After the successes of my running training since the turn of the year and feeling like I had new found freedom with what I was actually able to do physically, I decided to use my Easter weekend to head up to the Lake District, one of the National Parks in the UK, to head into the hills for what is known as fell running.
Fell running is the name given to a kind of running that originates in northern Britain, where running on the fells in areas such as the Lake District. What sets it apart from other disciplines, such a mountain running, is the fact that there’s not really a trail or predetermined route. Anything goes! However you want to get from A to B, you go there in whatever way you can!
So I felt that fell running would be perfect for me to go out and get over my fears and weakness of hill running as well as enjoying the some of the best and most beautiful scenery that the UK has to offer, especially over an unusually sunny British Bank Holiday. That’s what this blog is about, my first hand experiences of trying fell running for the first time, the routes that I took, a snapshot into the views that I got to enjoy, my thoughts and feelings after it and a quick overview of the kit that I used. I’ll only touch on this as I plan to do a thorough review of the equipment and nutrition that I used to get me through the weekend.
Friday
Excited as I was to be heading up to throw myself into this training, I wasn’t excited for the joys of a 7 hour train journey but looking at the forecast coming up, it was going to be a good weekend for fell running, if not a little warm. The best way to get around the Lake District is by car so if you drive up, you have plenty of flexibility. However, if you’re at the mercy of public transport, the best place to head to is Windermere train station as your gateway in. From there, you have the options of grabbing a taxi or a bus to the main towns. I chose the bus, which was reasonably priced at £4.70 for a single to Ambleside. You are able to get day tickets should you use the bus to get around during your stay. One of the cool features I found on the more modern bus that I took was that they told you the history of the local area as you passed by.
Fortunately for me, the hostel was right next to the stop for the bus and the location couldn’t have been better! I checked into my hostel of the YHA Ambleside and then headed outside to take in the beautiful sunshine glistening off the lake and admiring the brilliant view that the location gave. I knew I was going to enjoy it here if this was just the start!
Though the journey was for business to stock up on supplies, I did gain pleasure from being able to admire the quaint and delightful nature of Ambleside as it was shown in its best light in the sun. It was your typical town in and around the mountains, with a plethora of outdoors franchises, smaller stores for groceries, restaurants, activity providers and pubs. It had everything you needed and was set in a lovely location. A dream of a place to live!
With the weather that we were blessed with, it would have been a shame to allow it to go to waste even if it was the first night. Being fortunate to be just under 2 miles from summit of one of the lower peaks in the area, Wansfell (487m), I decided that with the sun looking to be setting of the lake of Windermere and the other mountain ranges in the west, I should take the short journey to the top and watch the sunset. Being able to get to the top in just over 40 minutes, 1.9 miles and 1300ft later, I was at the top and taking in the spectacular views that the Lake District had to offer which was only emphasised by the orange hue being cast across the landscape from the sunset. On the way down, I used the shallower gradients and easier trails as an opportunity to warm up the legs and the technique required for the longer, steeper and more technical descents I’d be facing over the weekend.
Saturday
After making sure that I prepared my kit the night before ready for a day of pushing myself, it was an early start for me to get up and grab breakfast, making sure that I had time to digest before I was heading up to the top of my first peak as I didn’t fancy seeing it again and more importantly, had the energy in my system. I’ll list all the kit that I used for that day based on the mileage I was intending to do then go on to show the route and describe my experiences as I went along.
Before I started though, as I was allowing my breakfast to settle, the first location for me to visit was the peaceful but equally enchanting Stock Ghyll Force, a 70ft waterfall inside a lovely wooded area just off the centre of the town centre. This was a place recommended by a quick online search and something I wanted to check out before I grabbed a cup of tea and headed to the start of my first trail.
Kit for that day:
- Karrimor t-shirt
- Karrimor running shorts
- Karrimor socks
- Innov8 Mudclaw 300
- Oakley M2 with Trail Prizm lens
- Montane Trailblazer 18L carrying:
- 2L hydration pack
- Karrimor X-Lite jacket
- Trepass Qikpac waterproof trousers
- Black Diamond Spot Lite 160 head torch
- Spare Karrimor vest
- 2 x High5 energy bars
- 2 x High5 energy gels
- Wallet
- Spare sunglasses
- Sun cream
- Vivobarefoot Stealth II
Route Taken
My friend had recommended a good mobile app to allow me to have a map on my phone that works in offline mode, called ViewRanger. This is a free map app and these maps have details on trails, contours lines of the area and details, like you would see on any other map. There are options to upgrade to pro to allow you to have benefits such as downloading OS maps. Another great feature, though it can be a little fiddly at times, is the ability to plot a route on the app, which gives you full detail of the route, elevation gain across the route and what the exact mileage is. Here’s the route that I took for the Saturday, along with the elevation gain and my finishing time:
Cup of tea finished and I was off to the start of my route. As you can see, my route was to head straight up Red Screes to the peak. As I was new to running up fells, I ran where the incline wasn’t too much of a challenge and then hiked with as much speed as I can to make sure that I didn’t burn myself out too much and with the warm weather, it would be very easy to get in a bad way especially when it’s the first time up there on my own. I admit, the going was tough but it was giving me a good workout both mentally and physically. What was adding to the challenge was the multiple false summits before then finding out you weren’t quite there yet!
Arriving at the time of Red Screes after 45 minutes, I took the opportunity to enjoy the breeze to cool down as I enjoyed the fruits of my labour from that views I had on offer. Using this time wisely as a quick pit stop, sun cream was topped up, water taken in, pack was back on and head on my way west across the ridge and slight dip to the peak of Dove Crag. The way that I was working my nutrition to make sure that I was having enough calories was to alternate an energy gel and energy bar every half an hour.
This way to Dove Crag gave me one of the most enjoyable parts of the day, which was my experience of running downhill. The freedom and feeling of the wind in my face as I ran down the side of Red Screes with the assistance of gravity allowing me to bundle down the descent over the marsh and rocks with great speed was exhilarating!
Around another 45 minutes later, I was up the other side of the ridge and on top of Dove Crag (792m), giving an amazing view down the ridge with the Lake Windermere as a background. These were the views that I’d always seen through the eyes of athletes I’d followed and now I was here myself, living it for myself and there was no better feeling.
The final part of the Saturday run was the descent down the ridge depicted above and heading back into Ambleside. This was initially a free flowing trail that allowed me to work up some speed as I headed south, passing those on their way up. After about a third of the way along, I had to have my wits about me as the descent got a little technical with plenty of jagged rocks, sudden drops and opportunities to flop. I had to really concentrate on where my feet were going so that I didn’t cause myself an injury. This was probably the most challenging part of it, ensuring you don’t twist an ankle but at the same time, keep your feet moving and staying light on them to protect your knees.
Ever so slightly over 2 hours later and I was back in the middle of Ambleside, feeling like I’d just challenged myself and embracing that post run feeling. The post run ritual that I decided on to make sure I got the calories burnt back into my system, rehydrate and reenergise was to head to the Costa in Ambleside for an peach iced tea, a fruit cooler and a slice of walnut and carrot cake. Perfect food for an athlete, right? Though it allowed to get some energy back in me and cool down, it also let my body seize up as I sat there, which wasn’t the smartest move but the cake made it worth it.
As you can imagine, the afternoon and evening were used to relax, refuel and recover myself to get over the stresses and strains of the first day, ensuring that I was as fresh as I could be for the next day which was going to consist of a longer distance, higher climbs and steeper descents. This is where plenty of foam rolling, use of a massage ball, a golf ball and stretching were need to try and loosen up the aches and pains I had and ensure that I didn’t wake up the next day with the same range of movement as the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz before he was oiled.
Sunday
The morning of the Sunday followed the plan of the Saturday with me getting up, though certainly not with the same spring in my step from the day before, to grab my breakfast and get ready for another morning in the mountains. With the distance being longer and elevation gain being higher, I wanted to make sure that I enough supplies to give me flexibility for additional miles and sustain me for longer hence the higher inventory of nutrition.
Kit for that day:
- Same as Saturday in what I was wearing but with extra supplies on the bars and gels front:
- 4 x High5 gels, 2 with and 2 without caffeine in them
- 4 x High5 energy bars
- 1 x Clif Bar Shot Bloks
Route Taken
I used ViewRanger again to plot my route, using the run of the day before as a guide of distances, elevation gain and what to expect as it was used as part of the route for Sunday. Part of me wanted to challenge myself so even though the distance was upped by a couple of miles already, I’d given myself the option to extend it out to a half marathon distance to really challenge myself.
The first part of the route was to head back up to the top of Dove Crag, using the same ridge that I’d ran down the day before. Surprisingly, despite my fatigued legs that I could feel from the moment that I woke up, I was able to run more of the inclines whilst hiking the steeper bits, making sure that I didn’t over do it and burn out in the knowledge that I had further to go today. It didn’t take long for the aches and pains of yesterday to wear away to only a dull ache and for my legs to loosen up once I got moving, reassuringly.
Once at the top of Dove Crag, this time it was to head west along the ridge out to the summit that is Fairfield (873m). With the wind gusting across the top of the ridge and the inclines being steady, this part of the run was really fun! Fast, flowing descents and steady ascents to keep the momentum flowing with minimal cut backs. The view from the top of Fairfield was even better than that of Dove Crag, exposing more from this higher vantage point. My favourite one was similar to that seen from Dove Crag but with the thin and sharper ridge to the south leading down to Ambleside and Lake Windermere. Much to my surprise, there was still snow up there on one of the cliff faces, even in this warm weather.
From here, I headed towards the ridge to the south to follow the trail along the top. Initially, I planned to follow it all the way down to the bottom, equating in a 10 mile loop for the day. That plan changed when I decided to challenge myself (not that I needed to already!) and I came to the fork in the trail that headed down via a different trail over the top of Stone Arthur before hitting the ascent up to Alcock Tarn and back down again to The Coffin Route, heading back to Ambleside. This addition route ended up adding another 700ft of elevation gain and 3 miles onto the route already planned, bringing my total to a half marathon and over 4100ft of gain.
As much as I enjoyed challenging myself, I did start to regret the decision to add the extra distance on with 3 hours done and just over a mile to go as the legs started to really suffer and though I’d been keeping the calorie intake consistent again, I hit the wall of my body just not wanting to chew and swallow the energy bars that I had. Even though I knew that I needed to keep it up, it just wasn’t having it. It was a weird experience as I couldn’t tell you why exactly it was refusing what I was offering. This followed me for the next 30 minutes at least after finishing, as I sat in Costa struggling to even drink my fruit cooler, never mind the cake I’d just bought. Eventually though, my body caught up with me and the cake happened and oh boy, it was worth it! Then did the double lunch and double dinner…
My afternoon’s plan? Initially sleep once back to the hostel and then conducted the stretching I needed to do before sorting out my kit to head home the next day. There weren’t any sunset hikes tonight either, as I watched the sunset from the side of the lake before I hit the hay and got some very much needed rest.
Monday
Monday was time for me to head home but I decided to squeeze the last little bit out of the weekend by heading up a short but sweet hike to watch the sunrise from the top of a rock near Todd Crag (211m), as it rose over the ridge of Wansfell and illuminated Lake Windermere. As tired as I was and wanted to stay in bed after the 25 miles that I’d already covered, with it being a clear morning, I knew it would be worth it and I wasn’t disappointed! It was a short but sweet hike, of 1.6 miles each way and a steady and small elevation gain of 600ft but the huge reward of the view that it gave me from atop of the rock that I sat on was spot on. I sat there, taking in the fresh air and watching the sun slowly creep over the ridge to my east, whilst the shadow being cast by it off to the west shrunk away.
As good as the morning was for me, the follow up of having breakfast, packing my kit away and heading home was not as awe inspiring as the morning but as I headed back to the south coast, I knew what a tough but rewarding weekend I had had, discovered the pleasures of the landscape on offer in the Lake District and solidified my aspirations to head into the mountains more in the future, both for pleasure and for competing.
Overall Thoughts
To finish off this blog, I’ll give you my thoughts about fell running and whether I would be looking forward to heading back up large ascents or sticking to the flats. I’m going to admit, as a first time thing, fell running isn’t easy and isn’t for the faint hearted. Running up inclines is tough on both your legs and your mind, where you need to show the grit and determination to push yourself and keep going until the summit. The same goes for the declines! As crazy as it may sound but due to the nature of the descents, you have to be constantly aware of where you’re putting your feet, what’s coming up and planning the safest routes. Not only that but also ensuring that you are staying light-footed and correctly absorbing the impact is key to make sure that you aren’t putting too much strain on your knees but your quads are going to be working hard!
But all that effort is completely worth it! The views are incredible and feeling once you can sit down and enjoy what you’ve just achieved is really something! The feeling of complete freedom as you fly across the top of the ridge, the world down below you, is something that is hard to be compared to. You don’t need to be a top athlete to go up there and genuinely enjoy yourself. Running all the time isn’t a compulsory component and if you can only run the flats and hike the ascents/descents, that’s perfectly OK!
This is something that I’ll be looking forward to doing in the future to both build my legs, build my cardiovascular ability and enjoy some more brilliant views, with the aspiration of moving on to bigger and better things in the near future so watch this space!
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog on fell running, hopefully it can inspire one or two of you to get up there and enjoy the amazing places that surround us. Like I said, you don’t need to be an elite athlete to enjoy this activity and there’s no pressure to run it. If you’re not ready to run up straight away, like me, from the beginning, there’s no shame in hiking up and running along the top and back down. Have patience with yourself and it’ll soon come! Coming up will be a review of the some of the kit I used and the nutrition I used to fuel me, giving tips and recommendations on what I learnt, so be sure to follow me on social media links below to be the first to find out when the next blog is out and otherwise keep up with what I’m doing!
Until the next blog,
Quilty Covers
