The Four Trigs Traipse

well my friends i can forgive you for asking ''what is this 'the four trigs traipse'?''

let me tell you.

its a TOTALLY NEW anytime challenge that involves traipsing around, yes you guessed, four trigs!

having spent more time in the pub than out on the moors since the Lakeland 50, this weekend was earmarked to signal my return to a longer distance outing. i was down to run the ldwa's 'where eagles fly' yesterday but a number of reasons culminated in a decision to stay local. so sitting outside my local, the Knot Inn in Rushton Spencer, on a glorious Friday evening, quaffing a couple of alcoholic beverages, i pondered a route i hadn't done before in its entirety to try to avoid any issues of repitition and boredom. and this my friends was the result of said ponder.

you heard it here first. i'm sure its bound one day to be registered as a 'classic'!

right then the traipse.

its a 27mile round robin (with anywhere between 4000-4500ft ascent, though i really dont have a clue) that starts from the Knot Inn and traipses up to The Cloud, Shutlingsloe, The Roaches, The Gun and back to the Knot. About 3 miles tops of tarmac the rest off road.

And here it is in glorious technicolour.

Trig 1, The Cloud.
an early start meant we were rewarded with the back end of sunrise. in the distance you can see our next trig, shutlingsloe, waiting our arrival.


from the cloud, its down the gritstone trail leaving it eventuality to head into wincle, up to the wild boar, hammerton knowl, higher nabbs, dropping down to the cragg inn and then up to..

Trig 2, Shutlingsloe
again in the distance, our next trig, the roaches


descending shutlingsloe we head over, via tagsclough hill, to gradbach yh (the cafe was closed and our supplies were getting low) and up through forest wood to roach end
(here we were met with what i thought was a mirage which turned out to be real and a saviour too, supplying cold coke and crisps to revive dropping energy levels)



and then, coke and crisps in hand, we arrived at

Trig 3, The Roaches
i dont need to say it but if you look carefully you can see...in the distance


from the trig we head along the roaches to rockhall, windygates and cross country to meerbrook. here we head on to lower wetwood and up to oldhay top before our final ascent over the gun moor to

Trig 4, The Gun


off the gun, and head down back into rushton village and whatever takes your fancy at the knot

for any racing / event anoraks out there this route covers in bits the following events

cloud nine, kipling kaper, shutlingsloe, the roaches, passing clouds, xmas cracker, leek half, meerbrook 15, gun run

so there you have it, the birth of a new anytime challenge, The Four Trig Traipse. simply four trigs to traipse around.

i hope you get the chance to enjoy it too