Managed a commute on the bike on Friday, with strangely tired legs.
On Saturday P and I drove the van over to Sedbergh to recce the Sedburgh Hills race route as it’s the last English Championship race of the year in August. We’d been out on these fells only once before and that was a few years back, so it felt like all new terrain, especially where the race actually takes you.
The day was a showery day, with a reasonable breeze blowing from the northwest. We set off at a steady pace up the side of Winder to the first checkpoint on Arant Haw, just as a shower came in, but as we could see the other side of it we didn’t bother with putting our cags on – and then got pretty wet as it seemed to take an age to pass us by. As we set off on the first descent from Arrant Haw, P pulled up and decided to return to the van as his hamstring was feeling really tight. So I carried on by me tod, as he went and sampled the delights of Sedbergh’s tea rooms!!
The rest of the route went well – it was a bit runnable for me as I prefer steep rocky climbs, but the middle section is tough as you cross the grain of the land before dropping steeply into Bowderdale and then the final long steady climb back up to the Calf. I took it steady all the way round, stopping every so often to either put on or take off my cag. After 3 and a half hours I dropped back into Sedbergh to the van, a quick change and dragged P back to a tea room for more (for him!) cake and tea!!
We stopped in the town for supper in a pub, before heading north to find a kip spot. In the morning we drove around to Borrowdale and climbed at Quayfoot Buttress until the rain arrived – which it did early!! We thought we’d have until at least early afternoon but it started on us nearer lunchtime, so after only two routes - Irony (HVS) and The Crypt Direct (E1) we made a hasty retreat to the Lakeland Pedlar!
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