I completed the Bob Graham Round in the early hours of 18th July, achieving an ambition I’d had since 2000, when I managed a circuit of the Lakes 3000s for the first time. The Bob Graham is a 66 mile fell walk / run over 42 peaks and was initially undertaken in 1932, by Keswick Guest House owner
Robert (Bob) Graham. Over 2,500 people have managed to follow in his footsteps, the vast majority in the last 50 years. However, the round is so demanding that apparently, on average two out of every three attempts fail. I had already contributed to the latter statistic after first attempting the round two weeks earlier. My challenge was abandoned before High Raise (approximately 40%), when after two sections of fine conditions, heavy rain blew in which made conditions intolerable. Having achieved peak fitness and with shortening days, it was vital that I tried again as soon as possible, so I joined an attempt that two Newcastle lads had advertised on a Facebook group, seeking additional pacers. This solved the problem of appointing my own full set of support runners again, as the membership rules of the “Bob Graham 24 hour Club” say that you must be accompanied on each summit for witnessing and safety. I subsequently met Joe and Jonny in Keswick for dinner on the evening of Friday 16th, just a few hours before we were to set off and feeling certain that this time the weather would be good for the whole day.

Fittingly their establishment of choice was called “The Round” and was literally a stone’s throw from the start at the Keswick Moot Hall. They were a few years younger than me (only 36 and 37) and were aiming at a brisk 22:30 pace, so I knew the stakes were high. However, I also felt that having others attempting the whole round eased the pressure on me as I was now merely part of a team. Also, I was looking to focus on my first objective: reaching the point where I had abandoned two weeks earlier. Thereafter I could concentrate on getting to Wasdale at which point I could decide
whether I was fit enough to continue, or just return to Keswick via Sty Head Pass and claim a third (and even more enhanced) round of the English 3000s. We set off at 3am (again with me having failed to get any sleep) and this was two hours later than my previous attempt. Not ideal I felt, as I knew full well (assuming we got that far) darkness would be on us again well before our arrival at Honister Pass. We jogged to and through Fitz Park and I was relieved when they started walking as soon as the climb steepened on the Latrigg bridleway. We reached Latrigg car park in 28 minutes, two minutes ahead of schedule and continued steadily up Skiddaw. Our head torches were switched off before the summit and with clear visibility, navigation down the direct path over Hare Crag was plain sailing. Feeling effortless, more time was gained on Great Calva and we were soon over that and down to the River Caldew. Contrary to popular belief there is no need to wade as there are two alternatives across on dry stones. Then followed the long and slow ascent of Blencathra. I duly lead my two new friends up and over Atkinson Pike, the first of nine additional summits I wanted to include, and the route is such an obvious one, they didn’t even question it!

At the top of Blencathra the view of the rest of the route opens up, and (if you dare) you can look over to the distant peaks of Bowfell, Esk Pike, Great Gable etc and appreciate the enormity of the challenge. But it’s not a good idea to spend too long doing that when you’re actually attempting it. Two weeks earlier I had descended Hall’s Fell aggressively in order to make up lost time and thereafter regretted it as I felt my knees had taken a hammering. This time, we were 13 minutes up on Blencathra, so I deliberately held back and allowed the other two to pull away. I knew this would look like I was struggling, but I felt that I would be able to redeem myself as the day went on. Both support teams were in place at Threlkeld, a few minutes before 7am. My road crew of Steve and Heather turned out as they had done two weeks earlier and laid out more treats and water to take on section two. Also there were Adam and Rebecca, friends from DH Runners. Rebecca was going to be my support runner for the next section whilst Johnny and Joe acquired Dave, a champion orienteer imported from Switzerland. So we were an enhanced squad of five as we set off up Clough Head, after a stop of just 10 minutes and again we made up time as we pushed on and arrived at the summit just 49 minutes later. In terms of terrain, this section as far as Dollywaggon Pike is the easiest of the round, smooth, dry, grassy hills to start with, only giving way to stony paths after Sticks Pass, and these can easily be avoided. The downhills and much of the flats were jogged and also the short climb up Watson’s Dodd, the one hill on the entire round that mere mortals can run all way up. Helvellyn was reached at 9:24, still early enough to be free from crowds. Nethermost and Dollywaggon followed rapidly and then we had to face up to the two tough peaks that complete the section. Fairfield (first) is a notoriously brutal climb, and for this the group split as I preferred the direct route via the north side of the tarn, eliminating an out and back from the Seat Sandal col. Mine and Rebecca’s route was a shade slower, but it did mean that we could visit a stream for a supplementary drink. We caught the others by taking a better line up Seat Sandal and then arrived down at Dunmail Raise ahead of them by sticking to the direct route from the summit, rather than descending to Raise Beck and following
the rough path next to the stream. A larger support party was gathered at Dunmail including Mr Harling senior and we felt like celebrities
running in to cheers and claps! Adam was also there ready to join in, but as I had lost my sections four and five pacer at short notice, he suggested he could do both those instead. Joe and Johnny had David carrying on with us, as well as a new runner (Sean) so it made sense to take Adam up on his offer and save him until Wasdale. That way, all three of us attempting the whole lot would be guaranteed to have someone with
us for the rest of the day, even if two of us dropped out.

Very soon I was chomping at the bit to get going, so I set off ahead of the others and allowed myself the luxury of a gentle pace up Steel Fell. They followed just six minutes later but even then I had to stop to allow them to catch me before the summit. On a day when every minute is vital, it felt like a significant chunk of time had just been squandered. Whilst I was waiting, two realisations dawned on me: Firstly, for most people, in order to complete this round, there is literally no time to waste, every minute counts and when you’re trying to keep to the schedule, there is definitely no time to rest on
the summits, and the stops at the road crossings are so brief. You’ve just got to keep moving. Secondly, you are totally dependent on other people. Not just being accompanied in order to qualify to join the “club” but also so that sufficient provisions can be carried to enable you to travel light and so be able to keep moving fast enough whilst minimising effort.

We soon reached Calf Crag, matching my effort of two weeks earlier, and to much relief the weather was still glorious. Now I could focus on objective number two, Wasdale. At this point, there is a choice of which summit to go to next (the only such choice on the round) as neither one lies in front the other. The previous evening, Joe and Jonny had told me they had decided to do Sergeant Man before High Raise, on the basis that the path was far better and more than compensated for any extra distance. I hadn’t appreciated until too late that we passed right underneath another peak (Codale Head) and that could have been visited with only a little extra effort. One for a repeat round maybe! Summits then fell thick and fast as we approached the Langdale Pikes, of which only the two stickles are part of the round. A hard route to Rossett Pike then followed with a big drop and climb required whichever way you approach it. However, I first had its neighbouring peak (Black Crags) lined up to go over, and this was my first significant deviation off the core route. Whilst in the lead I asked Sean whether we were going up the gully (towards it) or around. I thought he said “up” so I said ok and up I went, but for some reason they didn’t follow. When I realised they were missing it out, I pushed hard, wanting to be up and over it and catch them back up before they got to the top of Rossett Pike. I managed, just about. Despite the hard won ascent for Rossett, this hill is dwarfed by the next (Bowfell) and another depressingly huge climb was required to hit the heights once again. Hanging Knotts (also known as Bowfell North Top) was another of my extra summits and the others were clearly bypassing this a long way below. I therefore decided to follow them and leave Hanging Knotts until after Bowfell which involved less of a deviation. I was also running low on water by then and I was desperate to retrieve my second bottle which Sean had generously carried from Dunmail. Bowfell was where former club member Mike Hawkins recalled that having reached the summit he knew he would complete the round  I was far from sharing that confidence, after all we had been going only just over 12 hours and so the day was barely half done. The deviation to Hanging Knotts is very rough and I had to make a big effort in order not to fall too far behind before Esk Pike. It was here I experienced my only serious fall of the round when one of my feet caught a rock and I went sprawling. Someone called my name and asked if I was ok. I replied that I was and got to my feet. Despite a painful hip, no damage was done and I was able to get up and over my extra peak without further incident and catch
up again. Another substantial climb and descent over Esk Pike and we were tackling Great End. This was the hardest part of the day for me; we were experiencing the hottest time of the day, I was already rationing my water, and we were losing what felt like a couple of minutes on each top, struggling
over the rocky terrain that just didn’t allow any rhythm and sapped energy. On the summit plateau I despaired as the others went over to the further of the two summits, even though the near one is higher. I followed them, just to be on the safe side but only after wasting a minute thinking about it
and then having to play catch up. Fortunately, I got back to the front of the group whilst climbing Ill Crag and led the way up Broad Crag and Scafell Pike. Using much willpower I even climbed the summit cairn of Scafell Pike directly, rather than going round to use the steps. The others didn’t even
bother climbing up! We then followed a good line down to Mickledore and their chosen route via Lord’s Rake and West Wall Traverse. Joe really struggled on this climb, whereas I determinedly put the effort in to return to the front so I could add Symond’s Knott on the way to Scafell.

The long descent to Wasdale was hard work and seemed to be so slow in the upper reaches on a loose and stony path, but improved once the grass surface emerged lower down. I wasn’t sure of the direct route, as I had failed to find it when reccying and had instead followed the path until it meets the packhorse route to Burnmoor Tarn. In hindsight I feel that is a better way to go as screes are fine if you’re wearing walking boots, but it’s less fun in trainers when you can’t maintain balance and stones inevitably find a way in. Even off the scree, the steeper ground means extra strain on the knees. Never mind, we crossed the stream and joined the pitched path down from Scafell Pike and I was much relieved to see my support with another friend Ginny (conveniently based in Maryport) and again Adam, who having been at the previous two changeovers was now at last able to join in the serious stuff.

I learned only this year that Wasdale is known as “the graveyard of Bob Graham Rounds,” but after a big drink I felt much better, and having arrived before 6pm (and only seven minutes behind my 23 hour schedule), I felt I would succeed, with only 21 miles to go in the nine hours left. This time Joe
and Jonny were off before me, but we caught them half way up Yewbarrow, surely the steepest first climb on any of the five sections. Having taken five minutes more than the budget to get to the top, I didn’t hesitate to tell them that Adam and I were going over Stirrup Crag and would see them again
on Red Pike. Out of five additional tops on section four, this one required the largest deviation and added a steep descent that needs a great deal of care. Nevertheless, despite the head start this gave the other two on Red Pike, we caught them again before the top, and with room to overtake, Adam
and I pressed on.Steeple was next and cannot be seen from Red Pike, as it is obscured by Scoat Fell. The line I took was a bit conservative, we didn’t go wide enough to aim straight at it, so a few more steps were required. In the spirit of “every little helps” we dropped our packs and travelled light for the required out and back, which saved us a minute or so. The lack of load also revived my spirits so we took the direct scramble to the top of Steeple before returning on the path. In seemingly no time at all we returned to our packs having passed the other two on their way out. This was a monumental point on the round, a final frontier if you like. At last (a few minutes before 8pm) we were heading back to Keswick!

We were soon over Scoat Fell, the anomaly on the round as it was not included, despite it being higher than all four of its neighbouring summits, with two of those that were chosen. We also picked up Black Crag as another bonus on the way to Pillar. At nearly 8:30, we were well aware of the setting
sun behind us and conditions were magical over this section, with cooler temperatures and wonderful lighting. It’s a long way down off Pillar followed by another tough climb up Kirk Fell, so it was good to divert over Looking Stead as another easy addition and receive a little boost. It also amused me to see Adam raising his eyebrows at all the extras we were doing. Kirk Fell was then reached in exactly the budgeted time of half an hour, and on the East Top (my final extra peak of the day) was where the sun finally set. We both had headtorches, but the race was on now to cover as much ground as possible in the fading light, as the darkness was inevitably going to slow us down. We were soon down to Beck Head and taking on the final big climb of this section, Great Gable. It feels like it’s all downhill to Honister from there (although of course it’s not), but with fading light the precious 3 minutes we gained on the climb were soon lost on the descent to Windy Gap. With reluctance we switched on our torches on Green Gable, making our steps less hazardous yet making distant vision more difficult. Both Brandreth and Grey Knotts are made complicated by having multiple summits, but I’d fixed in
my mind which were the highest points on each and both were found easily. It was properly dark now, and I knew of no other way down to Honister other than following the fence and the narrow direct path. Unfortunately this proved easy to lose under our headtorch lights and my road trainers were not great at gripping to damp grass, so I relied on the fence somewhat to ensure a safe descent. My brother Chris then surprisingly appeared, and to much relief led us into the final pit stop. That difficult descent had lost us 11 minutes alone and so we arrived at 11:14, 19 minutes behind schedule, but still leaving three hours and 46 minutes for a final break and the last section (11 miles but just three peaks). Despite the fact that it would be all in darkness, I felt the task should be a formality. Meanwhile despite having a nine minute lead over Joe and Jonny on Grey Knotts, their superior descent meant they arrived at and left Honister before us. With only having time to eat a limited amount in our ten minute stop, my zip and bounce had deserted me and I was in no fit state to make a quick catch up. The darkness also had a deteriorating effect on my mind and I had to dig deep to maintain a decent pace on the last big climb up Dale Head. Another four minutes were lost there and a further seven minutes for Hindscarth. It took until Robinson to catch Joe and Jonny, who had somehow caught up others who were attempting the round. On this last summit, my head was spinning trying to accept it was a little before 1am and I’d climbed 51 peaks having been on the go for nearly 22 hours. Without lingering we headed straight down and the others were right behind us, and followed us on our chosen route, turning down to the right before High Snab Bank. In gentlemanly fashion, gates were left or held open as we descended through Newlands Farm and down to the church where Steve, Heather and Dad had cycled out to meet us. An hour and plenty to do just four miles in the valley bottom! We’d got down a tricky descent of the last mountain with no injuries, so I was certain I was going to succeed now.

It was therefore a happy procession of two runners and three cyclists as we moved gently to start with but gradually the pace increased as we got closer. At the Swinside Inn, my watch ticked over to 2am, so now I had a whole hour to do two and a half miles. I suddenly remembered that Chris’ friend and former business partner had managed a round of 23:28 four years earlier, so I paused momentarily to share this with my team and asked who thought I could better that. They all backed me! Off we went again and now I felt the wind in my sails and achieved a decent running pace, somehow pain free, and with Dad’s pannier carrying my rucksack I was light on my feet as well. Running into street lighting at Portinscale was fantastic before we returned to darkness through the fields on the short cut path back to Keswick. In the early hours of the morning in that situation, running doesn’t get any more exciting than that. We were soon on to the main street, I adjusted my pace to finish on the stroke 2:23AM and an overall time of 23 hours and 23 minutes. The jog back down the road had taken just 46 minutes, compared with my budget of an hour and 5 minutes. After the struggles from Grey Knotts to Newlands Church, it had felt so good to be moving well again and making up time. More importantly of course, the round had been conquered. It was all over! I had made it and I was still standing. Steve even managed to film the final seconds of the run in so I will always have a reminder of what it was like. Jonny followed 10 minutes later and Joe a further four minutes back. Although we didn’t have much capacity for conversation, we did manage a joint completers’ pose on top of the steps for photos. Only weeks later did I find out that they were then driven straight back to Newcastle! Meanwhile life suddenly started to drain out of me and I realised I would have to get moving again. With no chauffeur present, somehow I got on Heather’s bike and rode back up the hill to Dad’s (Heather kindly walked mine which had gained a flat tyre). Obviously it was long past bedtime but by the time I got to sleep it was 4am, a new day was dawning and I hadn’t slept for 42 hours. Even then I woke up at a normal time for breakfast. Needless to say, much of the rest of the day (when I wasn’t looking at social media) and the following were spent sleeping, before I returned
home and I was back to work on the Tuesday.

Following a return to normality I submitted my application to join the Bob Graham 24 hour club and have been accepted as a member. The biannual dinner at which certificates are presented is imminent (16th October) as I type this. It will be the most exclusive club I’ve joined, except that it’s open to everyone who completes the round within the rules! After all the effort I put into climbing hills in the first half of this year, together with many miles cycling to access them I feel much reliefthat I was able to get round and not have to start training for it all over again. I’m also really pleased that after being brought up in the Lake District and climbing hills all my life, I have been able to do this round, what I consider to be the limit to what ordinary people can achieve in terms of Lake District hills in a day. Adding a further nine summits that were “on the way” and climb an enhanced total of 51 made it even more satisfying. I would like to finish by thanking everyone who was involved on the day. Firstly to Joe Stringer and Jonny Graham for letting me piggyback their day and give me a second chance after my first attempt was abandoned. Secondly to my logistics team Steve Connor, Heather Rowe and Ginny Willan who between them covered all the road crossings: Threlkeld, Dunmail Raise, Wasdale and Honister, and all three of them made it to Keswick to see the finish. Their support, commitment, encouragement and provision of supplies leaves me with a huge debt of gratitude. Thirdly to my support runners Adam McGinley and Rebecca Wren who gave up their Saturday to help me on my way, carried lots of heavy provisions for me, were a reassuring presence by my side and never once questioned my route choices. Fourthly to Dad (yet again), for providing perfectly located accommodation, both for the day and for many training weekends beforehand and for turning out at Dunmail and Honister (also must mention Chris), and especially for cycling out to Newlands Church with Steve and Heather after midnight to meet us for the final dash back to Keswick. Finally, I want to thank everyone who responded to my appeals for sponsorship and helped me raise over £1,300 for “Cruelty Free International” and their quest to bring about a world free from animal experiments. I hope that we have helped bring that a step closer.
Toby Harling