The message <[email hidden]>
from Simon Caldwell <[email hidden]> contains these words:
Quoted message said:It took us 20 1/2 hours, only about a fifth of those who
started managed to finish. I am glad I did it as now I
never have to do it again :-)
I had 2 attempts. The first was a solo affair. Good weather
and I was going very well when suddenlyc oming off
Helvellyn, ouch, an excruciating pain in the left hip. It is
not too difficult to walk with a painful knee (unless on a
steep slope you don't need to move it) but a hip is
different. I eventually made it down to the road and hitched
back to Seathwaite.
A year or 2 later I had another go but this time I organised
it as a club meet so we had support at the road crossings.
Unfortunately the weather was not too good and I was not so
fit and, worst of all my boots didn't fit very well either.
Sitting on the pavement in Station Road, Keswick with my
feet in the gutter some bright spark suggested he lance the
balloon on my little toe. Teach him right, struck in the eye
by the liquid escaping under pressure. Blisters are much
more painful when fully deflated and it was touch and go for
a time going up Skiddaw before a bit of lubrication found
its way back in.
I didn't know it at the time but by then I was the only
one of the team left walking. ISTR that the likely lads
had had a bit of difficulty navigating in the mist that
had plagued the early hours of the day. The final long
slog along the road is best forgotten, made more difficult
by the frequent offers of a lift from the Range Rover (not
mine, that was much later) that accompanied me on the
final stage (in low ratio).
Unlike the Welsh 3000s I had not the slightest desire to
repeat the experience. I cannot find my notes atm but I
think I took just over 21 hours. The blisters probably cost
me an hour or 2.
--
Roger Chapman so far this year 27 summits New - 16 (Marilyns
4, Sweats 1, Outlying Fells 11) Repeats - 11( Marilyns 2,
Sweats 6, Wainwrights 11) Knackered knee - 3 times
