Becs and I took advantage of the good weather a couple of weeks ago to visit Edale and run from Mam Nick around to the top of Jacob's Ladder. I then left her to carry on to Edale while I slogged back up the hill to fetch the car. We did well with conditions, as the boggy ground between Rushup Edge and Brown Knoll was sufficiently frozen to avoid us sinking thigh-deep in the swampy sections that normally grab you.
Becs on Rushup Edge. © Haydn Williams 2012
The paragliders were out in force; I counted twenty in the air at one time as I returned to the car (and saw one crash-land into a dry-stone wall, but he was OK!). My entry for this year's Edale Skyline has recently been confirmed, so I just need to recce the rest of the route now. Saturday was spent at the Peak Edge Hotel, a new establishment which seems to be the only contemporary hotel in the entire Peak District! Heartily recommended though, with lovely rooms and cracking food on the room service menu (nothing says post-run recovery like curry with half rice / half chips!).
Ice under the trig point on Brown Knoll. © Haydn Williams 2012
On Sunday we returned home via Sherwood Pines. Becs hired a bike and we did a lap of the blue loop, then she retired to the car to warm up while I had a quick blast around the Kitchener trail. It was bitterly cold; the horrible damp pentrating kind that seeps into every fibre of your body, but it did have the welcome effect of making the trails pretty easy going. Despite running the previous day and having already done 10km on the blue loop with Becs, I rode a new personal best of sub-50 minutes, so had a nice finish to a lovely weekend.
