Bluebell Trail 10

It may sound like a wander through the woods in spring time but the Bluebell 10 is certainly no picnic.

The start gave a hint of things to come as after just a couple yards we had to negotiate a steep grassy bank.  The first couple of miles saw us running down cobbled alleys, along the canal bank and yes skipping through the bluebells in the woods.  It was all very pleasant until the aptly named Trooper Hill – a 500ft plus climb up a steep series of cobbled switch backs that reduced most of us to walking at some point.  Ray and I agreed it was far tougher than the Killer Mile (and we’re sticking to that never mind we’ve never been to Mow Cop). 

Cresting Beacon Hill the whole of the Calder Valley was laid out below and we ran up and along the edge.  We’d reached the top and there was nowhere higher so I was now expecting to coast back down the hill through more delightful woods.  But that just wasn’t in the plan as the route took us up hill after hill each time crashing back down slippery cobbled or woodland paths.

Finally a sustained downhill scramble delivered us back through the bluebell woods and a last sprint up the canal towpath to the famous river crossing.  The river was about shorts deep and quite fast flowing – it was rather tricky to climb out and somehow I managed to lose a couple of the places I’d gained on the canal.

I’d recommend the Bluebell 10 for next year and nominate it for the Summer Series 2006 as it really has just about every terrain that you could imagine and more hills than a month of Tuesday hill reps.  See www.stainlandlions.com for photos.

6 Rob Downs 01:09:45
29 Ray Noble 01:19:03
33 Sarah Charnock 01:21:37 1 F (St. Helens Sutton AC)

266 Finishers

Rob

Approaching the top of Beacon Hill after the gruelling climb.  Rob in the background (about 10th at this point).

All at sea through the river with 100m to go.