For a while now I have only been doing what my mind lets me. Recovering on the sofa from an epic week became the norm and when I head out at 1pm and start back at 2 on Sunday, I don't tend to get far afield on the bike. Those same bridleways again. I've been thinking of heading out with my backpack since last summer. I even tried it but the weight was so heavy that I gave up on the hike and headed home again, writing it off as a reconnaissance or a lesson to pack lighter.
Last week I bought Jenny Tough's book, "Solo" with tales of her global challenge to cross a major mountain range on every continent, on foot. I was almost instantly re-inspired and spent the rest of last weekend researching lightweight backpacks and trekking poles.
The backpack research was successful for Jenny and Montane. After Ultralight Outdoor Gear's search engine presented another option, I watched Jenny's Youtube video and instantly downsized my search results to a copycat Montane pack at 30 litres. A pack with so much adjustability it isn't true. I figured that would be a good thing.
I couldn't decide on trekking poles. My inner-fell-runner is instantly dismissive of them but I saw no easier way to get myself up to running/ walking long distances carrying a loaded bag. No matter how "lightweight" my bag and kit, it was still going to be heavier than ever before and I was planning to go further than I have in a long time. I couldn't decide on folding or collapsible poles so I went to the loft and found my ski trekking poles. They only collapse down to 1m long. No good for packing onto a rucsac. I'd end up looking like a mobile phone mast. Still, they were free and would give me the opportunity to try out the concept.
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| The new N+1 |
I bought another pair of those very tasty wool socks, a water filter (gave in eventually) and a sun hat (given recent conditions). The only sun hat in my size was an insect-repellent hat but that didn't seem like a bad thing.
• • •
On Tuesday I worked from home and my bag arrived. I instantly filled it with the saddle bag off my bike containing mat and quilt, 2 coats and my stove/pot. I then spent my entire lunch break strutting around the house and figuring out the different configurations and pockets. I was late to my afternoon meeting.
On Saturday morning a lot more effort and time went into packing the bag properly. I was so happy to leave behind a tool bag, pump and bottles of chain oil and tyre sealant, massive lights, dynamo. The poles came downstairs to announce to the world that I was a pretentious twat or an old lady, depending on which particular judgemental parody I intended to place on myself.
• • •
By the time I was ready to leave, my first stop was the village cafe for lunch and ASDA to buy more snacks. I didn't have any of the little rubber feet to keep the poles quiet on tarmac so I carried them, helplessly, to the cafe where they were propped up in the corner of the room. Our cafe is small so I dropped my heavy rucsac in the flowerbed next to the cafe window where we sat. So much for the freedom of not having all your kit tied to a post outside, being vulnerable.
• • •
Once lunch was over, the thought of retracing my steps back up the steep hill to the high path was too much. Instead I dropped down to the riverside parks and finally unfurled my poles to a useable length to jog/walk my way through the dogs on leads and children going down slides with jumpers under them to slosh the rainwater away.
I was unsure of the reception the poles would get. I felt like I needed to make a conscious effort to justify their presence by running with them. I definitely felt like more people ignored me - which isn't always a bad thing.
There were cheesy jokes about me losing one of my poles to a labrador with a penchant for really big sticks.
Running with poles came very naturally to me. I guess that's from working 3 seasons as a ski instructor and doing some questionable ski-mountaineering of my own in Europe. I got into the swing of things then headed over to the Apple Shack to stock up on cake and caffeine for the rest of the day. The Apple Shack owner wanted to catch up on my last adventure as well as learn about the new one. She used to take her children wild camping when they were little so is intrigued.
She asked if I was heading for the cave on Stanage. I'm aware of it but embarrassed to say I don't know where it is. She gave me rough directions and I said I'd suss it out. Not bad for an ex-lawyer. Maybe its because she's an EX-lawyer.
• • •
Our conversation ended when I'd finished my coffee and her next regular customer. arrived. Whilst his wife made her coffee choices I became an un-willing participant in a conversation about the health benefits and history of Nordic Walking. This was very definitely not what I was doing and made a concerted effort to run away at speed, my poles as short and discrete as I could get them, making only the slightest, steadiest dab at every fourth or fifth foot-fall and pretending I was in complete control of my lower limbs.
There was a moment that passed when I ran by the spot where I'd normally now turn for home on my longer (still pretty short) weekend runs. With my sleeping system on my back I now had ambitions beyond my valley but even if I was tired and I stopped here, waited out the night then ran home tomorrow, I'd be happy.
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| Point of tomorrow-return |
I reached one of my favourite spots on the top path. It's a place I haven't been since Christmas. Technically, its a footpath so I have no urge to ride here but I've long-since become sufficiently immobile that I can't run this far and back again in a day. I sat on a log amongst the copper coloured leaves left over from last autumn and ate my second lunch under a silver sun.
After a while I took myself off into the undergrowth for a pee. A network of tiny creature-paths stretched into the brush and I followed one into the trees to try and find a private spot. Fissures and tunnels opened up in the ground around me I don't literally mean at-that-moment but they've been there for centuries and I have never seen them. Some had clearly been used as human hideaways and might be just big enough for a future tarp pitch but I'm not sure I'd be confident enough to sleep there without fear of being swallowed up by mother earth.
At the head of the woodland I crossed the river and imagined the joy I would feel to get here after a few days in the wild, needing a wash. I'd never run beyond this point (although I have run further in other directions). Beyond this point you enter the Peak Park and all that has to offer. For me, that is not a day trip.
The poles went back to my side for a while as I ran along the road, then were redeployed for a wasteful half hour of fumbling around the woods trying to evade the reservoir. Eventually I returned to the road. Swimming in the reservoir would need to wait for a less busy day.
At the start of the Causeway I broke new ground (for me) by taking the footpath almost straight into a bog then a bank of neck-high bracken. This was definitely not 40cm wide handlebar territory. It was hardly trekking pole territory.
• • •
I surged through the bracken with the poles dangling limply behind me. If I tried to use them, pulling them past me to the next pole-plant was more effort than it was worth but then the bracken knitted together across the front of my legs and body, culminating in a mass of leathery plant-matter which gave me friction burns on my thighs. I tried holding the shortened poles vertically in front of me and instead used them to tease app art the many layers of foliage so I could pass by unharmed. They were useful in bracken after all.
Heather was the next challenge. Tiny narrow paths and snagging branches that hold onto pole tips just too long. I reverted to carrying my poles along the thinnest trails.
After an hour of fighting undergrowth I was overjoyed to find a lone tree in the expanse of moorland. It was unoccupied and the majority of the day's visitors seemed otherwise engaged in either Stanage Pole or less-strenuous routes across the moor. I sat on my bite valve without realising which gave me an annoyingly soggy arse for as long as it took the summer breeze to dry out my impossibly lightweight shorts.
• • •
I felt so free. I was enjoying myself immensely. I earmarked the tree as a future sleep spot for winter when the sun is already disappearing at 5pm. For now though, I needed to find something to keep me occupied for the next 5 hours and I wasn't sure if I could do that much more time on my feet.
My original plan was to get this far and if I had daylight go to Burbage and then on to Longshaw if it was still daylight. I thought I'd be doing a lot more walking but rather than kill myself running 10k then walk the rest, I'd been chipping away at walk/running all afternoon and surprised myself with what I had achieved
• • •
I collected my things and headed for Stanage Edge. All paths across the Moor lead to the pole so I cut across the bracken and tussocks to avoid the large groups on their way home and made a beeline for some boulders. Happy climbers appeared over ledges dressed in long trousers and puffer jackets against the strong breeze that was hitting the cliff face straight-on. We were worlds apart but they were the few people to welcome me with a smile - or it might have just been their relief at topping out on a tricky lead route.
As the cold and hunger started to bite I found myself a suitable slab of rock to sit behind to add a layer and consume half a pack of honey roast peanuts as an aperitif to dinner. I considered bouncing down the hill into Hathersage for a lonesome curry but the thought of sharing a restaurant with groups did not appeal. I set off to find somewhere less exposed to brew up dehydrated dinner. The caves were discovered and investigated but with climbers still on the crag I couldn't rule out the invasion of a drinking party and anyway the wind was still making its presence felt. I needed to get to some rocks facing the other way and I had the daylight and the peanuts with which to do it.
• • •
The pack was shouldered again and I made my way across x and y, stopping for a stretch on the former and finding a suitably oriented overhang on the latter from which to avoid the breeze. I put on my windproof skirt, stretched out my tyvek sheet and set out my stove. The dried Chilli was actually super-tasty. I set out a portion of jasmine tea in my fitter and promptly knocked it over. Not wanting to waste it, I pinched as many dry leaves and delicate jasmine flowers as possible onto my lap and carefully sorted them from the grains of gritstone sand mingled in.
I added the hot water to the tea and watched in (relative) horror as a small white caterpillar (let's not call it a maggot) floated to the surface, squirming in the near-boiling water. I "rescued it"/fished it out, wondering if it had come from home or from underneath the crag. Honestly - could go either way, the tea has been in the cupboard for a while. As the remainder of the jasmine leaves floated to the surface, wriggling and white, I wondered if I'd imagined it all. Nothing was going to stop me enjoying the tea though.
The traffic had died down. It was 8pm and I sat and watched nothing going on in the valley while I ate my dinner. Eventually smoke appeared from the woods where Landslide and I had bivi'd once. I kept an eye on it. It didn't seem to be escalating but it ruled out the woods as a potential spot to spend the night.
I needed to fill my water up from the river, so did a deal with myself that I'd drop down to the river then return to my Eerie to sleep. It was a tidy nook, if a little close to the path.
I kept my skirt on and set off to push my way through more bracken, the skirt helping to keep the friction burns at bay. A 4 man tent emerged nestled on the hillside, it was chuffin busy out here!
I did quite a bit of faffing to get to a point where I could collect water from a miniature fountain. On the basis of the quantities of cow shit; the distinctive peaty colour of the water; and the party happening upstream. I was really relieved to have finally invested in a water filter. The reassurance it gave me was intense and I gleefully filtered 1800ml into my camelback for the night, breakfast and half of the next day.
When it came down to it, I couldn't handle the bushwhack backup the hill to retrace my steps and started on the path towards another bivi spot we know.
I've always harboured a twisted desire to camp amongst the bracken-even though I know I'd probably be besieged by midges. A few things were in my favour. It was breezy, there was plenty of bracken-enough to completely obscure my bivi. I had a midge net, full body cover & a new insect repellent hat and my bivi bag has a bug net.
• • •
I found a flat spot where the bracken was a little less mature and had already been parted by some force of nature-either a breeze or a cow. The latter was a little unnerving but it was a good spot.
I lay down on the Tyvek to test the spot - perfect. The bivi bag went up relatively quickly as the bugs started to bother me but a deployment of my insect-proof hat put paid to most of the chaos.
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A car at the carpark at the head of the valley made me nervous so I dressed all in green and set about inflating my pad as quickly as possible to get the orange thing out of sight inside the dark green bivi along with my bright blue rucsac and bright blue quilt. After that I was convinced I was invisible. So much so that I got in my bag to hide away before realising I moderately needed a pee. Still, I decided to ignore it till I was desperate. Only mistake of the day.
Between 10pm and midnight I fidgeted quite a lot. It was bright due to overcast clouds carrying the light from the moon or Sheffield, or something. I couldn't get comfortable as my left knee was feeling tender and it was too hot with the duvet but without it, the rain that was falling steadily was leaving a cold and clammy sensation on my legs where the heat was sapped from my knees through the goretex fabric. At midnight I remembered the rain wasn't going to stop so I stepped outside in my bare feet, peed quickly then got back into bed slightly soggy from the rainfall, suddenly making the quilt feel much more welcoming.
I snoozed on and off for 3 hours as the rain varied in intensity and I moved the rain-proof door up and down, offset against my need to breathe fresh air. Moisture was accumulating in the bivi between breath and rain and I cursed not bringing a tarp instead to keep the air flowing.
At about 4 I finally fell into a deep sleep and cancelled every alarm, conscious only that my quilt and mat were gradually getting wetter and soon I'd run out of cosy dry spots. At 7am, that time had come. I leaned up on my elbows I was surrounded by wet bracken.
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My back was aching. I didn't know if my legs would support me and I was definitely going to get wet feet. The poles weren't any use yet. From hands and knees, I crouched on my feet then used my arms to support myself as I tried to straighten my legs upwards. I swear I'm not this bad when I'm riding. Once upright, I grabbed the poles to keep me there.
I packed up most of my things. Lets face it, there wasn't much dry stuff left to put in my dry bag. I stuffed my soggy sleep mat into the outside pocket of my pack and bundled the bivi into the side loops. I put my shoes onto bare feet, shouldered my pack then used my poles ahead of me to knock the majority of rain droplets off the bracken, at least keeping myself as dry as possible.
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| It was wet out |
At the river I could get dressed in the dry, putting on my bra and adding waterproof socks to help my dry out my sopping wet shoes. I packed everything away properly before starting the hopeful hike over to Longshaw. Burbage was cloaked in silence on a cloudy Sunday morning with only occasional Skylark song and a few pheasants scratching under the trees.
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| The mood at Longshaw was even darker. |
The Longshaw estate was slightly busier with morning dog walkers but the cafe was closed for another 30 minutes. I waited around long enough for staff to open the toilets so I could have a pee but still couldn't bring myself to spend 20 minutes waiting for coffee. Instead I tackled the motorway that is Houndkirk (hence the trip to a nice private toilet block first).
I soon realised there were plenty of paths I had not previously investigated on Houndkirk due to bicycle limitations - even one with the perfect brew hut and a view over Sheffield.
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| That kind of place. |
I did more bracken whacking and arranged to meet TSK for lunch at the lama centre. I crossed the bridleway again, cutting off the corner that is Lady Cannings and hiking across heathery moors then farmland then up to the road for lunch infused with screaming kids, high on the petting zoo and over-priced plastic gift-shop toys.
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| take me back? |
If it hadn't been raining outside at the exact moment we arrived, we might have regretted our choice but we sat in a corner where other adults seemed to congregate to minimise the impact of screaming, and tried to ignore the stuffy heat and noise. My soup and toast had insufficient calories so I picked up more coffee or cake while TSK headed home.
All I had to do was get home from here. There were some quick decisions to make about directions. Although the Mayfield Valley was tempting I didn't fancy the final long run home through the student areas of Sheffield up a big hill, better to stay high and then drop into home from above.
• • •
One more runner at Lodge Moor passed me without saying a word which I found annoying since he sneaked up on me then waited impatiently while I slothed over a stile in front of him because I didn't hear him approach. He couldn't communicate with me because he had ear buds in... well, if you think poles are anti-social... I kicked myself for blindly following him into a cow field where he took us the wrong way. Thankfully I was too slow & was able to divert before getting drawn into the steep drop-off followed climbing out of the field over a 4 ft high wall.
• • •
The bench at the park provided me with the best rest opportunity for a sit. With no back-rest on the bench, my pack was dropped to the ground and I lay back on the bench with my arms drooping by my side, wringing out the tension that had been building across my shoulders from the heavy bag. I ate a few skittles then had the tiniest of turbo-kips before heading off on my way, picking raspberries and blackberries from the hedgerows to be rinsed with my water and scoffed on the way.
• • •
The final trial was the long hike from the off-road back to home. I eked it out for as long as possible but finally the poles were folded down to their shortest length and carried glibly by my side until we were home. I held out. After 38km total, recognising that poles are, to running, what e-bikes are to cycling, I still managed not to let them become the annoying clackety mess I thought they would be.If this is what my running renaissance turns out to be I'll take it. I will literally grasp it with both hands.
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