A 'Run' in the Hills

There's a look that I get from girls, especially Rosemary. I call it the Kirkland look because I never see anyone else getting it apart from me. It's a "you are faintly ridiculous but your idiosyncrasies are endearing" sort of look. It suits me just fine because it's the side of me I like most too.

I got that look from a number of ladies today...well ewe's to be more specific. I fancied a long(ish) run today so I jumped on the train to Glossop to do a specific route. Before I was even out of town, running through Manor Park, I was foot deep in mud. The ground was saturated. Then, I headed through Old Glossop onto the Roman road towards Doctors Gate. After a morning of heavy rain, it had changed into a gloriously warm (relatively speaking) afternoon.

I met a chap coming the other way, who said "very wet underfoot mate". He couldn't have been more right! Deep puddle after deep puddle soaking and freezing my feet. The going got very slow on the singletrack as the groove was too narrow, rocky and wet to get more than a fast walk going. The walking poles came out for one particularly boggy area.

Ascending closer Doctors Gate, I had to stop to put on a few more layers, including my fleece buff. I normally resist putting more than absolutely necessary on but I had waded across a few pop-up rivers, the peat bogs were freezing and the wind was now very strong! I was cold!

That's when I passed the ewes. All staring me in a weird way. "WTF you looking at" I thought, but they were non-aggressive, in a sheep sort of way. That's when I noticed it was "that look".

Anyway, the path got better as I reached the summit of Snake Pass. Initially, I had planned to go across Bleaklow towards Torside but that was the longest option. There was a mountain rescue guy waiting by the Glossop Mountain Rescue Ambulance and I had a wee chat with him. He suggested going back the way I came, but I didn't fancy that. He thought that it may be dark by the time I got off the hills, so I decided to run down Snake Pass Road. After about 200m, I changed my mind. I wasn't here to run on the road.

Instead, I turned off onto Ashop Moor to follow the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT). This is it in the Blip, along with a shadow of me, and the mountain rescue team in the background. The light was amazing, sun on the heather was creating a reddy orange hue and the peaty puddles and bogs were an inky purpley black. Stunning!!! I was in heaven until a grouse exploded out of the heather and I jumped a mile in the air! Well 1/2 a mile as I was high up to start with.

Even through the TPT had been paved in this section, going was slow as paving was uneven and there were cracks a-plenty filled with water , just waiting to twist the unsuspecting ankle. It was starting to get dark by the time I reached the road at Chunal. I gave Rosemary a quick call as it was getting close to my final check-in time, then trotted up and over the precipitously steep Monks Road. I was glad to get off-road again as I descended the ridge of Coombes Edge. On reaching Long Lane, I promised myself that I would run all the way home....fine going downhill but by this stage I had adopted an Ironman shuffle and the final climb through the village was so tough! My legs jellied as soon as I stopped and I had to sit on the pavement whilst I got my keys out.

It had been a 22.2 km 'run' and Rosemary assured me that averaging around 7km/h on this type of terrain is acceptable! I collapsed on the sofa, stuffed my face and watched a David Attenborough programme on Iplayer. The world can be a tough place, but days like this remind me how amazing life can be!

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