I did Trollers Trot as an organised event in maybe 2010 or so. I don't remember exactly what year, and information online is sparse. My memory of it was very vague, and was confused with other events that start at Threshfield.
Claire wanted to get some distance in. We're entered for the Fellsman this year, and while I did quite a bit last year between solos and a few races, injury has got in the way for her for the last 14 months. We've been picking off some of the LDWA "any time challenge" routes over the last couple of years.
So, Saturday morning we got up inhabitually early and drove out to the southern end of the Dales. The traditional LDWA route starts from the Bolton Abbey car park, but I was reluctant to give the duke 15 quid for storing my van for the day, so we set off from Hetton instead. That turned out to be an unexpected blessing.
I'd had a bit of a battle with the GPSs that morning and been unable to get the gpx file onto a handheld. I'd put it on a phone, and in any case a quick look suggested I knew the route pretty well. We set off along the road to Cracoe in the rain.
At Cracoe we crossed the road and walked up to the church. We've both been this way several times before, so we were reasonably OK with where we were going.
Once we got onto the moor things got to be a bit hard work. The wind was driving the drizzle into our faces as we headed east across the fell. The clag was thick, no view was possible, and occasionally we'd pass other walkers or MTBers on the estate track. It was a fair old way across the moor to the road crossing at Halton Moor (10km or so), and we were looking forward to a break from the weather. The unexpected blessing though was that we got the grimmest section done right at the start.
From Halton Moor to Bolton Abbey was familiar as we'd passed this way fairly recently, although it was foggy that time too. This is a lovely stretch in nice weather, and I resolved to plan a route that crossed it on a summer evening, as I used to on my long mid week runs home from work. We remembered to pay a visit to Middle Hare Head, adding that to our Summit Bag list, and dropped through the pleasant plantation into Bolton Abbey. Turning right towards the hole in the wall and the village proper, in order to join the official route as defined by the LDWA gpx file, we opted for an early food stop at 'Tea on the Green'. After a very welcome spell of warm and dry, a nice lunch (egg mayo sandwich for Claire, onion bhaji wrap for me) we went back out into the slightly improved weather and crossed the river. At Cavendish Pavilion we took the turf zone on the bridge, then carried on along the river and up the hill to climb towards the Valley of Desolation.
We'd passed this way recently too, and spent some time talking about the walks we'd done around here. The path along the beck was distinctly dodgy with some slippery ground, and we were glad to clear it into the plantation at the top. From there it's a longish trudge uphill to Simon's Seat. We encountered a group of young men in full waterproofs at one of the picnic spots, and they were pretty much the only people we saw all day
Around about this point was (as I found out later) when I got a positive radio link. I've recently been learning about amateur radio, and was carrying a dual band vhf/uhf handset broadcasting APRS every 5 minutes (don't worry if you don't understand or give a bugger about any of this). I got a few connections with a gateway on the far side of Bradford 26km away on the way up to Simon's Seat, which was a nice milestone for me.
Down at the lane we crossed onto a path across farmland, and I had a chuckle about the rather loudmouthed runner I'd met here when I did the LDWA event.
Skyreholme.
So. I am a bit of a torch nerd. I never go anywhere without a torch. I'm mildly obsessive on the subject of torches anyway, I had actually thought on first leaving the van "I'm not sure I've got my torch". Given that I have OCD and my brain is a constant clamour of "CHECK THE THING, CHECK THE THING" and the one thing that you absolutely-must-not-do as an OCDer is listen to the evil OCD fairy saying "CHECK THE THING", I had ignored these misgivings.
This was a bad thing.
A very bad thing.
Because on digging into my bag to get my torch out at Skyreholme, I discovered that the OCD fairy was, for pretty much the first bloody time in my entire life, not kidding. I *had* left my head torch on the bed in the camper.
Fuck, frankly.
But, we are nothing if not practical and my beloved was carrying a spare torch. Not a head torch, but the Zebralight SC53 I had lovingly gifted her after she'd mentioned needing a backup. As backups go this was a pretty good option - I know it'll last 3 hours comfortably on medium, which is tolerable for walking. Plus I had about an hours worth of light from my "if all else fails" Olight in my first aid kit. So, we were OK for now. Plus we were a couple of hours from Threshfield which features a late night Coop and a petrol station. All good.
We carried on up the stunning Trollers Gill, the showpiece of the route. We were starting to lose the light but it was still a striking view. We hadn't come this way up the Gill before and it was really impressive. A few minutes pause for a cup of chai (handy hint - tea is rank from a thermos. chai tastes perfectly ok even after a few hours).
On the other side of the road from the gill we got onto the endless farm track down to Woodhouse. Claire had been here last out of the two of us, for the FRA relays. We were having a lovely time walking through the fog and the dark.
The path was a bit slidey and hard work down into Woodhouse, then we were onto the river bank. Here we could get some distance covered quite quick, as it was getting late and we were conscious of not having spare batteries for the torch. We soon got to Burnsall and made a note to come back and eat at the pub (I've eaten there a few times, it's good). I was fretting a bit about the suspension bridge. I wasn't relishing the idea of crossing it with Claire's torch in my hand, the OCD fairy would make that a very unpleasant experience ("THROW IT IN, THROW IT IN"), but I had the brilliant idea of zipping it in a pocket and lighting my way with my cheapo emergency light for the crossing.
After the bridge we slipped and slid our way up to the weir at Threshfield and crossed over. Last time I was here (about 20 years ago) there were fish visible from the bridge, but the stream was too fast and muddy today.
Some road wiggling through Threshfield brought us to Threshfield PRIMARY school, and suddenly everything made sense. My mental reconstruction of the route was based on it starting at the secondary (where the Fellsman finishes) which never fitted with my recollection. The primary school looked familiar and completed the picture.
A quick out and back to the garage for batteries, crisps and some food for our dinner and we were on to the final leg. We turned off the busy main road early and sneaked illicitly through a gate onto Moor Lane, then walked fast up the tarmac, then gravel, then finally bog out onto Boss Moor. A gate led to a small pond, and I suddenly knew exactly where I was. As we crossed Boss Moor to the road the rain stiffened and it started to get unpleasant, but we only had about 3km to go. Down the walled track to the moor above Winterburn reservoir, then slippy wet grass down to the gate into Moor Lane. It was getting wetter and wetter, but we were soon back in the village.
We dumped waterproofs in the back of the van, grabbed dry clothes and jumped in the cab, stripping off and changing opposite the rather gastronomic Angel at Hetton. But the windows of the van were steamed up and it was dark.
Leaving the village about 9.30pm, we were home around 10.20 and some quick sauteeing got dinner ready before 11. A long-ish day in heavy rain, but nice to get an ultra-just-about distance done, an interesting bit of personal history revisited in an area I love, and a very enjoyable day out. Next time I'll remember a spare torch.
46km/1300m. 10 1/2 hours elapsed, including a leisurely lunch.
