Just a Snapshot

This Blip is only one tiny part of a dramatic day.

First off, I headed out to Salford Quays and had a really nice but hard swim. I did 6 laps of the 400m course and was pleased to get out in the end. The water was just over 12C but the air was closer to 16C.

On the way back to town, I decided to go via Deansgate as the athletics was on. Jonathan Edwards was rehearsing his lines and kept on getting it wrong! Ever the perfectionist. Being a TV presenter looked boring and he did look a bit plastic. I then picked up some goodies at Eighth Day for lunch and headed home for a wee bit.

As it was so sunny, I decided I would go somewhere else for my run and thought running round the Torside reservoirs would be fun. I hopped on the train for a few minutes, hopping off again in Hadfield. The trail was really busy though so I headed on to the Trans Pennine trail.

There was no plan. I had a banana, a bottle of water and a few Electronic Groove podcasts to keep me amused. The ascent from Reaps Farm was hard and my run was now a walk. On reaching the top, at just over 600m, I had two choices.....head down again or go over towards the Snake Pass road. I chose the latter.

Going was tough as the path was narrow and rocky, easy to walk on but far more challenging to run on. I saw some magestic hares playing in the warm sunshine, occasionally going on their hind legs to scout the area. Just as well as there was a bird of prey hovering high above, possibly looking for a baby hare.

Beyond Bleaklow Head, I lost the path and found myself in very challenging boggy moorland. Luckily, I saw some people about 1km ahead and assumed that they were on the path. They were a very chatty couple but unfortunately they had also lost the path but suggested it was to my left.

I headed off in that direction but it was just too boggy. The moorland is also cut with groughs, deep channels cutting through the peat making progress very slow. I took my GPS out and it wasn't being very helpful in the direction stakes....I decided to follow my nose, helped by the position of the sun and took a sharp right towards a ridge. It was the right choice even though some of the groughs were the width and depth of a large river. Occasionally, I managed a brief trott but the ground was so soft, waterlogged and covered in deep holes that walking was better.

Yay...a path in the distance. It took another 20 minutes to reach but I saw the path to Doctors Gate path on the other side of the deep valley and Glossop far below. I ran when I could and was relieved, after the steep descent, to reach the path that would take me into Old Glossop. Reaching the tarmac, my legs were ready to collapse beneath me and my dodgy knee was twinging. Just over 3 hours with 18.5km of travel, I reached Glossop Station a happy man.