Prologue

I love running and being out on the fells. Perhaps even more than running, swimming is where I experience a ‘high’, that feeling of awe and wellbeing which comes from being in a spectacular natural landscape whilst pushing my body to its limit. The Frog Graham round then, appealed to me and I keenly volunteered to support a friend when I heard she was taking on this challenge.

Supporting Sarah’s round was a fabulous day out and she really inspired me to think about going for “the Frog” sooner than planned. The cool caress of Crummock Water after a long leg 2 was refreshing.

“Maybe I can do this”, I thought, “I think I can do it.”

I guessed the Frog would take me around 15 hours. This would be my longest run ever, by far. But at an easy pace, it seemed doable within the hours of daylight.

Leg 1

Getting up early unexpectedly easy. As Robert has since pointed out, there was no grumbling from him. I managed to down a very sweet cup of coffee and slice of toast. Taking a second cup of caffeinated goodness for journey juice, we were in the car by 4:35 am.

Just after 5am, we drew level with Tee Watt’s red van on Brundholme road. I wound down the window and Robert said, by way of greeting “’’scuse me mate ‘av you got ten pee?”. Tom replied with a more topical “’scuse me mate is this the way to Moot Hall”. The three of us laughed outrageously at this unfathomable in-joke, muchly because of sleep deprivation and pre-challenge excitement.

We soon met Sarah by Moot Hall. She looked ready to run and also like someone who had allocated zero time to considering what her hair looked like that morning.

Headtorches on, we set off at 5:30am, making our way up to Skiddaw as the sun rose. As the sky brightened we glanced back over our shoulders to see take in the scene over Derwent water and the surrounding fells.

Conditions were humid, warm for that time in the morning and unusually still, with only the lightest of breezes even on the summits.

Sarah and Tom were perfect company with easy chat and smiles all the way. Sarah ran ahead to get all the gates whilst Tom was appointed executive assistant in charge of nutrition (he carried a banana for me).

Strategy wise, I was telling myself to start easy and walking most of the climbs.

Descending down the tricky slope towards Carl Side, we dipped back under the mist to a picture-perfect dawn. The mountain landscape like a painting in the morning light.

There were butterflies in my stomach as I thought about the upcoming swim. I let that feeling sink in, I was actually doing this!

This leg seemed to be over so quickly, and indeed we reached Church Bay a couple minutes ahead of my (admittedly slapdash) schedule. Mum, Dad and Jenny stood close together under one umbrella on the shore of Bassenthwaite.

Mum offered many snacks and Lucozade but I just wanted to keep moving (having eaten that banana by now). I clumsily dragged my wetsuit onto my sweaty body, shoved my kit into a tow float and set off for Beck Wythop with Jenny and Sarah for company. A flashing light from Robert’s headtorch made sighting significantly easier.

My feet kept knocking into the tow float making it difficult to swim correctly. This hadn’t happened when training because I never put so much in the float, weighing it down. Luckily, Jenny realised what was happening and made me switch tow floats with her. Swimming was much more comfortable after that and we reached Beck Whythop quicker than expected, helped by the still conditions.

Robert, Holly and Jim were all ready and waiting for us. Robert was asking me what I needed, if I was okay, and generally being far too nice. In order to accomplish the challenge, I needed to maintain a certain state of mind. Independent, strong, keeping going through force of will even if pained or fatigued. If I let Robert look after me this would weaken my resolve – so I had to resist his attentive behaviour!

I thoughtfully shouted a “Jim, don’t look” before stripping off and getting into my kit for the next leg.

Leg 2

The road section was a bit of a drag and Holly, Jim and I were keen to get on the fells. I took the climb up to Barf for a chance to eat something and we soon bagged the three peaks of Whinlatter. Some navigation was needed after Ulster hill just to make sure we got the right trail, after which the Visitor centre offered my last opportunity to use the real toilet of the day. Of course I took advantage of this luxury.

We fast marched and snacked our way up to Grisedale. Bit of a slog but at least it’s not Melbreck (more on that later). Leg 2 is quite runnable and I was getting into my stride with a ‘not halfway yet’ mindset. My feet hurt a bit so I sought out softer ground. I also started to get thirsty. I’d hardly drank on leg 1 and now finished one 500mil flask and took another from Holly. I began to day dream about that Lucozade.

The summits were in cloud and a little discussion needed to find the way over Eel Crag to Wandhope. I felt reassured in my route choice with Jim verifying against the official Frog Graham map – I am a shameful devotee of the OS maps app and had no such resource to hand.

Jim was sympathetically thinking of my sore feet and picking out some grassier descent lines as I followed him down into the Buttermere Valley.

As we climbed Rannerdale Knots I worried about dropping behind schedule as this leg did take slightly longer than I’d thought.

At Hause point, the paparazzi was in position - Mum and Sarah snapping photos as we leapt the last few steps down from Rannerdale and over to the shore. Of course it was spurring to have my parents, sister and friend waiting for me but I was most happy to see that Lucozade.

I planned to suit up for the two longest dips, Bassenthwaite and Derwent Water, and go in skins for the shorter swims. Note that by ‘skins’ I do not mean naked, I just mean, no wetsuit. (In hindsight, skinny-dipping could speed up transition times. During the swim, I would just need to shout out ‘Jim don’t look’ every third breath or so.)

Jenny warned me that the water was very cold, and Sarah’s spare wetsuit was laid out ready for me as a last minute just-in-case I need it option. I stuck with the plan and dived into the cold water.

“This is fine”, I thought “Just normal lake temperature in these parts”.

I considered my sister was just being soft as after all she lives in The South. It was a very enjoyable start to the swim just feeling the cool water over my body. You don’t get that with a wetsuit and it’s something I was looking forward to.

Started to feel cold about half way through.

Shivering by the time I dressed at Low Ling Crag.

I asked Robert if he had “that green fleece”. He did not.

Leg 3

Robert and Dan were waiting to start Leg 3 and in laddish high spirits as is typical.

I had all my gear on trying to warm back up as we scrambled up to Melbreck. On the reccy of this route I’d had to use my hands to claw my way up here and this time I was both tired and trying to eat crisps. There’s no way anyone would go this way if not for the Frog Graham Round! There’s just not a line. I used Sarah’s mantra “It can’t go on forever” to stay motivated.

A crane fly flickered in my face before becoming entangled in a spider’s web right where I was about to find a strategic hand hold. The spider – scary kind often seen on webs – scuttled into action.

“Spiderrrrrr!”, I warned Robert (we have a well-rehearsed spider alert-call), “It’s the scary kind often seen on webs”. Had to divert our route just a little.

I was really starting to worry about slowing down at this point. Although I had no time target, I needed to get to Derwent Water before it got too dark to swim. I even asked Robert if he thought our headtorches were waterproof, and devised a contingency plan where if the sun had set, I could just swim head-up breaststroke with the head torch on.

This leg is really where I felt tired in my body. I knew I was moving slower than usual. This much would be expected as after all I’d already done two long runs that morning. On any other day, just one fell run like that would land me on the sofa for the rest of the day. That’s why it was amazing to have Dan taking over on navigation, all I had to do was follow. Dan had thoughtfully doused himself in Lynx Africa before the run, meaning we could track him even in poor visibility.

I was not so chatty, channelling all my energy into running… well I was mostly hiking and smashing my way through bracken.

“I hope I get a second wind soon” I said to Dan and Robert.

Of course I was fatigued, but I knew I could keep going, I could do this, I was far from dropping. It was just the threat of darkness I was fretting about.

Red Pike and High Style were again reached in the clag . Robert told me we were in fact ahead of schedule, and that lifted my spirits, as did the spectacular sight of deep-blue Buttermere when we dropped back under the clouds. The rocky, scree covered descent line is not very runnable but I found it satisfying discovering a line.

I looked across to Hassness , searching for my Dad on the shore (a large man in a hi-vis, he should have been easy to spot). Worryingly I could not see him. Then I fell over and Robert told me to look where I was putting my feet.

At Horse Close Jenny was waiting again and greeted us with a “you’re 20 minutes ahead!” which was fantastic to here. She was not even suited up yet would you believe.

“This is my friend Laura” said Jenny. Her friend was up in the Lakes co-incidentally and had sportingly come along to give me a cheer.

I don’t know if I managed so much as a “nice to meet you” before flashing my breasts at Laura as I quickly changed (sorry about that, Laura).

I thought the Buttermere swim would feel freezing, but I would be able to deal with that because it is not very far. Sarah and I had swam here the week before and it was the coldest water I’d been in for a while, ie since winter. As it was, the experience was totally different. It was pleasantly cool and we took our time, chatting and taking in the picturesque surroundings. I didn’t want to get out.

Mum was waiting on the shore with Holly and a lot of sandwiches.

“Where’s Dad?” I asked.

Apparently , they’d got a flat tyre and Dad had taken the car to a garage. In Workington. Bloody miles away. My anxiety about timings was replaced by anxiety about if my parents would make it to Calf Close Bay as planned.

Dan had made a mid-Leg 3 decision to continue onto Leg 4 with myself and Holly. This involved him ‘tempo-ing’ (his words) around the southern shore of Buttermere in order to meet us at Hassness. By the time I had my towel changing robe on, he was back on the scene and surprised us by plunging straight into the lake up to his neck (Dan is not known for swimming).

After Jenny told me how much I stank (although I had washed off in the lake, my T shirt had done 30 humid miles without decontamination) and Mum told me to take another sandwich, Dan, Holly and I set off for the final fell run.

Leg 4

In the days preceding my Frog Graham attempt, one of my favourite daydreams had been of getting to Calf Close Bay, stripping off my wetsuit, pulling on my road shoes and sprinting to Moot Hall. This dream now rested in the hands of a Workington mechanic.

Despite these worries, I was in a giggly mood as we hiked the long climb to Robinson - I think and hope Holly and Dan were feeling this too. Holly was very impressed with Dan’s renown dog impression. I attempted to entertain them both by meowing, but it came out more as a croak – I was turning into a frog!

That longed for second wind had hit my mind-set, alas not my body. I carried on laughing as I treated the fence as a handrail and used my hands to ‘assist’ my legs up any high steps

Dan told us he was bonking and said goodbye at Dale Head, and that we should leave him behind. He then rudely overtook both Holly and I on the descent to the tarn. After taking water from the stream Dan managed to stick with us until High Spy.

High Spy felt like the last major climb and it was here I got that longed for second wind in the body. Yes, I was tired and my legs ached, but I knew I was nearing the end and could still run! Holly and I dropped the chat level and diverted all energy to forward motion.

We skipped over Catbells, reaching the summit so quickly I would have missed the cairn had Holly not alerted me to our position. I was on a high as we finished the leg and felt such gratitude to Holly for sticking with me.

Found Robert, Jenny and a surprise addition to the team – Jay Ro - at the shore of Derwent Water. It was a relief to spot Dan across the bay too.

“Get ready for the slowest swim ever” I said to Jenny.

Our supporters on the shore waved us off as we entered the water.

I hauled myself out like a struggling seal onto the diminutive rock of Otterbield Island. I’d like to say this felt like progress but we were still in sight of our team on the shore. I think they gave us a cheer but it’s hard to remember since at this point I tried to take a step and fell clumsily back into the water.

I was mostly swimming with my arms because the toes on my left foot felt weird and also my legs were in economy mode. More positively, Derwent water was perfectly flat and wave free. I found a moment of peace and tranquillity watching swifts swooping, catching flies above the water.

As we crossed the final island I spotted Dad’s high-vis through the trees – the team were in position! As we got back into the water we spotted 5 figures on the shore and it was motivating to have a welcome party in sight.

It’s such a short swim after the final island and I was feeling motivated. With the end in sight, I put some effort in. Kicking my legs and powering my body through the water, I went for a sprint finish. Turning to my right I could see Jenny leaning on her tow float and keeping this pace with a lazy breaststroke.

At Calf Close Bay, we were nearly done, this was the moment I’d been dreaming of.

“It’s not done yet” I told myself.

I was so motivated by the team on the shore, all smiling and wearing waterproof clothing – whilst I didn’t feel cold at all. My parents had made it after all that flat-tyre drama! They helped me get changed (I think that’s Dad’s first experience with the complicated nature of a sports bra) and had of course brought those all-important road shoes and the essential Ambleside AC vest.

Sarah, Tom and Cardboard Wayne were ready to race back to Moot Hall, but I was informed it was first necessary to climb a rope. This it seems, was the most efficient way to the footpath.

“Don’t let me slow you down, go in front” Wayne told me and we sped along the road. It felt so good to open my stride and just to know I was going to do this.

We seemed to get to Keswick so fast. “You might be sub-14!” Sarah told me.

I climbed the steps at Moot Hall. I had done it.

Reflections

This challenge was about pushing my own limits and finding my strength. However, my amazing family and friends were the real heroes of the day. I could not have done it without their help and everyone brought a little extra.