Event Report: Peak Raid Anytime Event 1 Monyash

 It isn't often I can convince my husband Martin to come out with me, but he will do the odd bit of orienteering and if there is a nice cafe promised at the end all the better. However, as we drove over to Monyash and the blue skies became increasingly grey then rained, the fog descended and the temp dial on the car dropped a few degrees, he did start to make noises that this is a terrible idea. Thankfully I was driving and its too far to just turn around and come back. There was then a moment I very nearly got a full tantrum with him when my phone flat out refused to connect to a GPS signal and there was very little signal to start redownloading things as Martin got cold and grumpy but we were saved by Martin's phone connecting to something and off we went. 

Peak Raid Explorer Events run mini-mountain marathons through winter but started doing Anytime events around Covid. I love them as I often can't make the proper events or don't have dog care, plus feel less pressured when its just me, so I can head off and get them done at a time and pace that suits me (with dog as necessary). I have a few reports on here from last year and maybe the year before for those interested. Once you have your head around MapRun, they are fab, but (hint) I always get the printed maps as well for ease. Thanks to Paul and Andy for keeping going with putting these on. 

The first of this years events is in the pretty White Peak village of Monyash, allowing for explorations of Lathkill Dale or across the fields to Magpie Mine. My major concerns for the day were a) weather, b) Martin tantrums and c) extreme muddiness (see the Peak Raid MM I did in November...). White Peak is traditionally muddier and slippier than Dark Peak, with its white limestone lethal when wet, and its flat farm fields soaking up water. But we also had concerns about flooding in the dale and it seemed we were going to get wet feet either way. We'd never been to magpie mine but had done the dale before so we opted for the farmland route as we ran away from the market cross that marked the start of our course. 

Oscar the dog was keen to start, and after one slight wrong turn out of town (the calibration of brain to map usually takes a few minutes) we were off across fields but having a few problems with the narrow squuze stiles which foxed Oscar completely. He is fine on stone step stiles which formed the majority of other stiles but once or twice even I was worried I was stuck in a squeeze (I'm not  THAT fat!). It was soft under foot but not unbareable and we zig zagged through fields passing few people. Sometimes the path was obvious but often it was a bit of a guess exactly where it went, or we had to handrail down the side of field ploughed in autumn and now growing unknown crops (slowly, its rained so much). 

The points came fast enough to keep interest but we still covered good distance. We were heading towards Sheldon and Deepdale initially, and the ground was undulating but mostly runnable. Roads were quiet but when cars came they were often pretty fast. There was little in the way of livestock which made handling the dog easier, though he spotted the odd rabbit. At one point we startled some runner ducks and at another a hare sped across our path, mad in its March-ness. A docile horse watched us across another field. 

There was a climb out of Deepdale that was a bit of a stomp but a lot of it was runnable. We cruised passed miles of stone walls. Magpie mine loomed across fields from some distance after we hit the top of this and we wound across fields to get there. It was much bigger than I imagined and stopped to take a few photos. 

We saw a few people at this point but in general, it was a quiet area of the Peaks, unlike Monyash and Lathkil which were much busier on our return.

We were turning back now, heading net downhill. Martin isn't a runner and had covered over 5 miles at this point so I was impressed he was still going strong and not complaining. Amazingly the rain was holding off and the navigation thus far had been relatively easy. That easy navigation changed as we hit Ricklow dale and the open access area. We had a few different time length routes planned for the way back, depending on how long it had taken until then, but we thought we had time to do Ricklow Dale and pick up the two points there, grab a view over Lathkill Dale and then head back in to town. But as we most Open Access areas, suddenly there was a maze of trods going in all directions, and without number on contours, we were looking for a downhill path when we wanted and uphill one. We probably only lost a few minutes, not helped by my dog trying to pull me over on the wet limestone. 

But we were soon on the floor of the Dale and heading back towards Monyash, aware we had time to grab only one of the points in the village, not both. We decided to pick the one off to the left but got a bit turned around with left turns and lost another few minutes here, before Oscar got fully stuck in a squeeze. We were going to have to move it to get back in time. We actually made it with two minutes to spare despite a lot more cars and traffic than when we had left. The sun was out and everyone was sitting outside the cafe from walkers to bikers. Martin seemed pleased with what we had done and we opted for oatcakes in the busy tea room (mercifully we took an inside table as it shortly poured down!) whilst we dissected out run. Later we took a trip to Bakewell where dodged yet more showers (and more people that I can cope with- bank holiday in Bakewell is not for me!). 

If you are in the Peaks before October, get yourself signed up to one of the events and head for an explore. You can do them Anytime and any pace for 2 hours just using your phone and they will be released monthly from here in. A great way to explore previously unknown areas!