Recce weekend - LDWA Trans-Pennine 100 route - Part 2/2

Day 3: Hathersage toTankersley, 23 miles, 3633 ft

The day got off to a rocky start, when I learnt that porridge pots don't go thick like porridge should do, if you fail to make them with boiling water. So if you are somewhere like a Youth Hostel you should check you have used the kettle that just boiled, and not the one next to it, that boiled half an hour ago. Otherwise, porridge ends up like a luke-warm, thin but somehow lumpy smoothie, which is not the best way to start the day off. 

Anyway, the start of the run was basically vertical, up Stanage Edge, so that took the mind off the icky porridge. 

It was really fabulous running along the rocky paths along the ridge, and the views were great. There were also many millstones scattered around - which had been quarried and made (from the gritstone) but then just abandoned (the Peak District millstone industry died out very quickly with the advent of machines and different types of material used to make millstones).

We had a checkpoint in the sunshine just before "Boots Folly Tower". It was lovely in the sun, but so cold. I couldn't get my temperature right at all today, it was nice in the sun and I got too hot, but as soon as it clouded over or got breezy it felt like the temperature dropped about 10 degrees. Ate the Easter crispy cake I got in the outdoor shop yesterday!

Shortly after, Tara had a fall, down a muddy hill. We were taking it in turns to fall over, it seems! Found a sign with a good amount of silly names, and "Penistone" was replaced by "Ughill" as my favourite....

Then we found a glove which seemed to be giving everyone the finger....

And then it felt like time to stop being silly, and focus on recceing the route properly again. 

We had a checkpoint in Worral, before Andrew had to leave to go back to work, and Tara, Alan and I carried on. The route got a bit more urban for a while, then there was a dreaded "continue over 7 fields" section, but we were rewarded when we reached Wharncliffe Crags. This was a beautiful couple of miles through some mossy woodland, with the sun shining on the silver birches, and surely there must be leprechauns leaping amongst the branches?

This was easily one of my favourite parts of the route! Even spotted the rare "Wharncliffe Sloth" as well.

We had a quick regroup in the sunshine in a very picturesque spot underneath a giant chestnut tree with one of those circular benches around it, outside Wortley Hall. We had been hoping for ice-cream, but with it being Sunday, the village store had closed early, as had the tea room. So sad. But it wasn't far to the end, and we were soon running through the back of an industrial estate, to reach our most glamourous of stops for the evening, the Sheffield/Barnsley (M1, Jct 36) Premier Inn. It actually had everything I'd been dreaming of. We had toffee lattes from McDonalds. I had a shower so hot that it made me go so pink I worried for a whole hour afterwards that I'd actually got sunburnt. A hot meal and cider (new cider - blood orange!) in the Brewers Fayre, followed by the long anticipated ice-cream. And a comfortable bed. What more do you need? I may go back for a holiday here! 

Day 4: Tankersely to Penistone, 27 miles, ascent 2198ft

Last day, so Purple Palace breakfast treat! Then it was off back through the industrial estate, to pick up the route again. Today was more roads, cycle tracks, and was much flatter. We ran past the remains of Tankersley Old Hall, where parts of the film "Kes" were filmed.

Then we found Scarlet O'Harley's village, and Alan set off the speed recorder (11 mph).

In a couple of miles we got to Wentworth, which was very pretty.

The Wentworth Woodhouse Estate came next, a nice Grade I listed country pile, which has the largest frontage of any house in Europe. 

The estate has a number of follies and structures, including the Needle's Eye. This was built in the 18th century, the story goes, in order to win a bet (after the a Marquess claimed that he could ride a horse and cart through the eye of a needle). 

In a few more miles, we arrived into Elsecar, and from here we picked up the Trans-Pennine Trail, which we followed pretty much for the rest of the way, a little along the canal, then onto the cycle trails. At Wombwell, which will actually be the start of the route on the real event, Tara had to head off to catch her train. Alan and I finished the last two sections, to get back to Penistone, which was mostly along cycle trails on the Trans-Pennine Trail, and made for a nicely flat and quick finish, just in time to catch the train back to Sheffield station (where we ran into Tara again!) for hot drinks and pastries, and M+S picnic, before catching the train back down south.

The route description, at 31 pages long (including 1/2 a page of abbreviations), was absolutely first class, and we barely looked at a map or GPX. It was a great weekend of adventures, and discovering of new places, sharing old stories and jokes, and making new ones. Thanks Recce Crew! Looking forward to the event in June! flatter and fa