Category: Running

Day trip to the Welsh Borders (11th June 2022)

Back in 2019, I spotted and entered an interesting-looking trail race, the “Offa’s Dkye 15”, a linear 15-mile run from Hay-on-Wye to Kington along the Offa’s Dyke Path. Of course, Covid intervened and meant that the 2020 and 2021 editions of the race didn’t take place. So I finally found myself taking part in the race nearly three years after submitting my entry!

The unusually-late race start time of 11am meant I had time to travel across to Kington early on Saturday morning. I had opted for a coach ride from the finish to the start before the race, rather than afterwards, and arrived in town about half an hour before the appointed 9:30 departure. It felt a long drive to Hay-on-Wye, the coach probably taking a significantly longer route than the race, making the run seem quite a daunting prospect! I had half an hour for a quick look around Hay before assembly by the Clock Tower.

The race started by the clock tower in Hay-on-Wye

It proved to be a lovely running route, as I had hoped, following hilly trails and short sections of road, and the weather cooperated with sunny spells and a pleasant breeze to stop it feeling too hot. I’m not at peak fitness at the moment, but managed to keep running every step of the way, overtaking others on each of the major hills, and to finish in 22nd place (out of 193 finishers) in a fraction under 2h10.

Me running near Gladestry

I had some refreshments, then set off home. After an hour of driving, my legs were starting to get stiff, so I paused for a short walk near Church Stretton, taking the opportunity to pop up The Lawley, one of the steep-sided hills east of the valley. It offered good views of the Long Mynd and Caer Caradoc to the south, Wenlock Edge to the east, and The Wrekin to the northeast. When I got home, it also turned out to have been my 1000th HuMP!

Caer Caradoc from The Lawley

There are a few more photos on Google Photos, here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/HMTUy55V4ezbDap87

A run along the Eastern Peak District Edges (15th November 2020)

Ignoring the MWIS’s warning of hail showers, I assumed the regular weather forecast for sunny spells would be correct and headed up to the Eastern Peak District moors for a long trail run from Baslow – my longest run ever, in fact, at 31km! I’ve signed up for my first marathon at the end of March (Covid rules permitting) so I’ll need to do lots more long runs in the next few months.

It’s always good not to have too many navigational breaks when out running, so I followed a route that was mostly very familiar from past walks. This started steeply uphill to Wellington’s Monument, then crossed the moor to White Edge, quite cold today with a strong southwesterly breeze.

Wellington’s Monument

The slight descent to Longshaw brought some respite before climbing back up again along Burbage Rocks and around to Overstones at the southern end of Stanage Edge.

Looking up to Carl Wark and Higger Tor, from the south end of of Burbage Rocks
The trig point on Overstones, with Kinder Scout in the background

From there, I descended via Higger Tor, Over Owler Tor and Millstone Edge to Grindleford Station, then ascended back up through the woods to the northern end of Froggatt Edge. That just left the relatively easy run along Froggatt, Curbar and Baslow Edges, with a bit of a zigzag on the final descent to get the distance over 30km!

Looking up the Derwent Valley from Millstone Edge
The woods above Padley Gorge

A good day to be out in my local hills, with plenty of sunshine and no showers. The running was pretty hard going with lots of mud, uneven rocky ground, and around 800m of ascent and descent, so my pace wasn’t that fast and the 31km took me around 3h10, plus about 15 minutes of short stoppages for water, snacks and photographs.

My full photo album is available on Google Photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/1whhkttG7uhyfW837

A map of my route is available here: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1343744
You can see my run on Strava here: https://www.strava.com/activities/4342046421