21 degrees C. Beautiful conditions up on the moor with excellent visibility. Slight breeze. Started early but still cooking by 8:30am! Carried A LOT of water. Felt good the whole way and most importantly, enjoyed the run.
More details and a couple photos on Strava.
Report: https://www.instagram.com/p/CA2Wlj5n7aS/?igshid=1imtm80xswsh1
I loaded up on the carbs last night with homemade sourdough pizza, a vegan magnum, a bowl of granola, some DIY isotonic fluid and a litre of coconut water. No way was I going to dehydrate myself like I did on Wednesday’s failed attempt! .
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5am alarm, up and breakfasted by 6am, ready to hit the moor. I wanted to beat the heat, but even at 7:30 I could feel the sun starting to cook me! Fortunately I took @loydpurvis’ advice and wore a hat and took double the water I really needed. .
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After touching the sign, it’s a downhill start for about half a km before starting a very long drawn out climb to Beacon Hill and Black Rock. I felt ok but not great at this point, and wasn’t sure I was actually going to make the full 27km. .
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With the first steady climb done, it’s rolling moorland and sheep trods for about 10km until the real climbs start. Showery Tor felt like Mt Everest, but I ran virtually every step up, through Little Rough Tor and Rough Tor proper. I even found surely the slickest line down from Rough Tor, through the boulder field and on to Louden Hill. .
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From here it’s a long open stretch past King Arthur’s Hall and A LOT of cows and definitely the odd bull. Avoiding a stampede is the number one concern here, as well as not going off course into the bog just next to the ‘trail’. .
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From King Arthur’s Hall, it’s a slight downhill through the woods and Garrow Farm, skirting Garrow Tor, before the big one.
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The climb to the summit of Brown Willy from Garrow feels as though it goes on forever with two or three false summits and some really lumpy ‘baby’s heads’ terrain.
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Once up at the summit, you’d think it would all be downhill to the finish but it really isn’t. The long 5km back to Jamaica Inn takes you down, then back up, then down, then up Tolborough Tor, then down again. Last time, I hiked most of this and felt absolutely terrible.
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Today I felt great and pushed to the last, up the climb to the Jamaica Inn, finishing with my hand back where it started, on the sign. .
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Most importantly, I had fun and gave it my best today.