Another tin of lentil soup went down really well, and another butty was shove in my hand as I left. Rich and Ros shared the task of washing and vaselining my feet! More new socks and same shoes. Pete was here to fuss over me a bit. Here I found out I had 4 supporters for the final leg, as Nick and Barbara were joined by Paul and Sam. It was really good to have so many familiar faces around supporting. Again quite humbling as many people have said before.
I had been dreading the climb up Dale Head, and it did take me nearly 8 minutes longer than schedule. I knew I was going slowly and for once couldn’t find anything in my legs. Sam was a star again, making me keep taking small sips of liquid on board. By this time, once the butty had gone down, I really didn’t fancy any food at all, and apart from a few jelly babies, didn’t really take much on at all. The descent off Dale Head was hard, and Sam kept talking to me, coaching me in actual fact, and I really responded to this. The climb up Hindscarth went well as I put my head down and pushed hard. Although I knew I was only about 10 minutes down on schedule I just couldn’t relax and accept that it was in the bag. The descent of Hindscarth and the ascent of Robinson (the last one!) really hurt and at this point I have to admit that the enjoyment started to leave me. I wasn’t hating it at all, but it felt more like hard work than a good day out in the hills, which is what it had been like till that point.
Nick did a great job out front getting the most direct line to Robinson summit, reducing any unnecessary mileage to virtually nil. After posing for a quick summit photo, the business of getting off the fell started. There had been some debate as to which way to go. To be honest at this point I didn’t really care, I just wanted the descent to be over. Nick and Sam worked well ahead of us, picking out the best line for me zig-zagging between the rocky sections. I have to admit I was whimpering at this point, as my body did start to really complain. I had been descending in a strange way for 16 odd hours and everything was starting to feel sore. I just concentrated on reaching Little Town as I knew Pete was there with more new socks and my road shoes.
Finally the steepest part of the descent was over and I tried to trot along the track beneath a huge fragrant patch of gause towards Little Town. This proved very hard to do and trying to do anything except walk slowly required all my concentration. Eventually the final descent to the road appeared and I saw Pete ahead. Sam trotted ahead to meet him and get things sorted. Pete had got road shoes for all off us, so we all changed shoes, and I risked a quick sit down in the van to do mine, with Pete helping me!
The final part of the leg was now on us, and it really just came down to keeping one foot in front of the other for 4 and a bit miles. I had never run this road section before, although I had driven it many times. I was concerned that this might be a problem, but with hindsight it was actually a good thing, and I couldn’t picture all the little ups, I just dealt with them when the came. Sam still had me taking small sips of water at this point, not to make a difference between here and Keswick, but to make sure that I was just as hydrated as I could be following it. It did feel like a long way along the road, and I managed to keep a slow trot up on all but the ups, which reduced me to a walk. Both knees were now very painful, and I had no idea how much ibuprofen I had in my system. I had been taking 1 or 2 pills every 2/3 hours since Helvellyn but figured that that wouldn’t exceed potential limits.
Finally the bridge over the River Derwent arrived and we trotted over it and onto the path to Keswick. I slowed here to make sure I had enough in my legs to run up the high street to Moot Hall! It was only here that I finally knew I had done it, and allowed myself to think that. Pete was standing on the bridge over the River Greta, taking photos and ran in with us to Moot Hall. There was a small gathering of people there, friends who had come along to see me finish and I was vaguely aware that they were clapping. I touched the Moot Hall steps after 23 hours and 20 minutes at 6:25pm and burst into tears!! I had finally started and finished my BG!
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