Day 3 Update from Langdale

First some news on the miscellaneous data from the tracker earlier this morning. Emma (Steve’s wife), has interrogated the support runners (Peter Murphy, Ryan Wood and Chris Knowles) on that leg and they all agreed that Steve went to Dow Crag and they even have video of him at Dow Crag so there is no doubt he was there. I’m sure Open Tracking will have a technical explanation for strange route data in due course.

In fact, as I wrote this, I have just received this email from Peter: “Just got home from supporting Steve from Hard Knott to Langdale via Duddon valley and tilberthwaite. I can confirm that we definitely DID go over Dow Crag! The route the tracker shows is no short cut it'd be a hell of a lot harder than the real one that we took! I've even got video evidence of the route - I was getting a bit arty farty and trying to capture the sun rising through the whisps of mist that were still hanging around, it was beautiful and a great privilege to be up there at such an hour.

Steve arrived in Tilberthwaite at about 0840 this morning, about 1h 10mins down on his schedule. He was very chirpy and in good spirits and was pleased to report that his “insides were working correctly again”!  At Tilberthwaite new support runner David Armstrong joined Peter Murphy while Ryan Wood and Chris Knowles stopped here.

Steve and team then completed leg 8 quickly arriving in Langdale at approximately 11:15 and reducing the schedule deficit to just 25 mins. The support point in Langdale is Langdale Bunkhouse so another big thank you is due to them. Here, Steve stopped for a quick shower and for some treatment on his battered feet, which have started to blister in multiple locations now.

Jean Sinclair (one my regular volunteer marshals and nurse) was on hand to patch up Steve’s feet and Steve’s wife Emma also arrived with homemade soup and bread, which apparently hit the spot! Support runners David and Peter, said that Steve was very chatty and had been in conversation with them for most of the leg. He is obviously in good spirits despite the toil the challenge is starting to take.

When Steve set off at 04:40 this morning he was feeling pretty tired and was planning to stop for some sleep at Rydal this morning. However, in Langdale he was now thinking of reverting back to the original plan and only pit stopping in Rydal and continuing to Kirkstone Pass tonight, giving the support team lots of ‘known unknowns’ to work into the logistics plan for later today.