Cake race

   You can see many things on a Pennine fell race. OK, most of the time it's just the ground 2ft in front of you, but if you do raise your eyes there are usually vast expanses of open moorland, some of it covering steep cloughs and valleys, other times more undulating and expansive, sometimes with rocky outcrops. You can often see a reservoir or three and, these days, usually at least one wind farm. There are spring lambs, birds on the wing and ..... llamas! Well not often, but there were today. Just two, a brown and a white one. Not running free across the moor but peering curiously across the wall from a field near the start/finish of today's race. 
    It wasn't the only unusual feature. It's called the Cake Race because if you bring a homemade cake you get free entry to the race. While the runners are out pounding over the moors someone judges the cakes. This has to be the one and only time I'll enter a cake baking competition! 
   A less welcome oddity was the long flight of stone steps going down by the dam on Butterly reservoir and the corresponding and equally long flight going up the other side. But is the up or down worse? Up is obviously harder but I did pass 7-8 people whereas I was passed twice on the downward flight. 
   And when, oh when will this fierce wind die away? The steps don't actually get you very high so after contouring round between the local golf club and the reservoir there is still a 500ft climb onto Marsden Moor. By fells standards it looks rather tame, but that's without taking the wind into account. A super strong head-on wind makes running on the flat hard work, especially when you already got 7 fast miles in your legs; going up even a moderate incline is tough. Two of the men I'd passed on the steps had already re-passed and got away. I spent most of this climb tussling with two others but I lost concentration as we crossed a small brook and they got away too. I thought I was running strongly on the long descent to the finish but still got taken by another two! Ah well. 86 mins for 10 miles and 1,700ft climb is not so bad.

     The day had started with heavy, threatening cloud, in fact just before the race there was a fierce squall. However, by early afternoon it was brightening up and I went for a walk on a different section of moor and enjoyed blue skies and sunshine, though the wind became, if anything, even fiercer and nearly blew me off my feet several times (I maybe need to carry a heavier rucksack just to weight me down). There was surprisingly few birds to be seen – or perhaps not so surprising; what bird in its right mind tries to fly in such a gale? Plenty of twites (I think) and a few crows but not much else. I was slightly disheartened to discover that part of the pleasant little path down Willykay Clough (approaching Marsden from the west) which I had walked last summer has now been covered with great slabs of stone to 'preserve' it. How many more miles of the moors will be covered with these eyesores which are so horrible to walk/run on (so lots of people ignore them) and dangerously slippery as soon as they are wet, let alone icy?

   At the sight of Pule hill across the valley, I suddenly remembered I'd wanted to climb it last time I was in the area, but was then heading north, so today I modified my route slightly and took it in. Well worth the windswept climb and I enjoyed a sandwich stop on its south side with long views over Marsden and Wessenden Moors. All in all an excellent day out.