Tuesday 2 May - Braithwaite, Dockray and Wreay

(typed on 3 May; posted on 27 May when I remembered it was still sitting as a draft) 

More flies landed in the ointment over the weekend, scuppering our plan for a week away, including a few days in the Lakes for Mick to recce another section of the Lakeland 100 course. However, the circumstances in question had led us to be in Halifax, and it became apparent on Sunday that we would be free to be absent on Tuesday. As Halifax is much nearer to the Lakes than home is, we swiftly hatched a plan that was to span from Monday evening until Tuesday afternoon.

The plan wasn’t so advanced as to have identified somewhere to stay last night, but I had a few ideas, and just before 7pm we settled into a spot on a minor road (a legacy section of the old A66) that is now effectively an overly long layby, right by Braithwaite.

After an evening spent watching most of the snooker final on a 10" screen, a surprisingly undisturbed night was had (considering that the A66 is a busy road and we weren’t far away from it). The end of the snooker was watched over breakfast, then after a little faffing, it was time for me to wave Mick off down the road.

My job today was incredibly easy, compared to the previous recce trips, with no circuitous 1.5 hour drives on tiny roads to get to somewhere ten miles away as the crow flies. This time it was the L100 route that takes an indirect line, giving me just a 20-minute drive to a little car park at the end of the Old Coach Road, a mile W of Dockray.

Half an hour of faffing saw sandwiches made and a flask filled (so I could have Mick’s lunch on the table* within 30 seconds of his arrival), and me changed into my running gear, ready to head out.

I’d only just joined the ex-railway line just S of Threlkeld when I saw Mick trotting towards me. I turned, then trailed in his wake as he strode up the next hill (in my defence, I did 35km on the Pennine Way on Sunday, so my legs weren’t entirely fresh). However, come the first downhill, having offloaded my excess water into Mick’s bottle and established that he didn’t need more food, I ran away from him, not wanting to interfere with what he was trying to achieve. I felt like I was going at a reasonable clip, but over the course of the last 6km back to Erica, I can’t have gained much more than 60 seconds on him.

A pause in Erica for an early lunch and a cup of tea, then Mick was off again, for a final 10km to Wreay, via Aira Force (busy, he reported, with lots of paths trying to lead him astray). My drive was again short and simple, with just the small detail that I had no idea where I could park when I got there (we had intended to stay at a campsite near Wreay tonight, allowing me to go straight there, and Mick to run in later; we now needed to return to Halifax at the end of the day). I found somewhere just about acceptable, although Erica did object slightly to needing to snuggle up quite so closely to a prickly hedgerow.

Mick duly strode up the road a while later, having had a thoroughly enjoyable day, covering just shy of 37km with 1100m of ascent. It was only as we drove past Dalemain (the next Check Point on the L100 course) a few minutes later that he contemplated that maybe he should have carried on to that point.

Hopefully, we'll manage another recce in June, but first there's to be a trip to Scotland. 

View from Erica's side window on Monday night

View inside Erica on Monday night

Tuesday - chasing Mick uphill

Mick chasing me along the Old Coach Road

Mick's snap taken E of Skiddaw where the route goes up one side of the valley only to turn around and come back down the other side 

Ullswater

Helicopter with a suspended bag of something, providing a bit of distraction

Spot the failure to navigate as I merrily continued down the Old Coach Road for 0.5km after I should have left it. Considering I was just doing an out-and-back, and there was no chance that I’d missed Mick during the deviation, it did no harm.

(*Metaphorically. Erica doesn't have a table. She does, perhaps, need one)