Endurance Adventures

I decided it was high time I actually took part in something a bit more endurancy than a run up the road, so hauled myself to Hartington to take part in this year's Dipper. I didn't do this last year as I opted for the Kent 50 instead, so was quite looking forward to it.

I parked up and grabbed a coffee, seeing a few folk I know including Sue, who is a stalwart at these events, and Stuart, who organises the Ponton Plod.

It is usually very, very hot but this year was a bit of an exception- as we were crowded in the street, ready for the blast of the horn to signal the 'off', one of the organisers said he wasn't going to give his usual speech on using enough sunscreen (although I had put some on) and warned that as July had been so very wet, parts of the course was very slippery, particularly the stone path down into Milldale (I am so notoriously bad at going downhill I worried about this all day!) I had opted to wear my newish running shoes as my old ones have truly had it and need chucking.

We set off- I am not going to give a detailed description of the route as I have covered this before in 2007 event reports. We started to climb, and I saw Ian, who I met on the Waltham Winder and Spires and Steeples last year. Stuart passed me, and I assured him I will be putting in my entry for the Ponton Plod very soon! He is a very fast walker.

We reached the High Peak Trail and I had a little jog along here to the checkpoint at Sparklow- I passed Stuart and his friend, and ended up leapfrogging them a few times throughout the day before they lost me for good!


The High Peak Trail

The weather was a little cloudy but dry, and luckily remained dry all day- though sadly not underfoot! A lot of the fields had very muddy patched which were impossible to avoid. There were also a lot of fields with cows in- some were indifferent but others were quite curious, crowding and making loud sniffing noises (I expect I stunk!) I adopted a strategy of dealing with cows... jog to catch up with the person in front and use them as a shield!


Descending

The route to Longnor is quite undulating, I ran some of the flatter and downhill bits (although some were rather muddy). We ran into a little trouble- I was following a few others downhill through a field towards the road, on a clearly defined path through the grass, when some walkers ahead turned back- apparently we had missed the path, and the landowner was waiting at the bottom, with a camera- we retraced our steps and found a very unobvious stile which led into a field full of cows!


Ominous Clouds!


You Can See The Path Ascending To Longnor On The Left Of The Photo

There is a sharp ascent on a track into Longnor and the second checkpoint, where the angry landowner was berating the poor checkpoint volunteers about all the walkers and runners clambering over his gate. I totally wasn't concentrating when I left the checkpoint and nearly missed the turning- luckily a couple of blokes called me!

This part of the route was extremely wet- at one point we had to follow a path through a patch of gorse, and my feet just sunk in the water up to ankle level- I ended up with wet feet for most of the day. Just before the third checkpoint, we had to wade through a field of crops which was practically a pool!

The chap at the checkpoint reckoned that you could tell the runners from the walkers as the runners had mud higher up their legs!

This was half way, and there was still the climb up Ecton Hill to come- but first there was more mud to be negotiated.


Looking Towards The Folly And Ecton Hill

Finally I could see Ecton Hill in front of me and after a little more mud sliding downhill, attempted the climb- which is just long and steep, and a bit of a slog. I could tell I hadn't done this in a while!!


Ascending Ecton Hill

There is a fantastic view from the top though, but difficult to do justice in a photo. There is a lovely scenic walk along the side of the hill before dropping to the road.

I had remembered a certain part of the route here I thought may possibly be muddy- well, it wasn't just mud- it was ankle deep, wet, gluttinous, extremely sticky mud! A few lady runners ahead were struggling to keep their balance and I failed miserable, landing on my bum. One of the runners took a photo of her feet in the mud and I was tempted to do the same, but my hands were covered in mud and I was worried about getting it all over my camera!

I tried to walk forwards and ended up on my bum for a second time. I put my hands out to save myself so looked as though I was wearing a pair of elbow high dark gloves! I am so glad I had the foresight to take a plastic sleeve for the route description or it would have been unreadable! (And my comments are sadly unprintable!!)

I must have looked a sight, as after the final steep ascent to Whetton I passed a group of walkers going the other way, who looked at me in amazement and said 'Where have you been!?!'

A nice chap at the Whetton checkpoint helped me to wash my hands- I thought I'd better before spreading mud over the cake on offer!

The route to Castern Hall and the next checkpoint was pretty straightforward, I had a little run downhill but a group of walkers caught me up at the checkpoint. There were crisps on offer which made a nice change from sweet stuff and offered some salt. I had a chocolate flavour energy bar with me but didn't really like it.

Finally, after more fields full of cows...


Cows...

... it was time for the descent to Milldale which had been giving me concern all day. I had to pick my way down, as the limestone stones were covered in mud, making them very slippery, and my by now completely mud covered running shoes offered no grip at all. I had to stop and let loads of folk go by and was rather put out when one woman just ran downhill as though it was nothing!

I knew that the route was easy from Milldale to the end, and had a little (very slow) jog to the last checkpoint. I followed a group of walkers up Wolfscote Dale who were keeping a very good pace, which I tried to match- I was too tired to jog at this point. The path through Wolfscote Dale is around 3 miles, and would usually be lovely, but after 23 miles it becomes a bit of a drag and seems endless!

Finally we turned off, and were on the fields and tracks back to Hartington. A few runners passed me, and when we went downhill I looked at my watch and realised it was nearly 5pm- I decided it would be good to try to get in dead on 5, so started a slow, shambling jog, passing the group of walkers I'd been trailing through the dale. As I neared the village, I heard footsteps behind me, and the group had all decided to go for a jog finish, so we all finished together in 8 hours exactly!

I grabbed a coffee and realised that the queue for jacket potatoes was growing, so thought I'd best join it. It didn't appear to be moving, and somebody said that they were waiting for more potatoes to be delivered. This took 10 minutes- a long time when all you want to do is sit down! There was a huge sigh of relief and the queue started to move again- but just as I got to the counter and was about to request cheese and beans they ran out again! I felt ready to murder the woman who'd been in front of me as she had taken two- one for her and a friend! It took nearly half an hour to get one- but they were nice...

When I got home, I realised that my previous Dipper PB had been 8 hours 30 minutes, so I had beaten it by half an hour! I know I had a really heavy pack when I last completed it but I was quite pleased as I haven't done anything for a while!

Not that I will be doing a lot this week as I am off to Wells tomorrow to spend some time with mum and my little sis- and the dogs...

Labels: Dovedale Dipper, Ponton Plod, Wells-Next-The-Sea