The first few hundred yards were pleasantly flat and on a hard surface. Greetings were exchanged with dog walkers and golfers – who gave us a funny looks as we trundled along, leaving clumps of sawdust in our wake.
Descending to Brook Bottom, the track surface changed, becoming lumpy, stony, and a little damp & slippy in parts.
At Hague Bar our trail headed east, following the north bank of the R Goyt, crossing the Millenium Walkway by Torr Mills. This part of the route coincided with a section of the first Point-to-Point I took part in, which wasn’t a Point-to-Point at all, but a marathon length circular route from Hayfield.
The sun continued to warm us as we followed the Goyt Valley Way to the outskirts of Furness Vale. Here we turned NE, and headed uphill to go through a tunnel under the railway line.
We then followed a lovely path along Shedyard Clough, crossing Laneside road, and on to tarmac at Moor Lodge.
Sawdust Trail...they CAN'T miss that!
David in Trail Laying mode:
Heading north, and talking too much, we found ourselves in Birch Vale….not the intended route. This was a bit embarrassing – we’d only recced the route the previous week. Ho hum.
Turning back and uphill, obliterating the trail we’d just so carefully laid, we were soon back on the correct route which took us past Over Lea Farm, Birch Vale Cricket Club, and then down to the Sett Valley Trail where we headed west.
The rest of the route was identical to the last couple of miles of the Club’s 2022 Point-to-Point route: into the eastern outskirts of New Mills, north to cross the R Sett, then up by Tanpits Farm, through the lovely hamlet of Whitle and then following the R.o.W. across the New Mills Golf Club course and then finally, our objective, the golf club’s clubhouse.
A low turnout of 14 runners, but that didn’t detract from the fun of the day.
The club’s showers and changing facilities were put to good use, then thirteen sat down to a meal of pie & chips, followed by dessert.
After rigourous interrogation, Hon Pres Park proposed David Brown (aka David Hamilton, aka….well never mind) as a member, and was seconded by Vinny Jones.
My thanks to David for helping with the route recce and for successfully completing his apprenticeship as a trail-layer ;-)
Where we went:
8 miles, 1100’ ascent.
The GPX is (hopefully) HERE.
What a lovely area to be running in. Looks as if you had good weather too!
ReplyDeleteThanks Dawn, it was brilliant!
Delete