Had an outing, anti-clockwise of this one yesterday, exactly a year to the day since I did it last year (not deliberate...just odd) and trimmed eleven minutes off my time, so a still-steady 4.41. Started from Roach End with a quick up-and-down the Roaches before heading off on the long section to Axe Edge (via Gradbach and the Head of the Dane to avoid most of the road) and was surprised to find so few other people out on quite a decent day by the standards of this summer so far.
Will have to try a clockwise outing next time, and Noel's route down off Axe Edge...it looks quite quick going down-bank to me.