RACING SOUTH ON A RUN-DOWN ‘DUCHESS’ ACT 2: ‘THE FLIGHT’

Time was brief for celebrating the success from our exertions to conquer Shap from the north. One fight had been won but another still lay ahead – we were in bad shape and no mistake – so not for us a downhill coast under whispering steam. Our only concession was a backwards turn on the reverser to 15% and then, as the ballast began to fly, back again to 8%-but that regulator handle was still high in the roof.

Both injectors were now on full bore as the barely visible water level before the summit had disappeared altogether into the bottom nut as we started the four-miles descent at 1 in 75 towards the Lune Gorge and there were some apprehensive and frequent examinations of the gauge glasses until after about five minutes the reassuring miniscii reappeared and there was a sigh of relief all round. But it was now time to bring out the fire-irons again! Time, however, was for the moment on our side and 54sq.ft. of grate received a very thorough prodding and examination: the sweat poured off our bodies as we lunged and probed with the pricker, often pulling it back onto the tender to cool the sparkling end with the ‘pep’ pipe. Our efforts were signalled