The day dawned like this...
...and so the hills enticed me to pull on my fell shoes, clip my bumbag on with emergency kit and head out with Tim (before the rain arrives later). Our route took us on familiar ground, up to Mossy Lea farm, up to Spring Cabin, up to the pond, up to the top....the up is a relentless gradient which is just runnable....just....
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| nearing the top...a sprinkle of snow greeting us underfoot |
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| looking northwards |
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| the top.......and a dusting of snow |
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| looking over to Dog Rock, Yellowslacks and beyond |
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| not much, but there was snow...and the occasional ice patch |
From the top of James Thorn our route took us over rough ground to Dowstone Clough, and along the peaty rocky route back to Lightside, down towards Old Glossop then up and over Shire Hill. A kicker of a hill at the end, but I ran all the way up. In total we ran 10.5km in 1hr 15mins, with 552m ascent. Legs felt strong, lungs struggled as always on the ascents.
I should add, that this was my first sighting this year of mountain hares in their full winter white coats...we saw 3, but suspect sighting number 3 to be the same hare we saw first. We also disturbed a patch of grouse, several of them flying off at the same time cackling away noisily, and spotted a buzzard and a kestrel.
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