Quote Originally Posted by plodding bear View Post
Alex, which bit of the Moorland recce did you trip on - was it actually on the moors bit? It was glorious yesterday, I bet you enjoyed the run anyway - how much of it did you recce, and what did you think of it?
How nice of you to ak, PB. No, I tripped about 5 minutes from the end, on the gentlest of level paths consisting of earth and pine needles. I recced a lot of the race, would have recced it all except I got lost at least twice, due to my feeble map-reading skills. I think I went wrong even before Hangingstone Road/Moor Road and I probably never found the correct route up from the road onto the Moor. Or if I did find it, it's a surprisingly rugged bash up through heather and bracken on whichever sheep trods you fancy. Then later after York View I descended too far and had to regain height to get back on the Dales Way. And since the route up onto the Moor is also the route down, I followed a different but still rugged and pathless probably incorrect way back to the road.

So, apart from the feelings of failure and puzzlement, with resulting worries that I might be about to be benighted without a torch, yes I did enjoy it. There is a lovely long downhill mostly on a good track from High Lanshaw Dam to Craven Hall Hill. The views are of course superb, with a real feeling of being away from and on top of the world, the mud was bearable, though if we have heavy rains between now and the 6th that might get much worse. I also really enjoyed running across some lush grassy fields, but I suspect I may have been off route at the time. In fact, anyone who takes any of the above route description as gospel deserves to get lost. Anyway, on the day there will of course be marshalls and markers.