Mickledon Straddle Reccie
Change of date to SAT 7 th JAN not therefore Sun 8th Jan. Meet at 8 a.m.to get
off as soon as it's light.
Where? - near Langsett village. There is a car park near to the Flouch
roundabout on the A616 on the road to Langsett/Stocksbridge - the Car
Park has a height restriction bar at the entrance. WE ARE NOT MEETING
IN THE MAIN LANGSETT BARN RES CAR PARK WHICH IS IN THE VILLAGE. The
Flouch roundabout is the 1 that takes you on the A628 over Woodhead
pass if you need a ref point. If you Sat Nav into Langsett village (v
small) then keep going up the hill on the main road (A616) heading
towards Manchester/Huddersfield and as it levels out near to a
roundabout (Flouch - junction with A628) you will see the car park on
your right.
What to bring? - full body cover incl hat and gloves and a cag. Some
energy bars/gels and drink maybe. Small rucksack/bum bag or
alternatively palm your wears off onto someone else.
Footwear? - trail or fell shoes preferably although roadies will be
fine as Dave Senior discovered last year - perhaps not a pair of
roadies that you care too much about though.
Terrain? - mainly trails with 1 long stretch of single track which
cuts through the moor on the 2nd climb. At no time are you running
over open fell - tussocks etc. Rough under foot mind with stones/
running water to deal with.
Route? - It's a frying pan - long run down the handle which has a 3
mile steady climb up to Cut Gate - long descent down to Howden Res
- nice track run at side of Res - 2nd climb on aforementioned single
track - back down pan-handle. In short, 2 climbs and 2 downhills and
about 11 - 12 miles.
Pace? - it's a recce - so it will be very steady and at the pace of
the steadiest in the group - no-one gets left behind. Those who want to
run on a bit can do plenty of doubling back. We had a very mixed
ability group last year but everyone was happy to run together. Lots
of stops/walking/jogging involved will mean a 3 hour outing in some of
the wildest and most beautiful terrain on your doorstep. If you want
to run up the 1st main climb to Cut Gate and then turn around to run
the way you came - then that's fine and will give you a 6 mile ish
outing.
See you on Saturday January 7th!