Sunday, April 20, 2014

Fin's 4 Inns

After a few years gap,  I had a splendid solo day on the Inns route, kindly supported by Jill.  

 

The Good – brilliant day, great views, top conditions underfoot, enough breeze to keep cool without slowing you down, running well, carrying a very light sac

The Bad – I’ve been on a course of tablets to get rid of the ailment that stopped me doing the actual event – one of the side effects is ‘dehydration’ – so just drink more I thought. Turned out to be more complicated than that.

The Ugly – without warning one leg then the other locked solid with cramp on Bleaklow, hamstring & quads. Took an age before I could move, let alone walk or run. Got to Doctors Gate and gobbled Dioralite, Lucozade, crisps, peanut butter, anything. More cramp descending Kinder, again brought me to a stop, and after that I had acute pains in quads for the rest of the day. First time I’ve had cramp for about 25 years and first I’ve ever had it that bad. I could run but gosh, was it painful. So to give me something to aim for and a reason to keep pushing, I decided to stop my watch for the longer pit stops (such as a leg massage at Edale etc).

 

Also started to get nausea when I ate, another first for me and quite a shock as I can always eat efficiently. The turning point was when Jill forced a full tin of rice pudding down me at White Hall (she did take it out of the tin first) and I felt loads better.

 

So the resulting times are – ‘running time’ 08.52, total elapsed 09.50, I really don’t know how relevant these are. So it looks like I’ll have to try again.

 

Interesting bits

Wildlife –  disturbed a sleeping Barn Owl on Black Hill, some close encounters with Mountain Hares, Jill visited by a deer and a Coal Tit (trying to peck through the car window) at Crowden.

Ramblers – advised 2 groups of D of E hikers, one rambler with a Wainwright style guide book he couldn’t understand and had no idea where he was, one lady fell runner at Barber Booth who had little idea where she was either

Relatives of the Famous – Jill chatting to a couple at Drs Gate, the lady turned out to be the sister of Colin Dexter, of Inspector Morse fame.

Route finding – a perfect day and I hit pretty much optimum routes, and found yet another better route over Bleaklow (Harrop Moss, line of Grouse Butts) but managed to take the wrong route up to Shooters Clough – too early – but was able to cut back across.

 

But the key thing is after all this time I’ve done it, broken the hex and it feels great!! Now, time to start planning for the next one.

 

 

Fin

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