Three Rings Of Shap: Ring Two - Lyvennet, Leith and Lowther

With Ring One done, it feels like things are properly under way, but as I often have issues with stomach problems on events, I've planned ahead this time, so leave the Memorial Hall with a six inch Subway in one hand and the route description in the other.

I'm not intending to run whilst eating something like this, but didn't want to just sty seated so decided to walk the first bit while eating. This time out off the hall I turn right up the main road. I get immediately confused as the instructions tell me to go behind the hall, which doesn't look an option at first until I find the path to the playground at the back.

I get to the far end and climb over a stile and turn left down a lane to a gate onto a road. I carry on a few steps up the road then realise the lane in the instructions was the one I was just on not the one I'm now at so double back and turn down the farm road. This starts going back toward Shap and just doesn't feel right so I double back yet again to realise the correct turning was the fourth exit at this small intersection, the only one I haven't taken yet. I head up it and take an immediate right turn, satisfied I'm now on the correct route. I need to focus more on where I'm going than how damn tasty this sandwich is.

The path reaches a rail bridge, which I get over to take an immediate turn down the dirt road where the next instruction is an immediate turn right. There are two possibilities, the first of which looks decidedly private so I head over to the next, but that doesn't look like an actual path, so I double back and go up the muddy driveway to find a sign pointing me in the right direction.

There's a muddy and slightly uphill section here down a very narrow path with overhanging branches and leaves so I have to be quite careful not to slip over. I reach a squeeze stile at the far end and find myself in a narrow field. It broadens and the description says to bear half left up the now massive field past a pylon. I head diagonally up the field but the pylon is behind and to my right so I'm starting to get confused. I get to the edge of the field and just don't feel right so I get out my phone to take a GPS positioning and see another runner coming up behind me.

I wonder if she's just following me and I've gone completely wrong, but when she arrives she points ahead in the direction I was going and tells me it's the right way, she did the event last year. I then realise the pylon referred to, is the one at the far end of the field so no wonder I was getting confused.

We start chatting about the day and she tells me that the last time she did this it was for her birthday and went to the pub the night before, finishing in seventeen hours. I commend her on an effort like that as I'm pretty damn certain there's no way in hell I'd run a hundred kilometres on a hangover.

We cross over another field, this time bearing right and slightly down, to cross the motorway over a massive footbridge. We carry on roughly in the same direction for a while, chatting away and it's nice to have some company again after a relatively longer stretch on my own, as nice as that was. I find running with other people also helps keep me a lot more motivated and keeps my pace that bit higher so it's a win/win situation so long as the other person can put up with my drivel.

We pass through Hardendale, not a town just a farm and carry on over more fields. I'm telling her about the cocky people last night making all the noise, then lo and behold the guy comes along passing us. I wait until he's out of earshot before pointing out that this was the guy I was just saying about. He's going at a quicker pace and I’m happy to let him go and keep chatting at a casual pace.

We're going over a very large area of open land now, heading towards a road in the distance and woods beyond. It's quite a striking image seeing the trees ahead all perfectly lined up behind the road like soldiers awaiting a battle in the middle ages.

Rock pools on Ring One

We get closer until we're crossing the road and looking for the path. As someone else was ahead, we've aimed for the correct part of the woods and find the signpost with no issue and make our way up a small rise with the canopy towering above.

We reach the edge of the woods and are back on open land, with the route description mentioning a large quarry lake. I look around and can see nothing. Weird, you would think that would definitely be something I'd notice, but I can't for the life of me see it. Then as we get a bit further along and can see past the edge of the wood, there it appears, most certainly massive, just hidden by the woods. Confusion over.

We turn left down a very long and very straight dirt road and just keep the pace ticking over steadily. The sun is now out and it definitely feels quite warm. Quite a change from the clag earlier on Branstree and I'm certainly not complaining.

Again, there is a wood looming ahead and as we approach the corner we're caught by someone else who chats to us briefly as we turn off into the woods. It's a slightly downhill section here through the wood, bursting out onto open land again.

Heading towards Truss Gap on Ring One

We're going down the left hand side of a field here and I notice another herd of cows to our right. There's about twenty of them all bunched together, and this time they don't look quite as docile. I think I'm the only one of us who's noticed and I don't want to cause alarm, but these bastards look like they want to know what we're up to.

One takes a few steps forward, jostling others, and I can see this is potentially about to get ugly. It's a barbed wire fence to our left, though there is a tree stump we can use to easily fly over it. I point the cows out to Sally, who's as scared of them as I am it seems and we make a break for the stump just as the entire herd starts charging at speed.

I reach the stump first and am just about to jump over when I notice the herd break and move towards the fence further along from where we are. I stop on top of the stump, hoping it's not as urgent as I thought and that we can get over it carefully rather than risk cutting ourselves on the barbed wire.

They continue on that same trajectory and the one at the front doesn't slow quickly enough and collapses into the fence, while the others stop up just in front of it. So it turns out they were just inquisitive, but it's still bloody scary when you see twenty cows hurtling towards you so we still clamber over the fence.

Just behind us is another guy in an orange shirt who casually plods along to the end of the field as intended in the route to go over a stile then over to this side a few metres later. We're stood there working out where to go, having lost our place on the page and when we work out we're to go down towards the farmhouse ahead, the guy has caught up to us and we all joke about the cows and what has just happened as we all set off together.

There's another field with yet more cows and after the last little bit I'm wary, though the new guy is quite confident they're just inquisitive. As we make our way through one starts at me though and I fly over the barbed wire fence next to me quicker than you can say 'Bessie the Bastard Cow', and carry on the other side of the fence for a bit until I feel confident I can jump back over and rejoin the other two.

The herd still continue to run around the field coming towards us, but do seem to be just playful. Still, I'm pretty damn pleased to reach the other side and get the hell out of here.

We carry on back up the other side of the low valley towards the main farmhouse at Reagill, following the dirt road which confuses both of the team, who both have done this before with it having gone through the woods rather than the road.

When we get to the couple of houses at Reagill, we take a right turn to go across more fields that then take us into a wood. This one is a little different, however, as it's recently been felled, meaning there's not an easily visible path. We jump over a ditch to get into the brush and are forced into a walk as it's quite hard to get any sure footing with all the dried bracken underfoot.

We've no easy way of knowing exactly where to go, other than forwards so we just push on in that direction. The guy from earlier arrives from our left to join us, having gone further that way looking for a path.

We do find a post, but there's no path around it so we just continue along, stepping over the logs and trying not to get too many scratches from the bracken or twist an ankle in the many hidden potholes.

A few minutes later we do make it to the road and we're all quite relieved when we do. It was quite a short section of only a few hundred metres, but quite hard going so it's nice to have a road underneath us again.

We head down towards a T-junction and can see the loud guy ahead again looking lost. The route description very clearly states a right turn here, but he must be looking a step behind at the left turn out of the felled wood as that's the way he goes. He's too far ahead for us to shout him back so we just have to watch him go with pity. We get there and turn right.

It's a nice little windy downhill part here past a farm and down to cross the River Lyvenett and follow it along for a kilometre or so to the next road. We're still chatting away, but now that there is three of us there's not really any slackness, we just all keep going at a steady pace.

We reach a stile and on the other side find the next drinks station. It's definitely a fine candidate to represent the phrase 'does what it says on the tin' as there is quite literally two tubs of water and a tin of biscuits.

We stop to fill up and watch the river pass by just below us and as we do Mr Loudandlost arrives, sheepishly mentioning his wrong turn. We set off up the farm road and leave him to it.

We carry on snaking around farmland crossing various footbridges and getting confused as to which ones we cross and which ones we don't, but it breaks the next while up into little sections.

As we reach a more substantial bridge over a road, we're caught and passed once more. Once more he continues along the road and completely misses the sharp left turn after the bridge. This time we are close enough to shout him back and joke to ourselves that he should just stay with us since he seems so utterly devoid of navigational skills. It'd certainly save him a few kilometres of getting lost at this rate.  He passes us yet again a few hundred metres later.

We go through a grassy area again still following the river and there are a couple of sections where the path barely exists and we need to nearly jump in the river to get around. There are also a whole mass of tree roots just waiting to trip us up, though we all get through without issue, passing what Adam points out is a well-known local climbing spot called Jackdaws Scar.

Next u we leave the river and wind our way up to the town of Morland, the first place we've seen in a while with more than one or two houses. This town actually has its own old church, which we promptly make our way to and enter, skirting around the side of the churchyard.

We now follow along Morland Beck, a small stream leading us back out of the village for a while. We're not chatting quite as much now, but as this second Ring is the flattest, we all seem quite content to be continuing on steadily with the odd but of conversation thrown in. As earlier, it suits me fine keeping me motivated and helping me not get daunted by what still lies ahead.

We manage to make our way down to another town called Cliburn, where the team are both fairly sure we should cross the bridge over the River Leith, which we've enough arrived at, but the route description and all the maps and GPS suggest we need to actually turn left down the road, which we do.

We follow the road for a bit before crossing to a path and scanning the horizon for the black barn that is our next landmark. We then see it ahead and know we're definitely going the right way. It's a steady dirt road up to it, which makes it take that bit longer as you can see just how slowly it's approaching from ahead of you.

We get there, though, and Adam tells us that the first time he came up for this event that was where the checkpoint was. It looks pretty similar to the one earlier at Truss Gap, and a good place for a checkpoint so long as there's no rain as it's quite open.

There are some nice views over the open fields around us and with the sun out and a nice breeze coming through, it's absolutely lovely. We go over another path and past a barley field, then join a minor road taking us to a major one.

This is quite a lengthy road stretch, at first downhill to the main road which is great, then flat and finally uphill on the main road. The whole section takes in about two kilometres, but as it's not too bad we all just stick our heads down and plod on, only stopping to walk up the hill into Great Strickland and the Strickland Arms, bringing us to halfway around the whole course.

We stop, fill up and use the toilet etc. then I notice some of that awesomeness cheesy fruit loaf sandwich and have to grab some more. After we're all sorted we don't dally anymore, than the volunteers and just carry on, however Sally mentions she's starting to feel a bit sick from eating a bit here, so we just take a slow walk out of the checkpoint rather than bossing it down.

It's another fairly lengthy section downhill on the main road, though this time down the other side of the town of course. It takes us right down and over the River Leith this time. Finally, after this there is a turn across more fields and over the motorway footbridge into Hackthorpe and out the other side.

We pass a pub, then take a turn up a little walled lane between two houses. I notice a bin and finally get rid of my Subway wrapper as we head up the lane into a field and head along what looks like the correct path winding around, though we're not entirely convinced until we reach the far corner and find the stile. We go uphill on another farm lane before reaching the top of the hill and getting treated to a nice view over Lowther Park with a quite well contained deer park on the side.

Up ahead I see Mr Loudandlost and wonder why he's now going so much slower. Must be having a down patch. We're feeling quite alright at this point so run down the hill to pass him and dodge the potholes dug up around for what looks like a thriving farm or park or something.

We hit the road and turn the turning. It's a flat section here for a few hundred metres until another turning following more woods and we just spend the next few hundred metres going around the side of various woods.

Mr Loudandlost joins us for a bit and starts chatting about how he's having a really rough patch and is thinking he'll give up after this Ring. I mention he should just think about it at the end as he may pick up, but he says he hasn't yet recovered from the West Highland Way ninety six mile race, where he came second of fourteen people two weeks ago and I say it's fair enough he's thinking of calling it a day and fair play for even coming today. [I later looked up the race and found out that it wasn't on for two weeks after Shap, so this was all a bizarre lie making him even weirder!]

We turn off a road into quite a high crop. It's up to a bit above our waists and there are various paths through it to confuse us as to which one to go down, but we eventually just pick one, go for it and search for a gate at the far side. We're still confused once we make it through the gate as to which gate and side of the field we should next be heading to and the watch doesn't help as it can't show what side of the fence to be on.

We just head in the rough direction and take the gate until we end up through a fence and heading down into the woods that we're supposed to be in.

After a huge lengthy section of fields it's quite a change to be back in a quaint wood, with a little path snaking downhill to the turn and head back up the other side.

At the top, just before the gate out of the woods, is a wooden structure that basically the shape of a low and wide doorframe. I point it out wondering what the hell it is. No matter where you go there always seems to be something ransom that makes no sense and has cost someone their time and money to put there. Baffling.

We cross through some flattish fields with paths that seem to wend around rather than go direct. There’s one fence just under a massive tree with two gates and a double fence line. I'm not sure why, but am guessing there must be some agricultural reason as I've seen the same before elsewhere.

We then arrive at a dirt road and take that down to the farm at High Knipe, where someone is parking a massive tractor. Heading further down, running at a good pace as it's downhill we find another of the same tractors mowing the lawns at the side of the road. So it's basically a lawnmower the size of most people's bedrooms.

We go past it, and I look around as the view is pretty here of more landscape dotted with hills, crops, woods and livestock and then at the bottom of the road we find a concrete platform with the checkpoint being a dibber tied to a post behind it and more water tubs. We stop a second so the others can fill up.

We're now sixty kilometres through and I can definitely feel it. As we've been going at quite a pace for the last while I'm starting to feel a bit shattered. I sit down for thirty seconds just to catch my breath and get a gel in to try to recover some energy, but I'm not too sure how much longer I'll be able to go at this rate if I want to make sure to save some energy for Ring Three.

I don't say anything though and we're quickly on our way again further down the hill, now having left the road and back on open land. Ahead there is a suspension bridge which looks mighty fun and luckily for me we head straight on down to it to cross, now back at the Lowther River. It's great fun bouncing along it and on the other side we take a left turn to follow along the river.

The directions here just say to carry on for twelve hundred metres. It's nice and flat, not to mention picturesque along the riverbank, but having put the instructions away and the fact that we're really churning along and not chatting at all anymore means my head starts to wander and wonder if I should drop back. It's great running with others, but I have to also make sure to listen to my body. After weighing it all up, though, I figure the end of this Ring is less than ten kilometres away so I'm going to stick with it and see how I feel then.

We reach a road, cross the bridge.to the other side of the river into Bampton Grange. There's a few donkeys in the next field so I take a couple of photos then we go down to the main road, past the pub to go down another path and have another fifteen hundred metre plod along this side of the river.

I'm not feeling quite as demoralised, knowing that it's not too far until I can rest and just putting the downcast thoughts out of my head. I take another gel as well to try to stave of the fatigue until I can get some real food back at Shap.

We cross a road then do some more field crossing. It's a little confusing though as we know we're aiming roughly in a certain direction, but as the squeeze stiles are so narrow and part of the fence it's hard to see them until you're pretty much on top of them. It means the ones when it's dark are going to be nice and hard to find.

We wiggle through another one and find ourselves back at Rosgill, which we approached from below earlier. We head down the hill to the same house and again go around the back of the garden to the fields leading on to Shap Abbey.

This time we head up rather than across and the route description starts to get a little interesting, saying the next two and a half kilometres are basically just crossing fields and giving compass bearings to know which direction to head in. There are also helpful hints like 'aim for the tree stump'.

It sounds complicated, but even the least helpful descriptions with the LDWA are superb and we don't struggle to find the right corner on any of them. We do come to another herd of cows, in a narrow field that I'm not particularly keen to go through. Just as I think we're going to have to brave it, though, we notice a stile in the side of the field that we climb over for a nice speedy descent half a kilometre down to the road and away from the cows.

We follow the road along for a bit then find a little lane above the road that takes us the final five hundred metres to Shap, then along the same residential back roads past the library before the Memorial Hall comes into sight once more.

It's great to finally get a chance to sit down, feeling so exhausted for the last ten kilometres, and to have managed to stay with the team. It feels like I wouldn't have got here yet and would still be half an hour away if I hadn't just gritted my teeth and stuck it out with them so I'm grateful to both for having dragged my sorry arse along, despite having voiced none of this so them both being unaware. I'm considering my Subway then see people with hot food so instead go and grab a bowl of soup and a sandwich with a cup of tea for dinner and we sit down for twenty five minutes or so.

Unfortunately at this point Sally's iffy stomach doesn't help and after one mouthful of soup she has to be sick. She comes back from the bathroom looking worried and we sit and wait a few minutes as she decides whether it's actually worth carrying on, asking our opinions. I say that having been in the situation quite a few times, though I rarely actually vomit, I've done both. I've carried on and I've also stopped, it just depends on the day and whether slugging out another few hours feeling rubbish is worth it, but that I'm keen for the team to stay together of course and don't way to leave her behind. Adam reiterates that and also points out that as this is part of the Runfurther series for her, a championship across various race organisations, if she wants to place in the league table she'll have to do it all over again on another long one, which seems to help make her mind up and we tentatively set back out for Ring Three.