Before the race

Getting to the Northern Traverse was an endurance feat in itself. The race organised a park and ride system, so on Friday morning I drove the 4 hour journey to Robin Hood’s Bay, the end of the race. From there, we had a coach to take us to the start. After that things went smoothly: race registration and kit check, check-in at the hotel.

The race was starting at 8:30 so I had plenty of time for a full English breakfast.

The custom when doing the coast-to-coast is to pick a pebble from the beach and bring it all the way to Robin Hood’s bay. So I picked my pebble before getting to the start line. It was chilly in the wind but a glorious morning nonetheless.

Leg 1 – St Bees to Patterdale, 71 km – Lake District

That first section is designed to kill your feet early on. The ground is either very wet and muddy, or rocky. So your feet are all wet and mushy when you hit the rock hard. Ouch! Fair to say that my feet were already a right mess by the end of day one.

We had 3 big climbs before reaching Patterdale. The conditions underfoot were tricky too, so progress was slow. The weather had been sunny in the morning, but by the time I reached the hills, the summits were in the clag.

I struggled quite a bit that day. I didn’t have much energy, and felt very slow on rough ground and steep hills. My motivation faded away and I even lost my “why” for a while (you really need a strong reason to do these events; why am I doing this). I started doubting I would ever finish this.

It was 1am by the time I got to Patterdale. I stopped there for about 5 hours: had some food, changed clothes, looked after my feet, and laid down for 3 hours to try and get some sleep. I think I managed some shut eyes for about 2.5 hours, on and off; I was quite happy with that. 

Leg 2 – Patterdale to Kirby Stephen, 57 km – Lake District and Yorkshire Dales

When I left Patterdale, I only had a short stretch in the dark before it was daylight again. Just on time to climb the highest hill of the whole course. Oh my god – it went on and on and on! I did actually shout victory when I got to the top of it!

I remember the descent on the other side being tricky: quite steep and slippery in the mud. I ended up a few times on my ass. I was at a very low point by that stage, but got a good pep talk from training buddy Neil at that point, which gave me the necessary boost.

It took what felt like forever to get to Shap. When I got there, I ate a lovely veggie chilli, slept for 5 minutes on a chair and off we go again.

I have absolutely no memory of the next 32km to Kirkby Stephen, but I somehow got there a couple of hours after nightfall. Looking at my timings, it seems that I stopped 6 hours there. No idea what the faff was all about. I did lay down for 3 hours again, but got little sleep. II left at about 3:30am to face the section I was dreading the most.

Leg 3 – Kirkby Stephen to Richmond, 55km – Yorkshire Dales

The section from Kirkby Stepehn to Keld is the only one I actually knew beforehand. It is boggy, peaty, navigation difficult and featureless. What I forgot is how exposed it is! It was absolutely freezing up there! I had all my clothes on me (base layers, 2 mid layers, insulated jacket and waterproofs to cut the wind), and I was still cold. My water bottles froze too so I couldn’t drink for a while. The bogs looked frozen but just the top was solid so I still ended up knee deep in mud. By the time I got to Keld, I was exhausted. I found a bench near the river, had a dehydrated meal and fell asleep in the morning sunshine. When I woke up, a hiker was looking down at me visibly worried.

After that, things went better. The sun was shining and the Dales looked stunning. I was still too slow for my liking but tried not to worry about it. At Reeth, I stopped at the cafe for food and coffee. James, from Open Tracking who used to be RD for this race, sat down with me and reassured me that I had plenty of time to get to Richmond, and after that the cut-offs shouldn’t be a problem.

The next 20km went well, I was happy to be there and started enjoying myself.

At the CP, I took the luxury of taking a shower, mostly because I wanted to give my feet a good clean. It felt so good!

Leg 4 – Richmond to Lordstones, 49km – Yorkshire Vale 

I left Richmond at 1am to tackle the most boring section, about 40km of flat, a lot of tarmac… It was so hard to stay awake. I started listening to audiobooks to occupy my head but still ended up sleepwalking most of it. Another snooze on a bench at 4am… 

Finally got to the A19 in the morning and stopped at the service station for breakfast and coffee. A few other racers were there too.

After that I felt much revived, especially that we were getting into the Yorkshire Moors that looked absolutely stunning! And with still 80km to go, I got a first sight of the sea! At that point, I realised that my back pain was completely gone, hurray. I actually felt great and was finally moving at a decent pace. The weather was gorgeous and I was a happy bunny.

I got to the last checkpoint, Lordstones, much earlier than expected, at 2pm. Initially I thought I should get some sleep there, especially after having struggled so much with fatigue the night before.

But… it was a beautiful day, the next 10-15km looked stunning (it would have been a shame to cover them at night time), and I actually didn’t feel like sleeping. So instead of stopping here, I packed my sleeping bag, mat, bivvy to sleep later on the trail. That also gave me a chance to cut the last leg which was very long indeed.

Leg 5 – Lordstones to Robin Hood’s Bay, 67km – Yorkshire Moors

So off I went to tackle the next 3 big hills. It was steep but the view was amazing. The paths were also much better than what we’ve had so far… well, they were proper paths.

When it started getting dark, I was on a 20km section that is quite high and exposed but rather flat. The paths were mostly tracks at this stage, so progress was good. But gosh the feet hurt! 

At 10pm I stumbled upon a pub! In the middle of absolutely nowhere! In there I found 4 other competitors including the other 2 Belgians (trust the Belgians to be at the pub). It must have been the first time of my life I ordered a coffee at the pub.

It took a few more hours to get down to Glaisdale. By that time, the hallucinations were pretty constant, I saw runners that didn’t exist, head torches going in all directions… even the 2 Belgians having a nap on the village green (I later learned that one was not an hallucination).

I finally got to the woods where I planned to bivvy. It was much warmer than up in the hills. I had a dehydrated meal and slept about an hour there. First time I slept in the woods, it was magical.

After that welcome rest, I felt refreshed. “Only” 30km left to do at that point… home straight!

I was moving well to start with but slowly things became difficult… I switched to my party bangers playlist, ate constantly but still felt hungry and so tired… By 15km to go, I had nothing left in the tank. I was spent! Just wanted to stop and sleep.

At that point, two things happened simultaneously and gave me a good kick in the ass. Prodigy’s Hotride was playing with the lyrics “You gotta push it, push it”; and Chris sent me a picture of Dicaprio in the Revenant (I do a great impersonation when I grind through tough times), telling me to give it all and not to drag.

Somehow I managed to find that little bit of energy to carry on. When I reached the coastal path, 5km from the end, I knew I would finish. Then I reached Robin Hood’s Bay and finally crossed the finish line. Hallelujah! 

I dropped my pebble in the sea, job done.

After the race

After a few selfies, together with my fellow Belgians who finished a bit before me, I climbed all the way back to the top of the village where we got our drop bags back and could get some food. I was elated and empty at the same time.

The drive back home the next day was long and painful. I stopped twice for coffee and breakfast (yes, I had 3 breakfasts that day).

I am also catching up with social media and found out that I feature in the post race newsletter. I had not realised at the time that I overtook so many people in the last 24h. It got to show how important the state of mind is… http://www.northerntraverse.com/news/2023/4/6/thats-a-wrap-its-been-the-journey-of-a-lifetime-for-the-final-finishers-on-the-silva-northern-traverse

Conclusion

It was a really tough race for me, with many struggles and doubts during the 1st half. But then at some point I woke up, found the second gear and enjoyed myself. I am amazed I actually finished because I had so little confidence on the first couple of days. It is good to always remember that things will eventually get better, even if it seems unlikely.