Another version of the Somerset 3 Peaks

Here’s a proposed route for the alternative Three Peaks of Somerset by Tim Down:

 Porlock-Stoke Pero-Dunkery-Brockwell-Wootton Courtenay-Timberscombe-Slowley Farm-Druids Combe Farm-Roadwater-Nettlecombe-Monksilver-Stogumber-Rowcombe Farm-Crowcombe-MacMillan Way West-Wills Neck-Bishpool Farm-Great Holwell-Smocombe Farm-Goathurst-Chantry Cottage-Bridgwater (exit via A372)-Bower Farm-Summerway Cottage-Chedzoy-Stawell-Edington-Catcott Burtle-Westhay-Westhay Moor-Mudgley-Latcham-Rodney Stoke-West Mendip Way-Beacon Batch.

 

There is the beguiling prospect of continuing the route to Dundry and beyond to the Green Man.

 

Have taken an alternative route across the levels – am open to any suggestions but this way takes in a couple of the most remote parts of the levels, it avoids the complexities of the coastal route and also avoids the noisy intrusion of the M5.

 

What in Old English would someone be named who undertakes such a journey

Three Peaks of Somerset

On Sunday, 15th February, a group of us are having a go at the Three Peaks Route that starts in Chew Magna. I made the mistake of calling it the Three Peaks of Somerset to differentiate it form other Three Peaks challenges involving Ben Nevis etc. It was promptly pointed out that the Three Peaks of Somerset ought to be Dunkery Beacon on Exmoor, Wills Neck in the Quantocks and Beacon Batch on the Mendips.

Various point of view have been bandied about as to the best way of accomplishing such a challenge.

Originally, I though that it would be best to start at Porlock to attack Dunkery Beacon, but on reflection, it would be easier to start at Exford, in the heart of Exmoor, which has a car park, a hostel and two pubs.

From Exford, you could follow the Samaritans Way Southwest up onto Exford Common and then switch onto the Macmillan Way West to Dunkery Beacon and on to Dunster – why reinvent the wheeel? The Macmillan Way from here to Wills Neck looks very complicated, so I think it would be easier to cut down through Marsh Street to the coast and follow the coast path to Watchet. Then you could follow the road through Doniford and on up to Beacon Hill and Wills Neck.

From Wills Neck, the Samaritan’s Way provides the quickest route through Goathurst and Bridgwater to Chedzoy and the brisge over the King’s Sedgemoor Drain at Parchey

The next obstacles are the Huntspill River and the River Brue. There is rather a lot of tarmac on the next stretch, but I thik the best route goes through Stawell and Chilton Polden then across Chilton Moor to River House Farm, where there is a crossing over the Brue. Then there are roads and paths to take you through Westham and Blackford onto a bridle path that goes round West Stoughton to Ashton, Chapel Allerton and Stone Allerton, where there is a path down to Weare.

From here, the easiest option is the more easterly of the pairs of bridges over the Axe and the Cheddar Yeo. and then Stubbington Drove and Middle Moor will take you into the outsj=kirts of Cheddar. There is then a route through Barrows that leads to the bridle path round Batts Combe Quarry that leads to Warrens Hill Road and Tynings Farm – well known to all who have done the Mendip Muddle.

From Tynings Farm, there is an obvious route to Beacon Batch, from which there are several routes Down to Blagdon.

It’s about 60 miles if anybody’s interested!

The Dawning of the Lionheart

 

Saturday 1^st of November 2008 is

Green Man Challenge Day.

TACH will meet at Dawn (7 am) near the Blaise Estate Car Park to attempt to complete the 45-mile circuit of the Community Forest Path before Dusk (4-43 pm).

It is our aim to maintain an average pace of 5 miles per hour

and support will be provided on that basis.

If you would like to run with us for the whole or part of the route – register your intention to run by contacting

The Gaveller on www.closertothecountryside.co.uk

where more details will be found.

Or contribute a comment

Lawrence Weston Moor

On Tuesday, 2^nd July, I needed to go on a run from home in Henleaze, so I decided to go out to Lawrence Weston Moor to see if anything had been done about the blocked paths, which I had last reported to the Rights of Way department on 3^rd June 2008. (Nothing had been done of course!) I found a suitable route around Canford Park and the cemetery to Coombe Dingle and over Kingsweston Hill into Lawrence Weston.

When I went down Aylminton Walk towards Bank Leaze Primary School, I found a bunch of boys, who were playing a game with bikes or scooters rolling down the slope from the school gate. They were curious about me, which well they might have been as I was dressed in ancient orienteering kit in anticipation of nettles. I asked them about the path around the playing field. They did not know it existed, though they were standing next to it, and I suppose it must have been blocked for most of their lives. I noticed someone had used it as convenient spot for fly tipping. One boy thought I might be able to get through, but I knew that there was another route via the local nature reserve, so I headed down Atwood Drive toward Lawrence Weston Road.

On the corner, there was a gaggle of older boys and girls standing around chatting, but I thought nothing of it. A few moments later, I came across a fair haired youth in dark clothes running towards me at a nice even pace. I nodded at him as a fellow “athlete”  and noticed that his clothing was not that of a typical runner, but then not everybody can afford specialist running kit.

It was only then that I noticed a pall of black smoke rolling across the fields. I came across the inevitable red car burning away, just past the entrance to the nature reserve. The horn started to blare as I approached and I noticed a dog walker with a mobile phone in hand calling the police. I thought of adding my voice to his, but it was clear that even if I could have picked out the “athlete” in a police line up, there were ample witnesses to swear that had never left the corner of Atwood Road.

So, I hopped over the huge rock that had been strategically placed to stop young “athletes” from taking motor bikes into the nature reserve. Inside I found the remains of one bike that had managed to get in. It appeared to have been there for some time. Evidently no-one is responsible for removing such things. The whole reserve reeked of neglect. Substantial footbridges and gates showed that money had once been spent here, but there was no sign that the reserve was being managed. The gates were overgrown; but I had no need to use any of them as there were open field gates beside them.

The problem seems to be that every effort is being made to keep “the wrong sort of people” out of the reserve, and no effort at all is being made to get people onto it. It is about as different from other local nature reserves like Troopers Hill as it is possible to imagine. There, my wife and I met children who were in the reserve and were able to tell us which was the best path across it. Teenagers flew kites and talk together in the branches of trees.

On Lawrence Weston Moor, my only companions were a buzzard and a couple of woodpigeons. Unblocking the paths that give access to the moor would certainly help, as it would allow people to circulate through the area, but it is probably more important to find ways to connect the local “athletes” to the moor.

Is there a Woodwosish solution?

All quiet on the Green Man front

Everything seems to have gone quiet regarding the Green Man Challenge. It seems that it may turn into a winter phenomenon.

I have just taken part in the Cotswold Way Relay with Town and Country Harriers, which is in many ways a similar event, but this is definitely a midsummer event. It is tied to the Saturday nearest to the longest day, which is essential as the route is 110 miles long, especially if one is doing it as a solo effort. It is also helpful for a ten stage relay. Our team came 7th out of 24 in the Mixed Category, which we were very pleased with.

The Green Man Challenge is less than half as long, which makes it ideal for a winter event. Town and Country Harriers intend to have a group effort at completing the challenge in the autumn. I think that Saturday 1st November would be an ideal date. That is the nearest Saturday to Halloween, which is the modern form of Samhain, the fire festival that marked the transition between Summer and Winter in the ancient Celtic calender.

The idea is that we will invite other running clubs to join us in the event, either as idividuals trying to complete the whole challenge or as relay teams using a Garmin as a baton.

At the Wrington Woodland Run

I took a board covered with information about the Green Man Challenge to the Wrington Woodland Run, one of the Summer pub series put on by TACH. It raised a fair bit of interest. I think there should be at least four more Woodwoses before winter sets in. At least one of them will be the first female Woodwose.

When I was reconnoitring the course up Bull House Lane the night before, it occurred to me that the degree of climb and the conditions underfoot make it are very like a fell run. If I remember correctly, it would be a Medium length grade B fell race if we organised it through the fell runners association.

The Grizzly – over the hill?

The awesome Grizzly used to be one of my all-time favourite races. The course, starting in Seaton on the southest coast of Devon, can be anything up to twenty miles long and winds across the shingle, along the coast path up steepsided, wooded valleys, through streams and knee-deep black mud, more hundreds of metres of shingle, up a winding path up a cliff and across the grassy cliff-top path, which offers spectacular views of the shingle beach leading to the finish on the esplanade two miles below.

The race is a community affair and all sorts of people participate in the organisation. There were pipers on the hills and bands of all kinds at strategic points, including a folk band and a folk duo and  a drum band in a barn booming out across the hills.

Out on the course, everything was as I remembered it, except my ability to cover the terrain, which rather got in the way of my appreciation of the Kantian and Taoist jokes and Buddhist shrines along the route. At the pace I started, I used to pick people off as the race progressed. But this time I had to look on as fat old men and young girls hurried past me in the later stages. In my late fifties, I am definitely over the hill, and it was silly to suppose thatI would find it easy, just because I had managed to complete the 45-mile Green Man Challenge a few weeks before. As my much younger Green Man partner, Peter DeBoer, remarked it is whole different thing – and he too suffered in the last three miles (although he was way ahead of me!)

But at over 20-years old,the Grizzly too is showing its age. In the past, the race had the use of a holiday centre with a big hall, in which the participants could meet up before the race and could congregate afterwards to exchange experiences and wait for the prize-giving.

Now all that has gone. The only group of runners that were able to pose for a pre-race team photo were the Axe Valley Runners who organise the race. Members of other clubs, who I happened to bump into at the start and on the course, had no idea whether other members with entries had actually made it to the race. In the absence of a proper gathering place afterwards it would have been impossible to find out afterwards either. 

I found the post-race experience a let-down, a definite anti-climax. It could have been better if a hail storm hadn’t driven everyone into the surrounding pubs, restaurants and cafes shortly before I finished. But this year’s perfunctory Grizzly T-shirt was definitely below the standard that had been set by earlier models and the organisers cannot possibly rely of fine weather at the beginning of March for a satisfying end to the Grizzly experience.

Woodwose 7

I have just received Martin Beale’s report of his record breaking circuit of the Community Forest Path to complete the Green Man Challenge. I have published it in the adjacent pages, so it will always come up near the top.

Hydration is obviously the big problem in an unsupported solo attempt. As Martin noted, the streams on the route can not be regarded as safe. He used the Tesco Express in Bradley Stoke, which is a little way off the route. Woodwose 1 and 2 used the White Horse at Hambrook and the Lockkeeper at Keynsham to top up their reserves. I think there is also an external tap at the White Horse. It might be worthwhile to produce a definitive list of rehydration opportunities.

What is possible?

The latest Woodwose, Martin Beale, completed the challenge in 7h 48m, which is remarkably quick. But he puts that achievement in context.

My feeling is that with good support it would be possible to do the Green Man Challenge in under 7 hours. The record for the Round Rotherham race is about 6h20m and that is 50 miles long. I don’t know how hilly it is compared to the Green Man Challenge though (I’m not saying that I’d do it in under 7 hours).
I thought you did a good time with 9h33m. Pete and Tim have done some good things. I think they both have top 20 Bob Graham times!

The Bob Graham Round is reckoned by some to be one of the ultimate running challenges in the UK. It is 75 miles long and involves climbing 42 peaks in the Lake District in under 24 hours. I checked out the Bob Graham website at www.bobgrahamround.co.uk and found Peter Darwood and Martin Beale listed as members under 2006. Tim Laney is listed under 1987, but I don’t know whether that is the same man as the Tim who completed the Green Man Challenge. I also noted a Jack Bloor (1979) and Hilary Bloor (1991), who are not close relatives of mine. The point being that I could have done it then and now if I had been fit enough.

Martin also had some ideas about the best time to do the Green Man Challenge: 
I reckon that spring or autumn would be the best time for the Green Man: you need it to be somewhat cool, but I think it helps to have the ground a bit soft as it eases the going over the cow and horse hoofprints (which is significant over the southern part of the course). I had pretty good conditions on Saturday.

Green Man Record – Smashed again

The Green Man Challenge record has fallen yet again!

Another fell runner, Martin Beale, has had a go and claims to have taken another hour off the record.

Martin, a friend of current record holders Pete Darwood and Tim Laney, filed this report yesterday:

Hi Gaveller,

I did the Green Man Challenge. It was a fine route. I particularly like the southern section from the Suspension Bridge to Keynsham. I’m hoping to write a report soon.

This a solo unsupported round. The supporter I had for Patchway to the Suspension Bridge had to pull out at the last minute due to family reasons. This made things a little difficult for the last 12 miles!

I started and finished on the Bristol side of the Suspension Bridge (this made most sense as I live in Kingsdown / Bristol).

I did the route in 7h 48m 14s. My GPS gave me a distance of 47.14M (I went slightly wrong in Stoke Gifford and Warmley and had to cut back at right angles to get back on the line: this added to the distance). My altimeter gave an ascent of 1000m.

I mates with Pete Darwood and Tim Laney so we carved from the same block running -wise.

Thanks for inventing this challenge. It’s great to have this in the Bristol area.

Best regards

Martin

Congratulations Martin! It is good to be able to welcome another Woodwose.