Despite my misgivings about a diet heavy on pulses and a small tent, I managed a couple of hours of sleep with no real problem. I returned to the main tent to see what I could get to eat. It turned out I was supposed to clear my tent when I left it – which on reflection seems sensible as someone else might need a sleep – but I didn’t. However on the Spine there is always a marshal to look after you and all my kit was brought out to me laid out pretty much as I’d left it in the tent. More importantly I was provided with breakfast and coffee. I don’t remember exactly but I’m fairly sure a bacon sandwich was at least part of breakfast.
I got on with dressing myself, packing up my kit and getting my bottles filled when I saw that Raj’s bag was in the tent. I checked the tracker and yes, he and Sabrina were still going! Sadly my friend Darren had pulled out at Malham Tarn, his calf muscle letting him down as he feared it would. I had plenty of time so I decided to wait a few minutes to see Raj and Sabrina. They both seemed in good spirits although Sabrina (not surprisingly) looked a little tired.
I mentioned kit check at CP1 but didn’t explain what happens so now seems like a good time to rectify that. At the start I was checked on a sample of my kit based on my race number. In order to stop people abandoning kit on the way (yes, some people do believe it or not), five items were checked at every checkpoint (ten at CP5). The check is made after you hand in your drop bag so you can’t present an item for kit check and then dump it back in the drop bag (yes, that’s been tried too). When went for my kit check the checkpoint manager was getting a little irate with two runners who were pretty much out of time at the checkpoint but had left their kit and were nowhere in sight. I wasn’t trying to be goody-two-shoes by arriving a kit check with 20 minutes to go but it did have its reward. After I was checked I was asked if I wanted anything else. ‘Like what?’ I asked, ‘Bacon sandwich for the road?’, ‘Yes, please!’ The photographer found this quite amusing and having taken a sequence of photos of me being kit checked and getting ready, she rounded it off with pictures of me walking out of the checkpoint with a bacon sandwich stuffed in my gob! I’m not sure if I want to see that photo or not!
There are no easy legs on the Spine Race and CP2 to CP3 is no exception. It is the shortest leg but it has plenty of challenges. The first starts immediately you leave the checkpoint, a climb of over four and a half miles distance to the top of Great Shunner Fell.
After conquering Great Shunner Fell it’s a fairly easy run down to Thwaite. The only event of note was passing a lovely lady who gave me a mint. Apparently she was offering them to every runner she saw so it was within the spirit of the Spine Race to accept.
The tea shop in Thwaite was open and as it was 11am it seemed like the ideal moment to stop for a mid-morning snack. A latte and a huge slice of lemon drizzle cake fitted the bill perfectly.
The climb out of Thwaite is short and sharp and leads to a tricky path that has random rocks long it, crosses a rockfall and is just generally a bit annoying all the way to Keld. However after Keld it improves a bit as it crosses Stonesdale Moor and I got my first sight of the legendary Tan Hill Inn!
You may have noticed that the Tan Hill Inn appears to be leaning a bit in the last picture. This might be a good time to mention my lean to the left (no I’m not going into politics). It had been commented a couple of times that I was leaning to the left. somehow I was unaware of this. One of the medics had seen me several times and said she wasn’t worried as it wasn’t getting any worse, I was just a bit weird. As I had no idea I was leaning I hadn’t noticed yet I was holding my phone at an angle…
Anyway the Tan Hill Inn was able to provide me with some perfectly upright nachos and a pint of Coke. I refilled my bottles – it was a hot day so I was carrying quite a bit of water – and headed into the notorious Sleightholme Moor…
…Except it wasn’t – notorious I mean. It was lovely. The Pennine Way was completely failing to live up to my expectation as a 268 mile long bog. The moor was slightly downhill, dry and spongy. It was absolutely fabulous to run on, especially as I was refreshed after my pitstop. I slowed down a bit after the initial exuberance had worn off but I still kept a fairly good pace to God’s Bridge. Last year I crossed this in the dark and was unaware of it. I have seen it in daylight since but I still stopped for a photo.
Crossing Cotherstone Moor was uneventful. I had recced it since last year so I knew what to expect. It goes on a bit but isn’t particularly tricky, especially as, as I previously mentioned, the Pennine Way wasn’t a big bog this year.
I think it was Grassholme Farm that provided today’s tuck shop. I bought a can of Barr’s Cherryade to help me through the last challenges of the day. It felt a bit like a roller coaster in reverse. The path climbed a cross a field, dropped a little climbed more, dropped, climbed, dropped, climbed… overall it climbed and it probably wasn’t as up and down as I remember but it it was a bit of a challenge towards the end of the leg. Eventually it became an easy downhill run towards Middleton-in-Teesdale. This year I was prepared for the two and a half mile run along the Tees to the checkpoint. It was starting to get dark but I reckoned I could make it without getting my headtorch out. The answer was that yes I could but I probably shouldn’t have done. Anyway I made it some time after 10pm.
As always I was offered food. I hesitate to comment on the relative quality of the food on offer at each checkpoint due to the legendary, near-mythical status of the Alston Lasagne, however the chicken curry, rice and naan bread I was given was a good, in my opinion, as anything I’ve eaten in a restaurant. While I was eating Lindley Chambers came in and sat with me and we chatted about kit for a while. Some comments on the kit list: it is not (as I have joked in the past) designed to see how much stuff you can carry and still run, it isn’t designed to catch you out with obscure and arcane requirements and it is most definitely not unnecessary. It is designed to ensure that whatever happens and however bad the weather may be, you will be able to survive at least until help arrives. If any of you ever do this race, don’t argue, don’t try and get round it, just take it, its for your own good.
After eating it was time for some rest. CP3 had a combination of tents like CP2 and a bunkhouse. The tents were very popular but I like a bed so I got space in the bunkhouse without a problem.
So, three legs down, still reasonably on schedule, I’ve developed a bit of a lean but my feet are reasonably OK, jut a couple of small heel blisters, all in all things were going as well as I could hope – so far…
The Only Way Is Pennine... 