two deer, a fox and a water vole
This was the sum total of wildlife spotting from Tuesday nights run and Thursday nights ride. Tuesday was another very windy and wet day and I made myself head out in the evening for a flat-ish 5 miler run. I stayed in the valley among the trees as much as I could so get out of the worst of the wind and rain. I saw the two deer on the track, as they didn’t run off as I don’t think they could work out what I was until I was very close. I heard the bark of the fox first before catching its two twinkling eyes in my torch beam. It barked another two times before loping off into the undergrowth.
Wednesday was very windy again but not a lot of rain fell. It was quite strange to not be soaking wet although the roads where absolutely filthy due to the amount of traffic using them at the moment. One section felt like riding on a farm track, as there was not sign of the tarmac underneath a thick layer of mud, and gravel. The increased traffic is slowly widening the road and spreading a lot of the verges onto the road! My road bike looked like I’d been mountain biking with it! It needed a clean anyway.
Thursday evening P and I headed out for a local short mountain bike ride, down to the coast and back. The old farm tracks were very flooded still, significantly over hub-deep water, and this was where we saw the water vole, swimming across on of these deep pools. Not a mammal I’d expect to see just there! It was by recent standards a lovely night, with large breaks on the cloud and the half-moon shining down on us. We even saw a few stars! The wind was still quite strong, but no rain fell. We covered about 12 miles, leaving enough time to pack for the weekend. Off down to the peak partly to recce Tanky’s Trog across Bleaklow and partly for family gatherings! Should be fun!
And now for the weekend re-cap. P and I went down to the Peak on friday evening. Saturday I headed out for a recce of Bleaklow as planned. Snow had fallen overnight and the mist was down on the tops. P dropped me off at Crowden, and I headed across the east side of Torside reservoir and up onto Bleaklow via Fair Vase Clough, with a couple of Dark Peak runners who I bumped into. I then left them near Hern stones and tried to reverse the Dog Rock route to the top of Torside. I got this slightly wrong in the mist but still ended up at Torside top and found the route across to Dog Rock. By this time my feet had got very cold as the snow had started to melt leaving a lot of very cold water (always colder than snow!). I was also running out of time to meet P in Glossop, so headed down Lightside to Doctors gate and the van.
On Sunday I had more time in the morning before the family lunch so managed to squeeze in the Famous Grouse Race from Birch Vale. I had never run this race before, even living in the area for 8 years! The weather wasn't great with sleet and rain falling before the race started, but it held off the worst during the race. To my surprise I finished as first lady, despite having slightly heavy legs after the day before's excursions and the fact that this is a very runnable race - not my thing at all! A litre bottle of Famous Grouse now sits in the sideboard!
Wasn't sure about this photo, but what the hell, if you can't laugh at yourself then!!!
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