Brilliantly Bogtastic

I took my mudclaws out for a bog bashing session today. What I hadn't bargained on was icy conditions underfoot! But then Bleaklow is quite high up, and the wind was pretty chilly. With Montane smock and gloves on I set off....waving my lift (Tim & John+dog) goodbye as they headed onto Kinder. My route was northwards.

Icicles, bog and a bit of snow

There were a few places where the paving slabs along the Pennine Way were of no use whatsoever....ice on them making it more dangerous than bog trotting at the side. Sorry conservationists...I applaud your work (and do normally stick to the paves) but today it just wasn't safe in mudclaws to teeter along them. I turned West and across to Hern Stones - wanting to check out the trod between there and the Wain Stones. I swear I saw two walkers heading South towards Hern...never saw them again though so perhaps a bog ate them.

Random stones close to the Wain Stones...you can't quite see the ice on that bog....my feet certainly knew it was cold up there as they broke through countless ice covered bogs!

The kissing Wain Stones which offered little shelter from the blustery wind

Here's me somewhere on Bleaklow....near Wain Stones!

From Wain Stones I picked up the shooters track curving round in a vaguely Northwesterly direction to John Track Well. It was this trod that forced me become more adjusted to bog running / surfing / hopping. It's a decent trod but in such wet conditions many places are either flowing river-like or calf deep bogs. After a "hello" to 2 walkers having a picnic on the stones marking my point to head west I picked up the trod across to Torside and onwards to Glossop Low. I noticed a small trod up onto Torside, paused, then left that one for another day knowing I was already going to be out 1.5hrs+ - enough for my training today.

Here's the view looking back towards Torside, with James Thorn being the high point just right of centre.

The path from John Track Well to Glossop Low is pretty much one gigantic bog....interspersed with a few wooden board aimed at making the crossings easier. However, today they had ice on them, so their natural greasy slippery tendencies were exacerbated and left me no choice but to avoid them completely - with the exception of a couple that were crossed in comedic tottering fashion.  I've heather bashed across this area before and that isn't a great deal easier so bogs and board dodging were called for.

All these bogs I was deliberately (yes you read that right - I'm working on confident foot work) and mostly without choice bashing through were not doing any favours to my feet - they'd been cold since somewhere on the Pennine Way, and I was wishing I'd opted for my sealskin socks rather than just thick socks. It did have one advantage - it meant I was determined not to stop or they'd just go numb, at least while moving there was some chance they'd warm up. I can gauge the temperature level by how soon my gloves come off....today I kept them on for the entirety of the run - hence it was chilly.

Cock Hill Trig Point looking back towards Torside and John Track Well

At this point was feeling good, my feet had stopped being cold - perhaps they were just numb so I couldn't feel them. I ran down past the plantations and into Old Glossop feeling pretty good. I've not run this distance or duration before so I was pleased I was keeping a good pace. I know most of the run was downhill, but on the terrain it doesn't always feel easy!

Mudclaws post-run...somehow they've managed to partially clean themselves - a miracle. The double knots are interesting to undo with cold hands when all you want is to be in the hot shower!!

I ran with my osprey 5.5 rucksack today because I wanted to carry a few extra bits of warm clothes plus a full map. I can't carry the map in my bumbag (race elite 2) and didn't fancy grasping onto the map for the duration causing my hand to ache. It's niggles like that which start to annoy me after a while. What did bother me a little was the rucksack. I've not had this problem before....I just couldn't get it to sit tightly on my back no matter what combination of strap tightening and loosening I did. It always felt like it was riding up and down - perhaps it was the water bottle I had in it, instead of the water bladder? When running the waist strap rides up, however tight I have it around my pelvic bone so I normally just tighten the shoulder straps and it sits comfortably. I'll try the water bladder next time, see how that goes on a long run.

Here's my Garmin Track if you're interested. I'm very pleased with 12km in 1hr 45mins - think that's my longest duration on the fells to date.