legends: Rachel Pilling (V40 British Ladies champion) and Rob Hope (V50 British Mens champion).
Headlights of Lakeland 50 & 100 runners floating through the valley on the Saturday night. To be continued…
Kendal
We headed back to my hometown for a few days to stock up on Kendal Mint Cake and shoes at Pete Bland Sports.
The best fellrunning shoes I have ever had. VJ Irocks, found a pair which fitted me. Sticky as glue on wet rock. These are the future!
Spent the hottest day of the year in this souless launderette! Always good to have clean clobber though.
Borrowdale
(After Wasdale) the big race of the year for me, coinciding with my birthday and the race being covered by Countryfile (which I haven’t seen yet).
A race I love and a route I know. Last year I fell and bashed my ribs within the first mile. This year was better, but despite the insane grip of my out-of-the-box VJs, I almost took a headlong plunge down the steepest part of the descent off Scafell Pike, my birthday guardian angels were looking down on me, as I somehow righted my right size 13 mid-fall and didn’t kill myself, nor break my neck!
Perfect conditions. Big field. Got under 5hrs. Job done 🙂
Wasdale
We headed up to remote Wasdale for a family meet with the club. It is a place that I absolutely love to bits. A bit of a hike, but more than worth it.
The elusive Emerald Pool.
Before the storm!
Descending from Styhead Pass, blowing a gale, driving rain, Lake District summer!
Less than 24hrs later…
Free fish pedicure! They musy have been blooming starving to tackle my plates of meat
Paddleboarding. I was too traumatised to have a go, due to by trying//failing to windsurf on a school trip to Morecambe Bay, 75 years ago.
Drigg beach, August.
Natterjack Toad, released unharmed, although maybe a bit bemused!
Steel Fell
Got word of a midweek sports special. The Steel Fell race. Fellrunning at its simplest. 100 people in a field, someone (Scoffer) shouts “GO”, run up hill, run down hill. Free entry. How could one resist?
On a day of constant on-off downpours, we just sat in the hut, chatting and I broke my tea drinking record with 14 cups before 5pm!
My first “short” fell race in over 20 years and I absolutely loved it. No need to think about kit, food, navigation. Just a straightforward as it gets up-&-down blast. Steel Fell is convex, so on the descent you can see Thirlmere, but it looks like you are dropping off the edge of the earth to get to it. Pure, trying not to fall on your ar$e, fun 🙂
Josie, too fast for the camera!
Jose, Josie & Johnny!
Even I couldn’t get lost on a race like this 🙂
Josie & Lina.
A special mention to a friend from the club who has done something that I have been failing at for the past few years; tempting Lina on to the fells!
Josie took Lina under her wing and showed her the ropes around Langdale. It gave Lina the confidence to take on her first ever fell race, let’s see where it leads to!
Wild swimmers.
Not a sport I am likely to get into soon, but I have nothing but respect and admiration for people who do it. (I am too much of a wuss, blaming it on Raynaud’s Syndrome and I am sticking by that).
Big THANK YOU to Josie, Rachel & Katie for the motivation for getting the girls in the water.
Next stop, crossing the Channel!
Fiestas Patrias.
Peruvian Independence Day was spent rambling around the Langdale valley.
Fleeing the cloud of Horsefiles which descended on us at Blea Tarn.
We had no Peruvian tucker, but managed to rustle up some Venezuelan Arepas, which meant we were all full for the rest of the week 🙂
Second bite of the cherry!
Rusland Sports. Our friend, Bobby Gard-Storry, had tipped me off about this hidden gem. The original plan was a trip to N.Wales, to recce the Peris Horseshoe route, but this crumbled a few days before, so with 2 days off work, we headed back to Langdale, to try and cram as much in over 3 days as possible!
Lina, not 100% about her impulsive entry into her first ever fell race.
BGS (2nd male) & Lina (1st Lady V40). Although she was the only Lady V40, you have to be in it to win it and with her £20 cash prize, she quadrupled my winnings of the last 35 years.
1st Lady V40 in the BOFRA Fell Race and 3rd in the U12 Fancy Dress competition.
Raiders round-up.
After countless inconsistent results, then a draw against Bradford Bulls and a win last week away against Dewsbury, the mighty Raiders are hopefully
turning things around. They kept their cool against Swinton. This drags us out of the quicksand at the bottom of the Championship league table, with only 5 games left.
Barrow Ladies take a 3 week break but really need to up their game against Featherstone next weekend, with only 3 games left in the Superleague season.
COYR 🙂
Take Hart!
Raynaud’s Syndrome is my standard excuse for being crap at anything in the cold and colourblindness is my excuse for being crap at anyhting arty, (as long as the source of a lifelong pain that I could never make it as a Pilot and then get picked as an Astronaut!)
Thankfully the Youngster has inherited her Mum’s artistic flair.
Capybara made out of clay from the footpath near Blea Tarn.
Drawing done with out-of-date make-up (not mine!)
And finally…
My least shaky video yet! An early morning trot in Great Langdale, with a bonus cloud inversion 🙂
Hasta la proxima amigos Johnny & the girls
All my radioactive socks were kept in an airtight bag, which was then encased in concrete and should be safe by 2253.
p.s. Big THANK YOU to Doni Clarke for lending me the charging lead, lifesaver 🙂
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