Duncan is out with some friends today in Hebden Bridge so, on his way there this morning, he dropped me off on the A676 at the top of the road down to Jumbles Country Park car park, with a view to me navigating my way home along some trails I have never been on before.
I ran down the road to the reservoir, then turned right past the toilet block and ran alongside the reservoir, the same way as I had done last week as part of the Two Crosses route. At the end of the reservoir, I climbed the steps and made my way along the trails to the B6391 and Turton Tower. Again, I followed the same route as last week, here, turning down the side off Turton Tower and getting onto Witton Weavers Way. A short way along, however, I then turned off to the left rather than continuing straight on as we had done last week.
I climbed up through some farm land towards Cheetham Close and then ran down a nice track, ending up at a wall with a couple of different routes. This is where I went slightly wrong with my navigation. I turned right too early and ended up going along a very boggy trod. I may have gone wrong, but I was able to look at my map and work out where I was so that I could correct myself. The way I see it, going wrong is really helpful in learning navigation skills because it means you have to work out where you are and get yourself back on the right track. There was a very steep drop at the side of me so I looked at the map to find a path with very tight contour lines next to it and was able to work out where I was.
After a slight diversion, I ended up back where I wanted to be and ran through some lovely farmland, eventually coming out at Horridge's Farm on the Rotary Way. After making my way through the farm and feeling like I was trespassing, I continued along the Rotary Way for a short while, coming out at a path junction with the Witton Weavers Way. At this point, I couldn't find the path I was supposed to be on. I could see from the map that I should keep the woodland on my right hand side and run down hill towards a road but there was no stile to go that way and no obvious path or trod along that side of the woodland. I didn't want to trespass and so I decided to alter my route slightly and take the path through the middle of the woods instead. I came out onto the road (A666) and headed a short way along it towards Dimple, before crossing over and getting back onto the Witton Weavers Way, heading into the woods. I came out onto Stones Bank Road, then turned off and ran down a short unused road (blocked off at each end), coming out onto Longworth Road. At this point, I knew where I was so could put my map away. I crossed straight over Longworth Road, dropping down a boggy hill, crossing a slippery bridge over Eagley Brook and making my way up to the farm track, which comes out onto the A675 near San Marino.
I then crossed the road and ran through the woods, where I bumped into my train friend, Lawrence, and his wife who were out for a walk. After a short natter, I continued on my way, heading up the ramp. Not long after starting up the ramp, I bumped into Ali, who was on his way down but said that he was turning around at the gate and coming back up again. I was really tired at this point and had decided that I'd probably walk most of the way up to the mast but, because I knew Ali would be coming up behind me, I didn't want the embarrassment of walking so I tried to keep running. It was so hard. I was only going slow but I was starting to feel sick with the effort. I kept hoping Ali would pass me so that I could walk as soon as he got out of view. At one point, I did quickly bend down to tighten a shoe lace and then saw Ali coming up further down so carried on running, still feeling like chundering! I made it all the way to the top without any walking (although there was the brief shoelace stop but I'm letting myself off on that one, as it was literally a couple of seconds) but that's only because of Ali. Obviously I wasn't as tired as I thought I was because I did manage to run it all but, had nobody been around, I would have wimped out and walked. Ali, if you're reading this, thanks very much,
(On looking at Ali's Strava trace when I got home, I could see that he had run down the ramp and back up, then run down the steeper descent (used on the old Belmont Winter Hill race route) and again run back up, then gone down the diagonal and all the way cown to the bridge at Dangerous Corner, then back up again! I really admire that kind of commitment and wish I could be that disciplined. That one definitely deserved a kudos!)
After chatting to a couple at the top of the ramp who were admiring the view and asking which reservoirs they could see, I enjoyed the couple of miles of descent home, making sure I avoided the Pike like the plague! Definitely not somewhere I want to be on Good Friday.
Total distance - 10.6 miles
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