BBMC 2014

 Obligatory start photos over with

 Richard, Spotty the action Berner and I set off on a 30 mile trek, first destination is the V at the top of the picture. This section is steep, full of gear rats, kit zombies and military wannabees being funneled into single file, the traffic jam is massive. Into this heady mix we three piled in, Spotty choosing to drop the worlds most incredibly offensive dump at a strategic point where we all had to walk single file. Once we were past this steaming mountain and the totally unprepared types staggering under the weight of their rucksacks or dying from the heat exhaustion caused by jeans, thermal shirts and waterproofs, we, in our lightweight mode(Spotty lost at least 3 pound in that one)  raced by.

 Making the top of the first peak within 80 minutes of starting.

 More sunny pics showing how well we were doing dutifully taken we raced along the ridge before

 the massive descent to the valley floor

 views were aplenty, who cared that later on after some 15 miles  in the peaks and troughs of the valleys to the left we would be walking over these far hills on our right.

 These are the ones on the left, the funny looking lump is the big one, from there we turn left along the ridge.

 But this is a fore warning of future trouble.

 Richard celebrating his 40th birthday, yes the actual day, by yomping across the hills with yours truly, did some repair work to his feet while I ate his "sandwiches" which were suspiciously like his last nights chinese stuck in a wrap.

 The heat was intense and while Richard struck poses straight out of "Monty Hall's How to look Butch in the Wildeeness" book, Spotty the action Berner coated himself in mud

 or sat in puddles at every opportunity.

 We were in the zone, head of this valley we were 16 miles in, ahead of schedule and feeling good.

 By here we were still on target for a good time, ominous rumblings in yours truly's innards questioned the prudence of eating Richards sandwiches.

 And by mile 20 I made a deposit in a porta loo that would have rivaled anything found in the fausty overworked closets of a rock festival. Just after Hay Bluff things went a bit wrong. We had overtaken some 60 or so walkers, met a lovely lady who was at a checkpoint called Mel (thats her name not the checkpoints name, most checkpoints didn't have interesting names apart from Huff and Puff checkpoint) who asked as we got our route card punched if I was the one who wrote this blog as she read it. She recognised Spotty. So if you are reading Mel, come along to our Berner dog show 8th June, watch this space for details. Right back to how things went wrong, no one over took us but by 3pm we still had either 6 miles or 10 miles to go, dependent on which calculation from KM to Miles you took, and as it was it was 10 and we just got slower and slower, No one overtook us but the reason for our lack of progress was blisters. I never ever get blisters. This time I got massive ones on both heels, the balls of both feet and each step was like placing your foot into molten glass. Richard was happy as I had an insight into his world, he always gets them and I always video his wobbly legged walk at the end while laughing. We convinced ourselves that this was "good" pain and that it was "good" that we were able to experience it, but mile 27, 28, 29 and 30 was not good and passed with clenched teeth and experiments in Celtic language. We kept good time, stayed in front of the pack and even reeled a couple more in, but as we crossed the only flat bit to the finish line we were both in agony. Fitness wise not an issue, pain threshold thoroughly breached.

 So we stuffed ourselves with free cake, listened to everyone oohing and aaahing over Spotty who helped himself to any unguarded lemon drizzle and set off to Richards 40th birthday party some 2 hours later than planned.

Will we do it again, yes, but not wearing Karrimor boots. Big Black Mountain Challenge 2014, another excellent day organised by the Longtown Mountain Rescue Team, hats off to them for their skill at shepherding 1000 people of dubious ability across an arduous landscape. Last year I did it solo and on finishing made the bold claim that this year I would set a new record or PB. My best time ever was 8 hours fifteen. This time is a new record, 11 hours, its never taken me so long. We will beat that next year. With new boots.