Autumn adventures: racing in Wales and shuffling to Scotland

Marathon Eryri – 26 Oct 2024

I travelled to Llanberis for my sixth time running Marathon Eryri (the English version of the name, ‘Snowdonia Marathon’ was dropped in 2023). It was the 40^th staging of this iconic race and the Welsh weather obligingly showed its best face, giving us dry sunny conditions with only a light breeze and a perfect running temperature. The favourable conditions may have helped the winners: Andrew Davies (Maldwyn Harriers) set a new course record of 2:28:41 (the first time 2:30 has been broken) and Louise Flynn (Les Croupiers) ran 2:59:27 (only the 3^rd female ever to go under 3 hours).

Having written quite a long blog post on this race last year I won’t go into all the details of the race again, but I will just remind the reader that there is 2674ft of ascent squeezed into the 26.2 miles! It is generally held that elite runners will run 20 minutes slower here than on a flat course, mid-pack runners 30 minutes.

I have become gradually faster on this course as the years have gone by, and in 2023 I ran 4:33:01. This brought the sub 4:30 goal potentially within reach and I made that my aim. I could see two points in last year’s race that I could improve on and hopefully shave time off with: firstly starting nearer to the front so I would not have to spend the early miles endlessly weaving around steadier runners, and secondly avoiding having to make a toilet stop.

Training had been as good as I could make it, having run the SwissPeaks 100 in early September. I took two weeks to recover from that event, and then had five weeks left to focus on road miles. In fact, that is four weeks and a sharp one week taper. Anyone who thinks that my running lots of ultras translates into finding a road marathon a mere breeze would be gravely mistaken. Road running is so much harder!

I had written my 5k splits and my timing point splits from last year on my forearm, with the plan to be just ahead of them, and progressively increase the difference over the race, hopefully without overcooking it. As we lined up for the start I pushed my way forward until I found the 4:30 pacer. I had a brief chat with him, he was really nice and did exude confidence but at the same time I noted that he had a wrist band with a standard pacing chart, and I did wonder how useful this would be on such a hilly course, especially with two out of the three main climbs coming in the second half you cannot split this race anywhere near even. I assumed he had lots of experience on this course but didn’t really want to ask for fear of appearing rude. I decided to stick near him or go marginally ahead, but mainly rely on my own plan, as I know the course well enough. I overtook him in mile 6 and did not see him again until the finish. (He did make it just inside 4:30 but seemed even more broken than I was, which you wouldn’t expect from a pacer!)

I spent some miles yo-yoing with Matt Podd from Otley AC which was nice. As usual lots of people said ‘hello Croups’ to me as our Ilkley vest is the same as that of Les Croupiers AC in Cardiff.  Someone asked if I was Petra and she said she had read my blog. But other than these little exchanges I just worked hard. I managed to occasionally enjoy looking at the views, autumn colours in the sunshine and all that, but this race was largely about digging deep, keeping on top of my fuelling and hydration, and going at the fastest pace I could maintain for four and a half tough hours.

Having had cramp on the finishing straight last year I took two electrolyte capsules with about four miles to go, but I still got a sudden severe cramp in my left hamstring at the top of the last climb, which is particularly steep. It settled down again quickly, but was a warning sign. I hurtled down the two-mile descent (the first mile of this is off road and tricky, but thankfully relatively dry this year). I knew my goal time was in the bag barring a fall or cramp disaster. And I saw at least two runners crumpled at the side of the path, but they where being helped by others so I rushed onwards. With about half a mile to go I felt as if my legs were going to give way but I sped on downwards into Llanberis and the wall of sound on the finishing straight. I could hear people shout my name and ‘Ilkley’. About ten meters from the line my almost Olympic sprint 😉 came to an abrupt halt due to the agony of more sudden hamstring cramp. I could hear the roar of the crowd go ‘Oooohhh’ as if they were living it with me. Thankfully I had enough time in hand so I hobbled over the line in 4:28:04 to receive my sixth slate coaster. Absolutely over the moon. I had hoped to be in the top three of my age category having been fourth last year, but the field was even stronger this year, making me seventh out of 55 F60 women. I think I can be happy with that! Results

I do intend to return to this race next year, ballot permitting, but I don’t think I can improve on this time. No more marginal gains available and I couldn’t have gone any faster. Maybe I will jog round and enjoy the scenery a bit more!

Shuffling to Scotland: a Spine Challenger North recce – Nov 1 to Nov 6 2024

In January 2025, if nothing goes wrong, I will be standing on the start line in Hardraw of the 160 mile Montane Winter Spine Challenger North. Basically it means travelling the top two-thirds of the Pennine Way from Hardraw to Kirk Yetholm non-stop, with a maximum time allowed of 108 hours, i.e. four and a half days. By the way, non-stop does not mean you are not allowed to pause, after all everyone needs to eat, rest and sleep (a little), but the clock does not stop, so your rest periods count towards your total time.

I volunteered for four days on this northern section on the Spine Safety Team in January 2024, and completed the Summer Spine Challenger South (Edale to Hardraw) in June. I thought I had better check the northern route out, not only to make navigation easier during the event and to have a good mental image of the course, but also to test my kit, including where to put each item in my pack to minimise faff and maximise efficiency, and spend some significant time on my legs, moving with the additional weight on my back. I did not take every single one of the 31 items of the full ‘Winter Spine kit’, as staying in pubs and B&B’s I did not need my sleeping bag/bivi bag/sleeping mat or mug/gas/stove for instance, but I had to take quite a few items that will travel in my drop bag on the race, such as electrical cables and plugs, some toiletries, slippers and clean clothes. So I reckon the weight and volume was about the same. I decided to fast pack the recce over 6 consecutive days, which looked (and turned out to be) manageable, enough of a challenge to be useful training but not so much as to wreck me completely. I made the plans, set some time aside in my diary, and then waited to firstly see how the legs would feel after Marathon Eryri and secondly for a good weather window. Having had ghastly weather earlier this year on both the Northern Traverse and the Spine Challenger South, and also on some of the recces for those events, I have become quite keen to avoid wind and rain, especially named storms (I am talking about you Kathleen!) whenever possible.

The observant reader will have noticed that I have not used the word ‘running’ once in the above paragraph. There may be running in the race, I did indeed run some stretches in the recce. But for runners of my calibre, i.e. mid to back of the pack, these events contain a lot of fast hiking. And as time goes on slow hiking, then crawling…. The hills, boggy and muddy terrain, having to carry quite a heavy pack, and cumulative fatigue over several days all conspire to make actual running quite challenging. Though there definitely are runnable sections on the flat and downhill.

A good weather window came into view, with dry and fairly still conditions, so I booked my accommodation, starting with a night in the Chapel Gallery Bunkhouse in Hawes to enable an early start on day 1. My friend Gill kindly drove the both of us up there and she would come part of the way with me the next day. We had the lovely and comfortable bunkhouse to ourselves (a dorm and a bathroom each!) which was a bonus.

Day 1 Hardraw to Middleton-in-Teesdale (33 miles 5200 ft)

I wanted to be on my way at 7am for the long day to Middleton. We drove the short journey from Hawes to Hardraw (no need for any additional mileage before I had even started!) and set off for the climb up Great Shunner Fell. It was a little breezy (this turned out to be the only day with any wind to speak of!) and foggy, but we did have some nice early views looking back towards Hawes as the sun rose. It was 5 miles to the summit which we reached after 90 minutes, after which we descended to Thwaite where Gill would turn around to return to Hardraw via Lovely Seat. We stopped to take some photos in front of the Kearton Guest House, and chatted to the owner who was taking down Halloween decorations outside. I had stayed here in 1983 on my second walking holiday in England (I moved to the UK in 1984). Despite not living all that far away now I don’t think I have actually been up Great Shunner Fell in those intervening 41 years!

Having said goodbye to Gill I pressed on to Keld where I had a quick snack sitting on one of the benches by the waterfall, before pushing on to Tan Hill. I wasn’t tempted to stop at the inn, no time for dilly-dallying on a 30+ mile day, and carried on to traverse Sleightholme Moor, the first of many long and tedious boggy sections on this course. I was glad to eventually reach a runnable track, and managed to jog a bit before crossing under the A66 and tackling the next moor, Cotherstone.

I was looking forward to reaching the tuck shop at Clove Lodge by the side of Blackton Reservoir. I had been stationed just above there in a lay-by (in a very comfortable camper van thankfully) on my first very cold SST (safety team) shift in January so memories came flooding back. Clove Lodge was a true haven, still decked out in a Halloween theme, and I made myself a cup of tea and had some snacks, there is an abundant choice! The über friendly black cat was all over me, a nice bit of company.

It was now 4pm and I put my head torch on my head ready for the darkness which would come soon enough. Revitalised by the tea stop I tackled the remaining miles to Middleton, which did rather drag on, as I hiked and jogged I realised that I did not know exactly what lay between me and the day’s finish. Lesson to take away: study the map in more detail, which isn’t news of course 🙄. It just seems that I need frequent reminders of that! I think gps has made me lazy on the navigation prep sometimes. The final miles turned out to be very runnable on lovely grassy downward slopes off Harter Fell, though if you look at my Strava you wouldn’t know I was running by the pace recorded 😂 I was delighted when I reached my B&B, Belvedere House, at 6:40pm.

Day 2 Middleton-in-Teesdale to Dufton (22 miles 2300 ft)

I had hoped to bump into Christina Sheep in Middleton as we were there at the same time. A solo Pennine Way hiker from the US whose YouTube videos are very engaging and are definitely worth a watch. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to meet up but we kept in regular touch via social media and I am pleased to say she has now also reached Kirk Yetholm. I did have a lovely chat over breakfast at the B&B with a father and young son from London who were about to climb Mickle Fell (with a special permit from the MoD) as part of their quest to bag all 92 tops of the historic English counties. I did not even know this is ‘a thing’, and was glad for this gap in my knowledge to be filled!

Having eaten a good cooked breakfast, I set off at 8:30 on my way to Dufton. An easier day with fewer miles and less elevation, punctuated by waterfalls. It was useful to experience how far away Langdon Beck YHA, where the first checkpoint will be, is from Middleton (8 miles)! I made a mental note to have a decent break at Clove Lodge during the race. The route took me along the river Tees, lovely and pastoral, passing Low Force and then High Force waterfalls. Looking down from above at High Force made me feel quite vertiginous, and I made sure to stay well away from the edge 😱.

I reached Falcon Clints, two areas with large boulders on the river’s edge which need to be traversed, NOT my kind of terrain, with every step a potential ankle or leg breaker to my mind. Nice to meet Keith Penny here, who will be on the Challenger North too and was similarly out recceing, we had a quick chat. I found the scramble up the side of Cauldron Snout less intimidating than I had imagined, phew. I generally don’t mind going up, even if I have to use my hands. After hauling myself to the top I marvelled at the sight of the dam at the end of Cow Green reservoir.

I managed to run/walk for a bit on the track alongside the MoD land (including Mickle Fell, I hoped my fellow guests from the B&B had reached their summit), I was now on my way to High Cup Nick. It was very foggy with no views whatsoever. Arriving at High Cup Nick (which I have seen before in much clearer conditions) I did not actually recognise it, as I thought it was another mile away. Time for another lesson which I have learnt before (in the pre-digital age) but had been lazily ignoring whilst glued to my gps watch: have the paper map out when visibility is poor and know exactly where you are at all times. To my shame I found myself going down the path into the valley, rather than staying on the top. I soon realised my error and retraced my steps, but felt very foolish indeed. That’s not going into any blog I thought 😳, too embarrassing. But I am writing it down anyway. Mistakes, especially on a recce, are there to be made and to be learnt from. The rest of the day was easy, a nice descent into Dufton, where I arrived in daylight. My accommodation in the Potting Shed proved to be an absolute delight and the highlight of the trip as far as overnight stays are concerned. A real haven for walkers/runners, small, self-contained, with everything one could need and more. It was obvious the owners have put a lot of thought and loving care into creating this gem.

Day 3 Dufton to Alston (22 miles 3600 ft)

The section to Alston is all about the ascent of Cross Fell, at 893m the highest point on the entire Pennine Way. Weather here can be ‘interesting’, last January during the Spine race runners were temporarily held at Dufton because conditions were deemed to dangerous on Cross Fell. Thankfully the weather gods were kind to me and the calm and dry weather of my trip persisted. The flip side was that it was yet another foggy day, so there would be not much in the way of views. I left Dufton at 8:20 to start the long climb up via Knock Fell, Great Dun Fell and Little Dun Fell. Due to the fog it felt as if I was a million miles from civilisation and perhaps about to fall off the edge of the planet, so it was weird to suddenly stumble across the pristine tarmac road leading up to the radar station on Great Dun Fell, even though I knew to expect it.

Visibility was so poor I could not see the station’s white structures until I was right next to them! Normally they are visible from miles away. The road section is very short and then the Pennine Way continues over moorland. Underfoot it was very boggy but there were a lot of slabs which did help with progress, though many were under mud and/or water and I was super cautious to prod them all before every step. No need to take any risks especially not when you are on your own. Well, I thought I was on my own, but I actually encountered 4 other hikers when I got near the summit, and also a fell runner coming the other way, travelling over the terrain with a speed and lightness of tread I can only dream about.

I reached the summit of Cross Fell, 8.5 miles from Dufton, in just over 3 hours. After a quick chat with the hikers I pressed on towards Greg’s Hut as that seemed a better place for a quick break than the summit shelter. The path down was quite clear to follow, and after some more bogs I reached the firmer ground of the track that took me to Greg’s Hut. I think someone must have spent the night there as there was still warmth emanating from the stove, I sat next to it and enjoyed a peanut butter sandwich. Hopefully on my next visit there I will experience eating John Bamber’s famous chilliwack noodles!

After Greg’s Hut there is a long descent of around 8 miles on a good runnable track to Garrigill. Initially I was still in the fog and it reminded me of travelling along the Cam Road in the dark on the Challenger South, the miles going by so slowly when there is nothing to see. I put a podcast on which helped, and as I got lower the views appeared, making it a lot more pleasant. The final 4 miles from Garrigill to Alston along the South Tyne river were easy and enjoyable, on good paths, though I could have done without the endless stiles to climb over, there are many! I reached Alston at 4:30pm just as the light began to fail, and made my way to my accommodation at Lowbyer Country Manor. I had booked the cheapest room, but as I was the only guest and they did not want to heat the entire hotel just for me they upgraded me to the self-contained Coach House. Lucky me! I had no real use for 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms of course, but one item particularly gladdened the heart: a washer dryer! Doing my daily laundry in a sink was one of the inevitable tasks of fast packing, so to be freed from it for one night was an unexpected pleasure.

Day 4 Alston to Twice Brewed (26 miles 3800 ft)

On paper this may have looked like an easier day than going over Cross Fell, but it is further and has slightly more elevation, due to a lot of repeated ups and downs rather than one big hill to climb. I left my accommodation at 7:40 and first made my way through Alston to the Spar to stock up on supplies for the day. Then I was on my way to Slaggyford, 6 miles of largely very muddy farmers’ fields, churned up by livestock, which made for rather laborious trudging. I stopped briefly to eat a snack on a bench on the village green. Onwards and onto the moors of the Knarsdale Estate, then Lambley Common, towards Blenkinsopp Common, another area renowned for its bogs. I had been worried about this, trying to read the terrain on the map it looked very wet, but in reality it was no worse at all then anywhere else. The path was a bit sketchy and suddenly disappeared, I had to get my compass out, but it all worked out once I spotted a tall yellow sign post, obviously put there for disoriented people like me.

Before tackling Blenkinsopp I went through the ramshackle yard full of ducks belonging to Rasta Ralph, an ‘interesting’ figure who posts YouTube videos of his rambling interviews with Spiners as they come past his farm. They do make for hilarious viewing, especially the one with Damian Hall from this year, he obviously just wants to push on but finds it impossible to be rude. I was quite glad to be spared an encounter on this occasion.

Once off the moor I was ‘accosted’ by a large flock of sheep who were under the mistaken impression that I was going to feed them, they came running from all directions to the feeding troughs in the middle of the field. I felt particularly sorry for the lame ones, making all that effort for zero reward. I did make me laugh too though.

I managed to cross the A69 at Greenhead, I thought this road crossing was almost worse than the A19 on the Coast to Coast route, as there is no central reservation to wait on. Over the Haltwhistle golf course and past Thirlwall Castle and then I was at Walltown car park, another of last January’s SST placements, then a frozen wonderland with hideous sheet ice in the car park. Will I be brewing tea and sleeping in the toilets here during the race? They were certainly very nice and warm! I started my journey along Hadrian’s Wall to my destination for the night, the Twice Brewed Inn, another 7 miles to go. I loved the Wall, it’s easy terrain. I don’t mind the many ups and downs, and for once no bogs, just mainly short grass, or stone steps up and down. The light was fading and I love this time of day, with nature gradually settling down for the night. I sat on a stile, had a snack and put my head torch on to be ready for darkness. I loved the murmurations of flocks of rooks. Some minor nav errors made, you wouldn’t think it possible, surely you just follow the wall! One entailed wandering around a large field in the dark unable to find the stile, and for the second one I had taken a lower path instead of a higher thinking they would converge but they didn’t 🤦‍♀️ All useful information for next time!

I left the path at Steel Rigg and jogged down the road to the Twice Brewed Inn and my bed for the night, arriving at 6:20 pm. A very welcoming place and I can recommend their beer too!

Day 5 Twice Brewed to Byrness (33 miles 4100 ft)

A 30+ mile day ahead of me so I made sure to leave early. To be honest, I thought it was going to be 30 miles. And I had checked the gpx file with the mileage several times, it definitely added up to 30. But it was 33 (without nav errors I should add!) The pub had made me a packed lunch in place of my breakfast which I had to miss due to the early start, and I set off at 7am to rejoin the trail.

I travelled for about 3 miles along Hadrian’s Wall, including Sycamore Gap, before turning north towards Bellingham which would be the day’s half way point. It was a mix of moorland, forest and farmland with the usual ups and downs, all quite enjoyable. The weather had remained the same, dry, still and mild. I came past Horneystead Farm where I had spent an SST shift too. It had been desperately cold and we took it in turns to sit in the van to warm up a bit, counting our blessings that we were not stationed out in the open on Padon Hill! I did not see Helen, the owner of Horneystead who goes out of her way to look after the Spiners (and indeed all Pennine Way walkers too). I noted though that Christina bumped into her a couple of days later as she features in her video. On this occasion I sped past as I did not have time to sit around and drink tea. I pressed on to Bellingham, there was even some runnable road (though my running speed seemed to only be reaching 15min/miles 🤣). I briefly sat on a stile and ate one of my lovely sandwiches from the packed lunch, and soon enough I was at the transmission mast above Bellingham. I remembered going for a short circular run there in January and it felt no distance at all from the town, but now the miles dragged a bit more. I reached ‘downtown’ Bellingham and the Co-op just before 1pm, and had a little break enjoying a banana and a bottle of chocolate milk on a bench there.

After Bellingham it was another 16 miles or so to Byrness. A climb out of the town along a road, some farmland and then back onto the moors for what seemed quite an endless trudge. More podcast time. Eventually I came past the Padon Hill monument in the distance, visibility was better this day, and I reached the edge of Redesdale Forest. It went dark, the forest was easy terrain to traverse though, after some stony paths I was on wide tracks used by the logging trucks and I managed some slow running again. It felt like the middle of the night and I was a bit startled to see a logging truck still at work, but of course it was only late afternoon. By the Visitor’s Centre at Blakehopeburnhaugh I met two dog walkers who asked with some concern if I was alright, I guess they don’t see many people on the Pennine Way at this time of year after dark, though I know plenty of Spine people are out recceing at the moment all along various sections of the course.

I reached Byrness just after 6:30pm, passing by the church where I had also spent an SST shift and where many Spiners grab some sleep. I hope I will make it that far, fingers crossed! Oliver Hague, the owner of Forest View Walkers’ Inn (closed for the winter so I was unable to stay there, there is camping in Byrness but no other accommodation) whom I had met on last year’s Cheviot Goat race, had kindly offered to give me lift to the Redesdale Arms 6 miles down the road in Rochester. Another lovely pub with a warm welcome, good beer, nice food and a very comfortable room.

Day 6 Byrness to Kirk Yetholm (27 miles 4500 ft)

I booked a local taxi to collect me at 6:50 am the next morning and take me back up to Byrness. Again I would sadly have to miss breakfast but the pub made me a packed lunch. The taxi was punctual and the driver ever so friendly, so I had an excellent start to the day and was back on the Pennine Way at 7 am, climbing steeply away from Byrness to tackle the Cheviots. I have run in these hills 4 times, 2 recces for the Cheviot Goat race, the race itself, and then also the Pendulum Race last March. I love these rolling hills, they are not unlike the Howgill Fells which I am also very fond of. Less appealing are the bogs, much of the terrain is boggy but fairly easy to traverse, but there are some bogs that I would consider quite malign and where you definitely do not want to fall in, especially not when on your own. I was blessed with the same still and mild weather, sadly no views though until the last couple of hours of daylight. Best of all, I saw the famous wild goats for the first time! There were quite a few groups of them at different locations, so many that I was quite surprised that I had not seen them before. They are quite smelly though, even when you are some distance away.

I made a couple of minor nav errors which meant crossing some ‘pathless tussocky hell’ to regain the path or trod, again all useful as I likely won’t make the same mistakes again. They weren’t even real mistakes, well, not in the sense of daft unforced errors. There are a few places where the path is really quite ambiguous and signposting (which is generally good on the Pennine Way) in those spots would have helped a lot.

I stopped at the Lamb Hill Refuge Hut (Hut 1 on the Spine) to eat a cheese sandwich, then marched on to Windy Gyle. Just below it I met the only people I saw all day, two farmers on their quad bikes with border collies, gathering sheep. After Windy Gyle there are miles and miles of flagstones which makes for easier going but also gets quite tedious. I still moved quite slowly, like on Cross Fell you need to be careful with the slabs that are submerged and I prodded them all with both poles, and then put my foot in between my poles. The one occasion where my foot went next to the slab my leg went in up to my thigh 😱 Doesn’t matter with one leg, but could be a completely different story if that happened to both legs. Not good. So I took it slowly. By the time I reached Auchope Cairn there were some views and I could see the sunset.

I passed the Auchope Hut (Hut 2). I knew it’s ‘not far’ then, only 7 miles to go. Mainly downhill, but not quite, there is still the Schil to climb over, where I had never been before. This stretch is also quite boggy in places, with large black peat bogs that you cannot just jump over and you really don’t want to fall in. I had to clutch on to the fence at times. I really had had enough. I felt these bogs were out to get me, like it was personal now. Thankfully, everything comes to an end, also these bogs, and I was delighted to see the Pennine Way fingerpost pointing me down to Kirk Yetholm: 4.5 miles. I had tried to guess at the terrain from how it looks on the map, and had feared the worst. A lot of dense contour lines and a path just above a stream, I thought it might be rocky and difficult. Picture my delight when it turned out to be basically a green lane all the way down, followed by a road (I knew about the road of course). It still felt somewhat never-ending, it found it difficult to run and pace wise it was probably just as ‘fast’ to power hike. A last uphill in the road and then there was the Border Hotel in front of me. It was 6:15 pm.

The next day

I had a lovely meal and a pint to celebrate the end of my recce, and treated myself to a lie-in before enjoying my hotel breakfast, lovely Scottish porridge. The return journey by public transport went totally smoothly and was quite enjoyable: bus from Kirk Yetholm to Kelso, next bus from Kelso to Berwick, train from Berwick to Leeds, and then a final train home to Burley in Wharfedale.

I think this recce has added to my existing ultra running skill set, there is always learning to be had on how to manage both body and mind during long journeys in the hills. Bring on January!