a great lakeland adventure x3

we've yet to unpack. i'm tired and itchy (from the midges) and probably a little irritable, due to having to go back to the workhouse after such a glorious weekend away. one of the most positive outcomes of keeping this blog has been getting to meet up with like minded folk and enjoy the outdoors.

we spent friday with vikki, this time without the bikes. despite plans to take it easy, the weather was too good to ignore the possibility of views from scarfell pike. jane and vikki spent most of the run discussing tactics and gear for the forthcoming saunders-not that i'm at all jealous.

Following the theme of virtual to real buddies we also met up with anthony for a beer. and true to form he left us at our campsite in borrowdale to go and bivvy somewhere near wasdale. he was due to be supporting karl on his bob graham round, though!

on saturday i was very privileged to witness and be a part of iain's bob graham round. we saw him off on the friday evening, leaving the moot hall in keswick at 7pm (along with karl). the next time i was due to see iain again wouldn't be until 14.15 on saturday at the honister slate mine. however, iain obviously had other plans. despite loosing time during the night and 'enjoying' great dodd, he'd manged to make that up and gain a further hour coming over from wasdale.

all plans of tea and cake were cut short. after a brief pit stop we were soon steadily climbing towards dale head. the ups were a great chance to chat to the man himself, who really shouldn't have been able to speak and ascend so smoothly after running through the night! it was also great to chat to his friends and fellow supporters. some of whom (iain c) had been waiting fell side to cheer him on. on the downs i concentrated on trying to keep up.

there was a real sense of excitement and victory as iain touched the final top. this didn't last long though, as we were soon flying down robinson towards little town. then all that stood in his way was a mere 4 miles of tarmac to keswick. again the road crew swooped into action with military precision. and iain was on his way, setting a more than steady pace.

he reached the moot hall some 20 hours and 46 minuets after ascending 27 000ft and running (probably a little more) 65 miles. it's a fantastic achievement to even get round in under 24 hours but that is a corker of a time. it was lovely to be a part of such a friendly and inspiring group of people. a truly great day out in the hills.

but our lakeland fun didn't stop there. after a quick celebratory beer we were back to borrowdale to meet up with jane's family. more celebratory alcohol soon followed as it's the beginning of jane's mum's retirement and also her birthday.

our final day was spent running away from dark rain clouds on grasmoor with lizzy, cat and ruth. a warm and extremely clammy day then ended with a dip in crummock water. it's amazing what you'll do when egged on by others.

had better go and unpack now...