Peak Raid navigation race, Old Glossop

The final race of my Glossopdale Harriers 2017 champs - I needed to do this one to qualify for the overall champs category and I'm glad I had entered. The day dawned beautifully, blue skies and frosty under foot. Less chance of getting boggy feet and ankles with a keen frost, though no guarantee you won't go in a bog monster!

This is a score event (organised by Explorer Events), meaning once you have a map with the check points on you can do as much or as little as you like. I was joined by fellow Glossopdale Harrier Marie and we did the event together - both just needing to finish and get some points to get on the overall champs table, and thus secure a delightful club souvenir at the Christmas Do!

After the usual pre-race faff with kit, pinning on numbers and sauntering the 1km or so to the start point we are ready. First dib at the start, grab a map and spend a few minutes pondering our route choice.  Our aim is to get 5 check points (CPs) and have a good outing. I'm pleased that it looks like we will be able to do a loop route, rather than an out and back.

CP#6, small group of rocks, on rock

We head off towards Mossy Lea and our first CP, CP#7. We see plenty of runners heading south and up the steep bank towards CP#8 - I've been over that way once, and pretty much vowed never again. It's rough, very rocky among the heather and no real trods to speak of. Given our aim, heading for CP#8 and CP#9 would have seriously limited our time and points so we discount them and stay on better ground.

Knowing the area is a massive advantage in these races - there's no place names on the map or contour height markings (the latter I find so odd). Soon enough I'm ditching one of my thermal layers and we are climbing up towards Shelf Benches, along the well worn path towards the pond. Nav is spot on and I'm teaching nav to Marie as we go.  CP#7 is a ruin - one I have passed by so closely many many times yet never seen! That's why I love these events on your own patch, always something new to see.

checking the route

From CP#7 we head up to CP#6.  It's rough ground and we climb~traverse our way to it - being careful not to get drawn along trods that are going away from our tartget. Again, I know roughly where it is but I am glad of a clear day on this one. Low cloud or clag would have made nav more interesting and my approach different. Now on top of Shelf Moor, near The Pike, we are going for CP#5 so it's over to Dowstone Clough then west towards and beyond Dog Rock. I'm pointing out contour features to Marie along the way, this terrain is hard to nav on so not ideal for a beginner but she's picking it up well and reading the ground nicely.

CP#5 is pretty much placed exactly where Tim had hidden his goodie box once so I am familiar with the approach - steep tufty rocky grass....we find a good way down among the rough ground and even include a small bum slide to our advantage. It is meant to be fun after all!!  After dibbing we are climbing back up steeply....our next target is way over in Shittern Clough, CP#3

climbing out from CP#5

From the path along Yellowslacks I know the ground over to Shittern Clough is heather bashing, but also that a way down the path you can then bear right (north-ish) on a burnt patch so we enjoy the free running on the path for a while before beelining to CP#3. We can't avoid the heather completely and it's hilariously deep and holey and still frozen in the shaded north side of the hill as we make our way ever slower into the clough. With CP#3 located in the clough we start the climb towards Cock Hill and CP#2.

CP#3, Shittern Clough - stream, end of path

It's hard to see exactly where CP#2 will be - will it be in the main quarry under the trig or off to the north slightly? We clamber up towards the trig but then head to the top edge of the main quarry....no sign in there so we continue and easily locate the CP in the next bit of quarry. Safe approach needs us to go along and around to it but I look back to see someone clambering down the small crag! With a quick time check we have ooodles of time to head out to CP#1 and get back without fear of going over the 3 hour time limit (which means you lose some - or maybe all - of the points you have accrued).

CP#2, N Crag Foot (under Cock Hill trig)

The terrain here is best described as lumpy - quarry spoils and rocky little trods mean the going is initially slow then we can run a little as a trod becomes clearer. Closer to CP#1 we meet Andy B and Ian O of Glossopdale coming in the opposite direction, who helpfully confirm we are close to the CP and need to just keep going in the same direction. So our nav was reassuringly spot on.

Our final CP - CP#1 old quarry, on ground

Final CP for us dibbed and we have about 30mins to get back to base....3km later and we're back. The run off is lovely, the sun is shining as it has been all morning and we are back to the scout hut really quick. The final dib at the end sees us completing 6 check points in 2hrs 40 or so and 11km covered. Happy with that given we pootled along, I took photos at each CP and we didn't rush any of it.  A refreshing brew and biscuit is welcomed as we socialise with the other runners and await Tim finishing.

Me (left) and Marie dibbing at the finish, thanks to Explorer Events for the photo.

Thanks to Explorer Events - another brilliantly organised nav event. Shame I can't do the final race in the series but it clashes with another local race organised by a mate, Shittern Santa Saunter - a delightful race starting from Howard Town Brewery in Old Glossop.

Hot Runs

Saturday: myself and Tim headed over to Hathersage to recce part of the Long Tour of Bradwell. The weather was hot and humid, and away from the shade of trees it was sticky hot. Our route took us backwards on the race route from Leadmill Bridge to Toads Mouth, exploring the link from the Burbage Valley across the road and down towards Lawrence Field. We returned the same way (or at least returning on the actual race route as we'd taken a slight detour on the way up). Back at the car we still felt good so continued on the race route towards Bradwell for a short distance....then back to Hathersage for a late lunch+ice cream and browse in the gear shop. Total run 14.6km and 350m ascent.

Tim running across Lawrence Field

Looking towards Bole Hill

Sunday: solo early morning run for me from home. My route was from Old Glossop, Cock Hill, Glossop Low, over to the Pennine Way, up to Bleaklow Head. I'd contemplated heading to Bleaklow Stones-The Ridge-Hern Clough but dismissed that in favour of less tussocky running. I stuck to the Pennine Way until some point after the turning to Hern Stones then bashed across the tussocks to the B29 plane wreck and Higher Shelf Stones trig point. I decided to run along the Shelf Moor race route across to Dog Rock and home down via Lightside, but feeling good as I crossed Dowstone Clough I made a decision to head back to Glossop Low....and luckily came across a quad track that made for easy running across the heather. I picked up the Torside-Glossop Low trod and boards, and was soon heading down passed Cock Hill. A quick detour back to the trig point, then off via the quarry spoils and down to Old Glossop. The temperature today was pretty perfect, warm but a good breeze blowing and enough cloud cover to not be worried about sunburn. I saw and heard loads of curlews flying really close by, a stoat popped it's head up and called out, grouse, a lizard thing rushed off down a peat tunnel, and there were plenty of mountain hares around and one pheasant. Apart from the wildlife I didn't see anyone until dropping off Cock Hill....a perfect solo adventure.
Total run 17.1km and 625m ascent.

Torside Clough and reservoir

On the Pennine Way

There's a stoat hiding in there, honest!

My route across to Higher Shelf Stones

Approaching the B29 plane wreck and trig point in distance

'Overexposed' B29 plane wreck

Dowstone Clough

View from Glossop Low

A little windswept at Cock Hill with Bleaklow behind

Glossop town

Sunshine & Exploration

Today was the first Running Delights off-road session. The morning dawned foggy to quite a low level, but over the course of a few hours (and before we set off) it had all disappeared and we were bathed in the morning sunshine. We were running in t-shirts and enjoyed stunning views over Glossop on our run up onto Cock Hill. Here's some photos to give you a flavour of our session:

Looking towards Kinder from top of the steep bit! Well worth the view

First view of Cock Hill

Running up towards the rampart below Cock Hill summit

Admiring the view of Glossop from a new perspective

At Cock Hill summit trig point

Descending through the quarry

Swineshaw Reservoir in the distance - spot the helicopter

Closer view of the helicopter

Cock Hill from walled path

Returning to Old Glossop

Guided runs on a one-to-on basis or for groups can be organised....contact me for more information or have a read on the Guided Running page. Organised Running Delights sessions will be posted on the facebook page.

Janathon #14

A bright patch in the otherwise grey sky appeared. Quick put on the running shoes and go run, I say to myself! My route took me through Manor Park, past Shire Hill hospital, up and round Swineshaw reservoir (right through the very boggy fields, splish splash through the puddles with a grin on my face), back to Old Glossop. In a spur of the moment decision I decided that the probable 6km total wouldn't be enough so I turned left not right and circumnavigated around Shire Hill and back home via Mossy Lea.

Swineshaw Reservoir looking towards Cock Hill - the latter being obscured by the mist/fog

same reservoir but a little further around, looking towards Shire Hill

Waterfall flowing in full force at the bottom of the reservoir

Total run today was 8.7km in 48:03, with and average pace of 5:31/km. I really pushed on the descent down into Glossop, getting my pace to about 3:45-4:00min/km. Good to get the legs turning quicker, even with gravity helping them along.

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.

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.

Aimless

Last night I was undecided whether to run then or this morning. I opted to run today and have a relatively lazy evening - though not a lazy day having been down at the gym for one of my twice weekly beastings. I shall write more on my gym progression soon.

This morning dawned, and I slept in. I just could not rouse myself to get out of bed early and do anything, let alone run. I have felt a bit off it the past few weeks - seeming to have a cold but it not developing into one properly. I've got a constant runny nose and just, well, don't feel 100%. So if I do sleep in I don't feel bad about it. If the body needs rest, it shall have it. After being up for an hour or so I set a time limit. I would run at 10am no matter how I felt. If I left it any later then I risked just watching the day go past doing research and other work related 'stuff'.

10am arrived and I got changed, ummed and arrred about what layers of clothes to wear and set off. I was road running, but didn't have a goal or objective as such. That's how most of my runs seem to be. I vaguely thought I'd like to be out for 45 minutes. Any more would be a bonus. The distance didn't matter. I headed out through the estate, making my first goal Old Glossop. If I could reach the bus turning circle and back that would be about 5km - a good enough run on the roads. I kept a nice pace up, under 6min/km - that's my usual 'good' pace - faster downhill, slower up. It evens out and over 30 minutes brings me to about 5km.

I forgot all about distance as I headed towards the swimming pool. I'd thought I might turn south, work my way through the streets and back home via Derbyshire Level...but then I turned North...up North Road. Now the challenge is to see if I can run all the way up to Cemetary Road. I'm battling with a road sweeper...he's gradually pulling away from me but then the road is fairly steep. Distance-wise I'm up for around 8km if I just loop back and go home via Woodhead Road. Sadly, but not surprisingly I don't run all the way up North Road...but my average pace with just a couple of really short walks stays under 7min/km. That'll do nicely. Even nicer, I catch the road sweeper up and overtake it. OK, it had to back up and re-do some of its work, but mentally it was good for me and spurred me on to keep the pace up to the top.

Reaching the top the weather is now quite fowl. Hard drizzle coming down in big sheets of wetness. Weirdly I don't feel all that damp, and not at all cold. I'm now heading gradually downhill, turn right and then left back towards Old Glossop. I choose to go past the scout hut, up and round to the bus turning circle...and feel a little sad I don't have fell shoes on - would have been nice to go up to Mossy Lea. No worries. I'm now about 7.5km done and around 45mins...hmmm. By rough calculations I've got about 1.5km if I go straight home...a little further and I could get to 10km...and if I keep up the pace I'll be around 1 hour. My magic target time.

Through the park and the plethora of dogs...what seemed like some sort of dog walking convention going on - actually lots of owners sheltering under trees. I can hear the rumble of the river - it's very swollen, likely burst its banks with the week's worth of rain that's been lashing down. And it is...torrents are flooding through the narrow section by the foot bridge.

Instead of turning left I go right and add a loop round the duck pond. The 10km distance is getting closer and I'm sustaining a decent pace - under 6min/km. I'm almost regretful the run is coming to an end soon but after 8.5km my legs are feeling it, but not protesting angrily. I push myself around a crescent that adds some distance on. Mentally running past home to reach a target just feels weird. The last push, the last 250m are up an incline. You can't call it a hill, but it is most definitely gaining elevation (on checking the stats there's only 17m elevation gain in the last km, but it feels worse!).

Before I know it I'm home. I think there was even a spurt eluding to a sprint at the very end as I tried to get my time under 58 minutes. Not to be. But I'm very proud of my 58:07. 57:38 is actual moving time...the stops must have been for roads but I count total time. Next time. My HR has stayed steady for most of the run, averaging around 169bpm, and average pace is 5:48min/km. I must be getting faster. Lovely. An aimless run with a great result.