Well, the last run of August has come round all too soon.
Tonight we went up from Stretton via Snatchfield Farm under the Ragleth, then through the woods under Hazler Hill to come out at the top of Hazler Road. My legs felt a bit tired on this section, which I put down mostly to the fast running on Sunday.
Then we headed up to the Gaer Stone and the climb must have woken me up a bit, because I then ran the rest of the ascent to Hope Bowdler Hill and Battlestones at the front of the group, chatting to Ruth as breath permitted.
At the Battlestones we had a minute's silence for Roger Lamb, a Mercia Member who has recently passed away. Roger apparently loved the Cardington Cracker race, so this was a fitting place to remember him. As we stood there, the sun emerged from under the blanket of cloud to the west, lit the landscape and then started to set.
We got going again down to the tin shed at the bottom and then up along the boggy right of way to skirt the head of the valley to Cwms Cottage. We said goodbye to Adrian here as he headed down to save himself for his BG attempt, and then climbed Caradoc. At the top I was feeling good enough to indulge in a little doubling back to get the group back together (although Tom was already well in control!). I tooke the descent down past Three Fingers slowly - the sprained ankle is still sore, and I wanted to go steady on the right achilles I'd irritated at Ellesmere - but it was good to see some other members of the group descending with abandon, or indeed without control...
5.7 miles and around 1,300' of climbing tonight, so quite a gentle one.
Next week there will be the opportunity to run from Stretton to Bridges where liquid refreshment will be taken in honour of Tom's birthday before a lift back to Church Stretton. We'll get enough cars over there to bring 16-20 people back - I'm sure there will be enough headcases that any lack of spaces in cars will be met with offers to run back.
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