Stand and stare?

WHAT is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?

No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

Leisure by WH Davies

The sunshine beckoned me outside today. A friend recently placed a geocache not far above Old Glossop so I used that as inspiration for navigation practice, seeking out a few other caches and joining them up with a run.

My route took me over to Old Glossop via the Sunday football players on Pye Grove field, up past Shirebrook hospital and up the farm track for my first geocache. Muggles on the track around and above the farm so skipped this one and headed up the muddy trod and round the south west side of Swineshaw Reservoir which is shown in the photo above.

Looking up to Peak Naze from the South

Easy find for cache #2. I knew where this one was, having walked/run this way before, but have never signed the log. No muggles around, unusual for this popular dog walkers path. I faffed a bit here reading the map, choosing my route. I'd not really planned the finer details at home and eventually settled on getting the cache on Peak Naze next.

Disused quarry at the bottom of Blackshaw Clough, the ends of Blakemoor Plantation visible in the distance

Round the disused quarry at the bottom of Blackshaw Clough and into open country. Sheep in that field were clearly not used to seeing people....they stood and stared, in a big huddle! My climb to the top of Peak Naze was rewarded by fabulous views over to Black Hill and back to Glossop. Cache #3 found very easily after putting on my windproof top - quite a wind blowing up there.

Tintwistle Quarry seen from Peak Naze

Having spent a bit of time walking and caching I needed more running, so picking up feet over the grass tufts I headed over to Glossop Low. 

Frozen in places, wet and boggy in others

The helicopters who are lifting bags of heather and seeds for Moors for Future were out and collecting bags from that location. Could be interesting I thought!

I kept up a steady pace on the gentle incline, reaching the guys roping up bags just as a heli came in. I'd fully expected to be asked to stand back or move on, but nope, I just stayed right where I was (about 5 foot from the bags) munching on a chocolate bar as the heli hovered, loaded and flew off. Then in came the Huey. OMG, now that's a loud bird! I couldn't resist taking a video. Sorry if it's poor quality, especially the sound - only had my phone with me.

The bit where it goes a bit wobbly is the downdraft hitting me!!

I hung around for the heli's to come back once more for more bags, it's about a 7 or 8 minute turn round, and while I'd loved to have stayed longer my damp feet were feeling the cold. Not wanting to get chilled I said my goodbyes to the 2 bag loading guys and headed down to Cock Hill trig. I had 3 caches left on my list. Next one just below Cock Hill. Feet cold and starting to feel hungry I almost just ran home. But no. It's a good test of endurance to keep going that bit longer so I check the map and start searching under stones. There are quite a few thousand of them in this disused quarry, but my nav is spot on and I come across cache #4 quite soon. I'm almost muggled by 2 walkers having a picnic at the foot of the slope in front of me. Managing to duck back out of sight just in time I sign the log and I'm off down the slope to cache #5.

This cache is back over towards the disused quarry, but on the south side of Blackshaw Clough. After 10 minutes searching I'm unsuccessful - not surprising as several other cache-seekers have reported a non-finds. Back up the hill and through into the gap between the two patches of trees making up Blakemoor Plantation.

Here I find a small pond in between the two patches of trees.....with 2 fake ducks!!!

The final cache I head for is the one which inspired today's run. I knew it would be an easy find and it was. Thanks to the cache owner for inspiring my run today.

Just the last push back home to do and I'm 11km or so into my 13. My feet are leading the way and before I know it I'm dropping back down the south side of Shire Hill. I feel strong, yet tired at the same time. I've been out about 2hrs20, but was only moving 1hr43. I really did take time to stand and stare today, and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Here's the garmin track for you to look at.