I then went down the slipway and along Knowsley Lane then though the kissing gate opposite the end of The Street and into the field. It was really wet and boggy through here and the bit where you come out onto Back Lane was horrendous. There was no way of trying to keep my feet dry here.
Running along Back Lane was hard work as it wasn't icy enough for my Orocs to have much of an effect and was just more of a sheen of frost which was really slippery. Thankfully there's not much road before turning off on the right towards the farm and then heading along to Healey Nab. I ran up to the trig point then back down again and then crossed the very boggy field to the steps which go down to the road by Waterman's Cottage.
I ran past the cottage then turned right and ran through the woodlands towards Anglezarke but then turned off, following the signpost to Manor House Farm.
I came out onto the road at Manor House Farm in a world of my own and accidentally turned left instead of right. I didn't even realise until I had been running along for quarter a mile then I got my map out and realised that Jepson's Gate was in the opposite direction so I turned round and retraced my steps. Again, the road was really icy so my running was pretty tentative.
At last I got to Jepson's Gate and the snow was a bit deeper here. The view was amazing so I stopped to take a photo, although the photo doesn't do it justice (you can seem the mast in the distance)...
I ran down into Lead Mines Clough and then up the other side onto the path to Simms and Higher Hempshaws. This path was my favourite part of the day as the snow was really fresh and nobody had been there before me, the only footprints being from sheep and some bird with very big feet.
I soon found myself running in thick fog and it was getting more and more difficult to see where the ground ended and the sky began, everything was just white! As I got near to the road, a mountain biker came the other way and said he was glad to see me as he now knew he was going in the right direction. I was also glad because I could now follow his tyre track and get myself to the main road.
The main road was deserted. It was really icy and snowy and only one car passed in all the time I was running along it to the end of Belmont Road (George's Lane) and that was going incredibly slowly.
I ran along Belmont Road and got to the bottom of the diagonal. Decision time, do I go up it or do I carry on along the track? I chose the former.
It was still thick with fog and the path was ridiculously hard to find. Luckily I found some Roclite tracks in the opposite direction so I used these as a guide, although this still didn't help me from sinking up to my knees on numerous occasions and, at one point, up to my thighs. It was extremely deep in places and I started to wonder what on earth was going through my head when I had decided this was a better idea than carrying on along Belmont Road.
After what felt like an hour, I finally saw one of the smaller masts looming through the fog in the distance. By now my legs were covered in snow and my hands were too where I had used them to catch myself on the numerous times I had tumbled forward.
It was really foggy up on the mast road and I could only see a short way ahead. I ran down and then saw the sign for the footpath to Two Lads so I followed it but I lost my bearings and seemed to be heading off too far to the right. I eventually saw a wooden bridge through the fog to my left and knew that was the way up so headed off towards it, sinking a lot en route. It's funny how you can run the same route all the time but then a bit of snow and fog completely throws you off course. Makes you realise how easy it could be to get seriously lost in bad weather.
Eventually arriving at Two Lads, I took a few seconds to think about which way the path down was towards the water tanks! Seriously, I was totally snow blind by this point. How can I not know which way the water tanks were???
I ran off and, after a short way, bumped into a friend who has a Patterdale Terrier named Tilly so I chatted to him for a while before continuing on my way home.
Even running from the tanks down to George's Lane I fell over a couple of times. I had now lost track of how many times I had fallen over during this run and I'm not usually one for falling (hopefully that's not tempting fate).
From George's Lane I made my way home via the side of Wilderswood and, as soon as I got through the door, Duncan had a brew ready for me, which was seriously well received.
Really enjoyable run in the snow but it's always nice to get home!
Total Distance - 13.2 miles
http://www.strava.com/activities/233325001
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