There was quite a few familiar faces at the event, Hardmoors runners, Striders and others from local clubs and it was good to have a chat with them before the start. The starting few miles were the same and we ran for about a mile with Mark who we haven't seen for a while and after 3m he forked off on the 14m route. We went off across the moor in the direction of Pikestone Fell.
Across Ayhope Beck
and South Grain Beck
A lovely descent followed by a long drag up to Black Hill and into Hamsterley Forest. There were a few more flies around here, but they weren't too bad.
Through the first checkpoint and on to Ever Pools
and then for our fastest mile (8:41) downhill to the River Tees. Our slowest mile today was twenty seven minutes...
On the old route we would have carried on along the river in the picture above but we turned sharp left and went along to this bridge over the Tees
After going through the lovely village of Mickleton and another checkpoint we went along the Tees Railway path and over a lovely viaduct
and through meadows on the way to Middleton-in-Teesdale
Here is one of the best checkpoints I have ever come across. Just loads of food and as Melanie wanted to give her some feet some care and attention, we spent a while here.
As we left the marshalls wished us good luck and that made me wonder what was in store for us for the next section which was new. Pretty soon we were climbing steeply uphill and going over stile after stile. We came across this lovely little tunnel which made a nice change from the stiles.
As we got near the top the fields became wild flower meadows which I just love
We descended down to the road at Snaisgill before the ascent of Monk's Moor. This bit was tough and I think there were three false summits. Here was the view looking back before the first summit,
The path was pretty non-existent here and we were relying on the gpx provided by the organisers. There were some runners following us who were also relying on us knowing where we were going !
We joined up with the old route again at Great Eggles Hope and climbed up past the old mine workings
and up to the reservoir
On the way down we came across a small female adder which we kept well away from
Finally with 8m to go we climbed the last big hill before we started the long descent down to Bollihope. We were now on the old shorter 17m route back to the finish. That route has all also been changed this year and reduced to 14m
Bollihope is also a well stocked checkpoint and it passes through an old mining area
and we come to the lovely Forgotten Quarry
and the old Harehope Quarry
and across the old railway line
which had a train on it
and back to the Race HQ where there was pie and peas, followed by rice pudding and fruit salad. The catering is amazing for the entry price (£14). A certificate and a badge for finishers
Sadly this event is not being held in 2019 as the organisers are concentrating on the LDWA 100m event which is being held in the North-East.
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