Tuesday 19 November 2013

Snowy Dawn Patrol

Today's dawn patrol run took me and Tim to a secret location. If you're in the Glossopdale Harriers (and Pennine) then you'll know all about the goodie box Tim has been hiding in various locations. Today's pre-dawn run was to place the box once more. Apart from knowing we went above the snow line there's no other clues coming from me about this new location, just a couple of photos:

My almost new Mudclaw 300s having their first taste of snow
Definitely snow....not just a frost
There is something most satisfying about getting out of bed and going for an early run. Today's run was one of the more spectacular in recent times. As we left the edge of Glossop there were signs of frost, yet not frost. Too damp really to be frost, though there was a slight covering of ice on car windscreens. We ran higher, clag hiding the view and sunrise from us. I did a short bit of running without my torch, all good practice. Then within a matter of moments there was enough light for torches to be turned off and put away. My feet were starting to feel the chill of the snow underfoot and the foggy clag rolled in and out revealing the hillside before us. A glistening almost full moon still high in the sky beamed through the murk. And then, daylight, and a good smattering of snow. 

With the goodie box nicely hidden, both our gps watches recorded the location, we were off on our way home. Horses which we could barely make out not 30 minutes earlier were now clearly visible and the owl we heard twit-twoo-ing had long gone with the dawn.

My Mudclaw 300s have now done about 100km and I'm really liking them. The grip is much better than x-talons (or are my x-talons just quite worn down?!) and my foot is surrounded by more fabric so they should in theory be a little cosier. Today's chill was partly down to sock choice, not knowing it was going to be wet and snowy underfoot, and partly a bit of loitering around.

What a magical run. I'll reveal a couple of other photo's later, once the goodie box location has been revealed.

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