Any one know if Ben is still thinking about a winter BG?
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Mine's set to take a reading every minute, so will obviously miss the smallest ups and downs. On the other hand, it always seems to overestimate the total amount of ascent/descent, so may just be rubbish :)
Advice needed on the navigational front please. Not long after the trig at Margery Hill the route is disected by a 'proper' footpath. From my map our trod more-or-less continues straight on from here and sure enough there is a path there which we followed for a while on Sunday. I was happy with this path, even though it seemed to be heading to the left a bit, but my running partner Dave saw Marvin in the distance over to our right and felt we ought to cut across the heather and bog ravines to get on their path. My legs got scratched to buggery by the heather and after all that I think it was Marvin on the wrong track not us (even though Marvin's path went in the right direction too albeit starting from way right). Was I on the better track first off?
Any help definitely appreciated :D
We only saw you behind us after Outer Edge, but a few comments:
1) You don't need to go over Margery Hill. Keep left a bit further until the path splits just after a small group of rocks and then bear right and pass just to the left of a fenced off area (Margery Cairn?). This path is as marked on the 1:25,000 map.
2) I assume the path you're talking about that crossed yours was at Cut Gate where there is a small cairn - one of the checkpoints
3) We followed the path as marked on the map along watershed from Cut Gate - the GPS track is as close to the marked track as possible given the bogs. It was well defined, and held the highest line towards Outer Edge. I'm not sure if there is a better route, but I'm pretty confident that we followed the same route yesterday as during last year's race when we were guided by Mr Bleaklow, IanDarkPeak.
The bit of the route that got me was from Swains Head to Bleaklow Stones. How on earth do you find and follow the best line there?
Let me have your email address and I'll send you the tracklog or an image of the route we took, whichever you prefer.
P.S. Don't you just love the way they mark "Ford"s on the map? How are they any different from the bogs along most of the route? Is it the depth of the groughs?
[QUOTE=Marvin;191758]We only saw you behind us after Outer Edge, but a few comments:
1) You don't need to go over Margery Hill. Keep left a bit further until the path splits just after a small group of rocks and then bear right and pass just to the left of a fenced off area (Margery Cairn?). This path is as marked on the 1:25,000 map.
2) I assume the path you're talking about that crossed yours was at Cut Gate where there is a small cairn - one of the checkpoints
3) We followed the path as marked on the map along watershed from Cut Gate - the GPS track is as close to the marked track as possible given the bogs. It was well defined, and held the highest line towards Outer Edge. I'm not sure if there is a better route, but I'm pretty confident that we followed the same route yesterday as during last year's race when we were guided by Mr Bleaklow, IanDarkPeak.
The bit of the route that got me was from Swains Head to Bleaklow Stones. How on earth do you find and follow the best line there?
[QUOTE]
answers
1) Keep left at the fence which protects the stone age burial mound, approx
(SK187 957). This will bring you out spot on the Cutgate CP although there are a few new fences in this area. Do not go over MH it is alot slower and there are some deep bogs on the way off.
3) There are a few minor variation but hang on to the top and it should get you round. I do know of one faster line but it doesn't last that long. there's also another which I want to try( might keep this one a secret for my team). Besides in the dark and fog you are best just concentrating on not wandering off line. Look for a local to follow. it worked for a few teams last year;)
To get to Bleaklow stones you need to know the bearing and stick to it when it suddenly looks like it is wrong and...... a presto a small trod appears.:)
give me two weeks and I'll be up for a long jog over bleaklow.
Hehe, I love the way you can both actually describe your route selection as if there was a 'real' path to follow through all of that quagmire. Once in the bog lands there is a track I appreciate but, even when it could be obviously followed, it was always very boggy and we found ourselves always trying to run on the periphery - this in itself probably made it slightly easier to lose our thread every now and then.
Once the bog dunes started to appear though any semblance of a path seemed to completely disappear in places, made worse as we meandered to avoid the most blatently deep pools and bogs, although like you mentioned Ian every now and then a little trod did seem to incredibly reappear like magic. Beyond Bleaklow Stones heading for the Pennine Way at the Cairn it seemed to make sense to always head west from stake to stake, although even here I think you can cut a slightly more direct line by vering a bit to the right after passing about four of the stakes. (That could be me imagining things mind as it did get a bit dis-orientating in the maze).
We didn't visit Margery trig by the way but did follow the obvious path to the left. I'm still a bit confused about where you go when the cut gate path disects our route. On my map and in reality this was a cross roads with our trod more or less continuing straight ahead. That said when on that trod after about half a mile we then left it to hack through the trackless heather and gulleys to then get on the path that Marvin was on. Once at outer edge sure enough another path joined from the left and I'm just assuming that this might have been the original trod. Hopefully the info Marvin is sending me will put me straight anyway.
Anyway it looks like I might be down again on 8th Feb to do all that again. I can't wait :)
Let me know and I may join you for some of it, Not sure yet whether i could go the whole way but would like to try.
The distance between CG and OE is less than a mile but I would imaging that you are talking about crossing Bull clough THIS IS the home of the bog monster and the place where walkers/runners end up chest deep. the best route is either way right or way left, I've heard many theories about which is best but what you don't want to do is go down the middle. shudders in fear
Perhaps you were on the left side and Marvin on the right.:confused:
I think try to stick to the posts is an advantage because it is easy to wander on Bleaklow, you go round one hillock , then another a pretty soon you're 100 m off route. It might save you 2 minutes going direct but it could cost you 30 minutes try to re locate your self. bearing in mind you've run 25 miles and been up all night, possibly in snow, rain, clag. easy for you concentration to go.
Not doing it this year but when we did it we took a different line to most when going from the checkpoint after Back Tor and crossing Abbey Brook. Most teams seemed to head NE from the checkpoint then NW over Featherbed Moss. We headed down the clough then crossed the beck and bore NW to pick up the marked track that leads to Margery Hill past Penistone Stile.
The section from Cut Gate onwards was, erm, interesting:eek: with the first part to OE being the worst. Also bad was the initial section from Swains Head heading towards Bleaklow Stones but we got a good line after that and got past a few teams in the mist and murk:D Bleaklow Stones to Bleaklow Head was a big strain for me as I'd got cold and wet and wasn't going too well - feeling a bit hypothermic.
Going from Bleaklow Head to Bleaklow Stones you could do a 180 and end up going in the wrong direction and you wouldn't realis until you saw teams going in the opposite direction. But... no one could be so daft could they?