Had a little trot out this afternoon just to get the circulation moving after spending a chilly morning recording runners times in our clubs 10K.

Decided to head up towards Healey Nab as it wasn't looking to clever weather-wise on Winter Hill. When I got there, Healey Nab weren't looking to clever either. It'd looked like someone had been out with a blow-torch as I turned off the lower path to head up to the cairn. As I neared the last gate I turned round and spotted this sign

I suppose burning off the peat is one way of curing the erosion problem. Thankfully the stone wall had acted as a fire-break and the upper woods avoided a charring.

Through the gate and next thing I come across is this sign.



There is now a 'signposted' 2.5k trail route around Healey Nab. If there was anything begging for a time trial this had to be it!

21:44 on first attempt. Going slow for route finding (arrows very sparsely placed) and had to stop to give way to some bikers a couple of times, it is their route after all. Will have another go later in the week to see how much I can improve.

Anyone else fancy a go and posting a time?

Start and finish is as designated on the map, follow the arrows or you'll get lost. Must stick to the path exactly as the bikers would. There are are number of hairpin bends which would be very easy to short - cut as a runner but not as a biker. Record if wet/dry. Would be good to indicate where you've run from to get to Healy Nab, could park up at Anglezarke or even Waterman's cottage if pushed for time. For me this is 2m x-country from the gym at Chorley, so might be looking at multiple laps, well perhaps 2 anyway.

On the map the single yellow line is a 'push-up' route for the bikes. Might be a good one for shorter reps, will check it out next time I go. Black line, think 'black run' on ski slope and is out of bounds, we don't want any broken limbs! All in all it's a good technical challenge if run at near race pace and good practice for the more trickier sections of races. Can see it beeing a big hit with the bikers.

Will be out tomorrow for a utup.

TF