Mick-ar of Dibley

....or Mickey Mickey Bang Bang.

Did a mini tour ofthe Chilterns yesterday, taking in the village used in the Vicar of Dibley and the windmill used in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which are within a half mile of each other. 


The village is called Turville and the Windmill is directly above it on top of the ridge. 



This route was further west than my local Chiltern runs but I fancied seeing somewhere new. I parked up near Princes Risborough and headed off up to Bledlow Ridge where I picked up the Chiltern Way. I followed this up and through Radnage to Stokenchurch (where every other building seemed to be a pub). Coming out of Stokenchurch the route took me under the M40 motorway.

  Coming out of the tunnel I found myself in Red Kite central.  There were a dozen or more riding the wind that was blowing up the hill.  I left the Chiltern Way here and dropped down a long winding path through woods in the bottom of a valley which brought me out below the windmill on the other side of the ridge to Turville.  A quick walk up the hill, using my new ultra lightweight poles brought me out at the windmill. 

A very steep drop down into Turville (past the vicars house from V of D) then straight out the other side only to turn right up to Turville Heath.  I then turned north up to Ibstone from where I dropped down into the valley containing Worksley Park with its cricket ground in the middle of nowhere.  Then picked up a lovely bridleway through the woods round the back of Christmas Common that brought me out next to a bridge over the M40.  This bridge is at the top of the M40 cutting that's in the opening scenes of the Vicar of Dibley.

Over the bridge then down the escarpment to pick up the Ridgeway path at one of the few drinking water points in the Chilterns.  I discovered this a couple of weeks ago when I ran the Western half of the Ridgeway.  It was about 50 yards from where I'd stashed a water bottle for my Ridgeway run.  Needn't have bothered if I'd known the tap was there. 

I soon left the Ridgeway and head back up into the Chilterns.  I picked up a long slightly downhill bridleway that brought me back to Radnage where I more or less followed my route out through some lovely spring flower filled fields. 

All in all a very nice 25 miler. I must get into this part of the Chilterns more often.

Edale Skyline - Tourist Mode

Spring has arrived!  After a miserable February, March has more than made up for it.  I managed to get a few days away up in Edale.  My youngest daughter Polly has been doing some work experience at the Chestnut Centre near Chapel en le Frith and staying at Edale Youth Hostel.   So, having a few days off, I took the opportunity to go and see her and get some training in by running the route of the Edale Skyline race, which takes place this coming Sunday (27th March).  This is about 21 miles (34km) long with 4,500 feet (1,500 m) of ascent.  As its name suggests it follows the skyline of the Edale valley taking in moorland, ridges and bogs.  I ran a slightly modified route by starting at the youth hostel and hacking my way through the heather up to the path along the edge of Kinder Scout, rather than starting at Edale.  

Southern Skyline from Kinder Scout

The weather was stunning.  The few clouds around in the early morning soon burnt away leaving gorgeous blue skies for the whole day.  Fortunately I had some sunscreen with me.  I carried a whole two litres of water in my Camelbak bladder and also had a litre stashed halfway round at Mam Nick.  I was going to need it. The temperature was only around 14 degrees centigrade but it felt much warmer after the freezing weather we had over winter.  Shorts and tee shirt were the order of the day.  It was too nice not to take lots of photos.  The following photos are all taken on the route and face the direction of the runner.  Most of the photos will enlarge if clicked on.

Above Crookstone barn.  Win Hill in the distance.

Hope Cross looking towards Win Hill

Win Hill summit looking toward Lose Hill and Mam Tor

Climbing Lose Hill

Lose Hill summit looking towards Mam Tor and Lords Seat

Hollins Cross looking towards Mam Tor 

Mam Tor summit looking towards Lord's Seat on Rushup Edge

Crooked tree going up Rushup Edge

Turn right here (to the left if you see what I mean)

Brown Knoll summit looking towards Kinder Scout

Pym Chair

Wool Packs

Top of Grindsbrook Clough looking South back to Grindslow Knoll

I then ran past Ringing Roger where the official race drops down to the finish and continued along the top then dropped down Rowland Cote Moor to the youth hostel some 5 hours after I started.  A fine day out.  

P.S. In case you're wondering, I'm not running the actual race as I'm doing a recce of the Ambleside to Coniston section of the Lakeland 100 on the same day. 

Grindleford Gallop (Re-run)

Had another crack at the GG (21 miles, off-road, 3000+ feet ascent) yesterday.  After last year's pleasing performance I thought I'd be able to break that time, hopefully cracking the 3 hour barrier, but apparently it takes a little more than hope to pull that off.

The weather was an exact repeat of last year where it was cold enough to think about putting on an extra or warmer layer but then turned out sunny.  Fortunately, I guessed right as I went for the t-shirt under club vest instead of the Helly.  I didn't go for the club coloured shorts which caused so much mirth last year.  I was in stealth mode (all black) apart from the club vest.

There was a good club turn out again of some 20 runners, with this being a club championship event.  There were some notable exceptions though with Andy (last year's outright GG winner) having to work, Neil (last year's club champion) not able to make it and Julian (Duracell bunny) also not in.

(c)2011 Caz Whittle

After getting held up in the bottlenecks near the start last year I made sure I was near the front this year.  Even so, Al (running as a very poorly disguised Mat) took off like a bat out of hell (clearly too much London Marathon training under his belt).  Pete D soon overhauled me after a mile and they soon disappeared over the first hill up to Eyam.

I thought I'd be stronger on the hills this year but was soon reduced to a walk as the stronger runners over took me.  As usual I retook some of them going down into Eyam but the old freewheeling downhill technique has well and truly deserted me after my major face plant last April.

This year I used a different feeding strategy.  I carried a 500ml bottle but instead of isotonic drink I started with 500ml of energy drink.  I also decided not to stop and top up at the checkpoints.  As with last year there were three drink stations, the latter two of which were also cake stations.  I had half a plastic cup of orange juice at each of them and took a piece of cake from both cake stalls which I ate while walking up to Ball Cross and Baslow Edge respectively.  I also popped the occasional glucose tablet. I'm not sure this was enough. Especially on the fluids.

Most of the walkers this year were very good, opening gates and waiting at stiles etc but I had a few cases of them blocking the route which brought out the trail rage in me.  I admit to expressing a few expletives in their direction. 
 
I think one or two bad words also slipped out as I slipped on one of the stiles and skinned my shin on the rock step on the way up to Longstone Moor.

Looking at last year's splits if I was to get anywhere near 3 hours I'd have to get to the third checkpoint (Longstone Moor) inside 1:05 and the sixth (Baslow) inside 2:10.  I managed the first (just, at 1:04:46) but failed the second (2:17:42), largely due to having trouble on my downhills.  I used to rely on them to make up ground but I really struggled this time with achey quads and a sore (only downhill) left knee.  Instead of racing down the lovely grass slope to Edensore I tottered down like an old man (yes, I have looked in the mirror recently).  

So, down through the lovely Edensore and into Chatsworth House grounds.  I remember running out of steam on this section last year but I found I was OK this time.  I could see the runners in front me and one o fthem was getting overhauled by the others.  As I approached him I suddenly realised it was Pete.  I wasn't expecting to see him again, although he had cycled from Whaley Bridge over to the start of the race so it was all beginning to tell in his legs.  (He cycled back after the race as well.) I offered him a glucose tablet and we went through the spinning gate at Baslow together.  That was the last I saw of him until the end but I was fully expecting him to pass me as I struggled over the last leg. 

The run along the edges was a little shorter than I remembered it but the run through the trees coming of Froggat Edge went on forever.  Then it was down the rocky path through the trees where I lost a good minute or two.  I nearly came a cropper on this path as I clipped a rock and tripped my self up (Pete saw a runner who did fall being seen to by some walkers and I saw him by the ambulance at the finish later.)  Safely reached the bottom, past the car park, over the bridge then finished ( a good ten yards shorter than last year).

My splits (below) show that I was up on last year (by a whole 19 seconds) at checkpoint 4 but gradually lost time over the next few sections ending up three and a half minutes slower.  All in all not too disappointed considering that the evening before I thought I might have to pull out due to a severe pain in my right side (suspect it was my bad kidney) which didn't disappear until I started the race.  I also think I allowed myself to become severely dehydrated which wouldn't have helped especially in those final sections.  

2010 Splits

46th

602

Mick Wren Goyt Valley Striders

M50

03:08:56

00:29:13 00:29:13

00:52:58 00:23:45

01:05:41 00:12:43

01:26:34 00:20:53

01:43:45 00:17:11

02:14:58 00:31:13

03:08:56 00:53:58

2011 Splits

61st

383

Mick Wren

M50

03:12:24

00:28:03 00:28:03

00:52:26 00:24:23

01:04:46 00:12:20

01:26:15 00:21:29

01:44:14 00:17:59

02:17:42 00:33:28

03:12:24 00:54:42

In terms of preparation for the Lakeland 100 I'm quite pleased with my level of fitness considering that I've been concentrating on core and short sharp stuff so far.  I was even able to go for a run over the Chilterns with the dog at 8 this morning.  Need to get some more miles in though.  

The rest of my clubmates put in some great performances with many breaking previous bests and others finishing their first attempts.  Notable amongst these was an amazing 3:29 from Katy (last years Ladies club champion).  There's been some serious training going on over in Whaley Bridge.  

High Peak Minithon

Had a very interesting night on Friday. Instead of going to bed like any normal person I joined 100 or so similarly inclined runners in the High Peak Marathon. As mentioned in my previous post on our recce this is 42 mile run around the Peak District (a big loop encircling Kinder Scout and the Derwent and Ladybower reservoirs to be precise). Our team, the Goyt Valley Striders (one of the less imaginative and humourous team titles) consisted of Clare, Paul and Will as well as yours truly. The event used staggered starts with teams setting off every couple of minutes. Our start time was 11:15 (yes that's p.m.). I'd travelled up to Whaley Bridge that afternoon to Paul's house where our team was meeting up so I'd not had any sleep since getting up at 6:00 that morning.

The night sky was clear and moonless as we arrived at the start HQ in Edale village hall. The temperature was down to a sharp -2 degrees Centigrade so everyone was crowded into the HQ hall trying to keep warm before setting off. The lycra, goretex and pertex density in that room was pretty high. I decided to go for the layered approach to keeping warm with two thin Helly Hansen tops and the event t-shirt that I'd just bought, topped off with my Salomon gore-tex shell jacket. On my legs I was wearing my compression socks, Gore lycra shorts and Gore leggings. Shoewise I went for my Salomon Speedcross 2s. Paul and Clare were similarly attired but Will had gone for the braver cool summer's evening look with sleeves rolled up and no outer shell.

Having hung around killing time for an hour our start time came up before I was ready so I was still putting my outer layer on as we set off into the cold dark night. Will, who had repeatedly asked that we start slowly set a stiff pace up to Hollin's Cross then up Lose Hill. I was hoping that this wasn't Will's idea of slow or else I was in trouble when he decided to speed up. At the Lose Hill checkpoint we came across the first of the fancy dress checkpoint marshals. There were two young lads (the event is organised and manned by Sheffield students) dressed in suits, ties and bowlers hats. They were also busy ironing (?).

Will kept the pressure on down Lose Hill and on up Win Hill. Clare kept on his tail, both lit up with gender specific (blue for boys, pink for girls) fairy lights (kindly supplied by Clare), with Paul and me in their wake. The Win Hill checkpoint was manned by a six foot teddy bear. A bit early for sleepmonsters.

Climbing Win Hill was a warm effort in my many layers so, on the way down, I unzipped my jacket and was immediately engulfed in my own personal steam cloud. Out of the wind it just hung around me and combined with my already steamed up glasses to make visibility a tad tricky especially trying to negotiate the very steep and root ridden Parkin Clough. It was here that I tempted fate and commented to Clare that "At least we don't have to come up this". More on that later.

So, down into and out of Bamford it was up New Road heading in the direction of Stanage. This 2 mile road section is largely uphill. The steady stream of other teams overhauled us as the fast boys caught us up. Steve Watt's team came through at this point. Well at least three of them did. As they disappeared we were commenting on whether they'd been given permission for a team of three when a voice out the dark behind us said "No, I'm the fourth, huffing and puffing at the back". This turned out to be no less a legend as Mark Hartell, holder of the record number of peaks in the Bob Graham Round. He similarly disappeared into the dark.

Our route came from the top right in the above photo, then to the right of the trees before coming up through the bracken where the figures (me and my wife) are. Remember it was pitch black.

Onto the High Neb checkpoint (manned I believe by Spotty Dog and Lubby Lu) then a steady jog to the A57 road and Moscar checkpoint where we grabbed a quick cup of tea and couple of sandwiches. It was at this point that Will started to go downhill (metaphorically as well as literally speaking). His stomach got the better of him as he dashed into the bushes alongside the road. As we waited for him at Cutthroat Bridge I could feel the sweat around my backside start to freeze. Not the nicest feeling at 2:00 in the morning with 9 hours to go. You'll be relieved to hear it thawed out as we got moving again up onto Derwent Moor. On the moor top we set off in a steady jog. Past the Wheel Stones and on towards the Salt Cellar we stopped to check we were all together. Will was missing amongst the mass of lights from the teams on our tail. When he caught us up he looked liked someone had pulled out his plug, drained. Paul said what the rest of us were thinking. There was a long hard 6 hour stretch ahead of us where it would be difficult to drop out without a very long cold walk so it was time to make a decision: continue or pack. We all concluded that it would be dangerous at worst and very miserable at best if we continued so we packed.

We backtracked down to the Cutthroat Bridge checkpoint where we deposited Will into the care of a pretty young lady who drove him back to Edale. (Someone has to do it Will). The rest of us then ran back to Edale via Win Hill (and up the afore mentioned Parkin Clough!), Hope Cross and Jaggers Clough (last visited by me with my dad (who, coincidently, died 33 years ago today. RIP Dad.)) The sleep monsters made an appearance on the track down to Jaggers Clough when a dark puddle lifted itself up and turned into a black panther.





It was then a couple of miles back along the road to the event HQ where we picked up our kitbags and back to Paul's and a very welcome hot shower. Bliss. The silver lining of finishing early (in addition to the early shower) for me was that I could get home early to celebrate my daughter's birthday. I'll also be a little less tired for next week's Grindleford Gallop.

Overall, we ended up having a good, albeit shorter, run. It was good practice in night running for the Lakeland 100. It was a shame not to have finished but I was feeling good and am sure I'd have had no problems finishing the event. I'll not be doing it again though as I believe, from what I saw on our recce, that the terrain on Bleaklow is in a very fragile state and I don't want to contribute to it's destruction. It's over thirty years since I was last up there and it's going to be another thirty (i.e. never) before I go back again.

Well done to all those that finished though. It was a testing night in those temperatures.

On the Road Again

Intended to do the London Marathon Training run from Hemel today but left it too late so I went out and did this on my own (saving a few quid in the process):






Calf muscles were a bit tight towards the end. More miles required.

English Fell Running Championships 2010

Just thought I'd share this excellent video. Enjoy.

High Peak Marathon Recce

Being a sucker for punishment I've somehow ended up entering the High Peak Marathon (42 miles of bogs, heather and rocks at night) as part of a four person team (with Clare, Paul and Will from Goyt Valley Striders). So, in an attempt to get a feel for what we've let ourselves in for (well me anyway, the rest have done it previously) we decided to recce the more interesting middle section of the route. Will was supposed to be with us but he opted to go to California instead. Can't imagine why.

This is the route:





This is the fly through:



And this is the video:



A grand day out. Let's hope it'll be a grand night out.

The Race is On (so get your wallet out)

As mentioned previously I'm going to raise some sponsorship for the North West Air Ambulance who were good enough to airlift me to hospital when I crashed out of the 3 Peaks Race last year. They saved 84 lives last year so please help them keep going.

I'll be attempting to run over 100 miles round the Lake District in one go in July. So please give me some encouragement. Thanks.

Feet First

I read 'Born to Run' by Chris McDougall ages ago and tried running barefoot on my treadmill. It did feel very different and I felt that 6 minute miles pace was much more comfortable without the shoes. (The bottoms of my feet were very sore afterwards though.)

So, today I thought I'd do some analysis and filmed me running both with and without shoes. The barefoot purists will hold their hands up in horror as they advocate special training and careful transition between the two styles, but I thought it was worth seeing what difference it makes without training in new techniques. Anyway, here's the result:

Wrapping Up 2010

All in all its been an eventful year but I'll be glad to see the back of it. I lost my favourite uncle in October and my mother in November, the first a credit to the care and attention of the health service for keeping him going for forty years after a major heart attack, the second a tragic, and all too familiar, tale of indifference and lack of care from the same health service.

This blog has been a bit quiet lately, largely because I've been resting my knee, in the hope that it will repair itself, since completing the OMM at the end of October. I'm not sure the rest is working as my knee has been making its presence felt in the last couple of days. We'll find out in January when I start training again.

The OMM was another of those "why the hell am I doing this again" experiences that are great in hindsight. Dave and I had upgraded to the A class this year, just when the planners decided that as the hills of Dartmoor aren't so big they'd up the distances. We must have done 32 miles on the first day and 20 on the second. Day one was tussocks, bogs and gorse with reasonable weather (cool and dryish) while the second was a day of more tussocks and bogs with a few swollen rivers thrown in all topped off with driving rain and hill fog. I'd invested in a new Terra Nova Laser Competition tent which is a nice one man tent but is very cosy for two. Even so I must have slept for the best part of ten hours. All in all a good weekend.

So, looking forward to next year, apart from a possible participation in the High Peak Marathon (40 odd miles of night time peat bogs)in March I'm going to stick to more runnable trails. I've entered the Grindleford Gallop again (go to go for that 3 hour time) and I've just gone and entered the Lakeland 100!

So watch this space.

Snowdon Revisited

After my first visit in March I returned this weekend with reinforcements in the shape of eight fellow Goyt Valley Striders. This is the film of our run on Saturday. Enjoy.

""

Unfortunately I don't appear in it as I'm behind the camera but I am the first runner in this one (courtesy of Mark Whelan):

Two and a Bit Marathons

Just back home from running (and a smidgen of walking) the Bullock Smithy (profile). This is officially a long distance hike (over 56 miles (90km) and 8000 ft(2400m)ascent) but like most such events the runners have taken it up as a challenge. This year it was a qualifying race in the Goyt Valley Striders club championship so we had a good club turnout of 16. Thanks for this goes largely to the tireless Philomena who organised numerous recces of the course to make sure we didn't get lost.

I've always fancied a go at these long events (see last year's post) So dutifully volunteered myself. What I then forgot to do was actually train for it. With working away from home I didn't manage to get any long weekend runs in so I was relying on a couple of club runs a week (less than 20 miles/week). Not ideal but I still reckon that with reasonable fitness, lack of a fear of distance (acquired due to lots of long distance cycling in my youth) and the right nutrition/hydration it should be possible to put in a reasonable performance.

The event rules require everyone to take a minimum kit list consisting largely of waterproofs, warm clothing, maps, spare food etc. I decided to use my new Haglof Intense rucksack. At 20 litres the walkers were thinking "How do you get all your stuff in there?" and the runners were thinking "Are you going for a week?". Compared to everyone else's bags in the club mine was heavy. This was due to me taking lots of energy foods (energy bars, Kendal mint cake, 50g energy drink powder, 2x50g recovery drink powder, stock cubes, dried banana chips, a freeze dried meal(!), nuun isotonic drink tablets and other bits and bobs) . Most others were relying on the food provided at the checkpoints but I'm glad that I didn't as, whilst it might be OK for hikers, you need high carb/calorie fodder when running as the appetite is suppressed so you have to maximise your intake. It's a difficult balancing act getting enough food and fluids on board to keep you going but not so much that you throw it all back up again. I was also very conscious that I had to keep my one working kidney properly hydrated so made sure that I always had fluid in my camelbak drinks bladder (plus nuun tablets).

So, race day arrived yesterday with some serious nerves by us Bullock Smithy virgins. I was a little excited to be finally doing a decent distance. I really do believe that the 'magical' distance of 26.2 miles has been burnt into the public's psyche by the media making anything beyond seem out of reach, but people all over are quietly ignoring that and running enormous distances and we were about to join them.

Leg 1 - Hazel Grove to Bowstones

Here are 13 of the 16: Pete, Jo, Paul, Neil, Mat, Sarah, me, Steve B, Philomena, Tracey, Steve H and Karl with Clare kneeling next to Alistair Fitz's minime. Missing are Stephen and Alistair Watts and Julian. (photo: Alistair F)


The event starts in a playing field in Hazel Grove and the start is announced with the striking of an anvil (hence the Smithy). The field (that's people not grassy area)immediately split as some went down the side streets and across the golf course whilst the rest of us took off down the main road (at much too fast a pace in the excitement) and then alongside the golf course before cutting off the corner. Both groups met up coming off the golf course and headed off towards and over Lyme Park to the first control at the Bowstones.

This is Mat and me in a Persil ad. I spent the rest of the run drooling tea down that nice white shirt. (photo: Stu)


My basic strategy was too keep things comfortable which meant walking up the hills. (Not that there was any other option in the latter half.). The downhills however were there to be taken advantage of (rocks permitting) so after topping up my camelbak I took off down towards Moorside. Immediately I could feel drops of water on the back of my legs. I'm not sure how but my camelbak was leaking and the bottom of my rucksack was full of water. My backside was soon soaking. Fortunately I'd invested in a drysac so the contents of my rucksack were still dry.

Leg 2 - Bowstones to Chinley Churn

Leg 2 was very familiar as it went through our club run territory up to Chinley Churn. I opted for the suggested route down through Furness Vale rather than my alternate via Buxworth which is a bit more fiddly. Pete W was very kindly dispensing jelly beans near the top and Stu was there again with his camera on the Big Rock. (photo: Stu)



Leg 3 - Chinley Churn to Edale Cross


That's me in the foreground near the tree, leaving the Chinely churn checkpoint.(photo: Stu)

Leg 3 included a drinks station immediately after Chinley Churn at Peep o' Day. I passed a runner approaching the drinks station and everyone there seemed to know him. They said that he was first in his age category to which I replied "What about me?" not knowing this guy was in his late sixties. He took off before me as I was filling my camelback and I passed him again on the way to Edale Cross. The next time I saw him was at the finish when he'd beaten me by a few minutes. I've no idea where he passed me.

From Peep o' Day it was a drop down to a stream then a real drag over a rocky path up to Edale Cross (where apparently a competitor spent nine and half hours wandering round lost until the mountain rescue found him).

Leg 4 - Edale Cross to Edale

From Edale Cross it was down Jacob's Ladder where I passed Jo (Julian's partner) in her bright pink top, then along past Barber Booth to Edale. Steve H was leaving just as I approached the checkpoint. As I turned in to the checkpoint Julian was stood there. My immediate thought was "Wow, I must be doing better than I thought" (Julian was last year's winner), then "He must take it easy in the first half then burn them off in the second". No such luck. Apparently they had done a hundred mile event in the Pyrenees the previous weekend and were just treating this as a steady jog (only to beat me by half an hour). I spent the next 15 miles watching that pink top disappearing over the hill in front of me.

It was at Edale that I started taking my hot drink down the road rather than waiting to drink it at the checkpoint. (This was after taking a rice pudding and fruit salad at the checkpoint). Whilst this obviously saved time compared to waiting, it cost me time in that all the checkpoints were before very runnable flat or downhill sections which I ended up walking. I'm now on the lookout for a lightweight cup with a top so I can run with it. I found that sweet tea was eventually the only thing that I didn't mind drinking in the latter stages of the run.

Leg 5 - Edale to Castleton

This leg was quite poignant for me as it was the route of my first walk in the hills (albeit in reverse) as a kid from the flatlands of Doncaster. It left a big impression on me and was probably the beginning of my love affair with hills and mountains.

Anyway, after walking along the road with my hot stock cube drink(another five minutes lost) it was up the path to Hollins Cross then down the other side to Castleton. As I approached Castleton both my calf muscles started cramping badly so I had to stop. I walked ten yards then started running again. The cramp had disappeared and didn't reappear the whole way round. Maybe the stock cube worked. I arrived at the Castleton checkpoint in time to see Julian and Jo leave.

Leg 6 - Castleton to Peak Forest

A quick jog through the tourists in Castleton and it was up Cave Dale (which appeared to be full of Polish people for some reason). Past a few frisky cows then it was over the top (after a much needed pitstop) and down to Peak Forest. The field was very thinly spread out by now. I could occasionally see someone in front of me and someone was chasing me a couple of minutes behind. Once again the two J's were leaving as I approached the checkpoint.

Leg 7 - Peak Forest to Millers Dale

A cup of tea and a banana later and I was on the (not completely safe) walk up the A623 road to the bend where the path took off towards Wheston. The pink top disappeared over the top stile. As I reached the high point I could see the runner ahead of me being held up by a road full of sheep. I've since found out who it was as he mentioned it in his blog. Over half a dozen stiles later I was onto the road to Wheston. The next few miles were probably the lowest for me as I began to feel a bit whoozy. It had me worried for a while. I'm very conscious of my dodgy kidney and am always on the lookout for any 'episodes' which might indicate it going bad. So, I did a systems check to see what was up. Pulse OK, still breathing, temperature OK, no trembling. Can't be too serious so I put it down to having just done 25 miles. I was then at the Millers Dale checkpoint.

I was looking forward to the soup at Millers Dale, expecting a nice thick minestrone with lots of noodles, but was presented with a very incipid looking sample. The tea was nice though. After my funny spell I decided to take my time over this stop so I took a seat. As I sat down in popped Philomena. "Paul's right behind and Clare's going to pack in as she's been vomiting" says Phil. Sure enough Paul came in, took a drink then was off. Phil soon followed him after offering to wait for me but I still had my lovely soup to drink so I told her to get going. I spent the next ten miles watching Phil's white top disappearing into the distance (the pink top had long since gone).

Miller's Dale was the half way point. I reached it in 6 hours so I reckoned I'd be pushed to break 12 hours.

Leg 8 - Millers Dale to (near) Chelmorton

After a quick drop down into the bottom of Millers Dale (cup of tea in hand) it was a long walk up the road (ignoring the suggested route which goes off up a track). Straight over the A6, a couple of fields then it was along a fairly straight set of green tracks and lanes, part way along which was the Chelmorton checkpoint (a trailer and tent).

Leg 9 - Chelmorton to Earl Sterndale

Continuing along the green tracks I had to step aside for a landrover coming th other way. It wasn't until it was past that I realised it was Rick, Clare's partner. I kicked myself for not recognising him earlier so I could tell him Clare has packed at Miller's Dale. As it turned out Clare continued to Chelmorton having phoned Rick to meet her there. She'd run from Edale vomiting and feeling crap all the way to Chelmorton. At one point the fruit salad from Edale made a reappearance with a cherry coming out through her nostril!

Over the A515 then up over the ridge towards Earl Sterndale. At the end of the lane there was a path across a field which cut off a large corner but I'd been warned by Phil that the cows were especially frisky and could be dangerous. So, I went the long way round only to lear n later that Phil had been running with a dairy farmer who took her over the field.

The route was then along a set of lanes to Earl Sterndale. Halfway along here I had my only navigational doubt. I suddenly got the feeling that I'd bypassed Earl Sterndale and was heading back towards the main road. I had to drag my memory of the map of this area and reasoned that there wasn't such a road so I kept going and eventually came to Earl Sterndale to see Phil leaving the checkpoint with a stranger. This turned out to be Mark, the club secretary, who had come to help pace some of the members. He ended up running the next 20 miles to the finish.

Leg 10 - Earl Sterndale to Brand Top

I'd been carrying a freeze dried meal (Fish with potatoes and parsley sauce) with me. I decided to have it at Earl Sterndale so I opened it up put in the required amount of boiling in then seal it up to let it rehydrate. I took it up the road with me intending to eat it on the uphill section below Chrome Hill. I tried but I don't think I'd put enough water in it. The fish pieces were very chewy so I ended up spitting them out as I walked along. I decided to seal it up again and add more water at the next checkpoint. The rest of this leg was through hill billy country. The farms look very poor, all littered with broken down vehicles and in desperate need of repair. Not one of the better cared for areas of the Peak District. Going past one such place, which the owner had apparently been renovating for 10 years although it looked as if he'd just started, the dog was barking madly. The owner must have wondered what was going on as runners and hikers kept his dog barking for the next 20 hours. It was at this point that it started getting dark. I got to Brand Top before getting out my head torch.

Leg 11 - Brand Top to Cumberland Cottage

At the checkpoint I topped up my freeze dried meal hoping to resurrect it after the failed attempt at Earl Sterndale. I grabbed the usual cup of sweet tea and wandered off, headtorch on, down the track towards the Dove Head road while the meal hydrated. Once onto the lane I stayed on the tarmac choosing the road rather than the faint path up to Hilltop. The meal was now more like a soup and the fish hadn't improved. I eventually gave it up as a bad job and dumped the contents on the side of the road no doubt making some fox or other critter happy then dropped the packet in the bin next to the bus shelter on the Axe Edge road (A53). As I dropped down towards Knotbury a police car came towards me clearly checking me out but it didn't stop. Five minutes later I saw it go up the turning before the Knotbury turning with it's blue lights flashing. I soon find out where it was possibly heading. Dropping down the track after Knotbury towards the Three Shire Heads I could see some very bright lights in a field and hear what sounded light a drunken party going on. According to a write up by one of the Stockport Harriers they got lost here and ended up talking to these revellers.

So, past the Three Shire Heads then a jog/walk up to the steel steps onto the A54. No navigational problems thanks to Philomena's recce. Over the road then onto the rocky path down and a careful trot down to Cumberland Cottage. I found a fleece hat on this track (which I later found out belonged to our club secretary Mark!). Paul H fell here a few minutes in front of me thankfully without too much damage.

Leg 12 - Cumberland Cottage to Walker Barn

As fascinating as the deep discussion over the merits of various heavy metal bands by the scouts in Cumberland Cottage was (to me a Northern Soul fan) I'd rather they devoted more than a grunt or two to helping me with refreshments. Helping myself to a cup of tea I departed to find a pair of runners entering the cottage. They must have found the cottage just as welcoming as they came right back out and passed me as I drank my cup of tea. I finished my tea as we hit the road. They were just in front of me. One was clearly struggling and the other was obviously keen to get going. It's a sign of the great distance involved that I thought with only a half marathon left to go I'd cracked it. I got my head down and passed them as I took the road route round to Walker Barn. This was proven to be faster than the lane over the top by Paul H on one of our recces. It's also mentally a lot easier at this stage in the race. Wlaker Barn proved to be my only navigational error. I hadn't noticed that there were two lanes off the main road and, attracted by a very brightly lit house down the first one, I headed for that. It didn't look right when I reached it and, on looking across a field, I saw the real control.

Leg 13 - Walker Barn to Whitely Green

Another cup of tea and banana later I was off down the road. It's almost all downhill from here I told myself. Another runner entered as I left and he was on my heels as we went down the main road towards Rainow. Off the main road I managed to loose him on entering the field that cut off the corner in Rainow. Over the last real hill to speak of it was down into Bollington. At this point my headtorch started flashing which is the low batery indication. I used some new Kodak heavy duty batteries but these proved to be very short lived. I'll not be using those again. Fortunately I'd brought along a spare Petzyl Zipka headtorch so I was OK. Expecting to get hassle from revellers leaving the pub in Bollington, as Al did one year, I was relieved to have a very quiet run through the village. Onto the canal it was heads down until the Whitely Green control. I somehow caught them by suprise. At first they thought I was two runners then they hadn't got the kettle on. I ended up taking their cup of tea.

Leg 14 - Whitely Green

How many bridges do they want to build over the bloody Middlewood Way? Rather than count the bridges to the point where I needed to abandon the Way I'd memorised the exit point ('Miners Arms' sign post and steps after the bridge). There seemed to be dozens of bridges and I ended up thinking I was going to find myself at the A6 road but eventually the right bridge turned up and I was off onto the last few roads to the finish. Thank goodness I'd recced this section. I steady shuffle saw me through to Towers Road. Was it only 12 hours ago that we were here rushing away from the start? Towers Road is endless but it helped that I could see another runner in front of me. As I approached I could see that he was running backwards. "I'm knackered" he declared as I passed him. "Me too" I thought although I was getting a bit of a second wind at this point. The run up Macclesfield Road felt good. As I reached the finish there was a group of blokes on the roadside. They clapped as I approached and formed a tunnel for me to run through. "What service" I thought but it appears that they were a group of drunks on their way home. I bumped into Mark W and Pete D just outside the Scout HQ gates. They were on their way home. Pete had finished in just over 11 hours and Mark had supported other runners from the club for over 20 miles. I waltzed into the finish, feeling like I'd got loads more miles in my legs, in a time of 12:37. (Those legs refused to work the next day!)

All in all I'd really enjoyed the run. I'd learnt a lot both about myself and about how to tackle a really long run. So, next year a sub 12 is on the cards. Just got to get the knee sorted out and find a giant feeder cup so that I can run with my cup of tea.