Ever since I first heard about the Kinder Dozen (it must have been before 2012, as that was when I first did it with Al, Jules and Brae), I knew of the then record, which was 5hours and 45 mins- or thereabouts. Insane levels of speed over rough terrain that were simply incomprehensible. I know Geoff Briggs who did that time (or something in the region of that time, records were hazier then), and was in awe.
Not too long after, John Boyle went and did it in 5 hours and 25 mins- which raised the bar even higher. That level of speed is simply incredible. Especially when, on the 2012 "expedition" we managed to get around in just over 7 and a half hours. Taking a couple of hours off that- and then some? I doubt it!
Indeed, a few years later Tom Saville took the time down to a quite frankly insane 4:23 which only goes to show just how damn good he is.
I didn't get to do the Dozen again for a few years. Other things kept getting in the way, like, I dunno, washing my hair. On New Years Day in 2020 I headed around with MarkD. We obviously had no idea quite how the pandemic would shape the world, or the world of fellrunning at that time- we had a great day out apart from a minor navigational mishap that occurred due to far to much chatting and having a good time. Again, just over 7.5 hours. I wasn't as knackered by that round as the first one, but then it was a lot less hot, and I'd had the most part of a decade to get fitter.
Chris suggested we have a bit of a blat around the Dozen at some point over this period, mainly because we've been putting in a few decent weeks of hard hill training (that is, hard underfoot, not necessarily fast), it would be "fun" to do, and also, he's never done the round, so it would be a nice adventure.
So up and at em for a 6:30am start from the house- Which I guess got us to Fairbrook for about 6:45, started our watches at the bridge and off we went. It was fully overcast, no cloud on top, not very breezy- so a pretty decent day- especially considering that the bracken hadn't even begun to show shoots yet. We went pretty light- food, emergency gear, a couple of water bottles and that was it.
There was no plan for the speed of attack, no previous thoughts of splits. I'd merely told Lynne that we'd be about 6 or 7 hours, so back after lunch.
Not much to tell about the first hill- apart from the fact we chatted all the way up Gateside, reminiscing about the 4 Inns a few years back when we'd taken much the same line, to the top, then down the Wicken to Blackden. A bit of a stop and faff to make sure we weren't going too low, and to remind ourselves to take the *right* line, not go up the main track like Mark and I did last time(!). A fairly fun scramble up through a load of heather, and along and up to the fence by the notch in the top- indicating the grough that leads straight to the trig, a curve around the trig, reminiscing about the midwinter 15 trigs we did a while back and how screwed we were by the time we got there- before heading back to the edge path and back down the hill past Jubilee cabin.
Down to the bottom and a thought... we'd probably better eat something as the porridge energy that started us out was probably all gone by now. Slog back to the top, chewing on some form of "mars" bar from lidl, and in short order, back down again to Jaggers. All the way through we were catching up on life, stuff and chewing the fat over a number of subjects ranging far and wide.
Hit the bottom of Jaggers- don't forget to go to the gate, and then up the hill to the top that isn't really a top (Chris was a little disappointed that we didn't actually need to go higher), and then a bit of a fun jinky line through heather, looking for sheep trods that were barely there as we jogged down to the Yha in Edale. Touch the stile, turn and head back up the clough. Fairly wet and manky all the way up, but hey, it was like that (and full of bloody bracken) last time I came down there on the Kinder Killer last year. A fair old stomp to the top, and we saw the first other person on the hill since we started- a walker, quite a way away. Circle round the Druids stone, along the top for a short time before diving back down into Ollerbrook and away from people again. At the bottom, we looked up at the crags and thought- "where have we seen that before?"... ah yes, an attempt at the "Ladder to the stars"- the Heart of Darkness- which I don't think I ever actually blogged about... have to get around to it at some point- anyhow, back up Ollerbrook and a bash through some heather to gain a scramble to the top- a faff as we ran up to the cairn at the top of Ringing Roger. After a short debate we decided to go to the highest one, because, hey, it's all about the ascent, right? Before coming down into Edale and seeing more people than we wanted to.
All the way down past hash smoking groups of people to the Nags head, touch the wall, a look at the watch... sub 3 hours? that's a surprise! An immediate right turn and back up toward Grindsbrook knoll, where we happened across surprisingly few people. The cloud was beginning to set in as we got to the top- about 3 hours or so in. There was a moment of navigational amusement at the top of the knoll as we couldn't work out where we'd come from or where we were going, and very nearly a very confident setting off in the direction of Edale again... before we came to our senses and dropped off in the right direction, again, away from people and into the peat hags underfoot. We took a crappy line, but eventually found a trod that took us to the bottom of the next clough (remember to go ALL the way down to touch the gate), before filling our water bottles at a very Springy spring and heading up to Crowden Castles. Quite a boggy and rutted affair this one, but thankfully pretty free of people until we got to the top.
Continuing to stuff food down our necks we descended (again on a terrible line) to the bottom of Jacobs ladder and the suspected hordes of people- where again, we were pleasently surprised not to have to fight through lots of people on the way up to Edale Cross. Yes there were a few people, but not what we were expecting.
Hitting Edale Cross and then down on the Kinder Downfall line the clag had steadily begun to build, as had the breeze from the West. We were beginning to tire, but were happy to have finished the South side of Kinder, only 3 more climbs to go now. There was the thought to scramble up the nose to Kinder Low, but the thought of the trod and the steps up Kinderlow end won out, so we took the longer line around to the gate and up the hill instead of a sharp bash up the way. Up to the top, and into the murk, avoiding as many people as possible, hit the trig and then a lovely little route down to Cluther rocks where we fouled up a bit and faffed around the rocks for considerably more time than was optimal... oops.... before we found our way out of the rocks, and back to a faint trod that took us to the bottom of the line and faced the ridiculous climb up Sandy heys.
On the way up we could hear some very loud and raucous people over towards Kinder Corner- so we concentrated on keeping our heads down, moving well uphill, and generally taking the most efficient line that we could that would get us away from them post haste. Up to the top, direct to the trig, and off towards Upper Red Brook, reversing the old Trigger line from back in the day and a sneaky dive off to the right to pick up the Ashop track down to the bridge.
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| Ooh look! a trig |
A final gel as we stomped our way up to Fairbrook naze and the mushroom stone at the top- some trods, followed by the steepest climb of the day- hands were a necessity- before a delightful run off the top (stopping only to go thigh deep in a bog) all the way down to the bridge and stop the watch in ... 5:39?
Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine doing that in less than 6 hours. That's for superhumans only. To say I'm chuffed to bits is an understatement- genuinely astonished and proper stoked- especially as we kept to what felt like a pretty conservative (but continuous) pace all the way around.
Ok, I didn't particularly want to go much further- my right hip/SIJ was playing up a bit by the end, but wow. Happy with that.
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| Standing in the Ashop at the end. |