Old County Tops

Looking back over my photographs there seems to be a lot more cloud than I remember as my overwhelming impression of the Old County Tops is of heat and sun. The day seemed to be a constant battle to keep fed, watered and cool enough to keep going.

Starting in Langdale the 37 mile route traces a path over Helvellyn before a thigh bursting descent down Thirlmere. A long section then heads over to Scafell Pike, followed by another drop to Cockley Beck. Lastly a final climb up to the Old Man and then downhill all the way back to the start in Langdale.

Myself and Jonathan had a pretty simple plan - take it steady and try and hit the cut-offs. That was all. The route was initially over tracks and road to Grasmere, and by the first burn crossing about 5km into the run the heat was already making itself felt. Climbing up to Helvellyn via Tongue Gill and Grisedale Tarm was just a matter of keeping it steady and once the angle of the slopes increased we began to pick up places, receiving a healthy number of compliments on the Highland race strip along the way. The Whelp Side descent from the summit cairn was steep, grassy and a real thigh burner. A short crash through the forest to the car park where there was a food and drink stop about 50 minutes up on the schedule.

The following long jog through Wythburn, over Greenup Edge along to Angle Tarn was scenic and hot following indistinct trods along the south slopes of Langstrath. Angle Tarn was reached about 50 minutes before the cut-off, but we didn't linger. I knew most of the next section up to Scafell Pike from my Bob Graham a few years back. It didn't feel nearly as bad this time and there was a welcome breeze.

After Jonathan tagged the true summit, adding his second Lakes marilyn to his tally, we dropped back down to Little Narrowcove - a steep scree footpath leading to Great Moss. It was definitely a case of 'out of the frying pan and into the fire'. Not even the hint of a breeze and it wasn't until Moasdale that we were able to get a proper rhythm going.

After a quick pit stop at Cockley Beck we set off up to the col between Grey Friar and Great Carrs. I wasn't feeling too bad, but Jonathan was struggling in the heat and with a lack of energy. After a while I took his bag and as soon as topped the slope the welcoming breeze encouraged a faster walk/jog, and I thankfully gave Jonathan his bag back. Soon after I misread the map and swapped the Old Man with Dow Crag and if it hadn't been for Jonathan we would have ended up with a extremely embarrassing and demoralising detour. Thankfully the summit of the Old Man was reached without further mishap and now it really was downhill all the way. Jogging back along Swirl How we met lots of runners coming up the hill. Somehow, despite feeling that we were running slowly, we had managed to overtake and pull out time a whole heap of other teams.

The rest of the run was steady and we ran pretty much all of it finishing in 10 hours 16 minutes, which I think equates to 30th place. I think we were both happy with that. It was a hard run in a fantastic location and the place or time didn't matter. The challenging conditions made achieving the cut-off time and the tee shirt even more worthwhile.