Hardly AC Dent run

(wrong) top of Dent celebration

Phil put on this weeks Hardly AC run.  He picked out a nice route around Flat Fell and Dent.  This is unfamiliar ground to me so I was looking forward to a bit of discovery and exploring.  I had been up the famous 'bummers' climb on the SBU35 Recce weekend as this forms part of the SBU35 course.  There was talk of also tackling the 'chimneys' climb but in the end we settled for descending it, somewhat easier than going up.

from the Nannycatch Lane car park around Flat Fell, along the river to the climb up bummers to the top of Dent then back down via chimneys and along the valley back to the car park.

starting the bummers ascent

It was nice to see a healthy turn out of runners including some new people.  We always try to make the runs suit all abilities which does mean that there is some stopping and waiting for the faster runners.  I think some of the faster runners get a bit frustrated with waiting around but there is always the option of running back to catch the people at the back or adding additional hill repeats or loops in.  It was good to see Howard and Pete doing this.  I think Howard put a good two miles extra distance in compared to the main group.  

The route started by going around Flat Fell with a gradual climb, nice downhill and then another nice valley section.  After this, at about 2.5 miles in, we hit the bummers climb.  I took my time trying to pace but really got past the point of running efficiency on the last switch back and changed to a hike for the remainder.  We regrouped at the top of the main climb where there is a path junction and then tackled the less steep run up to the top of Dent where we regrouped again and posed for multiple pictures.  

Phil told us that we had gone to the wrong summit of Dent so we headed back to what we were told is the true summit, regrouped again and then headed down towards the chimneys descent.  From here it was a nice easy mile and a half along the valley back to the car.

regrouping at the top of bummers

yay, Dent!

starting to descent chimneys

final section of chimneys