I had a great time out on the Ranger Ultras Pennine Bridleway 240. The weather was even kind to us for most of it. My biggest concern was my recent injuries flaring up so it was a relief that both my calf and toe held up. The other concern I had was would I be able to make it to my shift at 7am this morning at Tesco - I did and with a few aches and pains I made it through my 7 hour shift on my feet.
Thank you for all your messages of support especially to Rachel Hewish who popped along to say hello as I passed close to her house š.
My next challenge, Pennine Bridleway 230, starts tomorrow at 8pm. You can follow me on the link below.
It will be a slow moving dot as I havenāt had a great start to the year with my injury on the Line 300 followed by breaking my toe 8 weeks ago.
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The last 24hrs can be summarised in one word, Wet š§ļø
We had drizzle from about 10am which developed into persistent rain. Whilst my waterproofs are great the one item that always fails are gloves (probably explained by the two holes you put your hands in) which I got through 2 pairs of.
It got to around 5pm and I was on a narrow country road which was clearly a commuter rat run so I was constantly on and off the verge where this was possible. I spotted a small clearing about 100m off the road so I took the strategic decision to set up camp to let the rain clear and the traffic to die down. It was a good call as after a 3 hour nap the rain had stopped and the road was dead, result š.
I made good progress overnight but due to all the rain conditions under foot were poor in places. This was topped off by some lovely ford crossings.
Fortunately, today is looking a lot better so hopefully my feet will dry out.
Less than 100 miles left to goā¦..
Highlights/lowlights of last 24hrs:
- IBS triggered shortly after having a sausage sandwich in Holbeach. Within 2 miles I was curled up in my bivvy as too painful to move. Fortunately, it cleared relatively quickly but it still cost me over 3 hours of daylight.
- A good mileage day
- rain during the evening clearing later on so had a decent view of the stars
- I must have knocked my alarm off in my sleep so I overslept. It has probably done me some good having a longer sleep as I was stumbling around in the dark last night like a drunk. Hopefully I will feel the benefit later on.
- flooded lake this morning with no obvious diversion so I went full on tough mudder - scaling fences, under barbed wire, wading through water up to my knees and finally just about crawling through 2 hawthorn hedges -
Well, I did ask for an adventure.
And yes, i was talking to myself throughout the night - not sure there was too much laughing though but looking back youāve got to laugh š
Well yesterday was more varied which was good. It was hard going though as we came across lots of very muddy fields which meant by the time youād crossed them you were carrying kilos of additional weight on your shoes. If this wasnāt bad enough some were recently ploughed which made it quite comical looking back on it as I ended falling in the mud on a couple of occasions.
Last night was cold but my āluxuryā sleeping quarters did the job.
I havenāt posted for a while as I needed to take some time out having had a very busy first half of 2025.
My comeback race, Winter Line 300, starts on Sunday at 11pm. As the name suggests itās 300 miles (actually thereās a bonus ultra on top as itās more like 330 miles š¤£) starting just above Withernsea on the East coast following the Meridian Trail down to Peacehaven on the South Coast. The distance has to be covered in less than 6 days.
This is a test of self sufficiency as there are no aid stations and there is strictly no support. You can stock up with supplies from shops along the way and you rough sleep where you can (think hedge backs, bus shelters and other luxury optionsā¦).
I canāt wait for the adventure to begin - Iāll post a link to the tracker when itās available so those interested can dot watch.
Talking of dot watching, Iāll be following the various Spine races which start this weekend when I can. Good luck to all racers and volunteers, itās set to be another epic year - Iām already getting flashbacks of last yearās race.
I slept in the tentbox last night at the point that the low level and high level route of the Pennine Way come together just before Kirk Yetholm. This was my view this morning. The cows provided a very loud wake up call at 6am but at least I wasnāt late for the bus to the start of my next race.
The race, Spine Sprint North, starts at 12pm - Iām 1025
Well what an adventure the Cape Wrath Ultra was. I volunteered on the event last year and was blown away by the scenery up here. To run through it this year for 8 days was simply magical.
For those that donāt know, you sleep in large berghaus tents at the end of each day which accommodate 8 people each. We are allocated tent mates at random at the start of the week. I was a little nervous about this aspect of it going into the race but I couldnāt have asked for a better group of tent mates. The unusual thing for this race given the attrition rate is we all completed the full ultra distance. We think this is the only tent to do so - awesome achievement tent 20. In fact, we had 4 in the top 20 and Jon Shield who took 2nd place.
I think Iāll be back to the Scottish Highlands next year as a volunteer as I just canāt get enough of the amazing landscapes and the special event Ourea Events lay on.
My next adventure starts tomorrow when I take on the Cape Wrath Ultra. The CWU is around 400km from Fort William to the Cape Wrath lighthouse which is located at the most North-Westerly point on the British mainland.
Iām only just returning to running from the quad injury I picked up on the Northern Traverse. Iām therefore treating this as a great training week rather than a race. Looks like the weather is going to be kind to us at least for the first half of next week.
If you want to follow a slow moving dot hopefully make its way up the West of Scotland Iām number 73. The race starts at 11am tomorrow for me as Iām in wave 1.
/capewrathultra25/
Unfortunately, Iāve DNFd at Shap. Blown up quad which Iām pretty sure is down to lack of specificity in my training for the challenges of the Lake District and probably not helped by the number of other long races Iāve done recently. Gutted but I did enjoy the first 12 hours with the very nice weather, I finished the Lakes Traverse at least (100k) and itās a reminder on what I need to focus on.
Well, here we go again but this year itās due to be sunny throughout rather than us having to battle through a storm. Training has lacked consistency though since the winter spine so Iām really not sure how this is going to pan out. Whatever happens though, I know it will be another brilliant event laid on by Ourea Events and it will be an adventure.
If you are interested in dot watching Iām number 96 and you can track me using the link below.
/northerntraverse2025/
Thanks in advance to anyone who is volunteering on the event.
Had a bit of a low yesterday afternoon fighting off the sleep monsters and bog monsters for about 10 miles after Bellingham. Marmite cashew nuts came to the rescue. However I knew I needed to sleep so once in Byrness I had 6 hours sleep in the church. Iām now at Hut 1 having a cuppa, more marmite cashew nuts and enjoying the company of the great volunteers.
