Old County Tops

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Old County Tops on Sat 25th Jun 1994

Back together with Paul for a really good day out. A real mountain outing: big hills, long distances and pea soup visibility from start to finish. The only thing that spoilt it were the people on the campsite in Langdale who were still singing and yelling at 6am when we got up.

There was a palpable reluctance to gather on the start line and then it was with the uncompetitive air of a training run. We started over to Grasmere and then up into the clag towards Grisedale Tarn which we never actually saw. I ate a whole packet of prunes on the climb up Dollywagon and I suspect this is why Paul maintained a discreet distance 50m behind for the rest of the day.

Tea and sandwiches at the road at the foot of Helvellyn and then a long jog up Steel Burn. There was plenty of scope for navigational error on the traverse over to Angle Tarn which several teams took full advantage of. Mickledore was out of bounds so from Scafell we had to retrace our steps and drop down Little Narrow Cove which is steep, loose and pretty unpleasant. We more or less got the line right to Cockley Beck Bridge where five teams emerged simultaneously.

After six hours Grey Friar was a real tester and even at the top it was still a long way to the Old Man. Minds were beginning to go now and it was difficult to keep concentrating on the navigation. The leading team made a huge error which


dropped them to third. We plodded on: a bit high when we should have been low, a bit low when we should have been high and eventually came down to Three Shires Stone.

From there to Langdale: over or round. Over was thought to be quicker but round was easier so round it was. We sauntered back into Langdale and flopped into picnic chairs next to a tent from which came billows of steam. Cups of tea were thrust into our hands and the organiser came over rather apologetically, said there was a prize for seventh and gave us tee shifts and mugs.

On the Sunday there was a loosener in the Mell Fell Dash run in pouring rain which didn\'t seem to spoil the gala at all.

Rick Ansell

Position	Name	Club	Class	Time	Comment	Bonus
7	P. Cleary / S. Skelton			08:24:06