Running in the snow
Last sunday as it was snowing and almost certainly not a good idea to be out on the Welsh hillside, I did the opposite and went fell running around Worlds End.
From Worlds End I headed up the road and climbed Cyrn-y-Brain (565m) on snow covered mud tracks. From the summit I descended down the concrete track a short way to find myself behind two horse-mounted police officers. I politely said good morning to them and learned that they were looking for illegal moto-x riders who were damaging the area with their bikes. Next they told me that I wasn’t on a public right of way and I was trespassing. I told them honestly that I wasn’t aware of this, despite having walked in the area for years. They then proceeded to lecture me on damage to the environment while I stood on the blustery snow covered mountain side in my shorts and t-shirt quietly freezing (can you believe this s**t?!). I could hardly see how running on a concrete track was damaging the environment… Bloody idiots.
After I left the loony lone rangers I descended roughly 1200ft (running over lovely untouched snow) down to the road from Worlds End and then immediately began the climb up to the top of Ruabon mountain/Trevor Rocks. The climb (some 950ft in under a mile) went up over fields to reach a small thicket, then begun a very steep and challenging scramble over snow covered scree up to the cliff tops. I paused to take the pic (above) and then continued along the top of the rocks all the way back to Worlds End, battling against a sub-zero degree gale from the west.
There is a map of the route here.
Although it was a bit chilly at first (1 degree C in the car when I started!) I didn’t mind the cold once I got going. The sun came out a few times and I was amazed at how warm it felt. Running on the snow was a fun experience, and my Inov-8’s held up really well too - don’t think they lost grip at all apart from on the steep scree section.
