Getting saucy in Worcesterhire
Marvelous Malverns
[Mike: I was too lazy to write this blog post - so I asked the lovely Julie if she wanted to do it, and she actually said yes!]
If I was going to do any of these runs with Mike, it was going to be Worcestershire, the place of my birth, the homeland. The highest point in Worcestershire is Worcestershire Beacon in the Malvern Hills, which form a long ridgeway along the Worcestershire and Herefordshire border. I have many a fond childhood memory of walks, rolling down slopes full of heather and drinking from the natural springs in these hills. As we were driving towards Malvern I started to worry . . . will it be the same, had I built this county up too much in Mike’s mind?! As it turns out, I had not.
As a bit of context, for three months leading up to this run, the country had been in lockdown due to COVID-19. Whilst this meant we had a lot of time to do some training, it also meant that this training had to be in Cambridge, the flattest place in the world (apart from The Netherlands). So you can imagine that our ‘hill legs’ were almost non-existent. Even so, we were desperate for a change of scenery and so on the first weekend of lockdown easing and the pubs opening we headed west with the promise of hills, a couple of nights in a lovely pub in Hanley Swan, beer and good food.
The approach to the Malvern Hills takes you through the town of Malvern which is a very lovely place. As we drove through town, the hills started to loom above us. Had we bitten off more than we could chew? Probably, they looked massive.
Having secured a free parking spot (win) in Dingle car park we commenced what was to be one of the more challenging but rewarding runs with lots of energy and vigour. This lasted all of 5 minutes as we hit an almost vertical climb out of the valley. It also started to drizzle.
The rain was fleeting but the hills were not. I was pleased to see my memories of the area were not over-romanticised, it is very beautiful, very green, millions of ferns and purple flowers everywhere. So we ran up and up and up some more until the up became ridiculously steep and we topped out on Summer Hill at 383m. We were tired but we had made it up onto the long ridgeline which forms the Malvern Hills. From here we could see the Beacon, which we were heading for next, and most of the rest of the route. You also get an awesome view from the ridge with Worcestershire stretching out to the east and Herefordshire to the west. The problem however, with running along a ridge is that you can see all the up and down and up again coming for miles, but cant do a thing about it. So down we went and back up again, this time the path was all the steeper and longer but we scrambled up to reach our target, Worcestershire Beacon at 425m.
Wooohoo - made it. However the summit was less than half way around the route and we had to run over two more hills yet (it would have been three but we dodged Sugarloaf Hill because, well, we aren’t crazy).
North Hill - the approach was lovely as it wound around the base of the hill, the ascent was ridiculous (I mean walking pace at best), the decent was fast and fun.
Table Hill - Almost looked like a small mound in comparison and the momentum from the North Hill decent took us up and over in no time.
Ok, so now we are thinking - great, no more hills just a run back through the valley to the car. HA. No such luck. We were about to realise just how easy the navigation had been up on the ridge and how a valley has sides. Damn it. We got lost for a bit through some woods in the bottom of the valley, and arrived at a farm but had to retrace our steps a bit (which meant avoiding a field of large cattle, which I personally was pretty happy about). We were faced with another large hill littered with sheep poo, not the best for grip. After a restful jog through the woods and back into the valley, after one final push we eventually ended up back in Dingle. Its fair to say we were knackered and starving but the views and the ridgeline had been amazing.
Thankful we had packed a picnic, we sat on the nearest bench possible (in a bus shelter, fancy) and inhaled it [Mike: literally the BIGGEST sandwhich disappeared in seconds]. We were so glad that we had decided to stay near by overnight and had a well earned few pints and pub grub that evening. We also managed to meet some friends for a walk the next day without too many aches and pains.
In conclusion - Worcestershire is the best, but it is quite hilly.
[Mike: We seriously should have trained for this one, just look at the elevation profile!]
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