FKT: Richard Simpson - Landsker Borderlands Trail (United Kingdom) - 2020-09-06

Athletes
Route variation
Standard route
Multi-sport
No
Gender category
Male
Style
Self-supported
Start date
Finish date
Total time
15h 25m 45s
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I started at Canaston Woods car park by the roundabout and headed north in a clockwise direction.

I researched this route over an extended period of time and found that most people completed it over 4 days, one individual did it over a couple of days. All reported saying how frustrating it was trying to navigate through the farmland and how poor the signposting was in places. I can confirm that this still is the case. Some places are perfect though, others are savagely overgrown and your clothing and skin will get shredded.

Farm animals were of particular concern, the cattle take great offence when you try to run through their field and will be highly unnerving when they approach you at speed. All you can do is slow down to a walk and have a good conversation with them. Horses were quite jumpy too but far more friendlier. Plenty of sheep too as you would expect in rural Wales but it was not lambing season so were of no threat. Farm dogs however were, some were quite vicious. No matter how much of a 'dog person' you are, these farm dogs considered me as the enemy. Slowed me down massively in places whilst waiting for their owner to prise the dogs jaws off my throat....okay not that bad but it could easily have been. 

I carried 3.5 litres of fluid, 500ml of decanted energy gels (to stop littering and carry messy gel packs) in a soft flask. At Whitland which is almost half way, there is a large shop there and I was able to refill energy drinks purchased from there along with anything else I fancied. Important to refuel properly, even though this is not mountainous terrain, the hills are long, the grass and crops are long and the day is even longer if you are hungry and get weak. 

Some 20km later I was able to top up with water at one of the various caravan/camping sites, this again was handy has the day was warm and humid and so took advantage of the mains water supply.

The last 30km were pretty good actually, the trails though not specifically signposted as Landsker Trail were fairly clear, along the coastline they were very good and the running was excellent. It started to get dark and a decent head torch is required and made for fun running through the woods and soft rooty ground.

The final 2km there was a diversion, minor but probably will be there for a long time as there is building/reservation work on the Blackpool Mill. There were also other minor changes to the route due to farm, forestry or quarrying works being carried out.

 Very satisfying journey though. Stunning views in remote parts of West Wales where walkers rarely visit. My moving time was 13:56:39.