See self-supported FKT Verification information for details of my journey from Kirk Yetholm to Edale.
I arrived into Edale 15:02 on Saturday, the 13th of June. I then had to register and pass kit check for the Montane Spine Race. fortunately, I had the amazing support of Kirstie Law, Kirsten Beard and Neil May to get me through this arduous process in my sleep deprived state.
I got to Edale YHA at around 5:30 pm and immediately ordered a very large bowl of pasta and a large pizza. The pasta hit the spot and I then slept for three hours, woke up ate the very large pizza, went to sleep for another three hours woke up and nailed 4 chocolate bars - good recovery is all about quality sleep, good nutrition and rest - I tried what i could to do the first 2 but rest was clearly not going to be happening for at least for the next 5 days.
I then slept for another period before waking up at 5am. At this point I decided I better start packing my Race bag for the start at 8am. My gear was strewn all over the floor so this took some time organising. I also hadn’t appreciated that I had got about 5 blisters from the trip down. I’ve never had blisters before so it took some time to sort out. I didn’t therefore make it down to breakfast until 7:15 am. Fortunately, Neil and Dean were waiting for me to drive me to the start line. I quickly grabbed a bacon sandwich and off we went for tracker fitting. I walked straight to the back of the racers whilst Phil was announcing the Race was about to start.
Off we started at 8 am on Sunday 14th of June on our journey northbound between Edale and Kirk Yetholm. The weather had materially improved from the day before, in fact, it was very pleasant.
I was plum last for the first 5 km which was my strategy to start off slow and ease into it. This was until I came across an American lady who had just flown in the day before and was suffering the effects of jetlag.
I live about 28 miles into the Pennine Way from Edale. The Oldham mountain rescue team had set up an aid station here. It was great to meet up with them again and especially nice to have quite a few salted new potatoes. My quickest time to this point is around six hours, my average time is about seven hours, It took me 9 hours 25 minutes. This just highlighted how fatigued I was, but I just needed to keep making steady progress and I would be well within cut offs.
Onto Nicky’s food bar next. I had never planned stopping here but I knew I needed to top up my calories so had a cheese burger and chips which I ate whilst walking towards Blackstone Edge. It was then along the reservoirs onto Studley Pike whilst it was getting dark. on the approach to Hebden hay , the first checkpoint , I was being warned by runners coming in the opposite direction to be very mindful of the descent into the checkpoint as it was treacherous - something I already knew and wasn’t looking forward to based on my previous Spine Races. It’s also a 3 mile round-trip detour to get to Hebden Hay which just adds on additional mileage.
I arrived into checkpoint 1 at around midnight. The door was opened and my glasses immediately steamed up and I noticed how many people were in the very small room. At this point I knew my task was just to get in and out of there as quickly as possible. so a quick toilet stop, I filled my flask with hot water for my Pot Noodle and within 15 minutes having had a kit check I was out of there.
Back out into the dark of night to the moors. This is where I started to notice pain from my blisters. I had thought that there would be a unofficial aid station at or near Lothersdale as there had been in previous years. I decided I would stop at that point to look at my blisters. Unfortunately, I hadn’t appreciated that this was not the case this year. Once I got to Lothersdale though my blisters were very painful, so I decided to decant onto one of the pub picnic benches to try and sort out my feet. Fortunately, it was around 8 am in the morning so me sorting out my feet wasn’t a problem for others. My feet were in more a mess than I thought and I had picked up around another five blisters. I stopped for around 1 hour sorting out my feet which I hoped would be time well spent.
There are some brilliant little honesty boxes along the Pennine Way, non-better than the one just outside Thornton in Craven heading towards Gargrave. I stopped here for an ice cream and Lucozade.
Next stop Gargrave where I topped up with food and drink at the CO-OP. Another quadruple Costa, Three ice creams and a sandwich and I was ready to get going again after having a chat with Alan Cormack who was also calorie loading.
I was starting to get tired, so I decided that it was time to bivvi down. The first field just outside Gargrave that the Pennine way passes through had no livestock in it so I decided to set up camp there and inform Race HQ that I was going to sleep for two hours. I put my head down on my sleeping matt and that was it I was out for the count.
Along the river, past Airton, through Malam with a top up of my water bottles, up Malham Cove and then onto checkpoint 1.5 at Malham Tarn. It turns out Gary Chapman wasn’t at Lothersdale as it had been agreed that his team would take on checkpoint 1.5 so it was a great surprise to see the there when I arrived. You’re allowed a maximum stay here of 30 minutes which I took advantage of by having a couple of bags of crisps and various other food options plus a strong cup of coffee. I was five hours to this point down on my time compared to Summer 2024.
I left the checkpoint and headed to a picnic bench to again sort out my feet.
Up fountains fell and down the other side before the steep ascent of Pen y Ghent which was looking a bit moody with very grey skies. The descent from Pen y Ghent was truly awful. My feet were in bits from blisters and the very stony path that leads down from Pen y Ghent meant I was in agony with every step I was literally screaming in pain and if not screaming in pain I was swearing at the rocks, it bloody hurt.
On arriving into Houghton in Ribblesdale, the Spine safety team gave us two options either having a hot drink with them or going to The Crown and taking advantage of their extended opening times for Spiners where we could get hot food and drinks and be sat in front of a warm fire - I wonder what option everyone took? I wasn’t aware that this facility was going to be available until Gary Chapman had mentioned it at checkpoint 1.5. This was a major boost to morale especially following the horrendous descent of Pen y Ghent and set us up well for the long and boring ascent up the cam high Road towards Hawes. It was hard to leave the Crown but Into the night once more it was.
About an hour and a half up the cam high Road I saw another head torch but strangely it was shining towards me and looked like it was approaching me. It seemed to take forever for this headlight to get to me but it turned out It was another competitor who had got a little lost and was trying to find someone else to help navigate this stretch. We set off together in the right direction and had a brief chat. once we got to the section where he’d been struggling he said he was fine and we continued at our own respective paces so I hope he found his way to the next checkpoint.
Reaching the top of the cam high Road was fine. You then turn off left towards hawes. it was dark and foggy and it was then that the sleep monsters started appearing. I started stumbling a bit and falling asleep on my feet. I did everything I could including taking a zoom caffeine Bar to get me through this next section. The descent then takes you over a final moor section at rottenstone Hill, this can be a little bit rubbish and I’ve often thought a bit unnecessary when the Pennine way should really just follow cam road back to Hawes (just my view) but at least dawn had broken.
I arrived into hardraw checkpoint 2 at 6:10 on Tuesday morning which was broadly the same time I had left harddraw two years earlier having had a 6 hour break. I’m not particularly a fan of the hardraw checkpoint as it is quite often full of midges and you sleep in little tents. However, there were no midges and the tents didn’t seem as small as two years previously so it was fine and I got a good 3.5 hours sleep.
The problem with blisters is you have to keep on top of them otherwise they will create further problems down the line given the issues i had descending Pen y Ghent I spent another 40 minutes on my feet before going for breakfast. There is a six hour time limit on at each checkpoint which gave me broadly 30 minutes to get out of there, including having breakfast, sorting my bag out for the next section and having a kit check. This should be easily doable, but it all felt a little bit stressful as I hadn’t appreciated that the toaster was the slowest toaster in the world as it was powered by a generator so that took a long time and the volunteer had to stand over it whilst the toast was being made to avoid it being burnt. I felt for the volunteer as not the best set up in the world. In addition I kept being told I had to set aside 10 minutes for kit check. I have conducted many kit checks on the Spine before especially at Alston where I was the main kit checker so I couldn’t really get my sleep deprived head around the fact why it was going to take 10 minutes so I was uncharacteristically a little bit grumpy (apparently the 10 minutes included the time taken for us to walk to outside the perimeter of the field that the checkpoint was in which made a little more sense when it was explained). My apologies to the volunteer who I realised whilst I was ascending great Shunner fell was actually Mark Potts who was one of the inspiration for me getting into the Spine as I had seen him a number of times on the Spine Race running past my house.
At about 12 o’clock on Tuesday, I started ascending great Shunner fell the weather was very kind to us with a clear blue sky and temperatures that weren’t too high. I ran the descent and got into Thwaite in next to no time. Onto Tan Hill where I had a 30 minute stop which included 2 pints of Pepsi Max, cream of tomato soup with bread and Yorkshire pudding and mashed potato with gravy which certainly hit the spot.
Whilst a number of the moors had dried out nicely since leg 1 Sleightholme Moor was its usual boggy mess. Onto clove Lodge, the little sanctuary of the barn with a large spread of food and drink available with honesty box facilities. I had a 25 minute break here talking with a couple of other competitors and some of the Spine safety team. unfortunately the owners weren’t around on my return journey.
Given all the food I had been eating, I was actually starting to feel less fatigued in fact stronger. This was born out by a good descent down from the moors overlooking Middleton in Teesdale. It’s always seems to take forever to reach CP Three once you hit the river at Middleton in Teesdale, it was no exception today.
I was welcomed by the Team at CP Three and it was great to see Kirsten Beard who I had last seen at the start. It is known as the Teasedale Tandoori and I had curry rice and naan bread. It was then to bed for 90 minutes as that is a usual amount of time it takes me to reset and to be able to go again. On waking, I had four rounds of toast, rice pudding with jam and some other bits and pieces whilst sorting out my blistered feet. one other competitor said my new nickname was Sir Lancelot because I spent so much time lancing my blisters.
Within a few kilometres of leaving checkpoint 3 I was starting to stumble and zigzag like a drunk on the way home from the pub. This was quite concerning as I’d just had a sleep but I recognise the fact I must not have slept enough allowing for the cumulative effect of the fatigue from been on the trail from the previous Tuesday. Unfortunately for this section I hadn’t anticipated needing a sleep and therefore hadn’t packed my full sleep system. I therefore got into all the additional layers we are required to pack including my waterproof trousers and jacket and curled up under a bush and tried to get some sleep. I managed a good two hours and woke up feeling relatively refreshed.
Falcon Clints were literally a pain as the large rocks were causing pain again with my blisters so foot placement was very important. It was then up cauldron snout before heading towards high cup Nick which is one of the most spectacular points on the Pennine Way. I came across another competitor, Kevin, who said he’d overheard someone mention that the café in Dufton might not be opening late for Spiner.
This was the kick up the bum I needed to get into Dufton as quickly as possible so I set off at quite a pace to make sure I got to the café before it closed. Turns out the café was continuing to open late for Spinets but I didn’t mind as it was a very enjoyable descent from high cup Nick anyway. I spent £35 on food at the post box pantry as the food was amazing and helped sustain me all the way to the summit of cross fell. Cross fell was again having relatively benign weather so the views were good again. I’d been finding that running was helping with the pain for my blisters which is a bit weird but it was working so I set off on the descent from Cross fell running the majority of the way down to Garrigill.
The section from Garrigill to Alston seemed to take an age and my feet were starting to play up again whilst walking on the narrow stoney track you have to follow at times.
I was then at my spiritual home along the Pennine Way of Alston where I was greeted by the fantastic team of Chris Taylor and Debi Jones. I had one portion of lasagna before getting two hours 45 minutes sleep. I again sorted out my feet and had four rounds of toast whilst sorting out my bag for the next section. It was relatively quiet in the checkpoint which was a nice change from the other checkpoint. I for once had got my timing right at this checkpoint as sometimes they can be a bit too busy and overwhelming.
Onto Greenhead which was fine with the exception of the boggy Blenkinsopp Common. We had started to get scattered showers at this point. The little visitor Centre at Greenhead had just had fresh sandwiches delivered so I took the opportunity to top up on food and drink before heading along the rollercoaster, which is Hadrian’s wall.
I met up with some Spine angels at Burnhead, Ian and June, who were handing out sweets and drinks to Spine as passing through. It was nice to talk to them for awhile.
It was then a long trek from Hadrian’s wall to Bellingham but again I was feeling relatively strong so made good progress. In fact, I didn’t even stop at a hornystead farm which I normally do. I also came across a couple of people looking for an apparent American celebrity that we had on the Spine Race called Andrew Glaze. I had no idea who he was but I did explain that we have a number of brilliant ultrarunners in the UK and suggested they look up the likes of Damien Hall, Anna Troop etc. Once I got into Bellingham the checkpoint Team looked after me and who came in 30 minutes later but the Andrew glaze. We had a brief chat, he seemed pleasant enough and it was his first time in the UK so he had never come across bogs before - what a baptism of fire doing the Spine Race with its bogs.
I spent a little time on my feet, had four rounds of toast, rice pudding and jam and a few other bits and pieces. I didn’t intend stopping here as I knew I could effectively do one massive push from here to get to the end. Now the wheels could come off but I had done this type of thing before and it had worked out so I thought I’d give it a go.
On leaving Bellingham it took at least 30 minutes for my feet to warm up and not to be in significant pain when walking. I knew I would have to use a strategy of running more to assist with pain management. This is something very unusual for me as I am very much a power hiker towards the end of an ultra but I thought I’d give it a go to manage the pain.
More food at Bellingham co-op and I was then on my way over the Moors. If you have blisters there is a god-awful section I think around Paddon Hill where the track is very narrow and stony and very had to see as the path was hidden in heather. my pain for this 4 km section was beyond anything I had experienced before. It was a good job I was so close to the end. I finally hit the forestry tracks which I ran even the inclines which helped with my blisters. Checkpoint 5 .5 has been moved for this event to inside Byrness village hall which was a pleasant change compared to a Bell tent in a very midge infested field. The only downside being it adds 1.2 km onto the journey.
I had a very brief stop here and also got confirmation that it was acceptable for me to summit the Cheviot even though the spine rules say you must not summit the Cheviot. It was 2 am in the morning when I left Byrness which meant I thought I had 10 hours to cross the cheviots to beat the current fastest known time for a double traverse of the Pennine Way. I was starting to doubt my ability to beat the FKT. However, at the back of my mind I knew it had taken me less than 11 hours in the Spine sprint the year before to travel between Bellingham and Kirk Yetholm so this was only a fraction of the distance however I hadn’t just done over 500 miles at that point.
the start of the night was quite still and it was very muggy however as the day progressed the wind picked up to such an extent that you were getting completely battered on Windy Gyle by a very strong crosswind. I hit Hut 1 in good time but getting to Hut 2 felt like wading through treacle, maybe this was because of the wind and all the fatigue that I was suffering from.
Hut 2 finally came at 10:30 am. I asked the team there how long it usually took to descend from Hut 2. They gave the answer of 1 1/2 hours for a good runner and two hours for a plodder/power hiiker as the last bit includes the Schill. I worked out that I had to arrive into KY by 12 pm. I therefore set off chasing this time including summiting the Cheviot. I moved quickly down from the Cheviot. There were a number of other runners cheering was on as we went by. I arrived into Burnhead. With approximately 5K left to do and 15 minutes left to do it at that point I resigned myself to the fact I hadn’t got the FKT and slowly walked to the finish line to complete the double traverse of the Pennine way I touched the wall at 12:49 pm on Friday the 20th of June. I was then interviewed by Kevin McCann of the Spine Race who congratulated me on my achievement.
The double traverse had taken me in total 10 days four hours 46 minutes and 33 seconds which in my sleep derived state was behind the record. Leg two had taken 124 hours 49 minutes and 19 seconds so somewhat longer than leg 1.
Into in the double I believed I had set a new FKT for a self supported Traverse of the Pennine Way. I therefore started writing this up on Sunday, the 21st of June, two days after finishing the event as I was so knackered I could not focus to do it before then. I was writing up the final details of this and just for posterity and completeness I thought I would capture the time it took me to do the double traverse. I was then double checking my information versus The Robin Price article from the Fell Runner when I realised it his record was slightly higher than I thought at 10 days 6 hours 55mins. It was at this point I realised I had actually beaten the time - just goes to show the impact of sleep deprivation?
This was an epic adventure made very special by the amazing volunteer teams supporting the Spine Race.