I read about the CFP a couple of years ago and instantly felt the need to run it all. Time passed and my weekends were filled with races and other challenges. It wasn’t till I saw that there was to be a race on it that the idea was re-ignited. I checked my diary, but was sad to see that I already had a race on that same weekend. That was it I had to run it before the race!

A week later, with as good as zero planning, I was running in the dark up thedeer parkinAshton Courttowards the Green Man which to me was the only place to start. I met the Gaveller and was then off on my way. I believe that I had the speed for getting close to the record, but was quite aware that I really didn’t know the course so was expecting to get lost. An adventure was what I was after!

My first problem came quick when I was still in darkness. Shortly after passing through the two rocks, I entered into the field and before I knew it I had lost the trail and was in a marshland! I crawled under some barbed-wire and soon was back on track. As I approached the church at Dundry I was rewarded with a beautiful sunrise. The going was really muddy but lots of fun, and my progress was pretty good. The section beside the river was really nice and was helping me to decide that this would definitely be a new favourite long training run.

I passed through Keynsham before dropping onto the familiar river footpath, through the field next to the old Cadburys factory, then past the Willsbridge Mill. All completely stunning! Once I got onto the Dramway things got a little confused. After I passed overLondon RoadI lost the signs and confidence that I was travelling on the right path. When I hit a road, I felt pretty sure that I was in the wrong place.I travelled up the road to where I thought I should be and carried on and on running in confused circles, till I returned to the same point discovering that it was in fact the correct place (though I’m still not sure that I had got there in the correct way). I continued for a fair bit further without error, till I approached Lyde Green. I passed under the M4 on a road (it should have been a trail) then continued to get rather confused again! My girlfriend Louise rang me to tell me that she was close on her bicycle. After much running around she discovered me next to the Kendleshire Golf Course. She fed me a still warm pasty before saying goodbye as I entered the golf course back on track. It wasn’t till I was at the 44km point that confusion returned in a vengeance. I crossed over the M4 which I knew was wrong as I should have gone under it, then I followed along a footpath before passing back under the M4. Very lost again! I headed in the direction that seemed to be right and spotted a CFP sign! Back on track again, but not for long! Soon I was walking and trying to work out where I should be going with no joy. The really frustrating thing about this was that I knew where I was but didn’t know where the trail was! The importance of preparation!

After much bumbling around aimlessly Louise found me again and got me back on track in Bradley Stoke. I then was fortunate to have Louise’s company till I got into Aztec West where we had to split again. All went really well as I arrived in Easter Compton as it was getting pretty dark and came out a lane onto the road and there was Lou again! I kept moving back into the dark and switched my torch on. Everything was going well and even though I had made an incredible amount of errors, I was really enjoying myself and was feeling pretty strong. I climbed up Spaniorum hill with a steady run then down the fields the other side. It was really wet but my feet were ok. I had a little pause in Henbury, as I was a little unsure then was on my way again. When I entered the Blaise estate, it was pitch black and I had read about some people having troubles here. Oh dear! I couldn’t find the steps up and ended out on the road, then back in the woods on some exceptionally wet and sloppy trail. Lost but I knew I was going in the right direction! I ended up at some shops. Turned back and went back where I had just come from and soon found where I should have come out of the woods. I headed into the golf course, and from here to the end I had no problems! Amazing, I was really enjoying it.

As I got to theDownsI called the Gaveller and he said he’d meet me at the Green Man. As I was passing over the suspension bridge, Lou caught me up and we arrived at the Green Man together where the Gaveller was there to greet us.

So to conclude my adventure I’d just like to say that if you are considering taking on the fantastic challenge that is the Green Man, I would strongly urge you to not be as foolish as me and actually put some time into doing some recce work, get the correct maps and study them well beforehand. I will now recce the parts of the route that confused me, before trying it again and getting around without getting insanely lost.

The first tranche of Woodwoses were all experienced mountain navigators, which means they had a lot of practice under their belts before they set out. Those of us without that experience probably need to reccie the route in stages or else do a lot of work with maps and satellite pictures beforehand. The alternative is to find a Woodwose or two to show you round.

The last two weeks we have been been reccing the route and will be complete by Friday next week. We would produce our own directional information and mapping, in line with our other events.

The whole mysticism of the Green Man Challenge makes it very special indeed and we would like to follow in that tradition. We have reduced all our entry fees for this type of event down to £45.00 per head, and honestly this doesn’t make us great profits as we do put a lot into making our events happen and the correct running of them, insurances etc, bla, bla, bla.

But it is most important for us that whatever we do is supported and where possible tailored to fit the expectations of you guys also.

Our hope is to set the race for February 2012 and make live for entries possibly this month. What we call it and how we advertise it would be in prior agreement with the Gaveller.

You can check out our web-site at http://www.ultrarunning.uk.com
We are waiting for logo designs for all our events, following which the site will be redesigned and will then look much better, so please bear with us.

Steve Worrallo
Ultra Running Limited

By Robin Whitlock
Oct 12, 2011

The South Bristol Ring Road is undoubtedly a hot topic for residents in the area now. According to the West of England Partnership’s TravelPlus website, the planned road will link the A370 to the A4174 Hartcliffe Roundabout and will include rapid transit bus lanes, bus priority measures and facilities for cyclists and pedestrians.

The website makes a point of stating that a major role of the road will be to provide a new route for the rapid transit system while the business case document stresses that at present South Bristol suffers from poor transport links and congestion. It also makes clear that a prime motive is to stimulate regeneration and growth in the area.

But the benefits are disputed by a number of Bristol residents and by interest groups such as Transport for Greater Bristol, Bristol Green Party and Friends of the Community Forest Path (CFP).

The CFP is a pathway that winds its way around Bristol using various footpaths, tracks and a number of rural lanes with particularly fine views across the Mendips and the Severn estuary. One of the areas threatened by the road scheme is the stretch of the path between Long Ashton and the A38.

With this in mind, on Saturday a group of local residents from affected areas along the route got together to walk the path as far as Highridge Common in order to draw attention to the threat presented by the road.

The road scheme is something that particularly irritates many residents living in the areas of the city likely to be affected it. Elizabeth Ellis, writing on the wall of Bristol Green Party’s Facebook group, points out that it will run through quiet suburban areas and over unspoilt countryside.

The area is actually part of the city’s Green Belt according to Pip Sheard writing on the Campaign For Better Transport website. She stresses in her article that “the public prefer improved public transport to new road building”.

This is a view echoed by George Monbiot who argues that the UK’s craze for new road schemes takes us back to the days of the old Tory government. The Campaign For Better Transport believe that such road schemes are an expensive waste of money.

Sian Berry said recently in an interview with BBC News: “Roads at £8,000 per metre are hugely expensive and unproven. This is a waste of money and there are better ways of sorting public transport – especially when council budgets are tight.”

Meanwhile, the Campaign Against the South Bristol Link advocate the opening of the Portishead rail line as an alternative to the road scheme. Although this idea has consistently been disregarded by those in power in the city.

Part of the route of the planned road runs across Highridge Common. This is where local resident Barry Lewis met the walkers on Saturday. He is really worried about what’s going to happen to this area as he’s lived in the area for the past 60 years, ever since his estate was first built. He told me that lots of people living nearby use the common to walk their dogs and enjoy its green space.

“It’s quite a chunk that’s going to be taken off it,” he said. “I can’t see why they want to take it, I want something left for my grandchildren.”

You are right that Three Acre Covert is nettly – swift progress through there helps.  But more unpleasant in my estimation were the three or four places where cattle being herded through narrow gaps had created deep gooey mud – on the CFP route from Willsbridge to Londonderry Farm and somewhere near Chewton Keynsham, in particular.  

There are some different route-finding challenges to a clockwise orbit.  I’ve made plenty of mistakes on previous runs over sections of the route, but the point that I have found consistently hard has been spotting the path on which to turn left after crossing Bailey’s Court Road. 

Looking back just a little it’s intriguing to think of passing so many attractive places on the periphery of Bristol in a day, quite satisfying.  But there is a bit of a challenge left for me for next year, perhaps, so see whether I can find a way to get around it in less than twelve hours – I’ll ponder on that over the dark nights of winter!

Message: Hello, this is just to mention that I managed to get around the Community Forest Path yesterday, with some deviations and not at all quickly (13.5 hours) but at least home safely. 
I was too tired from the previous week at work to get up early, but the forecast was reasonable and the days are getting shorter, so I saw it as a possible last opportunity this year.  Consequently I set off at 8:20 from home, not far from Sea Mills.  For the first section, clockwise round to the Kendleshire Golf Club, I mostly ran, but after that I found it very hard to run so walked.  I reached Keynsham at 14:20 and stopped briefly for lemonade, then got to Dundry just after 18:00, with a bit of drizzle.  I had a minor deviation in the continuing drizzle on the descent, but was back on track by the A38.  As the light faded I missed the path over Ashton Brook and had to reach the entrance to Ashton Court via the P&R car park and the B3128.  Fortunately the gates to Ashton Court were open and I found the Green Man with my head torch.  Increasingly tired, at 21:10 I made a silly blunder when nearly home and took a long circular loop around Sneyd Park, costing me 25 minutes, but I fini
shed just before 22:00 – very tired.  

I\’m not sure whether my deviations disqualify me from your list of completers.  To me the motivation was personal challenge (I was 60 in May), inspired by hearing someone from the Forest of Avon speaking about their work, including the CFP, 5-10 years ago at a John Muir Trust meeting near Bristol.  I\’ve run all of it before in sections, but wondered how I could put it all together.