As a pre-BG pacing warm-up I park at Elterwater and ride along Great Langdale, steep climb up to Blea Tarn and then good downhill to Little Langdale. A short drink stop at the Three Shires Inn and then back into Elterwater.
Then on up to Keswick for a 7pm BG leg with Martin Spooner. Four others pacers with us so relatively easy duties. It is dry but a coll and breezy evening with some cloud on the summits.
We set-off at a fast pace and make close to 10 minutes by the summit of Skiddaw. Martin's knee decides to cause trouble, an ongoing injury that decides to flare-up again. He controls this well, half expecting it and pooping pills to deal with the pain.
On to Calva, all is going well and we make a few more minutes. He directs us to a different line off of Calva, a good trod and this works well. An easy river crossing through the Caldew and then a trudge up to the Common, into the cloud and on to the summit of Blencathra.
One of the pacers has a different descent route, a Hall's Fell Ridge variation; we go with this, it avoids the ridge but is steep and, in places, loose; however, it does bring us out belong the crest and easy running leads us to Threlkeld, 10 minutes up and in good shape.
Martin goes on to complete his BG in just over 22 hours, a great effort in difficult conditions.
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