UKC

Recently bumped into a UKC user and in conversation it transpired he had done 1 route, Middlefell Buttress over 900 times. You probably know who he is. I wonder if anyone can get anywhere near with their most-climbed route.
Also got me wondering which mine is. I suspect it's this one with 14 log entries and at least one I remember not recorded. Coral Sea (VS 4c). Now you know who's responsible for all that polish.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

Some of the regulars at Malham have probably done Consenting Adults as their warm up a time or two!

In reply to Rog Wilko:

There must be some routes at the likes of Pexhill or Brownstones that have been soloed or even downclimbed by some people times beyond recollection.

T.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

Oddly I was thinking this same thing the other day when I logged some Kalymnos routes for the 12th time. Back in the day I reckon I have done some routes on Stanage say, many hundreds of times. Ones that were on the regular solo circuit (Christmas Crack etc) would probably have been done once or twice a month (or more) in the season for 30+ years.

Chris

In reply to Rog Wilko:

Mine is Maud's Garden (HVD 3c) at The Roaches, 22 recorded times with prob couple of extras.

In reply to Chris Craggs:

Reckon my most climbed route must be rustic wall at split rock, must have done it over a couple of hundred times over the course of 30 years. My excuse was it was the nearest bit of rock when I lived in Wiltshire and needed an evening fix

In reply to Rog Wilko:

I imagine some Scottish guides hold a good record on Ledge Route, Tower Ridge, Dorsal Arete etc

In reply to Rog Wilko:

In my paper log books that I kept religiously for over 35 years from the mid 60s to the late 1990s I recorded over 500 visits to Almscliff but most of those entries simply show 'routes and problems'. However, my regular warm-up circuit there inevitably involved bird's nest crack, traditional climb, and pothole direct each of which I must have climbed several hundred times. I reckon I must have soloed Birdlime traverse, South wall traverse, and Z climb eliminate at least a hundred times each. It's impossible to put an exact number on any of them now.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

Mine is Mutiny Crack. I've not climbed it anywhere 900 times, probably just shy of 20 but I stopped logging ascents after 4 or 5 times.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

Mine is probably The Niblick, Harrisons. Probably done it between 20 and 30 times

In reply to Rog Wilko:

Funny, was thinking about starting a similar thread myself after realising I'd hit double figures for a route for the first time on my last trip out: Winter Sun (6a) although it seems like 10 ascents is modest compared with some other posters, as the route was only put up in 2008 I reckon I'm making a good start.
It is very well bolted, has plenty of fun moves and is a decent length, still polish free too (despite my attention).

In reply to Rog Wilko:

I haven't counted but I reckon I must have done The Hoop-La (f5) and several others at Frodsham over 1000 times. I used to go once a week or more for about 30 weeks per year over 30 years. If you count down climbs I will have done [Pisa Wall (f3+)] at Pex Hill Quarry even more. I probably made fewer visits to Pex than Frodsham but it was my usual descent for all the Pisa Wall routes and so could easily rack up 10 or more descents per visit.

MFB has gained a reputation in our club thanks to one particular member who thinks it's hilarious.

A reputation to the point where after our anual langdale meal (and subsequent beers) we contenplated soloing up and bivvying on the 2nd ledge to catch a glimpse of the mythical 'middlefell man'
Sensibly we chose to return to the hut and woke the next day with sore heads

In reply to Rog Wilko:

What a great thread! Massive surprise to find it's Rambling Route at Wilton 1 given how much I dislike the Lancs quarries. I've certainly done it 100 times and could be twice that as it was on the evening circuit. Tighe's Route at Hobby Moor would be a close second. Interestingly I've never lead either, always solo. If we are including boulder problems then the Rubicon traverses at least 1000 times a year for a decade.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

Russet Groove at Bowden, must've soloed it 20+ times.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

Don't know how many times I've done Tody's Wall, but it's a lot! Even did it on my wedding day. However, Heather Wall next door has been climbed sooooo many times - it's rude not to, when passing.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

I've done Coral Sea (VS 4c) five times according to my logbook, and Harijan (VS 4c) & Ramp Ant (S 4a) both four times - looks like I haven't been running enough laps!

After finally doing La Marie Rose (Red 22) (f6A), I also made sure to do it with at least two other methods, and repeat it every time I'm in Bas Cuvier, though thats still probably only 10ish ascents.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

900

I've enjoyed all of them

In reply to John Kelly:

Ive done the ramp at the cromlech boulders close to 1500 times in one season alone. Warm up, links into various up and down combinations etc. Was doing it 30 times + per session 4 times a week. Rumour has it that there are other pieces of rock in north wales but i dont believe it. Nothing like routine to numb the brain. Still I am good at the ramp! Ha ha

In reply to Rog Wilko:

I bumped into an 'old timer' climbing up the Devil's Tower this summer as we were abbing down and thought he's leaving it a bit late to still be going up at this time.
By the time we were back down he was already halfway down himself and joined us not long later.
I commented on how fast he'd been and he said he'd climbed it a few times before. It turned out he's Frank Sanders who runs the local guiding company and he's climbed The Tower more than 2000 times. In one particular year he climbed it every day and once climbed it 16 times in the same day!

In reply to Rog Wilko:

Date with a Frog is a warm up at Dancing Ledge which I must have done at least 20 times. It's a great one to start with.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

I've done 3 or 4 climbs several times for either taking different people up a brilliant climb or the fact that it is such a good route:

Central Groove HS 4b @ The Dewerstone

Morpheus VDiff @ Avon Gorge

Plenty of routes at Goblin Combe (great place to take outdoor newbies) including:

Gundabad E1 5b @ Goblin Combe

And all the routes on the slab at Portishead Quarry

In reply to Rog Wilko:

I must have done Key Wall (6a+) 50 times, and done it differently every time. Much to my shame I actually failed to get up it last time I was there.
It's my nearest crag and there isn't much within my range that's worth doing...

In reply to Rog Wilko:

Apart from training and warming up I suspect my most climbed route would be something I used to do years ago if soloing but I've never really liked soloing and prefer to do different routes so c10 times maybe?

In reply to Rog Wilko:

I am in the same situation as Harold Walmsley (above in thread), using a route as the down climb at the local crag and piling up the ascents (or descents). I estimate that I have climbed Double Chockstone (HVD) over 4,000 times, mostly solo reverse.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

The Alpine Ridge at Fairy Cave Quarry, must be some hundreds of times, practically lived at the place for a year or two :0

In reply to Rog Wilko:

My standard warm up for the year was a solo of Central Route at the Roaches. I doubt I have done 900 ascents though. That is a hell of a lot.

In reply to Rog Wilko:
I've always wondered at those MF Buttress logs! There's something almost beautiful about the doggedness with which they're logged and the small variations within the overall repetition. E.g. 'And scramble' becomes a persistent refrain. 'Wet' also features heavily - sometimes even the pathos of 'Cold and wet'. Then there are a few enigmatic delights, such as "Gully of death variation" (!), the restrained joy of "Cracking day and scramble", and the plaintive 'Evening and scramble'.

I took myself off
for an evening and scramble
up Middlefell Buttress
my only true love.

Keep it up MFB!

In reply to Duncan Bourne:


My warm up every visit for years was Right Route or Kelly's Shelf and then down Easy Gully Wall. Everyone did Roscoe's Wall a lot too but, I agree, not 900 times!

In reply to Dave Garnett:

I soloed Roscoe's wall by accident. I had intended to do the first few moves but they were really hard to reach for me. But I persevered and got them and then realised that I couldn't backdown (didn't fancy the landing) so had to carry on.

In reply to Rog Wilko:
According to my logbook, mine is the The Gangplank (M) at birchen, which I've done 81 times. Like others, I tend to use it as a pleasant warm up route, hence the number of repeats.

In reply to Rog Wilko:
Over the years I've apparently been responsible for some of the polish on Golden Yardstick (VS5a) at Wildcat crags.
It's been renamed to Golden Brianstick by my climbing friends. Must do it one more time before it's too....

In reply to Rog Wilko:

Trinity slabs x7 at Wallowbarrow. I use it a lot for multipitch training of confident single pitch leaders. Also happen to enjoy it every time.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

Colonel's arete at the Dewerstone .

Hayloft Gully, Sennen.

Carn Boel Cleft

are my three.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

I generally don't count though I can guarantee I've never done any route 900 times or anywhere near that number. That's a ridiculous amount of times, doing it every single day, winter and summer for nearly 3 years. I'm guessing with that kind of obsessiveness you could polish up a route all by yourself.

I've heard of people spending 60 days or more on sport routes. So if you count getting up a route with hangs then I'm guessing some people have maybe done a route 200 times possibly. But that's still nowhere near 900 times. Strange and bizarre and surely a record holder for repeating any route.

In reply to stp:

I'm guessing it's an instructor

In reply to Rog Wilko:

I don't log repeats but have soloed around on the first couple of walls at burbage north more times than I can remember. Not sure if they are still classed as routes or boulder problems now.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

Blimey. And I thought I was doing well with The Night Watch (VS 4b) at 15 logged ascents and probably half a dozen or so that I forgot to log!

In reply to Rog Wilko:
Re the wider thing of people climbing the same hill heaps of times, there's a lot of this about, more than tends to be reported. It generally breaks down, I think, into three categories of people: runners out training, locals out for uphill constitutionals that involve little or no driving, and guides working on certain of the bigger/craggier hills eg the Cuillin or the Ben.

There are known to be some huge numbers for smaller hills, eg the late Kevin Heaviside climbed Roseberry Topping at least 6100 times (and his ashes are now there), while Reg Baker managed over 5000 ascents of Clougha Pike. But with bigger hills too there are some hefty numbers, eg I know of a couple of brothers each with 2000+ ascents of Ben Lomond, there was an 18th-century Dolgellau-based guide named Robert Edwards who was up Cadair Idris 1800 times, and a 19th-century guide named Tom Ward (based in Llanberis but originally from Nottingham) made over 4000 ascents of Snowdon.

Various accessible middling-sized hills have big numbers - eg I know of people with over 2000 ascents of Tinto and Dumgoyne, and Eddie Dealtry, the runner/climber and general all-round hill man who was the second person to complete the Marilyns, made exactly 1700 ascents of Dumgoyne before he moved from Balfron to Kendal (where he seems to be quite busy with Benson Knott). My local patch of the Ochils is prime territory for this kind of thing given the easy access and good terrain - I'm on 1205 ascents of Ben Cleuch and counting, and I know of at least two people with higher numbers (and that's only among those who have bothered to keep count).

In reply to Dave Hewitt:

Hi Dave,

The late Ben Lowe did well over 1000 ascents of Beinn Sgritheall and was getting on for that number with Blath Bheinn, but I guess he fell into all three of your categories.

In reply to Rog Wilko:
Morpheus (VDiff), followed by Nightmare (S) and Gronk (VS). All Avon Gorge. Dozens of times.

They're on my door step and quality routes.

In reply to Iain Thow:


Interesting, ta. Didn't know about Ben and Beinn Sgritheall. He's much missed - I only met him once but really liked him, and heard plenty about him from Ken Stewart.

1000 times up any Munro is good going, especially a low-start one like that. Richard Wood reached 1000 for Sron a'Choire Ghairbh on 19 Feb 2000, a beautiful windless winter's day (I was lucky enough to be there) and he could also be 1000+ for Meall na Teanga by now. Highest figure I know for Ben Nevis is "nearly 1200" (with just one failed attempt) for a nameless guide, from info supplied by Hamish Brown; Eddie Campbell climbed it more than 1000 times too. Various of the Skye guides will have been up the more pointy Munros there quite a lot.

There'll be people with big numbers for things such as Schiehallion and Lochnagar most likely, and although I don't have any really high Helvellyn or Skiddaw figures there'll surely be some big ones. (My pal Gordon Ingall has "only" been up Helvellyn 180-odd times but that includes at least once in each of the past 58 years, a fine sequence.) Teddy Turnbull of Coniston went up the Old Man more than 1000 times, including when he was registered blind latterly. Jock Nimlin made over 700 ascents of Ben Lomond, starting in 1928, and Showell "Pip" Styles was up Cnicht 879 times, the last of these in 1994 when he was aged 86 - seemingly he came back into the house at Croesor and quite contendedly said to Jean that he wouldn't go up there again, so it was a very definite retirement.

In reply to Dave Hewitt:


that is a good effort, I'm amazed that he only failed once

In reply to John Kelly:


He crops up in the 1916 book by Robert and John Naylor, From John o’Groat's to Land’s End or 1372 miles on foot. The Naylors hired him and described him as "a military-looking man carrying a long staff spiked at one end”. I don't have a copy, but believe the quote is: “On our way up the mountain we had to stop several times, for our guide complained of diarrhoea, but here [the halfway rock] he came to a dead stop and said he could not proceed any farther ... We handed him his full fee, and he thanked us and said that although he had ascended Ben Nevis on nearly 1,200 occasions, this was the only time he had failed.”

In reply to Dave Hewitt:

Isn't Richard Wood over 1000 for Ben Tee and something similar for Beinn a Bha'ach Ard? 1000+ on 4 hills would be impressive!

In reply to Rog Wilko:

I must have climbed Birch Tree wall at Black Rocks hundreds of times over the years, as I live in Matlock Bath i tend to go up there soloing on summer evenings and it's always one of the routes I climb.

In reply to Iain Thow:


Ben Tee was the first hill he reached 1000 on - another beautiful day, spring this time, 11 May 1998. Again I was there, as was, in a remarkable coincidence, Ian Douglas one of the mega Ben Lomonding brothers. He arrived on top independently, knowing that Richard must be nearing 1000 but not that this was the very day. Richard and Ian are probably the people with the largest overall tallies of Munros - Ian's been limited on the hill recently due to health issues but as of Feb this year he'd climbed 7995 Munros in total. (They've both just done one full round.)


Since Richard moved to Cannich (a good few years ago now) I believe his main hill has been Sgorr na Diollaid. I've semi lost touch, but seem to recall he was on around 500 for that a while back - so probably not 1000 as yet, but you never know. I'll drop him a line and see what numbers can be extracted. He became quite involved in the hardcore Marilynbagging scene, island trips etc, so that saw him before more linear than cumulative in his habits for a while.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

I have 34 logged ascents of Millsom's Minion at Stanage though I have probably done more ascents. I estimate have done some climbs at Pex Hill and Brownstones over 50 times, which I haven't logged.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

There are 9 routes on Windgather I've done over 50 times, with Centre at 63 top of the list, unless you count the easy gully left of Rib and Slab (on Offwidth's website), with perhaps 300 descents. For minor hills, must be in three figures for Mam Tor and Arthur's Seat, and for bigger ones I'm on 50 for Tryfan and 34 for Bruach na Frithe. I'm far too much of a novelty junkie to rack up really big figures of repeats.

In reply to Dave Hewitt:


Ok, I'm a little sceptical of that from your description, to only fail once in 1200 ascents of such a large and weather dependant hill and then only on the one day the ascent was recorded give me pause for thought, some of the more reliable instances you quote are however also very impressive

In reply to John Kelly:

Perhaps he just didn't try if the weather was looking naff?

In reply to John Kelly:


I know what you mean - but there's probably no way of checking now (assuming the quote as given is correct and there are no other references to the man elsewhere) and for research purposes it usually make sense to accept claims as given unless there's a glaringly obvious anomaly. Depends a lot on which bits of the year the ancient guide was operating, I suppose - presumably in those days it would mainly have been a non-winter thing, although there was a hotel (of sorts) on top at the back end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th, which would have included at least some of the period in question.

As you say, some of the other more definite numbers are very impressive - extraordinarily so in several cases - and I've no doubt that there are plenty of other unrecorded totals of this sort out there, as the research that has been done has really just scratched the surface. Having said that, I too am occasionally sceptical of the more generalised numbers that sometimes crop up, mainly because there's a tendency for people to overestimate totals. (A good example of this comes in several known instances of experienced hill people, on hearing that 600 Marilyns is regarded as a significant landmark, assuming they're comfortably above that figure only to find, after a couple of evenings adding up with the book and some maps, that they're only in the 300-400 range.)

In reply to andrewmcleod:

Maybe, but given the location of the Ben perched on edge of N Atlantic and the limitations of early 20th century weather forecasting avoiding bad weather on 1200 occasions seems unlikely, he should have bought a lottery ticket

In reply to Iain Thow:


I've never heard any actual hard numbers, but I sometimes wonder if Arthur's Seat might have the highest individual tally for any UK hill, given that there appear to be plenty of very regular lunchtime or evening runners who go up it (not always to the unpleasantly polished summit, right enough, but some will), and the numbers will mount up for such people. Mind you, to get above the Roseberry Topping "record" of 6100 would need something upwards of 200 such ascents for a steady 30 years, so perhaps not. Maybe some of the hill runners will know a few numbers.

Arthur's Seat could certainly be the busiest UK hill in overall terms - it often seems to be swarming (if one can say that these days) with folk, and its accessibility must make it busier than Scafell Pike and Snowdon, even taking the Three Peaks malarkey into account (although the Snowdon train might need to be factored out).

In reply to John Kelly:

Has anyone here read the book? I've not - I just got the quote from Hamish B who knows I'm interested in such things - but there are copies around, eg
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/author/r-n-and-j-n-robert-naylor-and...

It doesn't help for fact-checking and cross-referencing that the Naylors appear not to have given his name.

In reply to Dave Hewitt:

Hey, he might of done it, they could really walk in them days and the kit at the top, observatories etc would demand resupply, it's a grand story if nothing else.

In reply to Dave Hewitt:

I would suspect Arthur's Seat probably is the UK's busiest hill. I did my masters thesis on the Snowdon Management Scheme in the 80s and counted 3000 people on the hill one summer day. The National Park officer told me that they reckoned 500,000 people went onto the hill annually and about 300,000 reached the top, 90,000 via the railway. Figures extrapolated from limited surveys. Given its accessibility Arthur's Seat must top that. A discussion at work recently with some back of the envelope calculations came up with an estimate of 60-100,000 a year for Mam Tor.

In reply to John Kelly:

I suppose it breaks down into two component parts (you've got me into slightly sceptical mode now!), and I don't think there's any real reason to doubt the overall "nearly 1200" figure of actual ascents - that sounds credible and is well short of some higher figures for various other big UK hills in that period. It's the "only time he had failed" aspect that sounds iffier, partly because it's much more subjective - what counts as a failed ascent? Say the chap lived in Fort William and one day set off in what soon proved to be absolutely foul conditions and he turned back before leaving the town, would that count as a failed ascent in his tally? From the story as given, it seems that whenever he'd gone higher than halfway he'd always managed to reach the top, but below that is a bit vague, right enough. I'll need to try and search out a copy of the book, although I'm not going to pay £100 for it...

On a more humble scale of "failed" ascents, I've never got really close to the top of Ben Cleuch without summiting, even in some pretty hectic conditions, but I have retreated in deluges from the lower glens and woods a couple of times. I've been up the neighbouring Ben Ever 903 times, and every one of those has linked either to or from Cleuch. The nearest I've come to "failures" in that regard have been lightning-related - I've twice been between the two tops, Ben Ever first, in quite dodgy conditions and have been in sort of continual risk assessment mode - before both times the bad stuff moved far enough away to continue. Elsewhere, a friend and I once got to about a minute, possibly less, from the top of the middle Munro on Beinn a'Ghlo before deciding enough was enough - this was in a proper whiteout, no snow falling, no wind, but 100% snow cover and the whitest of clouds, such that all we could see in terms of the ground was our crampon marks, and then only by squinting quite hard. Given that there was steep ground and cornicey stuff close by to the side and the expected cairn hadn't appeared, we turned round and inched our way back...

In reply to Dave Hewitt:
Fell walking fails
100m from top Bowfell, maxed out, good personal time (though past by old lady) when my back had weird spasm, walk of shame, 3 hrs back to valley,
Not cancelled for weather
But, Bowfell again, Just above 3 tarns, avalanches risk was higher than I felt comfortable, huge drifts kept making horrible collapsing noises, retreat.

Fail on climbs and scrambles regularly and for lots of different reasons

Ben Cleuch - nice looking hill

In reply to Iain Thow:


Did you ever hear any comparative figures with regard to the main Lake District fells? I think it used to be reckoned that Helvellyn was the busiest of these, and I once saw an annual estimate but can't now recall what it was or how it compared with the Snowdon figures you quote. These days it appears that Scafell Pike might have closed in on Helvellyn, despite the more awkward access, although Helvellyn probably still has the higher total. It always seems busier than Skiddaw. MFB is well placed to assess this too.

MFB: yes, Ben Cleuch is a nice hill, with plenty of good ways up - via Wood Hill from the Alva end is one of the better and quieter ways. It's a good range generally for staying up high and taking in a few tops - lots of good loops and circuits on the Hillfoots side. Nice Cleuchless circuits from the Dollar and Glendevon starting points too.

In reply to bpmclimb:


Ha, similar here! I must have climbed Odd Boots and Crystal Wall, and down the Alpine Ridge, about a million times. A nice little warm-up lap.

In reply to Dave Garnett:

I've comfortably done Roscoe's Wall over 1000 times. I'm pretty sure Mark Sharratt and some of the other locals would be similar too.

It's always been my counter argument for folk who think climbing polishes routes. Mucky boots, brushing etc polishes routes, not climbing them.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

Sometime back in the 80s I decided I was going to do Vector once for every year of my life. When we left Britain in 1990 I was up to 42 ascents - I'd got, let's say, a few in hand. If I wanted to get right up to date now I'd have to spend a few weeks in Tremadog...! There are lots of routes that I've done far more than that but Vector's the only one I ever kept tabs on.

In reply to andi turner:

Well said but we shouldnt need the evidence as its pretty obvious tribology: clean shoes, clean technique, does way less damage to clean rock than one muppet flailing on wet sandy rock (with or without go pro).

In reply to Rog Wilko:

Climb: Conservatively assuming 10 visits to Subluminal at Swanage each year for 20 years, I've descended Pedestal Crack at least 600 times - sorry for the polish!

In reply to scott titt:


Often in wellies!

In reply to Dave Hewitt:

There's probably a hill somewhere in the UK with a road passing over the summit? Bishop Wilton Wold is a near miss, the main A166 passes a few feet from the summit.

In reply to Simon Caldwell:


For sure - and there's a Marilyn in Wales that similarly has its summit very close to a road. Don't think drive-by ascents purely by car really count in such totals, however! In terms of very easy hills, the late Clem Clements made over 3600 ascents of St Martha’s Hill near where he lived in Guildford - it was his regular stroll especially in later years. There must be some big unrecorded figures along those lines, eg the little enclosure with the flagpole and the benches at the top of Queen's Park in Glasgow is a standard target for various Southsiders (although during my time living in those parts I reckoned that the actual summit was a little way to off to the side, in the trees of what tended to be known as Hill 60, more frequented by men out cruising than by people trying to rack up big ascent tallies...).

In reply to Dave Hewitt:


As valid as taking the train up Snowdon

In reply to Dave Hewitt:

Back in the 80s I came across a figure of 300,000 ascents a year for Helvellyn, but can't remember where I saw the figure.
Don't have a copy of my thesis any more so can't even check there.

In reply to Iain Thow:


Ta. These kind of figures always interest me - in terms of slight scepticism - both from a hillgoing point of view and because my own years-ago university course was in statistics. I once saw some estimated figures for the Ochils (re windfarm opposition) and although I can't recall the details they seemed to extrapolate considerably from good weather / high summer days and stretch these over the whole year. Protest-type stats are always likely to do that, I suppose, but I wonder about more general hill stats too - eg 300k per year for Helvellyn is an average of 820 people per day (presumably to the summit or at least on to the plateau - heaps of people on Helvellyn go to the trig but not the actual summit cairn). That's quite possible for weekends in summer if the weather's good, but to me it feels ropey over the full year, to the extent that it would probably require more like 1,500 or even 2,000 on the good summer days given that a poor midweek day at this time of year could easily see under 100 ascents.

In reply to Dave Hewitt:

Yes, felt like that about a Mam Tor stat I came across recently. I suspect there are days when Helvellyn gets 2000+, but very few of them, and probably winter days when it's in single figures too (although winters like the last one where good snow conditions lasted for ages might up numbers a bit).

In reply to pec:

I guess you've seen Frank and the Tower?

vimeo.com/141843181

In reply to galpinos:



Thanks, yes I have seen it. We shared some stances with one of his guides who told us a few tales about his boss and mentioned the video.
We had quite a good chat with Frank at the base of the tower and towards the end of our conversation I deduced it was him I was talking to.

In reply to Rog Wilko:
Had to think about that. Prob a route near my friends' three year project, where I would run laps on it when we were up there for fitness, while he projected his route into submission.

I was there probably 30 times, doing that route 6-10 time a visit, plus other visits on other days.

I'd comfortably say I have run "Sheps" 300 times.

How boring can it be...