Cumbrian Traverse 25 May 2014 - A long day out.

I had fancied doing a Cumbrian Traverse for a few years but never really got serious about it then earlier this year while John was talking about his training for the Lakeland 50 in July I half-jokingly suggested we do a traverse around Whitsun Bank Holiday, before I knew what had happened we had dates sorted and were doing back-to-back long runs in preparation.

Distance and climb can vary depending on where you look but the 'official' resource has it as 35 miles and 12,000 feet of ascent over 21 peaks from Broughton Mills up to Keswick. We didn't really care how long it took us since we weren't planning on punishing ourselves but John created a schedule based on Dick Courchee's from the website so we decided to set off between 7-7:30am and would be happy to arrive in Keswick before dark.

At the start in Broughton Mills ready for the off.

I was feeling a bit ropey first thing, probably not a great idea to have 3 pints of cider to 'help me sleep' the night before. Since we left before breakfast I had bought 2 'just add boiling water' pots of cardboard porridge which I forced down before we set off. At least the weather looked promising; it was good to see the summits we had covered a couple of weeks earlier when the mist was down.

On top of Caw in the sunshine.

By the time we reached Caw I had woken up and began to enjoy the surroundings, we hadn't seen another soul up to this point then a group of youngsters from the campsite at Seathwaite appeared. We were constantly wary of going too fast for these first few hours. Each section we were covering much quicker than the schedule; the stops on the summits to record the time, have a drink or take a picture or two evened things up a bit but we didn't want to end up tired from travelling too quickly.

At the WWII Bomber Memorial near Great Carrs.

We started to see a few more people out and about; I found it amusing seeing the slightly confused look on one or two of them when we got chatting and they asked where we were headed: "Keswick".

Route finding was not really necessary with it being clear so it was good to get over the Coniston fells and down to Wrynose for some food and drink, I had only drunk one bottle of water since we had started - 4h:25m to Wrynose where the food was more than welcome as was the Hot Chocolate that Christine had made up in flasks

John looking thoughtful, Mark posing, not sure what Lisa had spotted and I was hiding.

We hadn't been there long when Colin McCrae Mark arrived who was planning on joining us from Honister but wanted to set off earlier and meet us just after Great Gable. As we were getting ready for the next section a bloke came pedalling up the road on his Brompton wearing walking boots, a fleece and a big smile on his face. His waterproofs were in a carrier tied to his bars and he was blowing a lot as he was wondering what his cardiologist was going to say but we were a bit concerned when he told us he was going from Langdale to the Dungeon Ghyll then disappeared off in the opposite direction down the pass into Cockley Beck!

This fella was just out for a ride on his Brompton....over Wrynose Pass.

We were at Wrynose for over half an hour so it was time to move on. Heading over the Crinkles I was surprised how quiet it was compared to the busy Bank Holiday weekend when we reccied some of the route at the start of May. We climbed up the bad step - first time for me as I'm not that keen on scrambling on exposed rock but it was fine.

Just after climbing the Bad Step over Crinkle Crags.

Heading onto Bowfell my left foot started grumbling, mainly due to all the rocky ground we had been covering and close to the top I got a bit light-headed but felt better after shoving a bit of food and water down my throat. Crossing Ore Gap the clouds blew up the valley creating quite an eerie effect, John said it was like someone had threw a switch on a dry-ice machine. We were in the clouds for a bit but the route over Esk Pike is easy enough to follow. From there it was straight up Great End where my left foot was getting progressively more painful mainly behind my heel.

Neither of us knew the direct way off Great End to Sty Head so the plan was just to backtrack towards the path down from Esk Hause. Luckily just as we approached the summit two fellas came jogging over from Scafell Pike asking us whether we were heading down 'The Band'. I said we didn't know the way but they were happy for us to follow them so off we went; we couldn't have timed it better.

It turned out they were Wasdale Mountain Rescue volunteers out for a run. They certainly knew the way, though at one point I was regretting following the faster of the two; his mate had warned me: "Don't follow him!" earlier as we got ahead. We ended up on very steep ground near the top of Skew Gill where a slip would have been very serious, as we waited on flatter ground near a cairn for John and the other guy to catch up he said: "You have to be careful there not to end up in the crags, the other two will be coming down the easier way which is less steep!"

Almost on top of Great Gable. You can just about pick out our route down off Great End (the huge lump above and right of my head) Skew Gill is the dark scar from about half way down.

We split up there since their bleepers went off. It was easier to follow from here to Sty Head but I still managed to stray onto some steep scree briefly, a short break at Sty Head for some food then it was off up Great Gable.

I was still feeling ok apart from my left foot and was really surprised how well we were climbing having been out for nearly 8 hours, the gentle pace had worked in holding back the more usual feelings of weakness I get in races after less than half that time.

Gable was really quiet, it seemed that most people were either heading or had already headed home for the day. We found one lad sat on top who we got chatting to on the way back down to Windy Gap, two of his friends were on a Bob Graham Round which had started at midnight.

Before Windy Gap we could see Mark waiting for us on Green Gable, it had started hailstoning so I put my waterproofs on but almost as soon as got them over my head they stopped!

It was good to meet up with Mark who had got cold waiting for a good few hours wondering where we had got to, then it was just a jog over Green Gable, Brandreth and Grey Knotts before the nice descent to Honister and the ladies with more supplies, we did that descent in 12 mins - 10 quicker than the schedule. 5h40m from Wrynose to Honister.

Refuelling and sheltering from a brief shower at Honister.

We spent a good half an hour at Honister eating and chatting, Mark seemed to eat more than me and John combined. The support for the 2 guys on their Bob Graham arrived just next to us as we got ready for the off then it started pouring down so again I got my waterproof top and cap on only for it to stop!

Mark set a blistering pace up towards Dalehead and was over the moon to hear me tell him: "Slow Down!" saying he doesn't hear that very often. We left the navigation to him over here but with it being clear the only point worth noting is where to head off the path towards Dalehead Tarn to hit the climb up High Spy. I was really enjoying myself now, I changed out of my Mudclaws into a pair of Kanadias at Honister mainly for the extra comfort when we hit the road after Cat Bells but they also seemed to help ease the pain I was feeling in my heel. I was a bit apprehensive while pulling my wet socks off since I had been feeling many hot spots for the last few hours but the only real damage was the skin hanging off the bottom of my right big toe.

The finish in sight, just Cat Bells to go (the lump in between me and John). You can see the weather closing in from the East over the water.

I kept finding myself smiling while running over Maiden more from High Spy; the sun was casting rays over the valleys and we seemed to have the fells to ourselves. Sitting on the last summit Cat Bells before heading down I almost didn't want to leave since it meant the day would come to an end, unfortunately there were some nasty clouds on their way and all good things etc....

Thankfully we just got off the fell before the heavens opened and all that remained was a wet plod through the woods and down the road through Portinscale before making our way to the Moot Hall. John seemed to start suffering once we got on the tarmac and had a brief bad patch where the air was blue.

Running through the town I suddenly realised how hungry I was, you could smell the food cooking as we passed the various pubs and restaurants in the town so I put a little burst on to get back to the ladies who had been waiting patiently for us, where it was congratulations all round before we all piled into the chippy for a lovely fish and chip supper.

There seemed quite a nice atmosphere there at the finish, a couple came out of the pub to see if we had done a Bob Graham; they seemed to be waiting for those who had set out at midnight then another bloke asked me if we had just done 'A Round'. Neither of them seemed to have heard of a Cumbrian Traverse.

Trotting up Keswick High Street with big smiles at dusk.

2h39m from Honister to Keswick, total time including stops was 13h49m. John's Garmin had the route we took at 32 miles and 10500 feet which when he overlaid it onto the map using Anquet gave the same distance but 12500 feet.

I was ecstatic; very tired but so glad to have got round and also amazed at the way I felt especially over the last couple of hours. We had never planned on setting a fast time and that had helped a lot, at no point did either of us mention anything about getting a move on in fact it was more the opposite - early on we had to keep slowing down as we got steadily further ahead of the schedule. Apart from the pain in my heel it was almost the perfect day out, us finishing at dusk gave me a feeling that the day was ending along with our journey across Cumbria.

I'd recommend the route to anyone looking for a good, long day out in the fells. Thanks to Lisa, Christine and Mark for the support and most importantly John for the great company!