Preston Harriers Fell Section :- fellblog
causey pike
Report from Dave Holmes
Stair
Village Hall, home of the Anniversary Waltz, is also home to the Causey Pike
race; a short 4.5 mile, sharp 1780' race in the Newlands valley outside Keswick.
Rowling End (433m/1420') looms over the tiny village whilst the hump
of Causey Pike(637m/2089') sits further back along the ridge. However, the
'end' has to be scaled first and that means a 'hands on' climb i.e. hands on
knees, hands on branches, rocks, clumps of grass, in fact anything you can
get your hands on!
From its
summit a path trends gently upwards along the ridge before reaching the base of
the Pike and a further 600' of ascent; once again, it's all hands to the deck as
its rocky flank is climbed.
Over the
summit and a short descent to a col before a long steep, steep grassy descent to
a track alongside Stonycroft Gill which takes you virtually all the way back
down. Initially rocky it gives way to small boulders and ultimately shale before
a stream crossing, a grassy contour and back down the road to the finish.
A tough
race to get the season underway and I am a few seconds quicker than last year.
For the
record;
1
Gavin Bland 32.51
2 Rob
Jebb
32.59
3
Simon Booth 33.32
73 Dave
Holmes 48.13