Managed my 3 days of Dragonsback recces.
Tuesday was a small taster - 18km/1000m out and back over Pumlumon Fawr, which covers the last 9km of Day 3. Passed through a torrential downpour on the drive over, but stayed dry for the run itself. Was buzzed by two Hawk trainers. Terrain was a bit boggy in places, but fairly runnable.
Wednesday started from ed_m’s in Dolgellau and headed south over Cadair Idris to Machynlleth, 39km/2000m for the start of the Day 3 route, it was a nice dry and sunny day, ground was still a bit boggy in places though. Was aiming for an 8 hour finish, with time for a coffee and cake before getting the 1620 bus back to Dolgellau, but realised on Tarren y Gesail I was making good time and that if I pressed on I might make the 1420, my watch was given an ETA of 1425, but luckily it was downhill on good forest roads and I made it with 10minutes to spare, 6hr50 was an hour faster than expected. Coffee and cake would have to wait.
Thursday took the 0705 bus to Gellilydan for another 39k/2000m and the latter part of the Day 2 route, I knew the terrain was a bit trickier, but hoped for 8ish hours. After Wednesday’s nice weather, Thursday started with a torrential downpour, but after 10mins it eased off to a drizzle. After some easy cycle track around Llyn Trawsfynned, the trail turned up what appeared to be a stream, the rest of the day was a bit of a slog, lots of rocky scrambles, and where it wasn’t a scramble it was boggy. It showered on and off all day, just when you thought the rock was drying off there would be another shower to make it damp again. Knew I wouldn’t make 8hrs, but finally made it back to ed’s in 9hr10.
So I have now done recces of Day 1, most of Days 2 and 3, and a chunk of day 5. Thoughts are Day 1 and 2 are HARD and slow going, a lot of scrambling and picking your way across rocky terrain. Day 3 is longer, but surprisingly runnable. Day 5 is long with a lot of vert, but nothing too tricky in the bits I did. I won’t recce days 4 or 6 as I have heard they are mild in comparison.
Next stop is Skyrun Eryri 14 Peaks Ultra on the 21st June, which covers a lot of the same ground as Day 1 and is a couple of km longer. I think this will be a good test of how I think Day 1 will go.