My decision to attempt the Frog Graham Round was influenced by a few things, I suppose it all started about started about 9 years ago – 2016 I think - when I supported my friend Martyn on his FGR. Martyn was the 6th person to complete the Frog and I don’t think many people had heard of it back then. I ran leg 1 and leg 4 with him and he succeeded in knocking 10 minutes off what was then the fastest time.

It was an exciting day out and I was really enthused about an attempt of my own, but didn’t give it much real consideration until earlier this year after a period supporting another friend on his Bob Graham Round and thus re-gaining some of the confidence that I’d lost after a long period of recurrent injuries. Until quite recently I’d not been able to build up my mileage enough to do any long distance running challenges in the hills and it was brilliant to be back on the fells, I’d also started to do more open water swimming and all the ingredients were there. Anyway, l had lots of encouragement from friends and decided to give it a try – it was time.

Training at the beginning of the year included the Haworth Hobble, the Fellsman Dart and then some Bob Graham reccies for Brian’s round. Brian successfully completed his BG in June (yay – fantastic) so it was then time to start reccie-ing the Frog, a lot of which I did with my friends Amy and Helen.

Lessons learnt from the reccies were:

Ullock pike is actually not on the route
The slide at Whinlatter is fun
Grisedale pike has too many false summits
The steps after Rannerdale Knotts are totally s***
There is no good line up Mellbreak, just a slightly less awful one
The stile at the bottom of High Stile is dangerous (ahem Helen!)
The climb up Robinson is also s***
Reccies are grand days out in the lakes

To train for the swims I swam across Bassenthwaite and back a few times after days out in the hills, did some swimming in Ellerton Lake and practiced the Bassenthwaite and Derwentwater swims with Martyn to make sure I knew exactly where to get out, especially on the DW islands. In the last few years I’ve done quite a lot of long distance open water swimming (including Coniston and Ullswater end-to-end), so I didn’t feel too worried about the swims on the FGR. Crossed fingers!

The Big Day

Martyn had convinced me that an early start was critical in order to get across the final swim in daylight, so that was that and I set my start time for 3.30am. He’s right really, swimming across a lake in the dark is not much fun, especially when you need to get out at three islands enroute.
The alarm went off at 2.15 a.m. and the first thing we heard was the sound of a heavy downpour of rain on the roof; at this point I was picturing a full day of being wet and miserable and poor Amy had to put up with all my worrying and fretting. However, by the time we got to Moot Hall it had stopped and this cheered me up quite a lot I have to say. I was thrilled to see that a friend and his son had got up at that ridiculous time in the morning to see us off, a lovely surprise!

I set off at 3:30 a.m. on a sub 17-hour schedule with Amy, Andy and Brian. I was carrying a bum bag with some water, a waterproof and the tracker, while my supporters carried the spare fell kit and spare water and the food for each leg. One of the great things about the Frog is that you can tailor your attempts exactly as you want and so it’s much more accessible to people of all abilities, you don’t even have to complete it within 24-hours, but of course I wanted to do it well within that

The top of Skiddaw was shrouded in claggy mist of course, but Andy’s nav was spot on and we found the scree path down to Carl Side without too much trouble. It was so misty that I had to hold my head torch at waist level in order to see the ground in front of me!

Brian and Amy both making sure I was eating, a role reversal for Brian! The sun was starting to come up as we came out the Skiddaw mists and descended towards White Stones.

I left the leg one supporters at Dodd wood and ran alone to Bassenthwaite Church where Martyn was waiting for me. Martyn swam all the lakes with me and brought my swim kit to each one, washing it thoroughly to ensure that we didn’t inadvertently create a biosecurity hazard, this is very important on FGR attempts.

Bassenthwaite was calm and beautiful in the first light and I very quickly got changed into my shorty (swim-run style) wetsuit, the swim across felt relaxing and refreshing. We reached Beck Wythop with no problems, Helen, Jane and the other Leg 2 supporters were lined up on the shoreline waiting for us.

I’d decided on a full kit change after each lake because the weather forecast was a bit uncertain and it just wasn’t worth risking getting cold and miserable. Jane was in charge of hiding me behind the dry robe and telling the boys to look away!

Brian, Helen and Phil were my crew for this leg and it starts with a steady climb up to Barf. We’d reccied this section a couple of times and knew not to go the “wrong” way up via Slape Crag (already tried that one thank you) and Helen was out in front leading the way with Brian and Phil in charge of nutrition and poles. The wind and rain were holding off for now and we had some fantastic views back over to the Skiddaw range.

We ticked off Barf, Lords Seat and Ullister hill in good time and headed down through the forest, past the Gruffalo and of course went straight to the slide at Whinlatter. PBs all round on the play area slide as it was wet and slippy; I wonder if this is an official element of the route? Is there a Strava Segment? Phil might have got KOM if so!

Mmmm. I’m sure Ullister Hill is around here somewhere .....

Grisedale Pike was the usual cheeky climb with all its false summits, but we got there OK and then found all the good lines round to Hopegill Head and the short section over Sand Hill and on to Coledale Hause. I struggled a bit on Eel Crag as the rocks were a bit damp and slippy. I’m not all that confident with scrambling up the rocks but Helen guided me and Brian was given permission to give me a gentle shove when I lost my nerve!

Wandope and Whiteless Pike were ticked off and then came the nasty ‘steps’ down to Buttermere from Rannerdale Knotts, no way to avoid them unfortunately and we just got on with it and ran down to the support point. Jane and Sam were road support here and it was a lovely surprise to see Sarah too.My swim kit was all laid out after Martyn had washed and dried it as best he could. It was easy enough to get into a swim-run wetsuit when it’s damp thankfully.

Soon we were off and I had another lovely swim across Crummock, side by side with Martyn.

Helen met us at the other side ready for Leg 3 and Mellbreak. Andy and Simon appeared just in time after I’d changed in to run gear.

It was quite chilly getting changed out of a wetsuit into running gear on Low Ling Crag I have to say,Helen shielded me as best she could and I was keen to get going and face the perils of Leg 3. I hadn’t been looking forward to this section one bit.

Mellbreak was, well, Mellbreak. Helen reccied it on several occasions and found us the best line possible up what she called Dead Sheep Gully (you can work that one out), but it was wetter underfoot than it had been in our previous ascents and so was a little slippier on the rocky bits. I had another few nervous moments but Helen guided me again with Simon and Andy behind watching out for me.

The Dreaded Mellbreak Climb up from Crummock Water

Once we were across Black Beck (a place where you can rinse your wetsuit if necessary) and the path to Scale Force, it was time to tackle Red Pike. This is a steadier climb and a gel and some Hula Hoops helped keep me going and I felt like I was making good progress.

As we started to approach the summit the weather started to take a turn for the worse and the wind began picking up, it looked a bit ominous and I was worried about what was to come, particularly the slog up Robinson and the two remaining swims.

The descent from High Stile was made slower with the strong wind coming in from the SE, but we took it carefully and made it down safely, the only casualty being the rip in the back of my shorts …oops! A fairly critical shorts change would be needed at the next support point!!

Buttermere was choppy and much harder than expected. I’d hoped to be able to swim without a wetsuit, but given the conditions we decided it was wiser to take the time to put it on - Martyn had swam across to meet me with my swim kit in his tow float. I’d also hoped for a quick change on the beach on the other side,but it was properly raining and windy by now so my crew took me up to Martyn and Helen’s van parked at the bottom of the Robinson climb where I could get a full change of kit and into my waterproofs. Diane and Jenny had put out my run kit, coffee, Pepsi and sandwiches. Great to see James out of hospital and cheering me on with a big smile too.

Quick Time Check After the Buttermere Swim

My leg 4 supporters were Carol, Amy and Jim. I’m afraid that they drew the short straw, with me at my slowest on tired legs and of course the driving rain and wind. Robinson was slow going, it seemed long and never-ending. I was getting really tired andwas worrying about being too cold before the swim across the final lake, Derwentwater.

Carol was as reassuring as ever and encouraged me to keep going, while Amy was on a mission to make sure I was eating and drinking properly and fuelling for the swim ahead, I also had Jim handing out Hula Hoops at every possible moment and taking videos in the wind and rain. It was hard work.

After Dale Head we descended down the Borrowdale race line to the tarn and were rewarded by some shelter from the wind. Perfect wee stop for everyone and then on to High Spy. The wind had started to ease a little by the time we were descending off Catbells and as we headed down the fellside I could see my husband Mark with my little red car and Martyn waiting in his wetsuit with the tow floats and my swim kit.

Carol ran down to the lakeshore with me and Martyn and thank goodness she did, as it took both of them to help get me into me my full length wetsuit - one each side to squeeze my legs in!!!!! Mike and Ted (and Luna the spaniel) were waiting with the kayaks and politely looked away while I was struggling into the thing, eventually we zipped it up and were ready to go for the last big effort.

They had warned us that the lake was really choppy after the first island, but I thought of when I swam the length of Coniston in choppy water and just got on with it. It was reassuring to have the kayakers for safety and to have Martyn swimming with me, wise precautions in those conditions. I think we both ended up getting a few mouthfuls of water as the waves hit us from the side, it was tricky getting the timing right so that you came up for air between the big waves.

As we progressed my tow float kept getting blown over my arm and wasbecoming a real problem, so eventually I gave it to Mike who put it in his kayak. I know that swimming without a tow float isn’t a great idea, but I was in good company and felt completely safe.

We made steady progress in the fading light,despite the dreadful conditions and being thrown everywhere. I was exhausted and totally focussed on and getting across the final swim of the Frog Graham.

At St Herbert’s and Rampsholmeislands we exited the water at theirnorthern ends, it’s much less rocky and you can simply walk across the sandbars rather than struggling over the slippy rocks at the southern ends.

After Rampsholme I could see a line of people with headtorches at Calf Close Bay and that really lifted my spirits, all that remained was the final run into Keswick, yay!

We got out at the rocky section before the Millennium Stones (that wasn’t easy), so just the wetsuit to wiggle out of and a short trot into Keswick. Diane and Helen’s turn to take a leg each and get the wetsuit off, what a drama. Once thatwas done it was into road shoes and my Nidd Valley club vest for the short run to Moot Hall. I ran in with Mark, Jenny, Helen, Amy and Jim, everyone else was waiting to cheer me in at Moot Hall.

It’s quite emotional running up to Moot hall with everyone cheering, I can’t deny that. I’ve waited at the Moot hall plenty of times to cheer friends in at the end of their Bob Graham rounds, so it felt really special to be the one getting all the cheers as I climbed those steps.

Someone came out from ‘The Round’ pub with a pint for me. I think I asked if it was OK to accept a free pint as I’d ‘only done the Frog Graham not the Bob Graham’ and of course it was! It was a silly thing to say as The Frog Graham Round is a massive, awesome challenge and I’m extremely pleased to have completed it and to have had a fantastic day in the hills and the lakes with my friends.

Emma (FGRC member 231)