Calderdale Relays: the Partial Recce

 Last year, I was introduced to the Calderdale Relays and really enjoyed it. This crazy event involves pairs of runners from various club haring around six legs of the Calderdale way in a relay racing to be the first back to Halifax. Logistically, it is a complete nightmare, even before you account for injuries and dropouts. Team spirit and adventure wise, it is fantastic. 

And so today I returned to the Calder valley once more, with the aim of recceing most of the leg I had been allocated. Last year I did leg 2 and my loving husband kindly dropped me at the start of the leg for the recce, and it finished in Todmorden so I could train home. The car logistics on the day were also worked out by someone else so it was the dream. It was gloriously hot on both runs (the recce and the race) and I loved running out to Stoodley and the mix of road, trail and fell the leg contained. Less good was the long climb up to the castle towards the end but the hurtle down to the finish was fun. 

This year, the start and finish were both remote, and at nearly 10 miles I was not up for a full out and back with the dog. So I settled on pitching up at Heptonstall and running 6ish miles out and then running back from there. This would take me to just above the final valley and climb without me causing the dog to keel over. I will need to go look at the start (thought I have run part of it in reverse at another race) but I am hoping we can wing it towards the end. 

I parked at the visitor car park at Heptonstall as you aren't supposed to drive through its cobbled streets unnecessarily. This was only a short walk from the Calderdale way and we traced it back through the village to where we will first enter it. This is an obvious turn so that was reassuring but Heptonstall is a rabbit warren of weird twisty passages and also, as creepy as.... We managed to navigate down the alley ways , past the ruined church, around past the shop, down another alleyway, past an arch proclaiming it was built in 1759, past a stone that was part of the village stocks, and then finally on to the bridleway that would lead us down the wooded slope to Midgehole. This is a steep descent that is made from the local grey stone that can be slippery when wet, plus also the leaf mulch from the tree. We didn't go fast but on race day it will be interesting, with 2 and a bit miles already in the legs. It crosses two roads, but generally wasn't too hard to follow. It bottomed out at the river at Midgehole and I let the dog have a drink before picking up the road and thanking the lord for the National Trust toilets on the other side of river. 

From here we picked up another stone path but this time heading steeply up. I won't be able to run it which worries me, and it goes up and through trees for some way. In places the rocks that make it are broad, in other places it is more bobbly and unstable. I was glad I had recced this, as side paths kept emerging and signage wasn't brill. After another much smaller water crossing, we climbed some more, hung a hard left and climbed a bit more.....eventually we popped out on a road but it seemed a long walk. We crossed the first road and then turned right on the second. I thought it was a reasonable run on the road (leg two had some really long segments) but actually we quickly turned left up towards a farm and then up another track (even more slippery) before another track took us up on to the moor where we turned hard right and started to hand rail the wall. 

Here the run opened up, and if it wasn't for the dope on a rope of a dog, we might have gotten some pace. It was warm so I was trying to be kind to the dog and myself. We enjoyed explansive views back towards Heptonstall, and over towards Stoodley Pike. Birds called from the surrounding area and sheep with lambs, as well as cows in fields were everywhere. This is very much a farming landscape, now that quarrying is much less a thing. Much of the moor is handrailing the wall that marks the edge of the access land. There is one bit where technically you have to pick up a trod, but if you miss it there is a track, and at one point you go past a golf course, but mostly it is easy enough running. At one point we followed well made markers across the moor, their yellow tops easy to pick out and the path quite easy to follow. Then back to handrailing as the path headed to the east.

The moorland section went on about 4 miles, undulating but mostly runnable. A few times I paused to check the map, thinking we must be nearly there but being surprised there was still yet more moor to go. But eventually a sign post marked the left turning off the moor and on to a track that bgan to descend in to the valley. Track then road and we were to zig zag down hill. At this point I decided it was time to make the turn. I took the map out and visually traced the route on the otherisde of the valley. It would be just over a mile of unrecce'd section but crikey the last climb looked massive! Oh well, I guess I'll have time to mapread on the walk up.....

We ran back the way we came. We met a lady with a dog coming the other way. I'd seen very few people in the run but a few had said hello. On a whim I asked this lady if she was on a recce for the relay and she said yes! We passed a words, and it seems she was running a full out on back, though i did say she could take the dog on the bus if need be which I really hope was accurate as I have always been allowed. It is always nice to exchange words on an easy run. 

The climb from Midgehole to Heptonstall was huge. It had been relatively uneventful on the way back and I had needed to check the map far less. It had been slippery coming down some of the rock sections but generally alright but this last climb I did very steady, letting the dog bounce among the trees. I was glad to get to the shop in Heptonstall for a diet coke and pleased to see a few more people out, all of whom said hello. It is still a very creepy place. I took my coke back to the car park (near the newer part of the village and mildly less creepy) and drank it sat on the boot whilst the dog ate his lunch. I looked across the Blackshaw head and realised I had to do all this quicker next week. And also that the locals might be plotting to sacrifice me if I didn't head off soon. Lets hope my legs recover and the locals don't catch me on my return next week!