The Guernsey round is a route of 2 halves. Firstly the rocky south coast with trails and scenery reminiscent of the British south west coast path. Secondly the long western and northern part of the island offering flat ground a lot of which is on tarmac.
I started my run at 5am in the centre of St Peter Port and did the route anticlockwise. I therefore tackled the rocky southern section first. Immediately after leaving the town I encountered the only issue with the GPX. The path at the end of the road near the outdoor swimming pool is closed due to a landslip. This required doubling back about 400m and finding another route through the woodland above. Apart from this I found the GPX true to the trails on the ground.
The paths along the south coast of the island offer some great running. It is very up and down and there are a lot of steps but the coastline is spectacular. By daybreak at about 6:30am I had reached Saints Bay. With all the up and down it was slow going. There were a few places where it is possible to get more of a rhythm but the constant steps and incursions inland to avoid steep valleys led to slow progress.
I rounded the south western tip at about 8:15am and ahead of me saw the start of the next, much flatter section. The first part of this is mainly along roads, past Fort Grey and Lihou Island. The route then picks up more trails skirting a series of sandy bays. Once round the northern tip of the island the route follows roads again and becomes increasingly busy and more built up as you near St Peter Port. I was happy to finish my run at 12:15pm, 7 and a quarter hours after starting.
The weather was sunshine and showers but a good temperature for running and not too windy. I carried all my own food and replenished water twice in publicly accessible locations, so consider my run unsupported.