Wyresdale Skyline Traverse
Sunday, 7th May 2006
Richard Davies and Stewart Forsyth (Lytham RR
and Bowland Fell Runners)
I have been
thinking about competing in longer distance fell races for some time but lacked
the confidence that I would have the legs or the necessary navigation skills.
Having booked myself onto the FRA
navigation course at Elterwater in September 2006 that was one of the
obstacles out of the way. The other was
down to training.
I have
managed to get onto the fells quite regularly during the winter and felt the
benefit in my climbing ability and improved overall fitness, however I am
lacking in distance training, I average twenty to thirty miles each week, most
of that on the roads but, to date, my longest run has been half marathon
distance and that was also on the roads!
Stewart Forsyth and I regularly train and race
together on the fells and we had talked about doing the Wyresdale Skyline Traverse,
and when we looked at possible dates, it turned out that Sunday the 7th of May was one of the few options. The route starts at Quernmore Post Office near
Stewart and I arranged to set off in two cars at 0700hrs on Sunday morning, I had my gear packed
but discovered that my drink bladder, that I intended to carry, had sprung a
leak, so I ended up with just one water bottle holding less than a litre. My kit consisted of a very small rucksack and
a bum bag into which I crammed my safety kit, some emergency food and water -
the total weight was 6lbs.
I left my car
at Scorton and travelled onto Quernmore with Stewart. We got geared up,
took a photo outside the Post Office and set off running at 0800hrs. The first part of the run was over farmland.
On the way up to Clougha we managed
to lose the footpath and ended up taking a detour to get back on track. To add to
this it started to rain - not a good start to the run.
From Clougha we ran on towards Grit Fell, easy running on good ground;
from Grit Fell we carried on
crossing the shooters track towards Ward
Stones. As we climbed we came into low cloud and slightly heavier rain, the
temperature dropped and I was glad I had a light fleece on over my Helly vest. After the Ward Stone East summit we were on new ground so we took a bearing
in the mist as we headed for Wolfhole
Crag.
We soon
picked up the fence line that we expected to accompany us for most of the run
but we were confused because we expected a break in the fence where we would
turn off for Wolfhole. At a sharp turn in the fence we decided we
were at the right place so we set off on a bearing and spent the next twenty
minutes blundering about in the mist. It
was eerie; there is a large population of sea gulls in this area and we could
hear them calling all around us but only caught the occasional glimpse through
the mist. Cutting our losses we returned
to the fence; a bit despondent at not finding the summit. After a few minutes, scratching our heads
over the map, we decided to carry on and see what turned up. It seemed we had made a basic mistake and
underestimated the distance we had 
run. After a
few more minutes running we realised we should not have worried when we came
across a Bowland Fell access point
complete with signposts, it was almost like
The run out
to Wolfhole was pleasant and we
‘treated’ ourselves to an energy gel and a drink at what was the end of the East bound leg.
Returning to
the access point we turned south,
running over Brennand Great Hill
towards Millers House. Most of this was nice running although Stewart managed to find a bog with both
feet; there was a look of panic on his face as he sank down to his shorts and
felt like he was still going deeper.
Quick thinking took over here as I reached for my mobile phone, not to
ring the emergency services, but to make use of the expedition camera. Stewart
was having none of this and he was out of the bog and off running again
before I could get a shot.
Brennand Tarn was a pleasant surprise on the
route, a nice spot for a picnic, but not today. It marked the start of the
climb up to Whins Brow which we
reached comfortably as the sun was trying to break through. I felt it was now safe to shed a layer and
stuffed my micro-fleece into my bag. We
were clear of the low cloud and enjoying the views although we could see our
next objective, ‘Top of Blaze Moss’
across the other side of the
The descent
to the road crossing was deceptive. We only saw the Trough Road as we came to the edge of the last steep drop and, for
a while, we had doubts the road was really there! We stopped for a couple of pictures at the Boundary Stone before plodding steeply
up the other side. Nearing the top Stewart
noticed a deer watching us but it turned and ran off into the mist as we
approached.
Up until now
we had been feeling pretty good and the ground over which we had been running
was reasonable. A notice at the top of Blaze Moss warned us what was to come;
it asked us to follow markers to avoid the ‘sensitive
bog’. The markers seemed to be
taking us out of our way, away from the high ground, and through some very
rough running, so we returned to the fence.
As promised the fence line went through some very wet areas and we had
to make frequent detours to keep going.
Hawthornthwaite Fell, with it’s impressive Trig point was reached after what
seemed some very tough running and it was taking its toll as we were starting
to trip and tumble on tired legs.
The next
objective was White Moss, not a trig
point, just a 
this and
there were a few quiet moments.
What a relief
to get onto a mown path in the heather which took us to Harrisend Fell, from where we could see Nicky Nook, our last top. The water was all gone by this stage so we
had a few jelly babies and some mint cake before dropping down to the
road. We took the footpath through Fell End Farm and then started the
climb up Nicky Nook where we saw our
first walkers of the day. Stewart was looking quite strong going
up here but I was really feeling the strain and my left hamstring was starting
to cramp. Over the top of Nicky Nook and down the other side on
familiar ground again I was starting to feel a bit better now but very short of
energy.
The last bit
was on the road down to Scorton Post
Office. We arrived in just under 6 hours having covered 24.6 miles
according to my Garmin. We had our picture 
taken by a
man who was sitting outside the Priory
Café with a pint; it looked great but I couldn’t face one; I was feeling a
bit sick!
After a
change of clothes, I took Stewart
back to Quernmore where he picked up
his car and then we drove home.
I drank loads
of water when I got home but I still didn’t feel right until I had had my tea,
a nice roast lamb dinner, and then I managed some wine and a couple of beers. I
did not stop eating all night. The Garmin software said I had used 4,100
calories. I don’t know how accurate that is but I made up for it. I think my preparation for this run had been
a bit lacking and I had not eaten enough or drank enough to prepare myself -
lesson learnt!!
The following
times have been rounded to the nearest minute. They were not a schedule, they
were taken from the split times I recorded, (until I managed to press the stop
button somewhere on Blaze Moss),
after that times are taken off the Garmin
download to Memory Map.
|
|
|
Cumulative Time |
|
Quernmore |
0:00:00 |
|
|
Clougha |
0:28:00 |
0:28:00 |
|
Grit Fell |
0:14:00 |
0:42:00 |
|
Ward Stone West |
0:21:00 |
1:03:00 |
|
Ward Stone East |
0:04:00 |
1:07:00 |
|
Wolfhole Crag |
1:02:00 |
2:09:00 |
|
Whins Brow |
0:54:00 |
3:03:00 |
|
Hawthornthwaite
Fell Top |
1:14:00 |
4:17:00 |
|
White Moss |
0:13:00 |
4:30:00 |
|
Grizedale
Head |
0:23:00 |
4:53:00 |
|
Harrisend
Fell |
0:21:00 |
5:14:00 |
|
Nicky Nook |
0:28:00 |
5:42:00 |
|
Scorton |
0:14:00 |
5:56:00 |
Written by:
Richard Davies
Submitted: 12th
May 2006
Edited by:
Brenda J Earnshaw WRR Website/Magazine Editor