It's unusual to start with a picture, but when it looks like that, it would be rude not to, wouldn't it? Which I suppose begs the question, what have I been getting up to that's resulted in pictures like that?
Running fun, that's what! Sunday was the 44th running of the Surrey Long Distance Walkers Association (LDWA) Winter Tanners 30 Mile Challenge event, who, despite their name, not only look after their walking membership, but welcome those stupid enough to want to run their gorgeous routes with open arms too. Which is why I found myself stood in a small industrial estate at early o'clock on Sunday morning ready and raring to go after a cosy nights sleep in the van. Now, before I go any further I'm going to offer a big thanks' to those lovely people at the Surrey LDWA who went to all the trouble to put this weeks event on. I've often said before that many of these things wouldn't be possible without people giving up their valuable time to arrange and supervise these events and this weeks is no exception. LDWA Challenge Events are run on a similar basis to Audax event's, in that you have to navigate yourself around the route, stopping at various checkpoints for proof of passage, and like Audax, the challenge is to complete the route within the allocated timeframe. There is no acknowledgement for fastest finishers etc, so it's all about the personal challenge, having a great day out and getting out in the great British countryside with some like minded individuals.
And there is no doubt that this weekends route took in some Great British Countryside, traversing around some of the highest points in the Surrey Hills AONB, offering some lovely views over the surrounding countryside, on what turned out to be a stunning, winters day.
After a cold couple of days, Sunday dawned slightly warmer, leading to some low laying mist as we congregated at the start, ready for the off. A start, which like many events at the moment was a case of set off when your ready, in line with the control opening time, with the walkers taking the early slots and the faster runners setting off later. Not only limiting the numbers congregating at the start and controls (Covid kefuffle), but helping to ensure we arrived at the intermediate controls within their opening times.
From the start it was only a matter of a few hundred yards of road running until the route diverted off onto a footpath, and that is the way it remained for the next 30 miles, only returning to the road as we returned to the start. From the off, it was a long slow climb up towards Polesden Lacey and then on towards White Down, Ranmore Common and what is normally some outstanding views back towards Dorking and the surrounding area. Not today though, today things were even better with the climb up though the wooded hillsides taking us above the low laying mist and opening out into the spectacular view at the start of this weeks blog. When your faced with a view like that, there's nothing you can do but stop to take it in, run or no run, racing or not, these things don't come up every day, but by gosh when they do, it makes all those wet, windy, cold and dull days worthwhile!
By the first checkpoint at the 11 mile mark, the low sun had warmed the day sufficiently for it to now be too warm in the lightweight jacket that I'd set off in and I paused to remove it and stash it in my backpack. Not that this improved matters much, as setting off again the cool air still had a real chill to it and I debated putting it back on again. It's the lesser of two evils though and the easy solution was to just work a bit harder.
Picking up the Greensand Way, heading towards Pitch hill, Holmbury Hill and ultimately Leith Hill with it's picturesque tower, it didn't take long to warm back up. This part of the route, along the high ridge was more familiar from previous outings in the area and I paused only briefly on the hill tops to take in the magnificent views towards the South Downs and ultimately the Sea, before pushing on towards the final checkpoints and the last leg.
A long down hill stretch to coming towards the final checkpoint provided a brief respite for tired legs, before we re-joined the walkers on the shorter, but no less challenging 20 mile route, each working equally hard on their own challenge for the day.
âThrough the final checkpoint and back over the final steep climbs and then, with just a couple of miles still to go, it's back onto the familiar territory of the route out, retracing our steps back to the start and the end of another day out. And what a day out it had been, brilliant weather, outstanding views and scenery, superb organisation, and a hot brew, chocolate biscuit and bit of fruit cake at the finish. Does it get any better than that?
I'll just leave this here as a little teaser of things to come too.
The time has finally come to upgrade this. If I'm honest I've been thinking about it for a while and whilst the little touring bike has done some sterling service, including Lands End to John O' Groats and back, there's not much left of the original bike and what is left is telling it's age and in need of replacement.
So it's a case of salvage what I can, retire the frame to a place of pride on the garage wall, as a reminder of those great adventures we had together, and build it up with a nice shiny new frame. More of which over the next few weeks if all goes to plan!
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Paul PerrattOld enough to know better, young enough to still feel invincible, stupid enough to keep on trying the same thing again and again. Cyclist, Gardener, Runner, Hiker, Cook, Woodworker, Engineer, Jack of all trades and master of none, Anti social old git and all round miserable bugger. Archives
March 2024
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