Wedgewood Memorial

I have been driving past this week in.. week out,

So one night on my way back from dropping Lily at Grandma and Grandad's house in Nantwich, i decided to call in, find a layby and trot up to it.



Well, from the road i thought it looked large, and also that there was trig point not to far away, so trotted off up the hill out of Audley, across a few fields and up a lane, across a few more climbing fields and then it showed its head.

The Wedgewood Momument, situated on Bignall Hill, this is memorial to John Wedgewood, which left in his will a request for an obelisk to be erected no less than 20 yards high.

This was completed in 1845.




TP1357 - Bignall Hill

A Few days in Pembrokeshire

I had planned a week away in a cottage with my family, and we had decided to go back to some beaches that we were all very fond of,

During my childhood i had spent so many holidays in and around Saundersfoot, Tenby and surround southern Pembrokeshire coastline.

Lily is nearly 4 years old and i wanted to take her so that she could experience the views, the coastline and more importantly the beaches that just sneak up on you if you are prepared to get of the beaten track and find them.

We had booked a cottage in Stackpole, a great little village that gave us walking access to Barafundle Bay - the prettiest little beach you will ever see and the National Trust area which include the Lily Ponds,

Whilst Claire, Lily and my Mum and Dad were still asleep i managed to cover a huge amount fo the coastline, here are just a few of the pictures i took while covering 40 miles plus of beautiful Pembroke coast,



Barafundle Bay



Stackpole Head



This section really typifies why this coast is worthy of National Park status. It contains Barafundle beach which was recently voted one of the top ten beaches in the world! It also fringes the famous Lily Ponds at Bosherston which are a National Nature reserve. The path is quite undulating, but you're never far from a beach, village pub or toilet!

I real pleasure running these paths, it was in some places one of the toughest trail running i have done, especially the section from Stackpole Quay towards freshwater east, literally up and down all the way, i went out and covered 9 miles and 5,200ft.

Beautiful, i will return to do the whole 189 miles soon.

Burbage Skyline - Tues 11th May - 5.75m/

A little late with this report,

After a frantic day at work and some last min plans we made our way to The Fox in Burbage, Stephen Shaw, Stuart Learmouth and Myself, shared the car duties, and we arrived with plenty of time in hand, good job really as the car park soon fills up.

I have never done this race before, but Stuart was telling us on the way to Burbage that it's a cracker, some deceptive climbs and it can get a little congested at the start.

After signing in and saying hello to a few old and new, had a natter with Daz and Roy Gibson who was organising the event.

Seemed to be the coldest day of May, a real cutting wind, got ready and made our way to the start a Yellow Flag, had a little look round and you could see the route from the start, Motehr Cap, Higger Tor, Burbage Brodge North was out of view, but you son got the picture of what was in store,



The number of soles who had made the trip was a real suprise, a little late starting but that was to be expected with 323 starting, the field had to be moved back twice, and then we were off, a real struggle to get going and soon at the first yellow flag which indicated a left and down and across the stream, some strange routes and lines meant that the field split and then joined for the small climb up towards Mother Cap.

I felt ok, the route meant that the field soon developed into a line, and i settled down to getting the first few miles out of the way, but noticed that i felt knackered early on, the first climb took it out of me, unsure why just felt so heavy, legs wouldn't get going, and found myself slowly going backwards.

The trot up and across the Mother Cap and Over Owler were a pleasure, seeing the sun setting and the line of runners in front, was a great sight, something that you sometimes forget to take in, the views and the whole experience of a new race.

Soon arrived at the climb up Higger Tor and then down the fast and furious descent of the plummet, a great little technical section and into the woods, i stopped fro a jelly baby and some water, and seemed to be really puffing, not good, but just kept grinding it out really,

The next section which i think i made an error, crossed the river twice, when i think if i had stayed left i would have not needed to cross at all, unsure of the route just at that point,

The next small climb up towards Burbage North saw a few peat bogs to negotiate which left me back with peat, ready for the hop across the river below the road bridge, a quick hello to Willy Kitchen then dig in to trot across Burbage Rocks. I did come across a runner she had a really bad ankle, so left my hat and water for her, as she seemed to be getting cold, whilst hobbling back. ( I have since found out that her name was Cheryl Cherdell, and she did finish) Roy Gibson has contacted me to say my hat is being returned in the post, which is cool)

I really did dig in across the top before the drop back to the path, and managed to negotiate the bog that you had to cross to get back onto the path, which from the videos claimed a few runners, John Gunnee to name one in particular.

Finished with a time of 1hr 8 mins, 30 seconds, not great, not great at all, after looking at the results i came 293rd,

Good to see so many Dark Peak out, and to spend an evening enjoying the beauty that is Burbage Skyline with so many like minded people.

A pint of Bombardier and a drive back to Derby, with a quick bath to remove the dried in Peat............ here's to the next one.

Check these little beauties out!

I came across these one day whilst out in Ashbourne. Elite Outdoors.

Yes indeed, a pair of fell shoes that had a walsh like feel their soles, with a leather upper,

A nice little detail was the stitching on the toe,

After speaking to the owner of the shop Trevor, he made me aware that these could be 10 years old, when they arrived they retailed at £49.99 - he was selling these off at 18 quid.

Anybody else have any details on these?

Lily "completes her first Fell Race"

We made our way to Ashover for the May Day Festival,

And i noticed that they had a fun run, come fell run, only 1.5 miles, and didn't have my kit, jeans, some old Inov8 rocklite's and a t-shirt,

Lily said, can i run with you Daddy, Lily is not 4 years old yet and i thought it would be great Daddy time,



So we registered, number in hand and a very excited Lily we went around the festival, great may pole dancing and welly wanging, a cup of tea and a slice of cake from the church,

Soon enough, 1.30 arrived, and we lined up, a real mix, of fun runners and keen serious looks, a guy asked me if a ran, as he thought he had seen me around, i said not much just done the Kinder Downfall, his face was a picture, but i did point out that i was running with my little girl.

We started, and as we ran up the street Lily was bouncing away, i kept asking he if she was ok, and she said yes, 40 yards from the start, she said that her legs were tired.......

oh, ok i thought, here we go, 1.5 miles with Lily on my shoulders, i suppose that's what Daddy's do.

We ran a bit walked a bit, Lily is 2.5 stone, great training, up the hill out of Ashover, through two tunnels, out onto a road, and then back down into the village, and back up the high street,

It rained on us and it hailed on us, and then the sun came out!

The people at the festival just cheered i a run up the hill with Lily on my shoulders, i will never forget what she said to me when they were cheering, "We winned Daddy" We Winned!



I truly great way to spend 16min 37 seconds, of my day with my little girl.

Lily came first for her age group under 5's, even though i carried her..........

More pictures to follow.........

KINDER DOWNFALL (9.6m/1970') - Sunday, 25th Apr 2010

After doing the recce and finding it hard, i new this was going to be a hard one,

I had mentally set my sights on a sub 2 hr finish,

After some careful organization we that is Steve Shaw, Steve Burt of Run Forest Run fame http://sbrtrfr.blogspot.com/ and Ray Mansfield all made our way over to Hayfield. Some in car banter was inevitable, and was somewhat overshadowed at times by the nerves i think.



Arriving at the right time we managed to get a place in the Scout Hut car park, booked in, saw my number thought it was 118 but it was 113, and generally had a mooch round, saw some old friends Caroline and Chris from Shelton Striders and also some new faces ....

A couple of kit check items sorted out, thanks to Steve B, we all had maps, and then we got ready to make our way to the start.



As we lined up saw Richard Hakes and John Gunee so introduced myself to them.

A few kit check numbers read out and that was it, off up the road and onto the snake pass, a real slog for the first 20 mins, and seemed to be going backwards really, i had prepared myself to just keep it going and then let my legs open up on the top, but the climb up William Clough just seemed to totally knock me for six, i just kept digging in, but seemed to be going backwards through the pack, never any good going up hill, maybe i should train for it a bit more,

Eventually after 4o odd mins i reached the finger post and still have the final climb up on the the ridge, when i reached the top i took on some water and half an energy bar to give me some back, for the latter parts of the ridge.




From here i was away really, i could focus on the task ahead, and the next runner, and try to pull them back in, i was pulling one guy in, and then he would take off, over to the left and then appear ahead of me, by some 15 seconds, Local knowledge hey!

The Downfall soon came and i managed to nip past two, maybe four by just thinking about my route, from here on in it seemed like an age, but i just kept going at it,

Soon enough Kinder Low arrived and the yellow flags showed the way onto the flagstone path, down that and keep left onto the drop towards Swines Back, the flags stopped and so did my concentration, i was tired, yes, but i just seemed to be moving to fast and that was it, over i went, it's the second race in a row that i have done that, as i picked myself up and did a quick check, the guy i had spent 5 mins overhauling shot past me, gutted, but it made me even more determined to pull him back, which you can see below, this is just coming down from Edale Cross.



I kept on pushing as i made my way down and across the fields with Kinder Low end to the right and then through Tunstead Ho, and onto the road towards the recreation ground, a quick check and i had 10 mins to get to the finish, i was conscious that i had to really try hard to keep it going. As i turned right and then sharp left onto the field i could see the finish i just put my head down, a few shouts of encouragement from Steve S and i was home, checked the watch and 1 hr 58, not great, but i have set myself a marker for next year,

Some post race banter with the guys, Ray had a fall and Steve B was first home, i think, but i will post the results here when they are published and then home,

Steve Burt - 1.40.07 - 154th
Stephen Shaw - 1.44.13 - 185th
Ray Mansfield - 1.44.25 - 190th
Martin Griffiths - 1.58.52 - 260th

A great day out with good like minded folk!

Markeaton Hill - Trig Point - S3984

Set of from home for this one situated not to far away, approx 2 miles,

Didn't really want to do this one as last year it seemed to just take me through a housing estate,

Well glad i did it, even though from the picture below, you will see that it is in fact situated on somebodies driveway, on Cricklewood Road Mackworth Derby