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| Ruby Route Two |
I love the wealth of footpath and bridle-way rights-of-way in England and they are even signposted. There is nothing to compare with this in Ireland, although in recent years a good attempt has been made to open up some longer distance way-marked paths such as the
Wicklow Way. Although the immediate locale of Willand is relatively devoid of paths you do not have to run far to find them. My "holy grail" is to find barefoot friendly paths
The map is an
OruxMaps screen-shot from my smart-phone. My track is marked in red. The GPS statistics were: total distance 15.46 miles, average speed 5.44 mph (5.84 moving), maximum altitude 293m, minimum 49m. This ranks as my longest recorded barefoot run.
I set out soon after 6 a.m. (the clocks had just changed it would have been 7 a.m.) on the same way as I had come back on my
previous run. At Blackborough I took the uphill road pictured in my last post climbing up onto Blackborough Common.
This area is part of the Blackdown Hills as is evident from an old relief map from the
Barthomolew 1/2" series. Willand is off the left edge of the map and about half way down. The
Culm valley with its
railway line (now closed and little trace left) is clearly visible. The M5 did not exist back then - its route roughly follows the railway line (main line to Exeter) at top left. You can click on this or any of the pictures to enlarge them.
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| Extract from Barthomolew 1:126,720 maps |
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| Early morning in Kentisbeare |
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| Kentisbeare |
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| Having climbed the hill leaving Blackborough village behind |
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| Blackborough Common |
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| Blackborough Common |
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| The road that might have taken me to Dulford |
Inasmuch as I had a plan at all, it had been to follow this road to Dulford and thence home, but I turned left onto a footpath which followed the edge of the escarpment hoping to find what I thought on my map was a triangulation pillar and thus with a view, but it turned out to be only a spot height (marked "283" on the map). Since I was on holiday I figured I might as well see where this path would take me, and further along this path got my panoramic views even if they were a bit misty. The path was also exceedingly muddy but one of the advantages of running barefoot is that mud is no problem - it is even desirable. It is much easier to clean one's feet than shoes and mud between the toes feels so good.
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| View from North Hill |
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| View from North Hill |
My revised plan was now to descend via a track through Northill Farm but I could see this was going to be stony under foot - and then I saw a sign pointing to the left over a grassy field. Even though this would take me further away from home I could not resist such a temptation so over the style I climbed and luxuriated running through the cool wet grass. And this took me to the small village of Broadhembury.
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| Footpath over a field to Broadhembury |
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| Looking back where I had run from |
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| The field-path ended here |
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| Ford at Broadhembury |
The ford was a welcome surprise (along with footpaths and cherry bakewells I love fords) - all the more surprising because there was a bridge too and yet the ford obviously gets used. I stopped to wash all the Blackborough mud off my legs and feet, and then took a brief detour beyond the ford to check out the village and its church.
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| Broadhembury |
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| slight detour to photo Broadhembury church |
And then the long, long slog back home. Part of my return route followed the A373 as by now I was tiring of exploring. Running along a main road is not so much fun.
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| River Culm at Willand |
And so I made it back home and was duly surprised to find I had topped 15 miles - yes I was tired but I could have gone further. Although I am still unsure whether I could do a marathon barefoot though.
And then there is
Dean Karnazes the ultramarathon runner who has run 350 miles in 80 hours without sleep! But he doesn't run barefoot so maybe that makes all the difference...
