Wild Creations: Slow Way

Monday, 29 August 2022

Slow Way - Petmid

I'm going to start calling these adventures, after all I was doing something I've not done before and it was a challenge, all parts of a good adventure I think.

I'd been planning to run another Slow Way before this, but things/life got in the way. No bad thing as the heat seems to have gone, although it was still warm in the sun, it was pleasant with a breeze.

As before 'im outdoors dropped me off in Petersfield and I jogged down the high street looking at all the stalls being set up for the last day of their summer festival.

The first bit went well. I've run it several times now and feel more confident, although some of the route looked very different as the crops that had been growing have now been harvested. I found the turn to start the new route without any problems and enjoyed the footpath through the trees.

But once I popped out on to the road, I didn't see another footpath until the last couple of miles. Once again I manage to go wrong adding a mile to my route. And when I finally righted myself and got to my next major turning I found I was only in Rogate and really hadn't gone that far yet. It was a major motivational blow.

But I kept going and got to see some bits of the county that I've not seen before.

When I finally got back onto the trails I also slowed down quite a lot. The first part was very sandy bridalway, more like trying to run on a beach! But then I joined the Serpent Trail, which was pretty good under foot and resonably well marked out, until I got to the last mile or so into Midhurst, where the footpaths became a free-for-all and I just made it up till I found the main road.

The best thing was finding a newsagents which was open and buying a lolly!

This was a good run, but it was hard. I'd been hoping for more trail and it ended up being about 2 miles more than expected, which is quite a lot when you thought it was going to be 11 miles.