HK-Llangollen

The third of this year's 'linear compass point' runs. After HK-Hilbre in February (north) and HK-Denbigh more recently (west), this was the southerly(ish) version to Llangollen. All three are in the region of 20 miles/30km (I don't do 'east'). As with the Denbigh run, I've done this before (seven years ago in the deep snow of April 2013, when the Esclusham road was completely buried), but refined it a little. From home, I took the lanes to Hope then the brutal Bryn Yorkin climb to Cymau and down to Ffrith. A steep bridleway leads to Cefn Road and then, after a fair amount of climbing, up to Bwlchgwyn - the highest village in Wales (a debateable title). I then deployed the paths I'd used in my 38k Eglwyseg horseshoe earlier this year. These lead due south towards Minera, after which I unwisely plotted a route through the quarries and crags to eventually climb up to the old high road to World's End. All this took time, with less than obvious route-finding. The weather was superb, though, a perfect early autumn day with a cool breeze and stunning clarity. This all meant that the final leg along the OD path below Craig Arthur and Pinfold was as good as it gets (and I have always felt this is the finest landscape in NE Wales). I got to Llangollen in just over 2.5 hours after a fast descent down the lanes below Dinas Bran, where I met K and M for a walk and picnic pies by the Dee.

HK-Denbigh

With the virtual London marathon approaching, the organisers withdrew my qualifying time for 2021 because it was set in 2018. So: it seems necessary to give the virtual event next month a proper go to get my QT back, the problem being that I haven't done any recent long runs on tarmac. After trying to maintain marathon pace on a 15 miler last week, I took the opportunity to reprise my HK-Denbigh run of 2016, refined somewhat to avoid the worst of the road sections. It went fairly well, through Buckley and Mold to Hendre, where I took a series of bridleways up to Moel Arthur to avoid the dangerous main road I took last time. From the bwlch, it is all downhill to Llandyrnog before a rather tedious 3 or 4k along the road to K's house in Denbigh: just under 20 miles, just over 2.5 hours, with around 2000ft of climbing.

Cwm Glas horseshoe

Peaks: Crib Goch, Garnedd Ugain, Yr Wyddfa

Area: Snowdon

Snowdonia has been unprecedentedly busy since the end of lockdown, so all trips this year have been about crowd avoidance: multiple methods deployed to that end. Today, I parked below Carreg Wastad and ran to the top of Pen y Pass. Although I was early, there was of course no avoiding the hordes, but I ran up to Bwlch y Moch in around 15 minutes, then straight up Crib Goch. I've no idea how often I've done this over the years, but it's a lot. I reached the top in around 37 minutes from PyP and then carried on, moving reasonably quickly, across the ridge itself: as enjoyable as ever, but passing lots of early starters the whole way. From Garnedd Ugain, I ran up to the summit of Snowdon, astonished at the sheer volume of people, then escaped the crowds completely by contouring down to the Cyrn Las ridge. This gives a fine downward scramble, narrow in places, and is almost always empty. It completes what I call the 'Cwm Glas horseshoe': a kind of alternative Snowdon horseshoe for connoisseurs or the anti-social. Two hours exactly for the round back to Carreg Wastad today. The route works even better if you use the north ridge of Crib Goch first and avoid the road, which is how I did it last year.

Gladstone 9 fell race

Race: Gladstone 9

Peaks: Tal y Fan, Foel Lus

Time/Position: 1.33.37 (14th from 57 [3rd V50])

The first non-virtual race since Ras yr Aran in March, a long, long layoff coinciding with my 50th birthday and wiping out dozens of age category plans. I hadn't done the Gladstone 9 since 2008, a ridiculous gap in itself, and today's race was organised in a Covid-secure time trial format, each runner starting at minute intervals. It worked well, although there wasn't much sense of being in a race, as I passed 5 or 6 runners in front of me before Capelulo, but the ones in front of them were much quicker. I'd forgotten the first section of the race, which heads from the edge of Penmaenmawr up the front of Foel Lus then takes the delightful contouring, twisting path to join the Pen race route down to Capelulo. Then comes the climb up the Donkey Track from Fairie Glen: I was disappointingly slow on this, and indeed on all the climbs. At the top, I went straight ahead towards Tal y Fan, and later cut back left towards the main track. I'm not convinced this gains much time due to the heathery terrain, but it feels a little shorter in terms of distance. After the stream above Llangelynin, it climbs through the little valley to the next CP at the start of the long climb along the Tal y Fan wall. I always find this tough: due to its very steep rocky rises interspersed with gentler sections. From the summit, the route takes a direct line down to the stone circle - the path is very vague with numerous boggy sections. I felt slow and disappointingly sluggish throughout, although as the main North Wales coast path is reached and the route heads east over Foel Lus I perked up a bit. It is a quick run-in back to the start above Penmaenmawr.