So I’m at Checkpoint Two, I’ve had a chat with Rachel and some food. The plan is to have a shower and immediately go to bed. My feet are still not too bad except the tape I put over the rub caused by my spikes moved off and the rub is now a lot bigger. I decided the best thing to do was to leave it uncovered to dry out a bit.
I went to bed with my toe uncovered and without taking any pain relief. Big mistake. After about 90 minutes I awoke in huge pain. My feet generally were a bit sore but the real issue was with the rub on my toe. I got up and hobbled downstairs to find my drop bag in order to get to my medical kit to tape my feet. I make it sound like I was alert and aware of what I was doing but the reality was that I was still half-asleep and very groggy.
I don’t know the name of the lady running the checkpoint but she had been doing an amazing job since I had come in, keeping everyone organised but still having time for people. When she saw me and I explained my issue she immediately asked one of the medics to take a look at my toe. What had been a small rub was now an inflamed and angry looking welt. The medic had a slight concern it may be infected and told me to keep an eye on the redness around it to see if it started to spread. Fortunately I had some quite good foot repair kit. The Medic on the race I did in Uzbekistan virtually rebuilt my heels with hydrogel so I had purchased some of that and taped it over the sore on my toe. I also took some paracetamol. I had been trying to hold off taking painkillers but it looked like I’d need them from now until the end of the race – tricky as I only had a couple of days supply with me…
I went back to bed and got some more rest. My plan of getting a decent rest at CP2 was now more or less in tatters but at least my feet were now properly sorted.
I got up, got dressed, sorted my kit, had some food (I don’t remember what) and headed out into Hawes. I’d asked before I left if there was a pharmacy in Hawes and was told it was en-route on the right hand side of the road. I went in an bought a box of 32 paracetamol tablets, which should be enough to see me to the end of the race.
After the trek to Hardraw it was time for the day’s big climb, Great Shunner Fell. This was where things should get more familiar, as I was on this part of the route in Summer for the Spine Challenger North with Sharon. Great Shunner Fell is quite a long climb, almost 5 miles from the road turn-off past the Green Dragon to the top, but I quite like it. I make quite big thing of parts of the Pennine Way I don’t like (the Cam High Road) so I feel I should highlight those that I do. There is nothing terribly special about Great Shunner Fell but the views aren’t bad, it was daylight and the weather slowly improved as I got further up the fell. By the time I got to the top, the cloud had lifted a bit, the sun was almost out and the colours were lovely.
I’d been warned that there was some ice on the way down but it was all fairly avoidable and I actually didn’t find the descent any more difficult than it had been 6 months previously.
There is a tea shop at Thwaite but sadly it was closed. I hadn’t been relying on it being open but as Thwaite to Keld was another of my ‘not favourite’ sections of the Pennine Way a cup of coffee and a cake would have been nice. This was kind of made up for though by the fact that someone had left a box of flapjack for Spine racers at a gate half way up the path to North Gang Scar.
North Gang Scar – why? Why does the Pennine Way think I (or anyone else) is going to enjoy picking their way through a rockfall? I think I ranted about this in my blog about the Challenger North so I won’t repeat myself but as a route it really does have little to recommend it – especially when it could have been a nice walk along the River Swale instead, even more especially given that I would have to descend back down to the Swale just outside Keld anyway.
After leaving the Swale, it’s a steady climb up onto Stonesdale Moor followed by a flattish mile and three quarters before a final climb to the legendary Tan Hill Inn.
The Tan Hill Inn provided vegetable soup and coffee. It could have also provided a wide range of food as I was there in the early evening and it’s a pub but my only purchase from the pub was half a pint of Coke. The next part of my journey was across the notorious Sleightholme Moor, an area likely to be boggy and which would require careful navigation in the dark.
I’ve been across Sleightholme Moor enough times now to know not to be taken in by the first quarter of a mile of so, it was quite dry and easy going as it often is but it soon gave way to the boggier, trickier terrain I was expecting. The large hole I’d passed in Summer was still marked so I made sure to pass well to the right of the sign as instructed. It is quite important to stay on the path as there are a couple of bridges over some of the really wet bits. In places the path was churned up so much that I ended up walking alongside it through the vegetation but always keeping it close. After about three miles the path across the moor met up with Sleightholme Moor Road, I’d crossed the worst of the moor without incident.
Fortunately the Pennine Way goes through Sleightholme Farm on the road and not on the bridleway through an area labelled ‘The Bog’ on the OS map. Given the obvious desire of Tom Stephenson, the creator of the Pennine Way, to take unwary ramblers through as much bog as possible I can only assume he was having an off day when he plotted that section. Anyway normal levels of moisture were resumed when the path turned off the road up to the edge of Wytham Moor. From there it was down to God’s Bridge and the short sharp climb up to the A66 underpass. Someone told me the underpass is the halfway point of the Pennine Way, however in terms of the terror and effort yet to come I felt I was still well short of halfway.
Cotherstone Moor always looks daunting in the daylight as it does undulate a bit, despite it only being about three and a half miles across. As it was dark it just looked like any other bit of moorland. Also as it was dark and below freezing it was starting to firm up a bit as it froze. Not enough to be completely straightforward – a shoe full of very cold water was still a hazard for the unfortunately placed foot – but better than if it had been completely soft.
I knew exactly how far I had to go across the moor – which did get very wet and boggy for the last half mile to the road – as the next place marked on my GPS route was Clove Lodge, a large barn type tuckshop. I believe this is available to Pennine Way walkers all year round but it might have additional stock for the Spine Race. Vegetable soup seemed to have become quite a thing on this particular edition of the Spine Race and I was very happy to have more of it at Clove Lodge.
After leaving the lodge the Pennine Way crosses Mickleton Moor, sandwiched between two sets of reservoirs – there are a lot of reservoirs on the Pennine Way. Makes sense as there is an awful lot of water on it too. It was then a short trek uphill across some fields to the next point I had marked, the Nettlepot Café. I was trying not to be too excited about this as I had no information on whether it would be there or not, but I hoped so, as I had fond memories of Neville and Gail – first from my previous winter adventure when they were stood out in the cold offering homemade flapjack to runners, and more recently in their barn on the Challenger North.
Not only were they there, the barn had fairy lights to make sure you really couldn’t miss it! Gail and Neville supply tea, coffee, flapjack, ginger cake as well as squash and biscuits to all Spine runners and ask for nothing in return, they don’t even take charity donations. They also don’t get to sleep much as they want to be there for every runner and there is only the two of them – although they admitted they might have to try and get one or to others to help as I think they were at least as tired as we (the runners) were. Apart from the fact Gail makes the best cakes I’ve ever had on the Pennine Way, I was pleased to see them because in Winter it is still a long way to go Checkpoint Three and whilst those miles aren’t particularly hilly, they are still quite a challenge.
From Nettlepot to Middleton-in-Teesdale was fairly straightforward except it was very slippery in places and I managed to slip over and put the biggest bend into a pole I’ve ever managed. This was a bit disappointing as, after so many years of replacing sections on my old poles they were, in effect, like ‘Trigger’s broom’ (it had had 14 new handles and seven new heads) and I had bought a new set. The only upside was that I’d had the sense to bring my old set as a backup.
In 2024 I really wasn’t prepared for the eight miles from Middleton-in-Teesdale to Langdon Beck and had hated every step, especially as it was icy. This time I was ready for it but it is still a very long way and likely to take in excess of three hours.
Of course it would take less time if I could stop missing the gate just before the descent to Cronkley – every single time. For the Summer Spine I’m going to put a marker on my GPS route so I know to look for the stile, rather than run round in circles until someone else turns up an finds the stile for me, which seems to be my current method of navigating this part.
Checkpoint Three at Langdon Beck AKA the ‘Teesdale Tandoori’ – it’s on Google Maps, look it up (for some reason it’s listed as a playground). Julian was checking people in and managing sleeping arrangements, he’d also been at Edale checking everyone in for kit check. I’d first met Julian on a footpath in Essex when I was out for a run and I correctly identified him as a Spiner in training by the kit he was carrying. Many of the volunteers are or have been Spine runners.
Obviously I had the chicken korma curry (two helpings) with naan bread. In 2024 I’d given myself major pains by not chewing the naan bread sufficiently so it got stuck on the way down. This time I tried very hard to eat it slowly and actually chew it, but it was difficult .
Checkpoint Three was one of my ‘short stay (around four hours)’ checkpoints but I did take the opportunity to have lie down. I was over half way through the race in distance but, whilst the next leg was the shortest of the race, it was also one for the most challenging – Cross Fell was waiting…
The Only Way Is Pennine... 