Category: Photos

Having sat on my drive under a blanket of snow for a couple of weeks, it was probably expecting a little too much of my car to fire up properly this morning.  Which is a real shame because I was looking forward to driving it… and now the guys at the garage are probably practising sucking breath in through their teeth!

Kim kindly lent me her car and I set off into the first gorgeous sunny morning for ages: destination Falmer.  It felt mild, despite the layer of ice on the pond that suggested otherwise.

The stalwarts, Andy, Nikki, Cliff and myself, were joined by Neil who had finally bowed under pressure from Cliff to come out with us.  BIG mistake!

It was really hard work to start with.  I had expected the first hill to be waterlogged, but I was pleasantly surprised… it was still probably frozen and to make it more interesting, there were mini snow-drifts set at irregular intervals.  I managed to reach the top of the first rise with the Clifford vanguard but I was also very pleased to be able to stand and catch my breath until Neil caught up.

We ran out to the Newmarket Copse and then Cliff announced that he would rather like to have a closer look at a white blob  (half way up the photo below and one third in from the right) on the edge of Lewes in the distance.  As a result we ran up to the top of the ridge and headed East.

It was a great day to be out, with only the occasional snow-drift and the ice on the path down into Kingston to remind us that it wasn’t yet Spring.  When we got to the blob, it was (as Cliff had suspected), a rather lovely windmill in the making.

This section was Cliff’s treat to us… a path I’ve not been down before, with some stunning vistas.

We dropped down into Lewes and jostled up the sharp hill to the prison, before heading on up to Lewes Racecourse, where there were yet more views to be had… as well as a different view of the new windmill.

Poor Neil had already not been this far on a run for an age, so we had the luxury of stopping to catch our breath on more than one occasion.  The photos below show the others trying to emulate Superman at one of these breaks and… well… captions are welcome!

Our route then took us up to the top of Blackcap, before we started to descend back down the first path back to Falmer.  I got back to the cars again at 2 hours 18 minutes, followed closely by Nikki.  Andy limped in shortly afterwards, but it took Cliff another ten minutes to catch up… sign of advancing ears, probably… and Neil had very kindly hung back to keep him company.

Neil may have looked knackered, but he did good indeed to be able to cover 10.95 miles.

You’d have thought from the time taken and all the photos that I’ve posted that it would be a greater distance than that, but hey!  Not such a hot speed for me (4.76mph!), but a hugely enjoyable run nevertheless… or maybe that should read ‘as a result!’

On such a bright and sunny January the first, it was easy to get out and get running and I quickly found myself on the way to the Downs.  It wasn’t exactly an early morning run however… it was midday before I emerged, mainly because I was hoping the temperature might rise a little from its sub-zero start.

I ran out towards Oldlands Mill on a very muddy track, taking a left before I reached the mill to drop down into the north end of Ditchling.  This meant that I could run down the high street with its pretty shops and cottages, before taking the Beacon road & track.

Each of my runs seems to represent an ordeal to be overcome and I was happy that I was able to push on up the steep Beacon track with little problem.  I didn’t feel particularly on form however, as I remember trying to work out what was painful… I was happy that it was not my legs, nor my lungs.

It was a joy to be on the top of the Beacon on such a beautiful day and I took these pictures to share the view with you.

Deciding which way to go back was difficult as all ways were appealing and I chose to run along the top to Jack & Jill, where a glider slid gracefully past overhead, before I turned northward.  It was cold enough on the top that I had to put my second beanie hat back on and drag it down over my ears and the temperature didn’t exactly rise as I dropped out of the sun!

I descended the steeper of the two paths into Clayton and ran through the Eastern end of the village and north towards Halfway (on the map).  Here I stopped to read the path closure notice and it was as if my energy, till then finely balanced for the estimated return distance, suddenly started to evaporate.  My new route took me through Butcher’s Wood, inadvertently via someone’s woodland-like back garden… if you are the owner, please accept my apologies.

At the one-hour forty mark, having run through Hassocks and onto the path at the north of the village my energy-meter suddenly hit zero and I found myself walking.  I realised that the elusive but pervasive pain was from my lower back so I allowed myself to walk for about ten minutes until I got to the the bottom of the lane to Oldlands Mill, eating out my entire small emergency stock of Jelly Babies as I went.  Whilst I really hate having to walk on a run and also really beat myself up about being so weak-willed, I know that I must have been feeling pretty pained to have resorted to it.

After my ten minute walk I was well chilled (and I don’t mean laid-back!) and I forced myself to start running again when I reached the lane to the Mill and then took the muddy track towards home, pausing only for a minute or so when I painfully twisted my ankle.  Despite this I still managed to run all the way home.

I had covered 12.4 miles in two hours 18 minutes… a pretty slow 5.4mph… and I arrived home like the walking dead, but it was good to have a tough start to the year and I seemed to recover fairly quickly which is a good sign.

It really felt like a Sunday yesterday… but it has just dawned on me that it’s actually Sunday tomorrow and that I’ll have to get out and do it all again!  Now I feel tired!