From Braithwaite to Buttermere: Day 1 of the SILVA Great Lakeland 3Day

Saturday morning saw nearly a thousand intrepid runners start out from Braithwaite on the SILVA Great Lakeland 3Day, a three-day adventure through the Lake District fells. There was frost on the tents as the sun rose from behind Skiddaw on Saturday morning, but despite the chill overnight , the sun was out in full force by the time participants made their way over to the start line.

Throughout Friday evening and Saturday morning, there had been a steady stream of participants arriving, all excited for their adventure. We caught up with one participant, Jacob Holder, ahead of his journey.

“I’m feeling good,” he said. “Feeling a bit nervous because this is the first time I’ve done one of these multi-day orienteering events. I want to do the Wainwright long course, but we’ll see.”

Also debating which course to take were Alan and Tom, running as an uncle and nephew duo.  “We’re doing an ultra-marathon later in the year, so we thought this would be good training. Whilst Tom’s quite disciplined and does a lot of running, I’m not, so it forces me to do it,” said Alan.

Up until our participants register, this weekend adventure has been an unknown for them. One of the fun things about the SILVA Great Lakeland 3Day event is that participants don’t find out the location of the overnight camp until they get their exclusive event map at registration. Our participants were eager to find out where their adventure would be taking them this weekend as they made their way through the registration tent.

Buttermere was the answer to the question on everyone’s tongues, but with a choice of four different courses, there were many different routes taken by those on their journey. 

The café course, which is designed to visit some of the best Lake District cafés en route, visited the Grange Café and the Sky-Hi Café at Honister on a beautiful route taking in the iconic summit of Cat Bells. 

The Wainwright short course visited Grisedale Pike, Whiteless Pike, Robinson, Dale Head and Fleetwith Pike, with some gorgeous ridge running and a tricky descent into Buttermere. The Wainwright long course visited the undulating peak of Sail, Hindscarth, Great Gable, Kirk Fell and Haystacks. Many people struggled with the tricky scree slope off Great Gable, but others came flying down, proving they were more than up to the challenge.

Meanwhile, those brave enough to tackle the Expert course visited Catbells, Sail, Hindscarth, Base Brown, Kirk Fell, Haystacks and Fleetwith Pike, covering an immense amount of ascent and rough ground on their journey.

The Event Team had worked their magic and relocated the camp to Gatescarth in Buttermere as the first runners came in to receive their free cake and beer from the sponsor SILVA, many sauntering over the finish line with an ice cream in hand. One of the more remote areas of the Lake District, there are few places more spectacular than Buttermere. Nestled amongst some of the most iconic fells, like Alfred Wainwright’s own favourite, Haystacks, and the shapely peak of Fleetwith Pike, it’s the perfect base for exploring the Lake District’s finest fells.

Unfortunately, the idyllic weather of the morning did not hold, and in true Lake District style, the sunshine had turned to rain by the afternoon. This did not deter our participants, who all seemed in good spirits. The communal tent was buzzing, with people enjoying the bar and taking part in a quiz to win some great SILVA and Scarpa prizes. No one went hungry, with plenty of catering options on site for people to enjoy, such as chips and pizza, if they were too tired after their long day out in the fells to cook.

We spoke to one participant, Hilary Ridgway, about how her SILVA Great Lakeland 3Day experience was going.

“It's been really good,” she said. “It’s the journeying that’s great, because often a run is from the start and then you end up in the same place at the finish. It’s quite nice to end up somewhere different.”

Hilary also loved the location of the Overnight Camp.

“I go on Haystacks every year for my dad’s birthday. He’s not been around for over 20 years now, so to be camping where I go to celebrate him looking down on us has been really good. The company’s been good. It’s just been lovely.”

It’s been an epic day for many of our participants, but certainly an enjoyable one. Day 2 will bring new challenges, with the rainy weather set to continue through the morning, but there were still many smiles to be seen as participants set back out on their journey.

Results from day one are now live here.

If you fancy your own adventure next year, entries open for the 2023 SILVA Great Lakeland 3Day on Monday 2nd May at 10:00 BST.

We look forward to seeing you there!