Dress rehearsal

Well that was revealing: a dozen or more hours in the rain, sleet, wind, gradients and endless mud rock and challenges of legs 3 and 4. Supporting someone else's Round was a privilege and an excellent indication of how I might manage in around six weeks' time. I had answered a call for supporters on the FRA forums for a guy called Andy and said I'd do legs 3 and 4 as I was planning to do a double leg recce this weekend anyway. Andy had a bad time overnight over the Dodds and Helvellyn ridge and he arrived at Dunmail having dropped about two hours over the leg. The central section was steady but we lost a bit of time again and by Wasdale the 24 hour cut off was looking beyond reach. Undaunted, Andy decided to complete the Round anyway, so I joined him again for leg 4 before letting him finish from Honister with others. For myself, I enjoyed the double, had a bad patch of exhaustion on Scafell and Great Gable, but got through still moving well enough. Cold and tired towards the end of leg 3 after a serious battering from the weather, I had seriously considered calling off my own efforts at Wasdale but once Andy decided to carry on I thought I would be letting him down and I'm glad I set off again for leg 4. Lessons to be learned from the day: leg 2 navigation at night can be deceptively tricky and you can lose serious time getting it wrong; you are very likely to have a bad patch, so just get on with it and get over it; and being knackered after two legs on someone else's Round means you may or may not be able to do the whole Round when your time comes ... but there's only one way to find out! Lastly, barring total collapse or injury, I will complete the Round even if the time is under threat.