This evenings adventure (on the hottest day of the year) was an initial recce of leg 4 of the Cotswold Way relay. The clue is in the title, as the route follows the Cotswold way from Severn Springs to Cranham Corner. Its about 20km or 12.4 Miles with some severe climbs and descents as well as some amazing views. I had buddied up with Emma as we both have this leg to run on the 29th and had agreed some car sharing logistics with Paul and Lucy (who are running Leg 5). All, we needed to do was follow the signs, stay upright and enjoy the ride.
After setting off from the agreed starting point at Severn Springs the views across the ridge line were fantastic and we took our time to take it all in and the odd photo along the way. However, from the first step we knew the terrain was going to be tough and the heat was going to play a big factor. I was carrying a back pack and water bladder, so we weren't going to go short on fluids. For the most part the first half was hard but manageable and we just got on with it, the second half though was a very different prospect. The signs became sparse and the need to look at the map and then the terrain meant that you could become easily distracted. Whist on one section of trail I wasn't paying full attention to the terrain and it came back and kicked me, well I kicked it and tripped! Whilst falling towards the ground, two options presented themselves, slide or roll. I chose to roll and to good effect, by the time Emma had heard the crash, bang wallop, I had completed a full roll and was back on my feet (cool). With no ill effect or any sign of damage we got back to the task at hand and I paid a bit more attention to the floor.
With the floor now taking a higher priority and with the map directions becoming sparse, we made a directional mistake (got lost) and ended up in Cranham. After a very steep climb to the top of Cranham hill we agree to ask for directions. With directions sorted we were soon back on track and nearing the end, but even with this short detour (1 mile) we finished in good spirits.
We are going to come back one more tie to work out where we went wrong, but fortunately this is only 2 miles from the end so we will run this in reverse until we find our mistake. The final journey home after collecting Paul and Lucy was eventful but that's another story. Tomorrows run, is definitely going to be slow an easy!
Just another day on the run365challenge!
www.justgiving.com/kevin-caple
Big Kev
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