I had wanted to do this last week, but although mild it was raining hard all morning which makes map reading much harder. But today was a chilly sunny morning, just perfect for a long run.
'im outdoors dropped me off in Horndean, then there was nothing for it but to run home. Most of this run was in the South Downs National Park so there was a lot of rolling chalk hills with loose flints scattered around waiting to turn your ankle.
This was a lovely run. Ok so the sunshine might have helped, but it was good. There were a few bits that weren't so great - like running through nettles and some of the down hill sections were a little scary for running, but this was totally outweigh by running over the tops of hills with amazing views and larks singing and larking around at head hight.
The best bit was stopping to watch a kingfisher fish in the village pond at Buriton.
The hilly bits weren't really that bad - I've run worse back home, and QECP was all on clearly marked trails so I didn't get lost once!
This is an exposed route in places so I wouldn't want to do it in heavy rain or if it was very hot, but on a sunny October morning it was lovely.
However, it didn't get it me home, only to the nearest town. I could have asked for a lift home or caught the train, but instead I carried on running making it into a 3 hour run! I was pretty tired by the end, but it was great to find I could do it.
Also I think I've finally started to get my head round the navigating with a map thing. I don't need to memorise the whole route, just the next bit and what my catchment is (what thing means I've gone too far). I really think this is why I didn't get lost or go wrong today.
Not sure when my next one will be, but there definitely will be more.
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