Thirlmere

I find myself posting this exactly a week after the day in question. It's yet another instance of whatever goes up has to come back down. I'd been up for about two weeks, on a roll, including lots of running and cycling and walking, with loads of stuff going on in between. It was inevitable that I was going to dip. Although I've learned to prepare for it and not be panicked when the moment arrives, it still comes as a shock to me when everything shuts down. Still, I take enormous satisfaction from having done so much during this period. I couldn't have imagined being able to do all this a few years ago.

Forrest wanted to add another 10 miles and a lot more climbing to his long weekend tally so the decision was made to drive to Thirlmere so he could do a loop and include a decent length of the Helvellyn ridge from Stick's Pass. He has right now an enormous appetite for discovering new fells and building his relationship with this incredible landscape. I was only intending to do a short walk but somehow it soon turned into a jog and then a run and I found myself at the foot of one of the trade routes up Helvellyn. I don't think I'd ever climbed the mountain from this side before, possibly knowing what a slog it is. Anyway, it was out of my control at that point. The body took over and I was soon on Lower Man and looking down the ridge that Forrest would soon be running along. I thought he must be somewhere within sight but I couldn't spot him

I enjoyed a surprisingly brisk descent from Nethermost Pike, a much better descent route than my ascent line would have been, which was pretty much one long stone staircase! Near the bottom I spotted Forrest in the distance, coming up behind. In the excitement of a race to the finish, only a quarter of a mile from the car, I managed to slip on a slab of wet, polished rock and, in rolling the fall, hit the side of my head against another bit of rock, on something sharp. It hurt but not in any way that I was worried about, despite dripping a lot of blood. Forrest ran on to the car to get the first-aid kit while I jogged steadily back, giving quite a fright to some walkers coming the other way. I had a deep cut above the eye and another to my hand, which I wasn't even aware of then. I was covered in blood, all over my face and hands and legs. I was able to smile and tell them it wasn't as bad as it undoubtedly looked. 

It was a dramatic and quite fitting end to a memorable weekend. We'd both left nothing on the fell. We drove directly to Wilf's in Staveley so I could clean up and get some food down. I suddenly felt very hungry. Forrest is always hungry these days. Once I washed all the blood away, the wounds looked disappointingly innocuous - although I might be left with a decent scar to prompt a good story in the future.