Peak Raid Baslow 2024

 Last Peak Raid of the season, and it's right on the other side of the Peak- not an area I've really run in at all, and certainly not somewhere that I'd consider well known to me. The last Peak Raid, around Edale, was a bit of a flop for me. A combination of going the "wrong" way around, not really feeling good, and certainly not eating well enough during the event made it a bit of a damp squib. The course was fairly linear once you got onto it- which was partly to do with the terrain- but route choices seemed limited. 

Baslow is a bit less steep sided and has a lot more moorland, bogs and "turks heads". My kind of running. So hopefully there would be a fair bit more route choice to be made. The weather was also pretty interesting. Having had a named storm blow through 24 hours before, there was still a stiff breeze from the North/NNW that at times was gusting into nearly gale force. Certainly something to be taken into account for route choices. 

Having been beaten by Ian last time around, it was jokingly suggested that I should just start 30 seconds later than him, follow him around for the entire 3 hours, criticising his nav and tut-tutting at all his decisions, and then out sprint him by a minute or so at the end. On suggesting this to Lynne, she then pointed out that I *might* want a lift home as WELL as a lift to the race, so such a strategy, whilst being incredibly amusing, would probably be to the detriment of me getting home. 

So I ran my own race. 

Race control was in the south west corner of the map, so considering the wind direction, going directly north, into the teeth of it for the first part of the route (while still fresh) seemed like the most intelligent idea. Hopefully speedy, fresh legs would work well to start with, and then there would be some wind assistance on the way back. 

The initial plan went up (*everywhere from Baslow is up*) and right- north along a fairly muddy path to score the first point at 4. The most intelligent thing to do then was to continue up to the plateau for 2 (which I looked in the wrong place for, wrongly assuming it was a thing (can't remember what it was....)  - anyway it was a rock), before heading back past the Eagle stone and along Baslow edge to 1. 

The route from the start

 

First 3 CP's down, it was really blowing from the north, but I could still run into it, rather than having to walk. From here was a conundrum. Do you go to 14 first? (orange) or up to 7? (purple) And if you go to 14 first.... do you then go to 7 (yellow) directly afterward, or continue around to 18 and then up to 12 and back to 7? (green)

Oh- choices!

I decided to lose a bit of height first, ruling that if I hit 7 first, 14 probably wouldn't get done today. 

The plan now looked like it would be a bit of a convoluted way to get to 18- but I dropped down the road, along the path to 14, up to the edge and then across and up to the trig point, which was a bit of a slog, but there was a trod that kind of made it runnable. The minor issue now was running North into a howling wind along the edge before dropping into a massive tussoky mess into 12... now, it *looks* like there isn't much in the way of distance from 12 to the path, and theoretically there is a path. However, there were a LOT of runners who were stalking their way through knee high tussocks, at a few slow speed. The advantage of dropping in from the top was that I could see a couple of trods (not great ones, but trods nevertheless) that I could navigate to from 12 and hot foot down to the main path.

Where I ended up going

 

From there it was a decent run to the north (again- headwind) and round to get 18. 

Another decision time now. Up in the northwestern corner there is 6. A 20 pointer... do I try for that before heading to get 11 and 19? The path north from 18 to the road is a great path and good time is made. Im making sure I'm having regular shotblokz, and look at the description of 6. "bottom of crag". A closer look at the mangled amount of paths around it means that a quick in and out will probably become a bit of a convoluted mess. In my current state, clearing the entire course is not going to be likely, so getting to the road, the decision is made to head east, up to the top and then attempt to straightline it through the bog to 11. This could be fun. 

To go for the pink? Nope. I went Green.

The line from the road is pretty decent and I maintain speed most of the way up. At the top, a left turn and a short section of headwind running is done to get to a couple of features on the map, from which I can take a direct easterly bearing to just north of 11. Figuring it is a fairly decent feature, there are *bound* to be trods to it, and lo and behold, keeping my eyes open, to my right there is something resembling a runners trod through the tussocks. It isn't much, but it'll do, and I follow it weaving its way across the bog and up to the path, hitting it about 20 metres north of the pond. A quick dib and then again- North into the headwind and an obvious line direct to 19. 

From 19 it's a short hop across rough heather to a path and a longer than expected run to the road. For some reason I was paying a little less attention here, and nearly missed the road crossing. It may have been because the gate was locked- but still had a symbol on the map that we could cross there- so spent a couple of minutes here being a bit confused. Crossed the road, through a massive puddle in the gate and then up to 16, the most northerly of the controls. It took a while, and once there my sense of direction deserted me completely. 

Route to the Northern most point

Not sure exactly what I did, but I think I assumed I was coming to it from the south. Looking at the paths, maybe I ran past it and then came back to it from the east? Whatever I did, I confidently set off in the right direction and was astonished to find I was not running south. I was running north. 

What the heck? Stop. Check the compass. Turn in a circle to double check the compass. Wow. I have no idea what is going on. Run back and go down another path thinking "this MUST be the right one" only to find I'm now going EAST.

Again. What? Check the compass. Check the map. I have no idea what is going on- but know that I MUST go south from here. Too many times have I been in the situation where the compass is *definitely* wrong. Only to discover that, no. It isn't wrong. So I trust it and head "south". 

Unsurprisingly. It's absolutely right and I cruise down with a massive tailwind to the road. Now then. More decisions. Do the down and up to 17? Might as well. The plan is to take the first left, down the main path, and then back up the slightly less main path. I totally miss the first left and end up going down the muddy dodgy one, get 17- which means that serendipidously, I end up ascending the hill on a solid track that is pretty runnable. Not only that but I pick up a phone that is lying on the floor, thinking I'll take it back to the event centre. About 3 mins later another runner comes down the path asking "have I seen a phone". Funny you should ask.

I was going to do it Blue... but ended up Orange

 

Reunited with his phone, he shoots off up the hill at a speed I can only dream of. 

Up and then a bit of a complicated round about route to get to 10, before a very wet and boggy run to a solid path that takes me past Little Barbrook and up to 20. (another 50 pointer, yay!) and then looking south to 9. What is this one? A re-entrant. Bah. I flipping hate re-entrants. 

Still, there are a steady stream of people heading south now, and there is a nice guide into the CP. Across another bog and onto the path and I'm running out of time. However, there is one more 50 pointer to get. This is likely to be the crux of the day and my route back takes me past 2 15 pointers. But really, time is getting very thin. 

OW!! marks the spot where I twisted my ankle

Cross the road and BANG- there goes an ankle. I stood at the gate swearing for about a minute until the excess pain went away, and started hobbling up towards the trig point. A hobble becomes a walk, a walk becomes a jog, and... well, I'd be lying if I said it then became a run. It really didn't. A bit of a slog and then a steep section to the trig point, and a run to the 3 ships- the southerly most rock had the CP behind it. 13 was out to the east, but not tempting in the slightest. The route back was going to be the most straightforward I could make it. Down and along the wall line, a direct drop onto the path below and a hard right. Along the path to 3. Run as fast as possible to the road, a left and hard right, across the river and.... it goes up. 

The run in to the end. Couldn't believe the up!

What? I'd convinced myself it was downhill all the way home! 4 mins left, a bit more than a kilometre to go (as the crow flies... not on the ground)- and 30 metres of ascent in a grim, boggy, slidey field. I run up the field and take the first left and into the wood. Yes, it's slippy and slidey and deep in mud. I'm already going to be late, so don't bother looking at my watch- concentrate on the floor and where your feet are going. Along and dib, and then an indeterminate distance in proper foot clag all the way around the nose of a hill. Minor indecision at the end of the path- where it turns out a right turn is needed to get me along a trail to the road, and then blast down the road as fast as possible to get home- about 4 mins over time. 10 points deducted. 

So there you go. A pretty decent day out. It seems I ran nigh on 30k, which is my longest run for a very long time- across some fairly boggy and challenging terrain. Hills, evidently need some work. Moorland, not so much. 500 points in all, (600 were up for grabs), but with -10, I ended with 490. Not bad for a day out. And yes, I did manage to still have a lift home at the end of the day. 

Thanks to Peak Raid for an excellent series, and thanks to Ian C for bullying me into doing them. 

Peak Raid Edale

 Score events are a huge amount of fun. You're out for a specific amount of time, navigating around a load of points on a map, and whoever you see on the hill might be going faster or slower than you, might be going to a totally different point on the map and might well have started an hour before, or after you. Trying to gauge your effort off someone else is totally pointless- it's a pure personal navigational timetrial. I love it. 

Ian and Andy having a look at the map of the area involved.

That being said, today wasn't a great day. For the last couple of weeks I've been struggling with my right knee. It isn't *bad*, but then, it certainly isn't right. A lot of clicking, some pseudo-locking and just not feeling like it want's to do what I want it to do. I suspect it might be either a hamstring or adductor thing that means the quad is massively overcompensating and causing all kinds of exciting kneecap issues- or something else. 

I started early and on getting the map decided that heading North onto Kinder would be a good way to start. The initial route choice is often the most crucial and has a lot of bearing on how the rest of the race/route goes. Quite often, it doesn't *really* matter. I think it did today, and today, I chose wrong. 

Red or Blue? That's the question. I went Anti clock. Oops

 Off up onto Kinder, past the first checkpoint and up the beginning of the Edale Skyline route to the top of Ringing Roger for the next checkpoint. From here it was fairly obvious in terms of heading West, into the wind and along the southern edge of Kinder. It wasn't great underfoot, but that was to be expected. The plan was to have the more runnable section along Lords Seat at the end when I was a bit more fatigued. 

Along the edge and a short diversion down to a crag to pick up CP7, and a short stop to decide is it worth doing a massive Down and Up to number 13- or around the edge and then down to it. Feeling like my legs had already done more than their fair share of climbing, and not really trusting my right knee to a fast offroad downhill, the round the top was chosen, despite it being a whole lot less exciting... it would definitely be easier though. 

To go round? (blue)- or down/up? (red)

So back up to the edge and around the longer way. I looked at the description of CP13... "Re-entrant". Ah man. I HATE re-entrants. Still. Along the top and then a dive down a remarkably steep section to get to the Checkpoint. A quick decision... straight back up and over to 9, or a slight contour and up before going over. I *must* have been tiring by now- not a good sign, as I forwent the standard blast up the side in favour of a bit more of a coutouring ascent before dropping over to 9. 

It was about this time that I was looking at the options on the south side of the map- and realising that it was *much* more runnable over there, and that you could get a LOAD of points quite easily and still drop back and get another 50 points on the way home, which was not really an option on the trajectory I was taking. Hmmm. It seems that I'm on a hiding to nothing. Ah well- with the knee not really feeling great- just a bit stiff- not actually hurting, I looked at the options and dropped into the down and up to CP12. 

Did Blue... should have done red? Didn't even see it at the time!

Looking at it later, I really should have taken the option to go south and pick up CP17, it would probably have made more sense- but as I say, fatigue was starting to get me here. Was it due to not enough practice? Not enough fuel? Over estimation of fitness? I don't know- but on the descent from 9 my legs were not at all happy with the world, and my normal descending ability had deserted me- the ascent to 12 I was very much feeling it, and have to say that I was mightily pissed off with another racer who totally ignored the correct place to cross the fence- at a marked stile- and just jumped the fence at a random place a long way down it- getting straight on a better trod. Not cool at all. If there is a specific place marked to cross a fence- use that. Don't cheat. 

In case you don't know- and you should- cross at the marked crossings!

Anyhow- it was a slog to get to the path, and then a slog around and into the mist and some trixy nav to find 15, but I managed to hit it bang on. (I decided to take an early line to the top, go along the path and drop down to it- my legs just didn't feel able to bash through undergrowth on the contour- and ended up not too far behind someone who had done the opposite and seemed to have lost a lot of time). 

Oddly- blue was faster. Or it was in my fatigued state, anyway

 

Then back to the main path, along past the Pagoda and a silly nav error saw me crossing bogs and heading too far north (and high) for Edale rocks- just as it started to rain/sleet and then snow. Great. A minor adjustment and down to the rocks, and then south to Swines Back and Edale cross. 

I was hanging now. Not progressing at anything close to what I might charitably call a run and entertained thoughts of hanging a left, going down Jacobs ladder and calling it a day. The thing that stopped me was just how tedious that run is. At Edale Cross there was a choice to get CP8. I decided that was not a good idea. There was not a huge amount of time left and this would involve another down and up. As it was, I wasn't sure if I had enough time to get back anyway, and also didn't want to aggravate the knee anymore- so straight to the trig point at Brown knoll and then a short bearing to 18. Back to the slab track and then down and a bit of guesswork (that turned out to be slightly wrong) to find 14. There is a grough on the ground that evidently isn't quite big enough to be denoted on the map, so I followed that down- which was a bit too far to the south- at the edge, realised the mistake and had to track back north for a couple of hundred yards to get to a cairn that I never knew was there before. 

Looking at it now- red wouldn't have been that much worse- or longer

The choice to go back to the slabs was there, but a memory stirred of an old trod from the Edale Skyline race that skirted around the top of the valley. In front of me was an old trod, and in my state of "Its not going well, I might as well just see what happens" I followed the trod. No-one else on it, no-one else following me- and it took me (somewhat slowly considering my fatigued state) right around to where I hoped it would. By now, the uphills no matter how small and easy were very much walking and time was running out. 

The executive decision was made not to drop down to 17 and back to 4 and home, but rather to go from 16 to 3 and 10, make a judgement as to whether to just drop to 1, or if there was time to include 6. 

Executive decision. Not red. Go Blue. Try Green if enough time.

Slow going. Very slow going. Not feeling great, slopping along through the mud- it took an age to get to 3, and from there to 10, where time had basically slipped through my fingers. If I was feeling more sprightly, 6 *might* have been a goer- but in my current physical and mental state, it absolutely wasn't. A direct route down and off and a shuffle back to the event centre for a cup of tea and flapjack. 

Certainly no-where near as successful as my time at Hayfield. I felt lacklustre the whole way through and have no real idea why. 

One of *those* days

Ian beat me today- so we are 1 all for the Peak raids that we've done against each other.... If I end up doing the one out in Baslow, it might be quite amusing just to start about 1 min behind him, follow him the whole way round commenting on his mapreading decision making and then outsprint him at the end. It wouldn't be very sporting, but it *would* be quite funny.

Let's just say I fell in a LOT of holes today. Fatigued doesn't even begin to cover it.

Peak Raid- Kinder 2024

 I saw a post on the Glossopdale Harriers whatsapp group from Ian saying "I see a number of people have signed up to Peak Raid in a couple of weeks- anyone need a lift?". I didn't even realise that there was a Peak Raid on, let alone over from Hayfield, so I signed up and shared a lift. 

Having not done a decent long run (read: more than 13k) since July (which was Wasdale- sandwiched between 2 100mile bike rides)- and May before that (the somewhat disappointing Pendle Cloughs Fell race), I was looking forward to a bit of nav, a bit of rough ground running, and, considering the weather forecast, a bit of dreich weather over the tops. Not expecting anything particularly spectactular, just 3 hours of decent bashing through heather. 

My start time was around 830, and Ian and Tom were starting at the same kind of time, hence the arranged lifts. The start pen was a good couple of km from registration, so a bit of a walk through some drizzle was a good warm up. There was a weather warning out over scotland today, and strong winds forecast for the rest of the country- so a decent southerly was going to be blowing. Taking that into account, I figured that running into the teeth of the wind for a long time was going to get somewhat tedious, so decided that it would be intelligent to do as much south to north running as possible. 

I dibbed in at Bowden Bridge, got my map and immediately started running South. Yes- I know what you're thinking having just read that last paragraph, but the idea is sound. Running south in the valley to get some checkpoints before getting onto higher ground and turning north was the plan. It took a little time for my head to get back into navigation and running speeds, so finding the first checkpoint was, while not troublesome, took slightly longer than it should have done. 

Equally, as I was running up to the second check I had to stop to make sure I was running on the right track. There was no way I could have been anywhere else, but its good to check and check again. (It just didn't seem right, though it absolutely was). Dib at check 5 and an immediate right, down through fields and onto a path, then off a path and onto slopey open moorland, where I came into check 7 a bit high and had to run down to the broken wall to dib. (It seems from the people that followed me down, this was something a few people did). 

From here there was a choice of routes. The thing that seems to take most time is indecision. If you can't decide which is the faster route, the time you've spend dithering is probably the amount of time that was the difference between them! - So staying low and dropping along a trod line and into the clough before the climb out to 15, and a climb up the Kinder Trog line (which would normally be followed down to drop you into Dimpus Clough). 

It's a long old climb, that one, so shotblokz were taken as I walked up the hill to Edale Cross, and then straight north as if going to the Trig point. At this stage the wind was very definitely coming from the south to south-east, so it was nice to have a bit of a tailwind. My old-school Mudclaws were slipping around all over the paving slabs, so they definitely felt like the wrong choice of footwear for this section of the race. That being said, with so little confidence in my grip, it did mean that I was taking it a bit easy and not going too fast. 

A swift out and back to the West to pick up Cp12, and then up to Kinder Low for CP19, before following a very muddy/peaty trod out towards Noe Stool and up to the Pagoda to pick off Cp14. 

From here, you *could* retrace your steps and go around 2 sides of a triange to hit the edge path and run north to Red Brook. OR you could just use a bearing and use some groughs to guide you in a North Westerly direction which theoretically should just drop you slap bang onto Red Brook following the single edge of the triangle. So I did that, and ended up hitting the control dead on. 

Now comes another conundrum- do you go along the edge path out and around Kinder Downfall to get to 18 which is on the top- and then do a down and back up for Mermaids pool (16), or do you just grit your teeth and drop down RedBrook and climb back out to the pool and thence up to the top again?

Well, seeing as it was a bit claggy, I took a lower path thinking I'd kind of do a bit of both, and then as the mist cleared, I could see the pool out over to my left, across the valley. Quite a significant down and up, so I dropped and committed. It was a bit of a gnarly descent, and at this point, mudclaws were definitely the correct shoe choice- all the way down to the River Kinder and then back up to the pool, where I came across a bunch of wild campers who were displaying a number of traits I despise of people heading into the great outdoors. Smoking, loud music etc. At least there weren't any piles of rubbish around- I sincerely hope they took their stuff with them. (am I a snob? I dunno, but dance music on a hill? There is a time and a place, and that is not the place). 

I digress. 

From the pool the uphill trend continued, initally off path and then onto a trod, slowly working my way to the crag at the top of the hill. Coming closer, I could see a runner coming in from the top, thinking it was Geoff, I sprinted in to get the control just before him. (chatting to Geoff at the end, it turns out it absolutely wasn't him... and I spent a good 30 mins wondering who on earth it could have been- Ian cleared up the mystery.. It was him). 

From the dib, straight up and over the top of Kinder Sandy Heys trig, and then off down into the Ashop where I followed the wrong stream down the hill. Turns out it's a stream when it rains (ie. today), but is isn't a stream on the map. So it took a little longer to get to and find CP 17 than I would have liked. However, I dibbed it and had a decent line across in a North Westerly direction to Cp20, going up the clough- but was faced with the problem of getting from there to 13. 

13 was one of those that if you came from a different angle you'd have better catching features. From 20 it was going to have to be compass work and some dead reckoning (and blind faith). It took more time than I would have liked to make it to the Pennine Way, where I ran along it for a short time before making the decision to break off right and dead reckon it to the checkpoint, using some compass work, but mainly looking at the lie of the land. I dropped into the clough area a little low, and worked my way back up to the South for about 30 metres before I found it, thinking that if it wasn't there, I was going to have quite a challenge on my hands to get it. 

Coming into the final 45 mins now, and I'd been wondering if I could hit 11, then 10, then 3 (30,30 and 20 points respectively), rather than missing one of the 30 pointers out. I traversed around Mill Hill and then took the path and trod out and round the Nose of Kinder- Windy Gap very much living up to it's name as I- for the first time, really had to run into the full force of the wind. It wasn't far to the outcrop of rock to get 11, and then I started to make my way back in the same direction I had come, thinking I would go around the top and drop into 10. Minor issue being, I wouldn't really have any way of knowing when to drop in. there were no real features... 

Throwing caution to the wind, I hung a left and dropped down the slope into William clough, figuring that I'd come into it at a stream junction, run down to the next stream junction and climb up that stream to the checkpoint. A really good idea in practice, but not when you climb up the wrong stream. 

Higher and higher I climbed, looking for the feature, and with maybe 30 mins left, I thought that if I didn't drop straight onto it, I'd have to leave it. It became clear that the feature was not where I was. Across to my left- about 400m away, over some significantly rough terrain was a distinctive knoll. Dammit. I'm meant to be over there. And I'm further away from the finish than I thought- and there is some pretty hard terrain to go over... only one thing to do, and that is to get over it as fast as possible. 

 

Through heather and groughs and bracken across to this feature, where I sprain my right ankle pretty badly as I drop into the checkpoint- a bit of a hobble and a swear on the climb back up to the top and through more heather to the trod that takes you off the hill. Time is ticking down, and there is checkpoint 3 which theoretically is on the way down. I run as fast as I can down the trod, and it splits- grouse butts off to the right... the check is a grouse butt, so I hang a right, trying to calculate times and distances- running past 2 butts before I realise Im going in the wrong direction.... check the map and yes- there is a line of butts that isn't the line I need- argh- bash across a hundred yards of heather to get back to the trod I was on, and then down to the end of the butts- and further beyond where I slow down to make sure I find the ruined one just off to the right and in a stream bed. 

10 mins to go. 2k ish- maybe a little more? 2.5? I know most of this though, but there is a final checkpoint that I might be able to squeeze in on the way home. Down past White Cabin into the wind and now a LOT of rain. A left and right onto the Bridleway, and then down to the dogleg above the reservoir- tippy-toe down the really slippy slidey cobbles and out through the gate at the bottom- dart off to the left and over the bridge to get the final checkpoint- just less than 5 mins to go and just over a kilometre back to the start. Do I go back across the bridge to take the road? Do I just stay on this side and take the track. 

I'm now soaked through and decide not to look at my map, relying on the knowledge that this track takes me back to the road at the bottom- which it does indeed, and then back onto the road to the end- which is a lot lot lot lot longer than I remembered. 

Do you look at the map to work out how far you have to go? No- don't even look at the watch to work out how long you have left. It isn't much time and the only thing you CAN do is run as fast as you can. Looking at the watch takes up valuable time. 

Finally the finish comes into sight- and I run in and dib. Then I look at my watch. 2:59:25. 

Ah- so I had a full 35 seconds to play with! Close. 

So there you go. A decent run out- 21k and 1200m ascent. I took some good lines, and a few bad ones. Even if I had nailed them, I'm not sure if I'd have had enough time to get any more controls though- that would probably have needed a full 10 mins extra. 

Good times.