Feet in the Clouds: A Tale of Fell-Running and Obsessio… (2025)

A history of fell running... through the male gaze. Askwith speaks openly (throughout!) about his irritation of being being overtaken by women in his own races and it took him 290 pages to muster up the energy to talk about a female fell runner in any depth. Even then he had to open the chapter describing how beautiful she (Helene Diamantides) is. Lots of detail about the hardiness of prominent fell runners of the 80s .. but it would be interesting had the author used his interviews with them to explore their relationship with running more and had spent more time researching the socioeconomic factors underpinning the sport.

A bit like a fell race I needed stamina and a determined nature to get through this book. Did I enjoy it? Yes. But I found it difficult to absorb the frequent lists of names, places and finishing times. Having said that it was interesting. Perhaps as I have visited and loved many of the places mentioned... or because I used to run myself... or because as the child of a competing runner I know what the 'race' scene is like. Whatever the reason I'd only recommend this book to anyone with an interest in running or mountains. It is a record of fell running culture so won't satisfy anyone expecting a thrilling plot.

I could make some really lame puns here about how I fell asleep every time I tried to read this book, or how the only thing that kept me reading was the hope that the author fell off a mountain at the end, but I won't. That kind of childish humor fell out of favor with me a long time ago.

I liked this book s much I am now consideirng trying the sport for myself ;)

This was a really pleasant read. I knew nothing at all about fell running before this. Particulary interesting were the chapters about individual "legendary" fell runners, descriptions of actual races run by the author, and the chapter about the infuriating former professional vs. amateur distinctions. While the lists of fell running race results and race winners couldn't possibly be interesting to anyone except a niche audience, the rest of the book was quite good. It did convince me that I never want to try fell running though! I am sure I would injure myself and/or get lost quite quickly, if not immediately.

Fantastic! Never read a sporting book I liked before. If I wasn't passionate about fell running before I am now! This book is one of those where you have to keep reading the good bits out to other people in the room with you! Amazingly the whole book is back to back good bits, so I might have some luck in making everyone else read it too.

I really shouldn't read books like this - they give me bad ideas!

This was a pretty fun read! I wish there was less data and numbers and more stories. It was super male focused which was frustrating at times, but it did inspire me to look into some fell races for next year!

Richard Askwith’s book can help you explain to your loved ones the lure of running in nature. Beckoned away from our clean, smooth, safe life, we risk sprained ankles, soggy shoes, unmentionable chafing, and dirt…everywhere—all while focusing on 1-2 yards ahead to avoid holes, roots, and dog/pig/mongoose poop.

View? What view? Oh, yeah! Look at that ---aughhhh!

The author captures the self-doubt, fear, stubbornness, and mind-numbing forward momentum fell and trail runners experience. If you ever wondered if nature-running endurance athletes were superhuman, look here for our superpower: dirty, bloody grit.

Askwith’s month-by-month narrative of his year training for the Bob Graham Round (the BG) scoots through chapters about fell running legends, past and present. Like fell running, the pace varies from effortless and smooth to focused, uphill, slow-picking as he lingers on interviews and descriptive histories.

What is fell running and how is it different from trail running?

Fell running has a start, a finish, and multiple checkpoints. Compass, map, sustenance, and inclement weather clothing are recommended. Trail running usually has well-marked trails and rarely the shin-breaking fields of scree and pointy rocks common in Scotland. Epic climbs are also typical.

However, if you are a Hawaii trail runner, you are used to inclines on our mountains trails. A flat trail? What’s that? We also religiously stick to the trail to avoid blundering over a precipice, like experienced European orienteer Ari, for whom Ari’s Loop in Peacock Flats (on Oahu) is named after.

Training for any technical trail race more than two hours or 5 miles long is mind-numbing, filthy, and frustrating. Yet, peaceful exhaustion and anticipation of the next training run or event inevitably follows. It looks crazy to uninvolved onlookers. Sometimes, it even feels crazy. But Richard Askwith and the fell runners on the other side of the planet get it.

Endurance athletes, mostly over 40, revel in using our bodies and doing more than we thought we could. Some are physically gifted. Most are not. We’re moms, teachers, sheep herders, IT guys. We’re nothing special, which makes what we do out there all the more remarkable.

This relatable and important book is a Gift. It preserves local memory of ordinary people being extraordinary and inspiring. Thank you, thank you, Richard Askwith!

Great read for both runners and non-runners alike following a calendar year of fell running and the authors attempts of the infamous Bob Graham Round in the Lake District. A great mix of history, adventure, psychology and sports book, it won awards in 2005 and I can see why. Some great chapters that really tranported you to the wind and rain swept hill tops with aching calves and frost bitten toes. Just a few too many lists of races held and "3rd place went to Dave Smith" for me, which could have been edited a little. Would highly recommend and cannot wait to pull on my trainers again, if it wasn't for my dodgy knees....

1.5 stars. I suppose if fell-running is your bag, then this book would be incredibly interesting, exciting and a cornerstone of sports writing. If it isn't, then reading it will be as exhausting as running the BG in 24 hours.

It appears that there are a bunch of old-timers in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland that call mountains 'fells' and run races on them. Who'd have thunk it? Not me.

But so there are. After reading Born to Run, I thought the Leadville Trail 100 ultramarathon was the height in human idiocy. You go out in the morning, run all day and through the night, ascend to the top of a mountain and down again. For a belt buckle.

But it ain't shucks to the feats these Brits get up to. They've been doing it a long time, too--in the old days they called them Guide Races and the people undertook them unsupported, for the most part, and unknown to most of the world.

The obsession in the book's title appears to be the author's own obsession--to finish the Bob Graham Round, 42 peaks in the Lake District, in under 24 hours. His quest is not a big part of the narrative, but it drives the book's finish and I'm glad I stuck it out until the end. There is obsession in many of the fell runners' stories, but his is the one that grabbed me. Where did this guy come from, what made him want to do this thing, and what drives him to keep on trying? It's his story and it's all the stories, all as different as right from rain, and all, strangely, gripping.

Confession: I did get tired of the book, about halfway through, but that's more my own personal failing rather than a jab at the book. I'd still recommend it.

Most interesting to me, personally, as an aging would-be runner, is the sheer durability of these guys. And gals. Mr. Askwith describes the Wasdale, a race over 25 miles of rugged mountain terrain, as having sixty-eight starters with only twenty-six under forty. Do the math--68-26=42. 42 runners over forty years old. Is the sport aging out?

He isn't sure, but he does think the reason for such a large proportion of older runners may be that the old are fitter and healthier than ever and fell-running enthusiasts tend to stay fitter and healthier.
Stamina tends to improve with age anyway. So, for many of us, does technique, as experience refines our feet's mastery of rough ground. Mark Hartell says that, at thirty-nine, 'I feel my age in terms of having to stretch a bit more, but in terms of speed I seem to be getting faster. It's amazing.' And when Wendy Dodds, just turned fifty-one, recently did an extended BG of fifty-three peaks, it took her less time than her original BG, twenty-three years earlier - 'and it felt far easier - I just sailed through it.' (It would have been fifty at fifty but for foot-and-mouth; then it was going to be fifty-one at fifty-one, but she added two more 'just for fun'.)

My biggest question was answered near the end--did the runners ever stop and enjoy the scenery?

[Bob Graham] once remarked that if you spend a minute on each peak enjoying the view, you're added forty-two minutes to your time.

From this, I'd say the answer is 'no'. So what did they do it for? Why not just run up and down the same mountain all the time, if you're not going to look at the view?

Well, they might respond, why do I think the only thing to do with a beautiful view is to look at it? Oscar Wilde said, 'It seems to me that we all look at Nature too much, and live with her too little.' The author quotes this and agrees--

...if you're not cold, or wet, or lost, or exhausted, or bruised by rocks or covered in mud, you're not really experiencing the mountains properly. The point is not the exertion involved: it's the degree of involvement, or immersion, in the landscape. You need to feel it, to interact with it; to be in it, not just looking from the outside. You need to lose yourself -- for it is then that you are most human.

I think he has a point. In the same way that looking at a mountain isn't shucks to walking on it, running it may be "a step up" in man-mountain interaction. And while I think walking, sleeping, sitting, crawling on your hands and knees with a magnifying glass in front of your eyes, or even living on a mountain is a pretty fine thing, running it? I'll leave that to the magnificent fell-runners. I bow to you all.

Any book that opens with “feelings are for girls” (whilst lost on a fell run) is bound to get the hackles raised for any woman (or decent man) so this wasn’t the best start! Author somewhat redeemed himself with a chapter on women fell runners, but the damage had already been done.

Facts and figures were lost on me, but enjoyed reading about hills and peaks I’ve walked in, and despite the authors obvious sexist attitude, I also found the chapters on his runs and musings the most interesting.

There are probably better books to be read about the crazy and curious lives of fell runners though tbf!

as a runner I enjoyed this but bloody hell some amount of superfluous detail and hero worship. I know hill running is hard and the guys who win races are extreme bastards but some of this book is bordering on the arse sucking. glad he did the Bob Graham in the end though - sounds pretty tough. this book could have benefited from being about 100 pages shorter and providing more race experience stories than history. I did enjoy this but there were a few moments on the train where I thought we do not need to know this.

good book on an interesting subject just too anal on the detail.

This book was…okay. The author crammed it so full of statistics that it was like reading a dictionary at times. I wish he’d spoken about his *actual* fell running experiences like the synopsis promised…

He’s also a blazing sexist, and made tons of degrading comments about women, which I removed a star for. One of my favorites was when he said women don’t fell run as much because “they’re concerned about not looking elegant enough,- a woman can’t be elegant covered in dirt”. What is this??? The 1910s?! Women probably don’t run as much b/c of them being BARRED from the sport until the 80s, and sexist doofs like you that they would have to deal with. Oh, and perhaps also b/c unlike men, they’re expected to contribute to a household so can’t say “bye honey” and abandon the family for months w/o any glares the way a “father” can.

Halfway through reading I made a trip to the Lake District with friends. It was impressive how much I could relate to what the author describes as much as I only did a little nugget of fell running. Personally, I felt like I was skiing when running down hill!

I found the book layout a bit repetitive at times, but it was unique and quite useful for knowing what events happen every month of the year.

Very well written and certainly an interesting read, but the rote recital of fell running events and legends (and make no mistake, these people are fucking legit) becomes a bit tedious. The best parts by far were the author's own accounts of the races -- if there had been a bit more of that, it would've *elevated* this book considerably

Inspirational. Makes me want to take up hill running again.

really cool look into a part of running i knew nothing about, the passion comes through so strong and shines a light on so much overlooked history !

Very interesting account of the early days and pioneers of fell running nicely interspersed with the story of the author's own ambition of completing the Bob Graham and the training and hardship he had to endure to fulfill this goal

Richard Askwith introduces us to not only fell running, but also fell runners, fell races and long-distance challenges, and the remarkable story of fell-running history – all interwoven with details of the contemporary fell-running year as it passes month by month. Also interwoven is Askwith's struggle, to complete the 72-miles and 48-peaks of the Bob Graham Round (of Lakeland fells) in under 24h, much of which is in his head.

He tells us about Ernest Dalzell, whose 12m 59.8s record in the Burnsall race stood for 67 years (including the detail that Dalzell's 900' descent took only 2m 42s). He tells us about Kenny Stuart, Bill Teasdale, Billy Bland, and Joss Naylor, and a whole host of other remarkable people who consider themselves anything but remarkable. This includes Helen Diamantides who, together with Martin Stone, won the 5-day 220-mile Dragon's Back race in a running time of 38h 38m beating an elite field of other ultra long-distance teams (many of which dropped out). There are many more stories like this, astonishing and inspiring in equal measure.

The book is full times and records and placings, both contemporary and historical, but Askwith draws in his readers so deeply – enveloping us in the lives of these runners – that these are details you come to care about. But he also manages to impart fell runners' love of the mountains and their support of each other, as well as the sport's acknowledgement of danger (he talks a lot about pain), and the individual need to accept personal responsibility.

I loved this book – at times it brought goosebumps to my arms and tears to my eyes (and not because of cramp). An easy 5 stars.

I'm glad I read this, but it was also very frustrating. At his best Richard Askwith is entertaining and informative. At his worst he is repetitious and some of this book reads like a list. Was is frustrating as that he is not a social commentator. While he touches on issues such as gender, class, incomers, the south / north divide, he doesn't explore these issues. He also presents contradictory fears - that fell running will die out, that it will become too popular, that no one who didn't spend their youths running around the fells can do it despite the fact that he didn't take to the fells until his 30s. It's worth reading anyway for his passion, and the parts that focus on his own fell running experiences.

Inspired by the endorphins and sense of accomplishment of hiking solo in the mountains in Scotland, I picked up this book on fell-running (racing up and down mountains at distances beyond "trail running") to read about the next level of adventurousness. (Truth be told, though Scotland was inspiring and I want to do more hiking there, fell-running is probably far beyond my level of adventurousness!) The writing is great, spirited and quick, an easy fun read.

As a runner and peak bagger I've always had an interest in fell running but have never been in the right place at the right time to stumble into competition. An engaging overview of the sport which might seem more inspiring if I weren't sitting here with tendonitis pondering how to eke out more than one run and a decent hike a week without my leg getting worse....

Obsessed with fell running? Yes... but with statistics, named races, and places? I am a fell runner but it just did not inspire me to get out and run. Why not? It didn't deliver on why most people run the fells or trails; the beauty of nature. Nan Shepherd's The Living Mountain, although not a book about running, I found far more inspiring!

A book I wouldn't have appreciated half as much a few years ago. A gem!

Die Bob Graham Round ist eine besondere Form des Ultramarathon und das ultimative Ziel der meisten Fellrunner: eine Runde über die 42 höchsten Gipfel im englischen Lake District, die man innerhalb von 24 Stunden vervollständigen muss. Diese Runde war auch der große Traum von Richard Askwith und in seinem Buch nimmt er seine Leser mit auf seiner Reise, vom ersten bis zum letzten Schritt.

Bei jeder Sportart gibt es immer eine Steigerung. Wem der Marathon nicht mehr reicht, der fängt mit dem Ultramarathon an. Wem das zu wenig ist, der verlässt die Straße und fängt an, Trail zu laufen. Irgendwann werden es immer mehr Höhenmeter und wenn man in der passenden Gegend wohnt, findet man sein ultimatives Ziel. Für viele Trail Läufer in Großbritannien ist das dann die Bob Graham Round.

Richard Askwith hatte einen fast typischen Werdegang: er war ein ehrgeiziger Straßenläufer, dann kam ihm das Leben mit Frau und Familie dazwischen. Irgendwann fing er wieder an zu laufen und weil er noch weniger Zeit hatte, fing er mit dem Fell Running an. Fells werden übrigens die Gipfel im Lake District genannt und nur dort. Es scheint verrückt, sich nach einer langen Pause so ein ehrgeiziges Ziel zu setzen und das ist es irgendwie auch. Auf der anderen Seite ist es auch unglaublich logisch, was wahrscheinlich nur Ultraläufer verstehen können. Außer einem oder mehreren Paar Laufschuhen, einem gewissen Hang zur Selbstzerstörung und ähnlich verrückten Freunden braucht es dann nur noch eine Familie, die bedingungslos hinter einem steht und sich mit dem Bild auf dem Nachttisch zufriedengibt, denn den Läufer wird man kaum noch zu sehen bekommen.

Der schreibende Läufer beschreibt seine zahlreichen Wege bis zum Erreichen seines Ziels mit viel Ehrlichkeit, noch mehr Selbstironie und einer große Portion Läuferhumor. Der ist sportartenspezifisch und auch wenn ich über vieles schmunzeln konnte (auch wenn ich die Laufschuhe schon vor einigen Jahren an den Nagel gehängt habe), sehe ich doch auch ein, dass diese Art Humor sehr speziell ist und daher nicht für jeden geeignet.

Was auch nicht für die ehemalige Läuferin geeignet war, waren die Vorstellungen der derjenigen, die die Bob Graham Round bis jetzt geschafft haben. Ohne ihnen ihre Leistung absprechen zu wollen: nach der zweiten Wiederholung hatte ich das Gefühl, dass sich ihre Geschichten wie ein Laufschuh dem anderen gleichen. Ich kann die Begeisterung von Richard Askwith und wahrscheinlich auch aller anderen Fellrunner, die das Buch lesen, für sie verstehen, aber für mich war es ein bisschen zu viel.

Fazit: ein Buch über eine sehr spezielle Spielart des Trail Runnings, der für Nichtläufer wahrscheinlich nur bedingt funktionieren wird.

Very very enjoyable and will likely inspire most runners to take to the hills and run more in the countryside. The key reason, for me, for it being such a good read is that the book covers three focuses- (some) history and key figures of fell running, coverage of some results over the year, and the authors own experiences going from novice to relatively experienced, particularly with his Bob Graham round attempts.

Askwith has a writing style that flows, very easy and enjoyable to read- naturally I suppose as he works in journalism. He is very humble- he's done quite a bit of really hard running, some serious events, but he is very self effacing. He captures really well the importance of both the elite fell athletes and the rest of the field, those who never win anything but are just as essential- I would say maybe he could have included more conversations with those people, I'd have liked that. Askwith is quick to recognise himself as a "yuppie outsider" and a "soft southener" coming into a world of hard northerners, but clearly he is a tough guy who has pushed himself, and who now gives a lot back to the sport, and deserves a lot of credit. He provides some really good insights on the makeup of fell running races in terms of people's backgrounds.

I would have liked some more content on other areas, other than the lakes as most of the focus is there- West Yorkshire gets quite a few mentions but never in any depth. However that is fair enough as the key roots of fell running are the lakes and that's where the author has done most of his own stuff.

The edition I read included an epilogue, in which Askwith talks about the reception to his book in the years after it, which was nice for me in contextualising it further.

I wavered between 4 and 5 stars, I like to save 5 for books that I find have a really significant effect on me.... I had to conclude that this one does- it has inspired me to do more of my running on the hills of the Calder Valley, where I'm from, and the level of personal insight Askwith shows really is commendable.

You're unlikely to read this book unless you are a) into the pain and suffering of endurance sports, b) into running and c) know a bit about english geography. Fell running, as it's known in the UK, is mountain running. Not just the hills, dales and trails enjoyed by your regular runner, but mountains that combine all types of rough terrain and weather conditions - and, by the way, more often than not there are no trails, thus requiring good navigational skills too. This is a delightful book about obsession by a city journalist who found his passion running fells. He summarizes the experience well on page 184 in describing one of the Fell greats, Joss Naylor, who ran 214 peaks (continuously!) in 7 days, starting and ending in Keswick Moot Hall (I did say you need to know a bit about english geography). His original objective gave "way to a far greater one: to endure, to strive, and not to yield - no matter how overwhelming the pressure to do so; to keep driving on, defiantly, cheerfully, uncomplainingly, in the face of all reason and sanity; to scorn pain and exhaustion as pernicious impostors; and to prove that an indomitable human will is as mighty a force as any in nature." Love that.

Richard Askwith does an excellent job here of describing the obsessional and perhaps addictive nature of fell running.

Having got into running with a group myself some years back, and experiencing the atmospheric nature of participating in 5k, 10k then eventually a half marathon; I always asked myself what was it that then made some of the women in my all-female running group go on to run marathons, multiple marathons, ultras, and endurance triathlons, whilst I struggled and puffed around a half marathon, vowing that this would be the longest distance I would ever put myself through!

I think Askwith hits the nail on the head when he states that with a lot of long-distance and endurance running, the battle is in your mind. Inner strength, resilience, and sheer bloody-mindedness account for a major part of putting your body through extremes. Askwith describes the history, the people, the places, the "celebrities" of fell running, but more importantly explains the inner feeling that you get when you know you've won the battle with yourself.

An excellent book on fell running that should attract anyone with an interest in any kind of endurance sport and personal battle.