The Great Lakeland 3 Day Mountain Trial April 2005
Report by Anne Wade

Report by Joe | Results | Report by Anne Wade

Having read the Circular News Roundup in Strider 101 (April 2005) and having just taken part in this event, I thought I would let fellow members know what a truly great event this is and one to be thoroughly recommended. Richard Askwith, in his book ‘Feet in the Clouds’, describes the event as “one of the harder tests” and Joe Faulkner himself describes it like this: “Each day will be approximately 25 fell miles plus several thousand feet of ascent. Route choice is very much up to the individual and excellent navigation skills and complete self-reliance are required…….. It cannot be stressed too highly how this is an event for the experienced and competent only.” Then there is the obligatory overnight camping and total self-sufficiency as far as food and drink goes.

So, rather different to the usual one day LDWA event with a village hall and refreshments provided, and, as life is full of ‘little’ challenges, my husband, Vaughan, and I thought we’d give it a go! The first hurdle was having our entries accepted by Joe. We had to describe our relevant experiences to prove our competence. This is really important – as a small, low-key event covering huge distances, it is just not fair to put yourself or the organisers at risk, especially as mountain weather is fickle. We actually ended up with all 4 seasons in the 3 days!

The drive up to the Lake District on the Thursday afternoon was gloriously sunny and our spirits were high on arrival at our B & B. Camping was available at the John Ruskin School in Coniston, which was the start and finish venue for this year, but we decided we’d rather keep the camping gear dry for now. We registered at the school in the evening, picked up our route for Day One and adjourned to The Black Bull for supper and a pint or two of Bluebird Bitter (the official drink of GL3Day 05!). With only 35 people taking part, it became swiftly obvious that this was going to be a very friendly and sociable 3 days, despite the tough times ahead.

We woke with some trepidation on the Friday morning and it was a bit of a struggle to do justice to the wonderful breakfast put in front of us. However, the weather was clear, sunny and frosty, but with a bitingly cold wind. From plotting the controls the night before, I knew that we were in for a freezing blowy time on the tops and I was terrified of losing the map! Joe’s controls are mainly on summits, so lots of ascents and descents are to be expected and many of them cross-country, i.e. navigating off paths.

Setting off before 9 am, we were soon being overtaken by a steady stream of individual runners, even whilst marching up the Old Man (control 1)! The ice was treacherous in places and the hurricane force winds at the top started the ‘burning face’ syndrome, which continued throughout the 3 days. (On our return to ‘civilisation’, colleagues asked me where I had been, convinced I’d been somewhere exotic!) We managed a bit of a jog along the ridge in the crisp snow and soon descended to the Three Shires Pass (control 2). Now there was a choice – do we go over Crinkle Crags to the Three Tarns (control 3) or round, down and up? We chose not to go over the top, mainly due to the ice and the wind, but it took us a lot longer I think to do the alternative, even with an off-path short cut.

Visibility was excellent and the views stupendous, so the cross-country navigation required to circle the Scafell massif first to Great How (control 4) and then to Illgill Head (control 5) was easy and the 3 river crossings were straightforward. We were really enjoying ourselves and, despite the thermoregulation difficulties (sweating on the ascents and freezing on the tops) and the tiredness creeping in, we didn’t want the day to end. A long ridge run and a rather steep and awkward descent brought us to the campsite at Nether Wasdale. What a treat – a real campsite! It had proper toilets and hot showers! I had imagined that we’d be in the middle of nowhere next to a stream. We were given a hearty welcome by Joe, Lindsey, their friends and helpers, as well as the other participants, one of whom made us tea! We were also given bread and milk which was great. We had been out for about 9 hours and the quickest person had completed the route in under 5!! But who cares – we had had a great time and I’d rather be out in the hills than twiddling my thumbs in a tent!

After putting up our tent, feeding the dog (yes, even our dog took part!), the best bit was to come. There is a pub in the village, so of course we ate supper there (who wouldn’t, given the choice of instant mash and cup-a-soup or sirloin steak and chips) and what’s more we could partake of more Blue Bird Bitter! Then life got even better when our route for Day Two was to bring us back to the same campsite and we could leave our tents up. So we went to bed very happy bunnies!

Next day dawned rather dull and it started to rain just as we left the campsite, but we were feeling good – no aches or pains, so we quickly made our way towards Middle Fell (control 1). The weather worsened and the top of Middle Fell was extremely grim with thick mist as well as a freezing wind. We decided to slither down the way we’d gone up and follow the road to Wasdale Head rather than go via Scoat Fell and Pillar. By the time we’d reached Wasdale Head our gloves were saturated and hands frozen. So we nipped into the outdoor shop and very impulsively bought new waterproof gloves. Not only were these the saviours of the day, but it must be a first – shopping in the middle of an event!!

On entering Mosedale valley we noticed that it was not just raining, but snowing above about 400m and the snowline was becoming more and more obvious as we ascended towards the Black Sail Pass. We could see a few shadowy silhouettes on the ridge above the pass. Quite spooky. We branched off the path and into the gloom to climb up to Looking Stead (control 2). At the top there was thick snow and we both fell over twice and our feet were frozen. But Daisy (the dog) did not complain at all. She thought the snow was great and spent her whole time up there scooting along on one shoulder or the other and just generally larking about. She certainly couldn’t understand what we were moaning about.

Control 3 was at the west end of Ennerdale Water, so again, because of the weather conditions, we made the decision to come off the tops and to descend via Sail Beck and to jog along the track through the forest. This was lovely and a relief to be safe. It also stopped raining which was even better, so our spirits lifted immensely. However by the time we got to control 3, it was already the middle of the afternoon, so we decided to miss out controls 4 (Crag Fell) and 5 (Lank Rigg) and to head straight up to Caw Fell (control 6) and then south to the campsite. Well, this was the plan, but isn’t what actually happened. Vaughan was recovering from a calf muscle injury and was a bit worried about making another steep ascent that day. Also the tops were still shrouded in thick mist and it just didn’t look very inviting. So we planned a route via Ennerdale Bridge, up onto Kinniside Common, along the River Calder, along the top of Worm Gill, across Stockdale Moor and finally down towards Nether Wasdale. This was a very long and very wet option. Even though our top halves were drying out marvellously and we were still feeling good, we ended up wading through more marsh and bog than I have ever been in in my life. We also had to negotiate two fairly deep and wide river crossings. Quite scary for us, but Daisy didn’t mind of course.

Eventually we reached the campsite just as it was getting dark. We had been out in every weather imaginable for almost 12 hours and had an amazing adventure. It’s incredible what you can pack into in one day. Needless to say we fell into the pub where we completed the drying process, plotted the route for Day 3, ate and enjoyed, yes, you’ve guessed it, more Blue Bird Bitter!

After sleeping like comatose logs, we were up bright and breezy and we’d packed up ready to go by 7.30 am. This was to everyone’s amazement as we were last in the previous day and first out this morning, but we wanted to make sure that we finished todays route by early afternoon in time for the post-event BBQ! We’d already planned to miss out control 4 on Whit Fell to speed things up a bit.

So off we went in light drizzle, eating breakfast on the hoof, up and over to Eskdale via controls 1 and 2 and up to Water Crag (control 3). There were runners overtaking us all the way but they all had a chat and it was very pleasant. Going up to Water Crag though, there was more marsh reminiscent of yesterday and no visibility in the thick mist. Navigation had to be spot on and we found the summit relatively easily. We then crossed the fell to the road and wound our way down to Ulpha Bridge and control 5. Joe was right when he said the road walking would be tedious and, of course we would have preferred to visit all the controls, but with Vaughan’s leg forcing us to mostly walk, it was definitely the quicker option.

Soon we were over Caw (control 6) and heading up to Walna Scar. The sky had now cleared and the beautiful views returned, which was a great ending to the event. We braced ourselves against the cold wind over the ridge and then enjoyed the descent, getting warmer and sunnier all the time down the Walna Scar Road into Coniston. And we were in time for the BBQ!

Really, the whole point of this review is to show that long distance walkers can do an event like this and still feel very welcome and part of it. Joe is keen to promote the event, not just with fellrunners and orienteers, but also with competent LDWA members, whilst still retaining the small numbers and the camaraderie that this inevitably generates. We were certainly very proud as we drove back down the motorway with our GL3Day T-shirts on!!

Routes