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| Note strange detour towards the wrong valley! |
None of the regular lead guys (Andy D, Tim Roo, etc.) showed up, so Terry Davies took us up Madeira Walk and over the golf course onto Haddon Hill. Suprisingly, I went well on the hills managing to run virtually all of this ascent fairly comfortably.
We picked up Mott's Road and all was well until Boiling Well where a splinter group suddenly shot off towards Pole Bank. The rest of us were aiming for Townbrook, and I had Paul's stuff in my car, so I wanted to get down in time for his train back to Shrewsbury at half eight.
I led off over Long Synalds towards the head of Townbrook, but somehow managed to turn right about half a mile too soon and Paul and I were soon pretty far down with no sign of the Townbrook Path. The other shouted us but were a long way back up the hill. To compound our mistake, one of Paul's fell shoes chose this moment to give out.
I realised that we were now not far above Ashes Hollow: descending this would have brought us out in Little Stretton with a couple of miles of road to do to get back to the car, and with Paul's dodgy fell shoe I thought it was better to head up and over to the Burway Road where we could jog back down to Church Stretton.
Hopefully that's a lesson learned. Look out for the second fingerpost before turning right onto the col at the top of Townbrook - otherwise you aren't actually on the col.
Anyway, all's well that ends well, we all got back ok and I found and recovered a "Caution Runners" sign that had been accidentally left by Burway Road after the LMV race. A nice pint and excellent steak and ale pie in the Ragleth soon had me sorted.
7.7 miles (I started my GPS half way to Madeira Walk), 1,580' of climbing, 01:41 including stops for navigation and toilets and some walking on the rougher ground after the shoe fell apart. Profile below - second climb is the result of the detour.
Hi Jim,
ReplyDeleteSounds like the club runs are fun, I did look at Mercia (Also it appears they don't have a 'Donkey' training group), but the Tuesday night training times are the same as my club Wrekin Road Runners.
Re' The Pontesbury Potter. we will be starting off at a slightly later time, possibly 9:00 ~ 9:30am as I've got a dog walk to do in the morning.
However, good luck.
Hey Ross
ReplyDeleteDunno if you'll get this in time, but I'll probably get over there for nine tomorrow too. That way I shouldn't have to do too much navigation for the first three or four miles. I'll wear a Mercia top and my Haglofs windproof if necessary. Had a haircut so should be a bit faster tomorrow!
Re: the club runs, they are usually about 7 miles and take around an hour and a half, so the pace (at the back) is very steady. Those at the front stop every mile or so to regroup, sometimes they double back because it makes them look good. There has been an easier group running at the same time the past two or three weeks too. If yoou're about, I'd encourage you to give it a try. It's not a Mercia only thing - we have u/a runners and even a few from Newport!
See you in the morning hopefully. Good luck if I don't...