25th April - Bank Holiday Monday

Went for a run with Nick at 1.00pm.
Met at Clough Head Car Park, unsure of where, how far we were to go etc.
Having spoken to Nick when I got there, I was none the wiser, so we decided to head off on the reservoir side and just see where the run took us.
It would be fair to say that we both felt a little leggy, so the run was 'steady' and uphill.
We followed the route out towards 'Hog Lowe Pike' picking up the Rossendale Way - the views here on a clear day are something else!

A view of the valley

We carried on along the Rossendale Way - I mentined to Nick that for all the years of running around here I'd never actually followed the path. We had a bit of a discussion as to whether we actually were on the Rossendale Way, which we were before heading into the woods.

Abandoned farms on the Rossendale Way

Once in the woods we picked the pace slightly, heading to the second climb. The climb itself is only about 400ft and not a difficult climb at all, but towards the end of the climb, the track is very rocky and very steep and if you try to climb at speed it does get to you.

A bit of a rest here, before the next climb to Hog Lowe Pike.

We returned from here and ran out to the ,chimney' at Musburry Heights.

Chimney

I had a great decent off the hills here following the Rossendale Way until back up the climb for the second time. Again tough when you try to run at speed.

We followed the route back through the woods, before another short but steep climb back out of the woods returning to the Rossendale Way, before following our normal route off here back to the Grane Rd. We took at slightly different route back to the car, picking up speed quite sharply for the last mile.

A really great run with 5 climbs! (although some only small) - 1400 ft of climbing and 8 miles.