A change of plan...after a an early hour or so in the office I head to More bakery for a quick latte and croissant - need this after last night's tough session.
Although still undecided about whether to run in the Coniston Fell Race on Saturday, I decide to recce the route. It's going to be a hot day, so travel light, wear shorts and T-shirt, suncream up and choose my Inov-8 X-Talon 212's (these are super-fast :-) ). Set-off from the village and are soon climbing the steep bank which cuts off significant distance; it is at this point that I confront one of my few fears.....a snake, probably an adder but I don't stick around long enough to find out !
Slightly confused after this climb, do I drop to the main path or try cutting across from the higher path; choose the latter option first but soon revert to the former (is this correct Russ ?). Then follow main path up and head towards checkpoint 1 on Wetherlam. Choose good lines, deviating from the main path, mainly on the left-hand side. From CP 1, follow the main path down to the Hawse and then good climb up Prison Band to CP 2 on Swirl How; I like this climb and work hard to quickly gain the summit.
The views are great, could spend ages identifying just about all of the Lakeland peaks. Easy running to Brim Fell and the to CP 3 on the Old Man of Coniston. Do not stop here as I am keen to check-out the direct descent. Had been tipped-off, this works, made a rapid and efficient descent which, lower down, was much to the amazement of tourists (including those climbing the mountain in flip-flops !!).
Good running lower down leads to the packhorse bridge and the the track to the race finish. A good run, out for a leisurely 3 hours, Russ thinks I could race this in under 1.5 hours, I'm not so sure.
Need to clean myself, not a pretty sight, covered in sweat and suncream; also desperate for food and drink - all of this is a welcome pleasure :-)
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