15th December 2024
From the lovely if extremely windy village of Litton in the peaks, a group of around 180 runners assembled, clad in vests, waterproofs, Santa costumes and turkey hats (the poultry, not the state bridging Europe and the Middle East). The route starts along the road west out of the village before entering a field into the very brisk wind, which was a problem for most runners – none more so than a telephone box clad gent whose outfit was more suited to the foremast of a midsized galleon then for trail running.
Heading down the hill to Tideswell Dale car park and onto the dale path, weaving down the stream in relative shelter to Litton Mill and after about 3.5km of steady runnable descent the first hill began. Crossing the Monsal Trail and climbing up a steep field of around 150m elevation, before reaching the top
with the wind at our backs. Approaching Cressbrook Dale along the ridge, we dropped off the hill along a steep, slippery spur above Cressbrook (which pretty much every runner went at least part way down on their bottoms, with only spiky plants available to break the slide – sledges would have been more appropriate than any but the luggiest of fell shoes) and crossed the bridge just below the weir near Cressbrook Mill. Climbing on the road initially then on the trail protected by trees and the valley sides. Steadily climbing along the path before a sign stuck in a seemingly random bit of the hill nonchalantly pointed us to a quick jaunt directly up the valley side, off the beaten track until we hit the top and the headwind again, heading for the trig at Wardlow Hay Cop.
