It's on... see you at the Moot Hall!

Since publishing So, this Bob Graham Round thing..., I've made some excellent progress against my todo list:

• I completed recceing the entire Bob Graham Round route! I finished recceing leg 3 during a fantastic day out with Andrew: we parked at Stickle Ghyll, making our way up Pike O' Stickle to continue on the Bob Graham Round route as far as Scafell Pike before circling back and heading down The Band... my first time on The Band, it was awesome!
• I supported Simon on his successful Bob Graham Round: supporting leg 1, another first for me, was great fun until, with extremely poor visibility, we took a line off Blencathra which can only be described as too far right and ended up thrashing and scampering our way down some very challenging terrain... I lost a soft flask in the process but I managed to retrace my steps and retrieve it four days later. Unfortunately another crew coming down Doddick Fell the same night weren't so lucky.
• I managed to complete two big ones and finished feeling like I could continue... I did leg 3 and 4 in one push in pretty challenging conditions and actually got to Honister feeling amazing! I had one low point where I got behind with eating but I caught it early enough and took a moment to shelter and reset at Great End. Apart from that, I felt strong and happy in the stomach department the entire day.
• I also did a leg 3 and leg 5 recce with Mike: we cut over from Wasdale between Kirk Fell and Great Gable to rejoin leg 4 just before Brandreth. It was a long day out and I have to say I didn't quite feel as settled in the stomach department that day but nothing too serious to worry about.

Given all of this, I've decided it's on...

I'm going to attempt a clockwise Bob Graham Round on Friday, 25th August 2023 leaving the Moot Hall at 21:00 on a 22 hour schedule.

Here's the schedule:

Ambitious stop times, I know but we'll see...

And here's the tracker, in case you fancy a bit of dot watching on the day!

I've had many wonderful offers of help since making the announcement and it looks like I'll have at least two pacers with me on each leg. I will also have fantastic road support from amazing friends and family who have stepped up to help. Thank you each and every one!

This photo is of me filming Jeff Pelletier at the Moot Hall... it's quite special to me. I had just run leg 5 with him and another pacer, Duncan and had filmed Jeff running into Keswick with his GoPro. Duncan captured this moment on his phone camera. What isn't immediately obvious from this angle is the pure overload of emotion I was experiencing at the time: look closer, those are goosebumps on my arm!  

I experience it every single time I run down from Robinson into Keswick... the moment the Moot Hall comes into view, the tears begin to flow. Jesus, they're flowing now as I think about it! When people comment, I've often replied, "Look at the state of me... and it's not even my round! God knows what kind of mess I'll be in if I ever do it..."