John O'Groats to Lands End - Day 29 Morning

It's now Saturday morning 4 July, Day 29 of the Big Run, four weeks since starting out from John O'Groats on Saturday 6 June.

I haven't posted for a few days (iPhone battery needing charged) so here's an update.

I managed to get 27 miles done on Wednesday (Day 26) by pushing on from Hawes to Horton-in-Ribblesdale. It was still hot though and by the time I was approaching Horton I was running on empty and the place just seemed to keep receding into the distance. I was beginning to feel quite tearful with fatigue when some local fell runners began to approach me from behind. I managed to work up to a jog and was making a feeble attempt at hanging tough by the time they caught up. When I let it be known that I was running from JOG to LE one of them slowed down and accompanied my pathetic trot all the way to the Crown Pub which, thankfully, was still doing food.

After steak and mushroom pie and a couple of pints of orange I dragged my weary, footsore self to the local campsite. It's a big campsite for a little place but I learnt in the morning that Horton is the setting off point for Pen Y Ghent and the famous Three Peaks so that made sense.

The site manager, quite a character, had country music blaring from his tent office when I arrived. The midgies were biting when I was putting up my tent and I was glad of the Jungle Formula which I hadn't used since Loch Lomond. Despite a loudly and endlessly bleating sheep I slept soundly for about ten hours.

Thursday 2 July - Day 27

The big campsite in Horton-in-Ribblesdale was almost deserted by the time I got going. I was still feeling a bit weary when I sat down for breakfast in the Pen y Ghent Cafe. They serve tea in pints there and the chap behind the counter knows how to make a brew. I had beans on toast in an attempt to have a healthy start and bought some Kendal Mint Cake (an experiment for me) to keep me going through the day.

The tea and the beans was just the start I needed and it wasn't long before I was jogging up the slopes towards Pen Y Ghent. It was a great climb on another hot day. Going down the other side was a fun scramble and I kept pushing on towards Fountains Fell. I made a couple of short stops and munched on the Mint Cake for quick energy. This Kendal Mint Cake is a local product and a favourite with climbers. Early Everest attempts were made on it. It's a bit like a hard tablet and good on this hot day because it wasn't all melted and sticky like a chocolate bar would have been.

I was flagging a bit by the time I reached Malham Tarn, a bit of a lake, so I had a lie down by the water for a few minutes and some more Mint Cake.

Malham Cove is an awesome natural limestone sculpture. A completely stunning accidental work of art.

I was dragging my heels along the short walk from the Cove to Malham the village.

It was hot and I was cranky. It was five in the afternoon and the cafe was just closing. The nearest pub wasn't doing food until, I think, six. The village shop didn't have any tinned food. The proprieter told me he hadn't stocked food for years. "We just cater for the day visitor now." Who, apparantly has an insatiable appetite for sweets, water pistols and larcenously priced soft drinks.

I couldn't tell if the other pub was doing food because the only entrance I could find was blocked by two empty child's high chairs. Why? Their menu I did find and it was another highwayman's charter.

I decided to add Malham to my hit list (see Melrose) and stormed off along the road to Gargrave in something between high dudgeon and a right old huff.

This should have been a pleasant five mile riverside walk but I was tired, hot, annoyed. Then I tried to just let it go. Malham wasn't out to get me any more than Melrose had been. But it was still hot, I was still hungry, the insects were still bothersome and I still couldn't read a map.

But Gargrave had a chip shop and a co-op. I bought take out sausage and chips. (I wish I hadn't seen her test the gravy by sticking her finger in it then sucking it). And I bought some Mars Bars and a tin of peach slices at the co-op.

I ate the whole tin of peach slices after I found the campsite and put my tent up. That's the nearest thing to fresh fruit I've eaten since the half dozen plums I bought in Melrose.

Friday 3 July - Day 28

Another ten solid hours. I'm finding that the tent has become like home. The field I was camped in was right by a busy road with plenty of lorry traffic but it hadn't bothered me all night.

It started raining just as I finished packing my tent. And then it rained all morning. Relentless, straight down, seeping, soggy, wet, nasty, uncomfortable rain. And it was a wet, soggy walk over boggy fields. And soggy, boggy, cold water squelched in my poor Mizuno Wave Riders. Running shoes were never meant to endure this.

Approaching Lothersdale I decided it was time for a break. After an indifferent but imaginatively priced lunch in the surly, parochial atmosphere of the Hare and Hounds pub I walked in the wakening sunshine the three and a half miles to Skipton where I got a train to my brother William's place in York.

Today I'm having a day off and lazing around in the company of William and Angelina and nieces and nephews Julia, Rebekah, Matthew and Steven. And the sun is shining again.