Skiddaw

Skiddaw is the 4th highest peak (3054') in England and is one of the classic fell races. The mountain is north of Keswick in Cumbria in the heart of the lake district.
On arriving in Keswick after a rather long drive (2hr45) I was met with pretty rough weather conditions. Heavy rain and strong winds. The registration in Fitz park is in the football ground club house and was an excellent facility with showers and refreshments.
The race itself is 9 miles and about 2700' of climb. A good field was ready for the off which included 4 salopians. One of which was John Nightingale,who I was glad to finally meet,albeit briefly. The route climbs gradually to start and then steepens as you get near the summit. All runnable mind. This year the weather was that severe that the route was cut short. You can't expect Marshall's to stand out in torrential rain and gusting 60-70mph winds. Although we had southerly winds making it quite mild the weather was horrible. So the final 1/2 mile or so to the summit was abandoned. On the way down it was hard to breath whilst running into the wind.
My race was going well on the climb despite a stitch early on,I was 5th to the turning point and felt strong on the initial descent. That was until I went the wrong way at a cairn of stones,I misread the flags which I guessed to mean follow in the line in which they were aiming. About 5mins later and a different valley later I realised I was in completely the wrong area. A sit down and checked the map confirming my fears of being miles away from where I was meant to be. I lost about 15mins,and sent me from 5th to about 60th ! I managed to overtake about a dozen on the final part of the descent to finish just inside the top 50.
Despite the terrible mistake the race was excellent with a friendly atmosphere,decent course and great value with a quiche and cake thrown into the £5 entry fee.
I will be back to register a more respectable finishing position.