Saturday 22nd March 2014, A Hayfield Hobble

Tally-Ho!

Around 20 runners gathered at the Lantern Pike Inn in Little Hayfield on the western side of the Peak District on Saturday afternoon for a couple of hours of running. Their plan was to follow a trail of clumps of sawdust that had been carefully placed around an imaginative 8 mile running route that encompassed hills, cow fields and other cow things.

There was weather on Saturday, lots of weather. Especially around Little Hayfield. Some of this weather was wet, some of it was windy – some was even white and fluffy. All of it was cold.
Packs of runners set out from the pub at times suited to their running speed. Although the club calendar features a couple of races throughout the season it is not a competitive club and one-upmanship is discouraged.

The sawdust trail plunged down to a stream which ensured we all got wet feet within a minute of setting out. Oh well. We boys like playing in water.

5 minutes after setting out from the pub the wind strengthened and it started to rain. On a positive point, rain is good for washing mud off your otherwise pristine legs. But it was also cold. It didn’t rain ALL afternoon. Not quite.

When it wasn’t raining there were some good views:


The trail followed lots of up and downery, south across Birch Vale, up t’other side (just for the hell of it) then, this time heading north, back down to Thornsett. Through mud. Good job we boys like playing with mud.



Then there were tractors, loads of the buggers. Alan should have been there really:



I was hoping to catch the pack of runners that had set out before me but they were on form and their 50 minute advantage was too much for me to make up. On the other hand, the faster boys who had set out after me took well over an hour to catch me up. And then overtake me. Nowt new there then.

Billy

Here they come:

Eastwood, Blackshaw and Wells, all looking remarkably unmuddy. It wasn’t to last.

There they go:

 Hon Prez Park looking worryingly cheerful. And mud free.

Lantern Pike was the last substantial climb of the day, at around 1000ft ASL it offered pleasant views over Hayfield:

It pays to be one of the earlier finishers of a Tally-Ho! trail run, later finishers end up bathing in less than clean water:

 

It had been a cracking afternoon out in excellent company. The good food at the pub was the icing on the cake. Although there was no cake. Or icing.

This was the last proper trail of a good season. Oh well. Anyway, this is where we went:

 

8 miles which took me 2hrs 5mins of gentle trottery. And I didn’t lose trail once.

More pics here.