Hope Valley and Kinder Surprise
Another year, another visit to the Peak District for a trail run. It had been in the diary for a while. Matt and I were going to stay with his parents in Glossop and do back to back long runs with as much elevation as we could manage. Day 1. OUTSIDE HOPE VALLEY ROUND We decided to tackle the Outside Hope Valley Round. This is a 20 mile circular route that starts and finishes at the Outside cafe in Hathersage. It was created in 2019 by a group of staff from the shop who ran around the surrounding ridges. There are four big climbs with a total elevation of 4500 feet. It was the first time I had run with my new backpack. I wanted to check it fitted ok before we tackled any longer runs. I'm glad I did because after only 100m the water bottles flew out of their pockets onto the floor. The new bag had no ties to keep them in place. We returned to the shop and I had to buy a new bottle with a straw that could be secured in place. £30 down - yes, £30! - we restarted our watches. The first