Attempting a Crossing had been an ambition for some time. Early retirement at Easter made 2024 the year to go for it, and I had canvassed potential pacers and supporters for their availability over the summer. The news of Joss’ death on 28 June acted as the catalyst and made me more determined to give it my best to mark his passing. A date of Saturday 10 August was chosen and a team assembled. A few last minute changes due to unforeseen circumstances (Covid is still with us) caused a bit of concern, but we had a committed team finalised with three days to go. Logistics were sorted, supplies bought, and I hired a tracker from Kong Running to help with meeting and greeting on the day. I was using the men 60-64 schedule from the blogspot.
The weather forecast for 10 August looked OK, and appeared to be getting better, with bright and breezy weather forecast, although some rain and wind looked likely for leg 1.
Me and my pacer for leg 1, Richard Hill, left our guesthouse in Keswick (the excellent Avondale) as quietly as we could at 4:15 am, arriving Pooley Bridge half an hour later. We had banked on using the loos there if needed but discovered that they aren’t open at that unearthly hour. Good job they weren’t necessary!
We turned on the tracker and set off at 05:00:54. It was warm and although sunrise was at 5:45, it was light enough not to need head torches as we made our way through the fields, along the lane and then up through Park Foot caravan site onto the open fell.
Away to our left the sky was getting brighter but the clouds ahead looked threatening and the wind was picking up. Within a mile or so we took the decision to put waterproof jackets on as there was rain in the air. This proved to be a good call as the weather got worse, with squalls and strong wind gusts up to Red Crag and Raven Howe as the wind whipped up from Ramps Gill. We were on schedule but my plan of having simple tally cards to pencil in actual versus scheduled time at summits was a bit compromised as the card got soggy and Richard’s fingers stopped working because of the wind chill! WhatsApp was used for the remainder of the tops on this leg. High Street was wet and windy with limited visibility and we were glad to be off running towards Thornthwaite Beacon and the sharp up and down to Stony Cove Pike. Good running with the little swerve out to Pike How, and Kirkstone Pass was in sight. We took the final short steep descent on the diagonal off St Raven’s Edge, to be greeted by Becky Wightman on the run into Kirkstone as Richard veered off the trod and found a waist deep bog with a couple of hundred meters to go!
Checkpoint one was provided by Becky and June Harrison, with my next leg pacer Nigel Prue. Great to see my club mates and delighted to be greeted by Rainer Burchett, the M70 record holder for many years - I love that aspect of the Crossing. Rainer kindly gave Richard a ride back to his car at Pooley Bridge. A porridge pot, banana, milk shake and flat coke, and then off me and Nigel went up Red Screes which was shrouded in cloud.
We climbed well, and hit the top 7 minutes up on schedule. Up and down to Hart Crag, and walking off a bit of adductor cramp at Scandale Pass. We were soon on Fairfield, and clambered down the loose descent, another bit of cramp at the bottom, another salt tablet and drink. On the descents I’d also felt my shoe laces digging in to the top of my feet. I was wearing inov8 Mudtalons, excellent grip but I’d replaced the laces with lock laces to make them more stable and quicker to tighten; however the thin laces were like ligatures cutting in. I loosened them off a bit for the descent off Seat Sandal. We were still 5 minutes up coming into the second checkpoint at Dunmail Raise.
June and Becky were joined here by Andrée who had driven up that morning to join the fun, and my pacer for leg 3 Chris Welton, whose Avondale guesthouse in Keswick we were staying at. Chris and I had recce’d leg 3 together in April and I knew I was in good hands. The weather was improving so jackets were put away and Becky and June once again did their amazingly efficient checkpoint, which would put an F1 team pitstop to shame! Nigel kindly stuck some preventive Compeeds to the tops of both feet, I put on fresh socks, swapped my Mudtalons for Trailfly G270s, I had a mugshot pasta, peaches and custard, flat coke and we were off up Steel Fell.
I used my poles for this climb, and we hit the summit maintaining the 5 minute lead on schedule. Chris navigated us taking good lines over the fell, and we took a direct line up Ash Crags and Deep Slack to High Raise after topping up water bottles in Mere Beck. It was great to get that out of the way, and we enjoyed the descent to Stake Pass, with no more adductor cramp. I put this down to better fuelling, as Chris kept asking if I was eating and drinking , or rather telling me to eat the salted potatoes, mini pork pies and mini scotch eggs we’d picked up at Dunmail. The potatoes were good, but I needed a lot of fluid to swallow the other food. Another bottle top up at Stake Beck, a good line to Rossett Pike, and then the technical climb up Bowfell. There are several routes up, we started gradually traversing then took a more direct line and got to the summit still 7 minutes up.
More food, across to Ore Gap and up Esk Pike, where we were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves 16 minutes up! We felt that we’d been quite slow on this section, and took it steady on the technical descent off Great End. We’d taken a rocky gully on our April recce but this time veered more to the left on a grassier shute which was better. The weather was now clear and sunny with a breeze – perfect!
Nigel, Becky, June, Andrée and Chris’ partner Amy had walked up from Seathwaite for the last checkpoint at Sty Head which we reached 11 minutes up. Rice pudding, more flat coke and a vague attempt at a cheese and ham sandwich with a dry mouth, and we girded our loins for leg 4, with a goal of 5 hours for this last 13 miles (21km) with 5000 feet (1525m) of climbing on big mountains with weary legs. Chris was joined as pacer on this leg by Nigel, it was good having a team of three of us for this last section. Chris once again kept reminding me to eat, stop faffing when I stopped to ‘admire the views’ (they were epic to be fair) and Nigel kept telling me to keep going. Great encouragement from both of them which clearly worked because despite feeling that I was moving slowly, we reached the top of Great Gable 16 minutes in the green. We took the regular path down rather than the more direct screes which I’d tried on a recce in April and not liked.
We increased the time advantage up Kirk Fell, descended via the fell race gully to Black Sail Pass, then the slog up Pillar reached 29 minutes up on schedule. Despite feeling tired, I was confident that we would finish within the 18 hours. Scoat Fell came and went, and the short out and back to Steeple, and then a good jog down the grassy fence line and up to Haycock.
We were now starting to lose the light and mist was increasing as we took a great direct line south off Haycock down Gowder Crag to High Pikehow and bogs of the Pots of Ashness. And looming through the mist we saw Seatallan, which seems to go on forever. The schedule we were using has a 30 minute cushion, and we were about 30 minutes up, so I wasn’t too concerned that we slowed down on this section as we put on head torches to cut through the gloom and the mist on the steep descent to the boggy ground at the head of Greendale Tarn. One more summit to go to Middle Fell, which we reached 22 minutes up, then the last mile or so taking it steady on the descent to Greendale Bridge.
We could see the lights at the finish from the fellside as we made our way down, the path gradient flattened out and we were running by the side of the Greendale Gill as we could hear June and Andrée, a few more meters and we tapped the Bridge at 22:17, total time 17h 16min 39sec. Done. Greeted with hugs and a welcome bottle of beer.
What an adventure. The Joss Naylor Challenge or The Crossing is a fantastic route and fitting legacy to Joss. I had the privilege of a superb support team, so my heartfelt thanks to pacers and domestiques Richard, Nigel and Chris, to checkpoint crew June and Becky, and to Amy and Andrée our better halves! Also big thanks for messages of support from friends and Spartans, and for the contributions to my chosen charity.
A stipulation of the Challenge is for contenders to raise at least £100 for a charity of their choice, I chose Alzheimer's Research UK (ARUK).
ARUK are the UK's leading dementia research charity. Donations help scientists and researchers find new ways to diagnose dementia, develop new treatments and find a cure for dementia. Dementia, Britain’s leading cause of death, is not something that just happens to people as they get older. It is caused by different diseases, and it affected my mum and now also my dad. It was a big motivation for taking on this challenge. At time of writing (14 August 2024) £620 has been raised.
Thanks for reading 🙂