I seemed to have acquired a dog

Not for life or anything, Lee our son (and his son (our grandson)) is staying while he looks for a new place to live, and he occasionally looks after Millie, his springer spaniel. She doesn't get as much exercise as a springer should get, so she is loving all these early morning runs through the woods and fields surrounding Deanshanger.

She broke her collar this morning, oops.

Spine Challenger training/recce weekend 1.

So, here we are in mid may and I am off to Derbyshire  for the first of 3 training/recce weekends in preparation for my January race - The Spine Challenger.

In case you don't know what this is about, here is the blurb from their website:

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The MONTANE® Spine® Challenger is a non-stop, 108 mile race between Edale and Hawes with a time limit of 60hrs. This challenging and extremely technical section of the Pennine Way is a physically and psychologically demanding route that demands concentration, good physical fitness, resolve and respect. The MONTANE® Spine® Challenger is a notoriously difficult event in its own right and should be considered as having a similar degree of difficulty as the longer MONTANE® Spine® Race.

From appearances alone 60 hours looks like ample time to complete this course. However, appearances can be deceptive. The rugged and very technical nature of this race is mentally taxing, as you have to constantly be aware of foot placement in icy conditions, weather systems, navigation, available daylight and self-management.

In the 5 previous editions of the race competitors have faced storm force winds, snow, extreme ice, bogs, fog, hail, mud and almost anything else you can think of!

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Sounds fun doesn't it?

Anyway, I met my friend Cathy at the half way point. She was going to do day one with me and then drive to the finish and walk back to meet me, turn round and walk back with me to the finish so we could then drive back to the start where I had left my car.

Cathy has the very good fortune of co-owning a small chain of specialist outdoor shops (The Climbers shop and Joe Browns) and they are sponsoring me in this race to the tune of a nice healthy discount on all my Spine Challenger kit.

We drove back to Edale, kitted up and took the obligatory picture at The Old Nags Head pub and then set off into the hills.

Selfie at the start.

10 minutes later I realised the phone I had with me wasn't working and I had to check in with Lesley to put her mind at rest that I hadn't died on the journey up. So I legged it back to my car and grabbed my other (posh) phone that I don't usually carry in the hills, and then trotted back up to meet Cathy, who had carried on merrily without me.

The day was looming hot and sunny as we climbed up Jacobs ladder and soon the layers started being removed as we built up a head of steam.

We crossed over Kinder scout in glorious sunshine and headed off along the edge, heading for a sharp right turn that I knew from memory. Descending off kinder I saw the right turn at the bottom and we duly took it, heading north and into the proper moorland.

Descent from Kinder

 Then things started to go wrong....

It was soon apparent (to me anyway. Cathy was oblivious, following me like an obedient spaniel) that the path was heading in the wrong direction. It was bending sharply to the east, where as it should be heading north east. Checking the map we had taken the wrong "obvious" right turn and thus were duly heading away from the Pennine way. I took a bearing and we "yomped" through heather and bogs due north until we hit the proper path. Must pay more attention next time - doing this with miles of visibility was just stupid. It will be considerable different in January.

We quickly hit Snake Pass and heading up towards Bleaklow, mountain number two. Bleaklow is half aptly named. Bleak it is, low it is not. Reaching the summit we saw a couple who were doing the full Pennine way, we would bump into them a few times today as we leap-frogged them at various food stops. 

Bleaklow summit

Descending off Bleaklow we could see in the distance our next target, Black hill, This time a very well named landmark, as it is very black (surrounded by peat bogs) and it is definitely a hill.

On the way down from Bleaklow.

 Black hill is a long slog up, especially as the miles in our legs were beginning to get noticed. There is not much to really say at this point. We went up it and then picked our way down the other side, The path was good, just one interesting bit crossing a small river, where we saw warning sighs earlier talking about if there was lots of water in it then you were advised to detour around via some random place miles away. Hopefully January would be dry.

We arrived back at Cathy's van where she grabbed her sleeping stuff (I had been carrying mine to test my pack) and we headed off to our sleeping place, a bed of flattened nettles next to a wall. Luxury!

Bed time.

The next morning dawned cold and misty. We brewed up and had breakfast (I had porridge) and i left Cathy and headed off on my own for day two, while she was to drive to the finish and walk back to meet me where we would then continue to the finish. 

Day one had been mostly fast walking with plenty of stops for food and view gazing. Today would be different. I was now on my own and when on my own i start challenging myself. Mostly i win, sometimes i don't, with worryingly consequences, 

So today's target was to run the flat ground and walk the hills. This would be my race plan so i may as well see how it goes now so i have some idea of how much fitness i have.

Selfie, early morning on day two.

I set off along the path heading for the first climb up Black Moss (yes it is black, and mossy). Trotting along the path i soon warmed up and shed a layer or two as the sun came up and burned the mist away. I was already making good time. 

So far all my kit was performing well, only my water system needs a re-think for next time. I found my water bladder in my pack used too much space in there for other stuff, makes it hard to refill, and there was no way of telling how much water I had left, which shouldn't be a problem in cold wet January, but was a real issue in the warm sunny weather of May.

Making good time I crossed the M62, over the foot bridge with oblivious motorists below, and carried on towards Blackstone edge. The views down to Rochdale and Manchester were fabulous:

The lovely view from Blackstone edge.

Descending from Blackstone edge was very stony and I had to take things carefully as I didn't want to break anything. I started to think about Cathy who should be heading towards me by now from the finish, so I scanned the horizon before me just in case.

Knowing I was heading towards the White House pub which was the only pub on the route for both yesterday and today. I started to crave a pint of lemonade and when the pub swung into view from behind the hill I was spurred on. There were loads of people milling around, lots of cyclists and other people out for the day. I got to the main entrance and pushed - the thing was locked?! Checking the opening times it was closed until 12:00 - and it was only 11:30. What a blinking liberty I thought - no lemonade for me as I was not going to waste half an hour, so I set off in a real grump.

From the White House pub the path levelled out somewhat as it followed a series of lakes. This meant I could run some more, which I merrily did. One bit the path on the map veered away from the lake (reservoir) and back again, which I duly followed, but then realised that a path also went right along side the lake - I suddenly got worried that Cathy may have passed me here and we would not meet, which wouldn't be ideal, so I rang her (I had a signal - whoop whoop). The lazy bint hadn't even started walking yet as she was living it up drinking wine and eating cake with a friend. I told her I wasn't far from Stoodley pike, which was the last hill before the final descent. This fired her up and she said she would leave immediately.

Stoodley pike was actually about 5 miles away at that point, but it did the trick...(I assume).

Anyway... I continued on my way. Stoodley pike monument is one of those very annoying landmarks that appears quickly, but then stays far away for ages and ages, never seeming to get nearer, well it eventually arrived (or at least I did) and it is HUGE.

Stoodley Pike monument (on the left)

Dropping down from Stoodly Pike (this is not an exercise to see how many times I can say Stoodley Pike) I stopped to adjust my socks as I had developed a bit of a sore spot, and the weather was glorious.

Cathy still wasn't in sight as I did the final descent through the woods, until I turned a corner and there she was, consulting a map! There wasn't anywhere she could really go apart from up the path we were on, or down the path we were on, oh well....

She exclaimed how fast I had been on the second day, and that she was paranoid she would pass me, but happy now that she hadn't we set off on the final descent.

The last bit of the walk involved a massive climb up the other side of the valley through woods (with bluebells in) and peoples (what seemed like) gardens, until we got to some fields the other side of the valley. And then it was just a plod along the road to the van and then homeward bound.