July into August

The end of July and early August have had summery weather which has made it good to get out and about. Perhaps a little too pleasant as it appears that some popular spots have been so busy a to risk COVID-19 transmission and attractive swimming and camping locations have been 'discovered' and left a mess. There has been such a noticeable rise in 'wild camping' that the Home Office are considering making it a criminal offence.

I've had to go into work a few days per week recently which has meant that I've missed my Tuesday morning run. Most weeks I've fitted in an extra run to compensate. This morning, for instance, I've done a slow 17km which should fit nicely with something on Sunday to make a back-to-back slow run.

Today was very warm and I kept a slow pace so as not to be too worn this afternoon. The heather is coming into flower so the moors are becoming colourful.

Ups and downs

June 2020 has been a difficult running month after the consistency and progress made during Spring. This was helped by working from home which gives me more time for morning or evening runs. In June I decided to do a rest week and then missed few runs through the impact of building work and bad weather.

Anyway today I returned to Endcliffe Park to start my run and found the ascent through Porter Clough especially tough. I've not ru up here in many month and it showed! Heading to Oxstones the weather turned wet and windy for a few minutes but settled as I continued to Devil's Elbow via God's Spring. After that it was easy to return home via well-worn routes. Although I usually run in the other direction.

The run was hard going, long runs should be done at an easy pace but that would have needed me to work the whole way.

Destination #9

The running group's destination runs have been set each week with points set across the Eastern Moors. I missed one as I cut back due to pain in my left knee to take a week off running. It seemed to as I've managed to get back to target after a few weeks building back up.

Today was a shock as the weather has broken and as I ascended out of the sheltered Sheffield valleys the wind and rain were quite unpleasant. On Blacka Moor I spotted a herd of deer, who were sufficiently relaxed to slow me to find my camera and take a few pictures.

It's well known that deer are on the moor but in the past I've only caught a distant fragment of one.

Destination #9 was described as being below a crag on Houndkirk Moor but despite circling the appropriate spot and peering under stones and into crevices I couldn't find the logbook. I gave up before becoming too cold. It's no matter really, the goal was an encouragement to be outl for a few hours on a day when it would have been all too easy to stay warm indoors.

All of the paths in Ecclesall Woods

You'll have seen Strava logs where people have run all of the streets in their town but I can't see me ever doing that in Sheffield. A week or so ago I thought that it would be a fun morning to trace all of the paths in the local urban woodland. I run and walk through it at least twice a week but I knew there were certain paths I'd never been on. How hard could it be?

An evening on Viewranger suggested that it would be a 22km route with around 500m of ascent. I've made the route available to download here. The woods aren't on much of a hill but to cover every path needs the small undulations to be addressed numerous times.

As I'm still getting back into the swing of long runs I hoped to take it steady at around 8min/km but in the end the overall pace was slower than 9min/km.

Here it is done, it took over 3 hours and in my current state of unfitness it was quite hard going. I saw some dog walkers quite a few times and felt I needed to apologise to one for popping up so often.

That's my weekend running basically completed now, just a few easy km to achieve the week's target.

Night Hike to Oxstones

Over the last week or so I'd planned that last night would be a #microadventure as I'd be home alone (my wife was to be outdoors herself on a fundraising event for Cathedral Archer Project). The weather forecast was for repeated heavy showers throughout the day and night and I gradually decided to stay in the dry. By early evening though the forecast and rain radar suggested that the worst had passed over and there was a probability of some dry hours. No excuses! I rapidly packed the bare essentials and got out of the house 10 minutes before sunset. It was pretty gloomy.

Quite minimal but feeling substantial

I set my sights on Oxstones as an area within a few hours walk but decidedly in the countryside. I also know the path very well which should have been reassuring. It was a new moon and with dark clouds passing over, the paths were quite quickly in blackness and I resorted to my head torch.

I didn't need the signs nor map

For 2 hours I ascended, mostly on paths but occasionally on short stretches of road. The wooded areas were spooky, trees groaning and various animals shuffling in the undergrowth. The small area of ground illuminated by the head torch was supplemented by a peripheral zone of heightened awareness. In this zone my eye was drawn to newly-emerged mushrooms. I think I recognised shaggy ink caps but there were other, unknown to me, white species. At Houndkirk Road a dog walker came out of the gloom, the dogs' eyes visible first. I couldn't face the tree cover in Lady Cannings Plantation so stayed on the byway. From Limb Valley I'd been aware that the wind was becoming more obvious and by the time I'd reached Oxstones I couldn't find shelter on any aspect of the stones. I thought about stopping to make a hot drink or warm-up food but decided I was getting too cold. At that point I chose to abandon the night, even though there'd been no more than drizzle, and head for home, perhaps stopping to eat on the way.

I detoured towards Porter Clough thinking I might eat there but saw many car lights in the parking area with the sound of voices drifting towards me. I wasn't sure it would be safe to arrive alone. That was it then, back to home, direct route.

Welcoming lights but still an hour from a arm bed

The Norfolk Arms was tempting for a moment but a paused would have only delayed sleep at this point so onwards! Alongside the road my peripheral vision was drawn to a movement, and just in time I turned to see a badger scurry away from me across the road, arriving safely at the other side.

So this was a night hike rather than overnight bivvy but still a break from normality and a small challenge. Especially marching beside the looming trees. I walked just under 18km at a good pace having become accustomed to a heavier rucsac than usual. I wonder how I managed camping trips with rugged tents as a teenager?

Importantly I'd also noted the insecurity of being outside and slightly fearful of groups, and of needing to keep moving to stay warm. I was unusually thankful of being in a warm bed when I awoke finding it had rained heavily in the early hours of the morning.