So, we’ve got this running ultra entered for October – a great excuse to get some miles in for the 3 Peaks Cyclocross race a month before. Weather looked great this last weekend, just for a change, so we grabbed our chance along with our bivvy bags and headed out to recce a big chunk of the route.

A handy bus ride out to a point around 15 miles into the 50 mile route and we were away.  Trotting, chatting and sometimes just walking fast we stopped after and hour or so and had some tea in a freshley mown field with ever curious cows checking us out. Once we’d got going again, cue a bit more ‘fast walking’ to let the pasta digest, it wasn’t long before it was getting dusky. Darkness soon followed and we were flailing around in places as the route challenged us in the dark – luck played more part than judgement in some places, dark is very dark in the woods.

We carried on in this vein for a couple of hours and jumped behind a wall at around midnight, snuggled up in our bags we were buffeted and blustered by high winds for the next few hours. We woke at seven to a completely mist covered hillside, went back to sleep for a bit! Another few miles in unknown territory through damp woods and over sandy moorland trails and we were heading back towards sunny Manchester on the train. Well worth the trip out as we have now got most of the route covered. A night on the hill is always worth the effort though, eh?

Rich.