Keswick To Barrow 2011

Time: 12 hours, 16 minutes and 56 seconds.
Average speed: 3.26 mph

The weekend got off to a good start. I reached work when I realized I'd left my spare walking socks at home and only had one pair packed. Fortunately we had a couple of hours between finishing work and setting off north so I dived into Rugeley. Despite being on the edge of Cannock Chase, Rugeley has no walking/camping shops and the sport's shop had one pair of hiking socks two sizes too small. Luckily the Aldi had walking socks, plus other bits of kit so I could phone Matt who was lacking both socks and suitable trousers because the stuff he'd ordered online hadn't turned up.

Problem 2 was the M6 which was totally snarled up. On a Friday afternoon too, who'd have guessed? We made it to the registration at 5:45, collected our dog tags then headed off to Windermere and 3 different B&Bs. As usual, I found myself on the top floor.

Breakfast at 0445 was quick and cold, but for a pot of coffee laid on for us. Then a ride in the crew bus to the start to join everyone else.

0602 at the start. Andy, Matt, Mark, John, Mike.

There were six of us from PMES walking this year. Myself and Mike had both completed five walks, Andy had walked a few times before with his best being 26 miles. Matt, Mark and John were all new to the walk. On support we had Alan who had finished before.

The first two hours were wet, but we'd expected that from the forecast and were prepared. We quickly broke into three groups, Mike, Mark and John in front, then me and Matt, then Andy. Coming up Dunmail Raise the rain finally gave up and we could see glimpses of the sun. At Grasmere I packed away my now dry waterproof jacket. I had enough signal to tweet one update, but that was a rare occurance.

Red Bank slowed me down, but I caught Matt up again at the top and we descended the other side together and met Alan for the first service point. Mike was about 25 minutes ahead of us, Mark and John 10 minutes. I grabbed a couple of bars to keep me going and pushed on, but Matt took advantage of a relatively short queue for a comfort break.

On the stretch from Elterwater to Coniston the last of the quick people passed me and the other plodders. This included half a dozen squaddies wearing backpacks. I later asked one of them how heavy it was, he said 15 kg and it had taken 10 hours!

It was on the road down to Coniston that Matt caught me up again. I then reminded him that at the top of Red Back he'd asked if there were any more uphills like that and I'd said not for a while. The while was now up and we climbed the stone path, with Matt again getting ahead before I caught up with him for the downhill the other side.

At the top end of Coniston we again met Alan. He'd had to wait for Andy, then fight his way through the traffic and had only just got there a few minutes before. He'd missed Mike, Mark and John.

I pushed on, reluctant to stop for too long. Matt began to fall back from me, he thought that last downhill had done something. I got to the lunch stop alone and grabbed a sandwich while I changed my socks to dry ones (thanks Aldi!) and unzipped the legs of my trousers to convert them to shorts. As I was doing this I spotted John. He'd hurt a tendon and was contemplating whether to go on. Mark had gone ahead. Matt now arrived, feeling tired. He had been aiming for 26 miles but now wasn't so sure.

I'd been stationary for about 10 minutes and was worried about my legs seizing up and wanted to get going again. Matt wanted a few minutes longer, then he and John would follow me. I set off again, down the side of Coniston Water.

About 1230 it started to rain again, light at first. This hadn' t been forecast and I put off putting on the jacket on the assumption it wouldn't last and anyway the trees were keeping most of it off me. At the bottom end of Coniston it was obviously getting heavier and I couldn't put off getting the jacket out any longer. At the Water End drinks point I put the jacket back on.

I slogged my way past the 25 mile mark towards the Lowick checkpoint. There I met Alan who'd parked the crew bus a little way from the route. I started to tell him that Matt and John would be a way behind me, but then he said they were actually resting in the crew bus. They'd had to stop and the rescue service had dropped them off. Mark had already gone through and, he assumed, Mike had gone through before he'd got there. Andy had passed the 18 mile checkpoint and as far as they knew was still going.

I passed the tempting pub at Lowick and swiped at the checkpoint and kept going. This part is the long, slow climb up to Kirby Moor. Passing the 30 mile mark at a little over 9 hours I realized I wasn't going to beat 12 hours. Tunnel vision kicked in and I paid no attention to anything but the route. The rain eventually died away, I can't remember when but it persisted as drizzle for a while. I now know where April's usual rainfall went.

At Marton (checkpoint 7, 34.5 miles) Alan, Matt and John were waiting. I restocked on water and packed the jacket away again. A quick conflab and they were going to wait for Andy who was due around six, when I'd hope to be finishing. I said I could manage just on the drinks points left.

Passing the wildlife park I got to the point were there is actual pavement all the rest of the way so I dug out the ipod and started to wonder what music to use for the final stretch or rely on the RNG. Coming out of Dalton and near to Furness Abbey, I noticed the street was actually called Abbey Road, so that settled that. For the last mile I chose side 2 of Abbey Road, hoping the timing would work out. It didn't and I had to skip two tracks so I could walk up the drive at the finish line to The End. Mike got me finishing on the camera, which I think is the first time anyone from PMES has seen me finish as I normally manage to sneak in while nobody's looking.

As I thought, I was slower than last year. In fact it was fourth out of my six finishes. I'll have to check but it may be because I wasn't trying to keep up with the Rolls Royce guys around Thirlmere this year.

Mike found me after I'd got my results sheet printed and I asked about Mark. Mike said he'd been there 2 hours and hadn't seen him, so I pointed out he was just walking up behind him. Mike had done around 10 hours, Mark 10 hours 30 but they'd both been too tired to notice each other in the crowd.

I grabbed myself a bitter shandy (best way to make that smoothpour crap drinkable) and sat down, wondering if I'd ever stand up again. After a little while we heard from Matt that Andy had reached Marton, had tended to his blisters and was working up to continue. Five minutes later, no. Andy's legs had rebelled. He'd done 8 miles past his previous best but that was it.

Back to Windermere for a shower and some foot attention. Only two blisters, although one required two plasters to cover it. It was 9:30 when we set out for the celebratory meal and our first two choices were already shut. It had also started raining again. We settled into an Italian (The Lighthouse?) and had ordered and were enjoying our drinks and the lightning when the entire street went dark. The power was only out for five minutes, but it was worrying...

A good nights sleep, a hearty breakfast and a clear run down the motorway. We dropped Matt off in Wolverhampton in time for him to stagger off to his seat for the football, then back to PMES to pick our cars off and drive home.

Thanks to Alan for driving support, Andy for organizing, all my sponsors and to everyone at the drinks points.