Duddon Valley Championship Fell Race June 2023.

 The Duddon Fell Race this year was a championship race. Around 390 runners registered however due to the extremely hot weather 287 runners took part in the long race.

The long race is 29km long and 1830metres of climbing.

This years winner was Billy Cartwright of Matlock Athletic club and his time was 2hrs 46 mins 28 seconds. A fantastic achievement.

The short race is 15.3km long and 915metres of climbing. It was won by Felix Barker from Ambleside athletic club in a time of 1hr 43mins 47 seconds.

Here are my photographs from the day. If anyone wants to take a copy then please feel free.

A short backpack in the Duddon Valley. Day3.

Sunday 6th June 2021. 

Another wonderful nights sleep with the doors open. No rain, no midges. Today's walk was only a short hop. Basically just getting back to Seathwaite.

So, I said to Judith that we didn't need to be up and away anytime soon. I suggested 9.00 o'clock, to which came the reply am or pm. 

We had a couple of brews and then more bad news, first the tent pole and now my gas stove. I was sat next to the stove and I heard a drastic reduction in noise. I still had plenty of gas but the regulator made no difference. I let it cool and then found that I couldn't return the 3 legs into the stowed position and the stove head and body was ill fitting. It looked like the plastic part between the body and head had heat deterioration and had slightly melted. Thankfully it was the last time I would need a stove on this trip.

The stove was my 15yr old Coleman F1. (I checked it upon getting home and it was not repairable, so its now in the bin).  Tip, don't buy a stove with *plastic* parts.

Another lovely camp spot.

Once packed and the site checked to make sure there was no sign of our being there we followed the narrow sheep trod on the north side of the reservoir. 

Judith wanted to have a good look at the Dam workings and check out if any OS benchmarks could be found. We checked out the rain gauges and we found a marker stone with the initials BC carved into it. We thought it might be the last resting place of the great Brian Clough, but actually it stands for Barrow Corporation.

A last look down the length of the reservoir.

Barrow Corporation marker. However we never found an OS mark.

Rain Gauge.

The landrover track from the tarn to Seathwaite is in bad condition. Very rutted. 

However the views down the valley never change and are a delight.

At the bottom of the track where it joins the Walna Scar route over to Coniston, we had our last practice of a break. We had become experts at it.

A lady with a lovely border collie stopped for a chat and it turns out she had run the Duddon Valley fell race yesterday and came in last. Fiona, come back and do it again next year and I'm sure you will be further up the field. 

Passing through Turner Hall Campsite and then down to the valley road we met our hosts Tina and Alan walking the opposite way to meet us. So it was back to their's for coffee and lunch.

Judith wanted to get off and do some buying at Booth's in Ulverston but we were staying for a couple of days so sadly we said our goodbyes. We hope you had a good time and liked what you saw of the Duddon Valley and its friendly people.

Repeating what I said at the beginning of day one. This trip wasn't about distance it was about confidence and gear testing. We had a great time and learned quite a bit. And had 2 wonderful camping spots.

Route Day3.

Gear 

Sheila and I used the Montane Grand Tour 55. Although I had used this sack a number of times before I found the stiffness of the shoulder straps and the hip belt a bit of a pain. Maybe it was my body not being used to carrying a sack for the best part of 2 yrs I don't know.

The hip belt pockets are almost useless.

The rest of the sack is excellent but does it need all the bells and whistles, it could be made a lot lighter.

Sleeping gear. I used a Rab Summit and a Karrimor x lite mat with a 3mm closed cell foam under the mat. Sheila feels the cold more than me so used a PHD custom bag with a 3/4 length Neo air with a 3mm foam mat under. All worked fine.

Tent. Kuiu Mountain star 2p. Had an Easton advanced carbon fibre pole section breakage. Luckily I sleeved the break and was able to carry on.

Stove. Coleman F1. Failed on the last brew of the trip. 

Trousers. I used a pair of Columbia silver ridge convertibles and the gusset seam came apart. I have had these a while maybe it was down to wear and tear. Sheila wore Decathlon convertibles and these were fine.

Camp shoes. I was trying a very lightweight pair of water shoes with the drain holes sealed up, but I found that the upper material took a long time to dry. So its back to my trusty  Vivo Barefeet.

Socks. X socks, I find these perfect.

Top. I used a Craft cycling top. I find these to have an extra long body so it doesn't ride up with wearing a rucksack. It also wicks sweat away fantastically well. To complement this when it was breezy I used a Black Diamond Alpine Start. A good combination for me.

Shoes. I used an old pair of Ecco boots and Sheila wore an old pair of Carn trainers. Both work well.

Thanks for reading.

A short backpack in the Duddon Valley. Day.2

 Saturday 5th June 2021

We all slept well and no rain overnight so we had a dry tent. Wonderful. 

Today was classed as an easy day compared to yesterday so no need to pack away quickly. With the good weather holding the walk down the Duddon river should be a pleasurable experience.

The midges took full advantage of me opening the mesh doors of the tent and it was their breakfast time too. It was a bit of a shock because last evening as the sun went down there were none.

Breakfast was a casual affair before setting off across the intake fields to reach the path parallel with the Duddon. We walked in a downstream direction and Judith had decided to up the pace. 

Judith is leading at pace, not a clue where she is going, but does it matter. No.

Bubbling River Duddon which was quite low considering how wet May was.

Just before Birks bridge with the lovely swimming pools we passed Birks car park which wasn't full but I noticed that the numerous picnic benches which used to be here had gone. Leaving just one. Rather odd.

The pools at the bridge looked very inviting.

Pools at Birks Bridge.

Carrying on downstream we followed the obvious path, then when we came to the first stile with a dog flap we made a mistake. The path goes left and follows the river, which on the ground looks a well used trod. However it leads you/us into a dead end with steep cliffs or a swim. We retraced our step and found the right path back at the stile.

This path leaves the river and climbs above the cliffs passing through a Bluebell wood as shown in the pic below.

The path is a good one now, but drops down quite steeply to Troutal Bridge which we crossed and had a ten minute break. This is a lovely spot and a fantastic place to paddle your hot feet. Maybe next time.

Troutal farm has new tenants, people I haven't yet met. The previous tenants Martin and Sophie whom I had known for many years have now moved to Dumfries. There was no one around the farm so we plodded on along the road for just a short stretch before bearing left just after the cattle grid and heading over Troutal Tongue to Tongue house.

Troutal Bridge

Looking back to Harter Fell from Troutal Tongue.

Tarn Beck flows through the grounds of Tongue House and at a small bridge over the Beck we decided to stop for lunch. As mentioned earlier, we were in no rush, so it turned out to be a good lengthy stop, enjoying the cooling river and the warm sunshine.

Our splendid lunch stop at Tarn Beck with the scrambling outcrops of Throng Close and Tongue House Close in the background.

It was such a lovely day it was difficult to get going again but getting going was part of the plan. We had been practicing these breaks and we were getting very good at it.

Our next path was a steep one leading up to the landrover track below Lead Pike which goes to Seathwaite Tarn.

How green is our valley.

Zoom shot across to Scafell and Scafell Pike.

Seathwaite Tarn just coming into sight. Brim Fell ridge behind.

There is a path on both sides of the tarn with the majority of people using the left bank or the north side mainly. Originally there only used to be one path, on the south side, which was used by the miners pack mules during the old copper extraction days. This path has become a little hard to see on the ground in places but it's a far more interesting path than the north side.

The copper mines were worked in the late 19th century and when the ore was tested they found the first source of Wittichenite in the UK.

Construction of the dam started in 1904 and opened in 1910. It provided water into the Duddon for the use of Barrow.

Numerous ring cairns can be found around it's shores.

Seathwaite Tarn and Dam. At it's deepest it is 85ft and contains only Brown Trout.

The area at the far end of the reservoir is usually very boggy and I had my doubts that it would be walkable but it proved to be ok. Our camp spot for the night was just at the confluence of the reservoir with Tarn Head Beck. 

The late afternoon was still warm and our feet were glad to feel the cooling waters of the beck. Tents up, we had a lazy evening of reading and chatting. It had been a most enjoyable day.

Tea tonight consisted of Bla Band Beef and potato with Bernaise. I can say this was the nicest dehydrated meal I have ever had.

Our route Day 2.