We set off and started to climb up to George's Lane through Wilderswood. I must admit I was feeling really sluggish right from the off and was wondering whether this long run would actually turn into a not so long run. Once up on George's Lane though I started to feel a bit better and we headed off up the path to Two Lads but turned right once we got to the water thingy (not sure what it's called but there's a metal grate over it). We then crossed the mast road and headed off along the top of Montcliffe Stone Quarries, then turned left through the kissing gate. We then got to a T junction and I couldn't decide which way to go. Do we go left, a way we have been many times before...
Or do we go right, somewhere we have never been...
I must admit I lost my bearings at one point and have just been looking at my map now to work out how I went wrong, which is actually really obvious and I'm not sure how I managed it. I came out onto a road and for some reason, I was looking at the wrong road on the map. We didn't get lost or anything because I could always see the mast so knew which way I would need to head but, after going through Walker Fold Woods, out onto Colliers Row Road for 50 or so metres, then up to Sheep Cote Green Farm and along to Smithills Dean, we eventually came out on a road which we went left along and arrived at the Trespass Stone so I then knew exactly where we were.
We then headed past the Shooting Hut and up to Scotsman's Stump. From there, we headed up to the trig point and then towards Hordern Stoops. Here, we bumped into John Parker, who kindly took a picture of us with Belmont Reservoir in the background.
We left John and headed off down Hordern Stoops.
Not long after this picture was taken, I slipped on some mud and fell right onto my backside. This has never happened to me before. I've had a few near misses but have always managed to right myself and have never gone completely down. It's funny because I had been running along with my camera in my hand and about a minute before my fall, I was thinking to myself that if I fell I might break my camera. I didn't break the camera.
After landing in a muddy bog, the first thing I did, obviously, was look around to see if anybody had witnessed this incident. Luckily there wasn't a soul in sight so I picked myself up and carried on.
My left bum cheek was now pretty cold but it soon warmed back up and we got to the bottom of Hordern Stoops and ran along Rivington Road to the end of Belmont Road. We continued along Belmont Road and I stopped to take a picture of where we had been...
...and another one of where we were going...
Not long after this picture was taken, I took another tumble! This time it was a trip not a slip and I went flying, ending up in a very big muddy puddle not far from the Pigeon Tower. Again, I did a quick scan round to see if anybody saw but again I got lucky.
Left bum cheek again very cold, we continued along to the Pigeon Tower, then along George's Lane and up to the Pike.
On the way up to the Pike a lady was walking her Chocolate Lab and it came bounding over to Ruby. I warned the lady that Ruby could be quite snappy but she just gave me a dirty look and carried on. She didn't make any attempt to stop her dog though, which wasn't on a lead (Ruby was) and it ran up to Ruby and then Ruby, as I said she would, snapped at it and a bit of a scuffle ensued, meaning I had to stop running and unwrap the lead from round my legs Again, the woman did nothing and just carried on walking, not even calling to her dog or anything. Some people are just so rude!
After reaching the top of the Pike we then ran the curly route back down (I avoid the steep route when with Ruby as it's just a recipe for disaster) and back onto George's Lane. We then ran home, skirting the edge of Wilderswood.
I felt fine after my two falls but as I'm sat here typing this, my left hip is starting to get quite stiff as I think I might have twisted funny on the first fall. Ah well, at least it takes the emphasis off my right hip which is the one I have a longstanding problem with!
Total distance - 11.2 miles.
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