22: Tissington Trail and Dove Dale

 

A very wet day and Vikki and I met at Tissington, I was glad we had arranged to meet as otherwise I probably would have put going out off and ended up having to run in the dark as well as the rain. The route sets off along the Tissington Trail towards Thorpe, a nice easy start, then through Thorpe and down to Dove Dale which is stunning I can't believe I've never been here before. A little bit of road to bring us back onto the Tissington Trail and back to Tissington with ten miles on the Garmin.

 

Back at the car and both me and Vikki were soaked, the boys waterproofs had done their job and they were both dry under their coats, which were drenched. I was glad I had brought clothes to change into even if it did mean stripping in the village. Definitely a route to repeat, maybe in the dry.

Mini Mountain Marathon

It seems ages ago that Hannah and I entered this event and with the weather forecast I wasn't sure I was really looking forward to it. All we knew when we entered was that it was in the Peaks somewhere, turns out that was Greenfield which is probably as far north as you can get and still be in the Peak. An early start so we could get an early start, you could start anytime between 8:15am and 10am.

The weather was as forecast and I set off in full waterproofs, Hannah was soon putting her trousers on as well! I had only done my navigation course two weeks ago which meant it was all fresh in my mind. Happily I didn't get us lost and we got to all the control points we aimed for. Unfortunately after two hours we knew if we tried to make a circular route we would be back late so we retraced our steps. Our score was pretty low but we'd had a great time in the hills.

10: Chatsworth loop

On Wednesday Vikki and I met at Baslow to run the Chatsworth loop from the book. I've been on a couple of bridleways the other side of Chatsworth but never actually been on the footpaths. It was a lovely run on a mixture of made trails, a bit of tarmac and of course some mud. We only had George with us as Cybi hadn't been very very well. George was a bit unsure of the gate on the way into Chatsworth Estate, you went into a cage, turned it round and walked out.

 

A lovely 10km loop and one definetly to be repeated.

New book

So last week I bought a new book. It is full of trail runs round the Peak District. On the day I bought it (from the bookshop at Hassop Station who ordered it in so I could have a look with no pressure to buy if I didn't want to) it turns out I had run one of the routes with Vikki and the boys, just in reverse as I prefer not to run down a gravelly downhill with Cybi attached. Only one of the other routes is one I've ran, Curbar as Froggatt and White Edges, which is a favourite of mine. So I bought the book and aim to run as many of the loops as possible. One or two are a bit far away but lots within half an hour. I'm sure the boys will enjoy exploring with me and it means I can practice my navigation.

 

List of routes:

 

1: Langsett

2: The Monsal Trail - I had ran this a number of times before buying the book.

3: Derwent

4: Burbage Valley

5: Gradbach

6: Monsal Head - 27/11/2015

7: Froggatt, Curbar & White Edge - One of my favourite local loops that I've ran regularly before buying the book.

8: Ladybower Trail Run

9: Shining Tor

10: Chatsworth - 25/11/2015

11: Windgather Rocks

12: Macclesfield Forest & Wildboarclough

13: Miller's Dale

14: Carsington Loop - Ran this during the Dark and White trail run event here.

15: Black Hill & Laddow Rocks

16: Stanage

17: Hope Valley Train run: Edale-Chinley

18: Chinley Skyline

19: Kinder Downfall from Hayfield

20: Tissington Trail and Dove Dale - 30/11/2015

21: Bleaklow Bash

22: Tour of Kinder

 

 

Unheated swimming.

Last week Vikki mentioned she was going swimming, I was lamenting the fact I hadn't got round to going to Hathersage Pool before the season closed (it's a heated outdoor pool). It turns out that is where she was going as they do limited sessions of unheated swimming throughout November and into December. Next thing I knew I had talked myself into joining her. The water temperature was 19°C so invigorating but not cold cold cold. It was so much fun and reminded me how much I enjoy swimming.

Next Thursday I was there again this time in a wetsuit, the water temperature was 12.5 °C and Vikki was very jealous of my wetsuit. This time I managed to swim 1km and was looking forward to the next swim. So Saturday Sarah (who's in the photo - taken by Vikki) came over from Leeds. All three of us were in wetsuits and glad of it! The water temperature was once again 12.5°C but the air temperature was 0°C, there was even snow in the hills. I had to persuade myself to get in and the first two lengths were hard, but once I got going, as long as I didn't stop, it was okay. Well except for my googles struggling to stay sealed and letting water I'm, think the temperature was just too low for them. Managed another kilometre but the getting out and changed was hard... It was freezing.

Looking forward to going again on Thursday, can't believe how much fun it is. Especially as I normally get too cold to even paddle in the sea when on holiday and Ali is paddling.

First snow of the winter.

Although they had been talking about the possibility of snow this weekend when I went to bed last night the forecast was showing rain and it didn't look like it was likely to snow. But this morning there was a layer of the white stuff. It was crispy icy stuff as oppose to the nice white fluffy stuff, but it's still snow!

Ali had to go into work so she dropped me and boys off partway there to run home. Well I say run there was a lot of walking and mincing over the icy sections by me. Through Eyam I really could have done my yak traxs, but somehow I did stay upright!

Only 4.5miles but it was a stunning 4.5miles.

Clearing my head

Not sure why this didn't post when I wrote it a few weeks back... 

It'd been a busy day rushing around, first to a school to do a Dr bike and then back to make a Dr's appointment. One of the reasons I think I've struggled a bit recently is I've been working a lot more than my contracted hours, I will get the time back but it's left me overtired and struggling. So i decided to headed out with the boys for a run. I had a look at the map and spotted two paths I hadn't ran before that could make a nice loop out via combes Dale and back via Tideswell lane and Eyam. It was a lovely day, one of the paths was a bit non existent but the other lovely. Coming out on the main road I decided we were having too much fun to just head up Tideswell lane so we headed along to silly Dale before heading back. It was a lovely loop and I am so lucky having the boys to share it with.