Coope's Dozen ('Unofficial')

Whilst running with Ed and Kev last weekend it was decided that we would hold an early Coope's Dozen today before the tussocks gets high in the summer.

We initially met down at the bottom barn in case people turned up for the UTUP not knowing about the plan for the day.  Not wanting to add extra mileage to an already long run, we then drove up to the top barn to park up.

At the start of the race (in order of the below photo) was Ed, Kev, me, Julie, Josie, Albert, and Colin (Colin was taking the picture).

We set off at 9.00am and headed up towards Pigeon Tower car park.  Josie and Albert were off like bats out of hell right from the word go and we didn't see them again for the entire run.  I don't know where they get their energy from.  From the car park we headed along towards the woods, before turning right into the new plantation up the steep hill to George's Lane.    We crossed over George's Lane, over the stile and up to the first of the 12 hills - Noon Hill.

I always find it incredibly difficult to start a run with an ascent so by the time I reached Noon Hill my calves were really burning.  They soon eased off though once I'd had a bit of a stretch and we headed off cross-country towards the Pike. At this point I realised that I perhaps hadn't tied my shoelaces tight enough and my ankles were going all over the place as it was pretty boggy underfoot due to all the recent rain. We reached the Pike and then decided to go the cross-country route to Two Lads.  I stupidly had forgotten to tighten my laces when at the Pike but luckily didn't go over on my ankle and made sure I tightened them up once we got to Two Lads.  At this point, Colin left the group as he hadn't actually come out knowing that we were doing Coope's Dozen and only wanted to get 5 or so miles in.  After standing and chatting for a while, we then headed off towards the Shooting Hut.  We went a different route to usual and headed along part of the Two Lads race route before coming out onto Coal Pit Road.  We ran along the road a bit but then turned left through Roscoe's Tenement which cuts across to just next to the Shooting Hut.  

We then headed up to Smithills Reservoir, where Julie went her separate way.  From this point, we started to cover ground I have never been on before.  Usually when I go to the reservoir I go all the way round it and then up onto the top of Winter Hill along the boundary wall but today we went straight on and up to hill number 4, Whinberry Hill. What an amazing view it was from there.  I wish I'd taken my camera with me as it was so clear and beautiful.  So far we had been pretty lucky with the weather as the forecast had shown rain pretty much all day but we had only had a slight soaking when we were around the Pike and Two Lads. 

At this point, all the summits are quite close together and it wasn't long before we arrived at Egg Hillock which again had lovely far reaching views.  

Next was hill six, Counting Hill, which is along the aforementioned boundary wall up to the top of Winter Hill.  It's really boggy round there so I'm glad I had tightened my shoelaces earlier as otherwise I probably would have lost one of them in the bogs.  

It was a huge relief when we finally got through the gate and onto the short bit of tarmac on top of Winter Hill as it gave my feet a chance to dry off a little from all the bogs we had just come through.  We got to the trig point and then started our decent towards Hoorden Stoops.  It was again really wet and muddy on the descent so my feet weren't dry for very long but at least we were going downhill now.  Funny, this route seemed to have a lot more up hill than down hill which is obviously impossible seeing as it's a loop.  I think it's because all the up hills were really long and gradual, whereas the downhills were really short but steep.

Once out onto the road at Hoorden Stoops, Ed retrieved his 'stash' which he had placed behind the wall yesterday evening.  He had enough water, bananas and granola bars for the three of us and it was a much needed pit stop.  Kev also had a provision of jelly babies, which went down a treat.

Then began the slog up to Old Adam's Hill, again somewhere I don't think I have been before.  It seemed to take ages to get there as at one point we lost a lot of elevation and had to climb back up again.  On finally reaching the top, we then went across to Spitler's Edge, which is when the heavens opened.  I was really glad I was wearing my cap as the peak acted as a shield because the rain was really pelting down on us as the wind was pretty strong.

From Spitler's it was onwards and upwards to Great Hill, summit number 10 (nearly there!).  We had a bit of a sit down on the top and some more jelly babies and then headed out towards Round Loaf, again somewhere I haven't been before.

Only one hill left to go!  We were all starting to get pretty stiff by this point but no turning back now (plus who would actually want to turn back at this point???).

We dropped down into the beautiful little village of White Coppice and then headed along the road a bit towards Healey Nab.

Healey Nab, a wooded area, was totally different terrain to all the rest of the run, which had mostly been on open fells and moorland and so thankfully was much more easy going.  I have run past Healey Nab on a number of occasions but have never actually run up into it and to the top before today so, again, new ground was covered.

Once out of Healey Nab I was onto very familiar territory as we were on the route which I take around Anglezarke quite frequently.  Once we got out onto Knowsley Lane we headed up the path to Yarrow Reservoir and we all made a huge effort, despite how achy we now were, to run to the top at a decent pace which I'm pleased to say we all managed, although nearly collapsed into a big heap at the top.

Some nice downhill followed and Ed took us on a little detour to show us a tunnel he had found whilst making a 'pit stop' on a previous run.  We were all quite surprised as we have run over this tunnel on many occasions without realising.

We ran along the edge of Dean Brook and up the steps into the field, coming out through the kissing gate opposite the stocks.  All that remained was for us to climb up the road a bit and then head diagonally over to the barn and, as we wanted to get back in under 5 hours 50, we made a huge effort to push on through the pain.

The relief when we 'crossed the finish line' was immense.

After a good stretch and a natter we went our separate ways home.

I had a lovely hot bath when I got in which I didn't want to get out of.  Unfortunately, Duncan had polished off my bottle of wine last night which is a shame as I could have really taken a glass into the bath with me but it's perhaps as well I didn't seeing as it was only 3.00pm.

Absolutely loved today and am really proud of myself for getting round it.  Can't wait for the next one!

Total Distance - 18.53 miles

Total time - 5.47.22
Total moving time - 4.34.23!!!

Josie and Albert made it round in 3.37 and apparently there was a lot of walking involved in that!  Speed demons!