Well, it could have gone better, let’s put it that way! But how else do you get a Quality Day for your logbook?

Basically, I was massively over-ambitious with me route plan (20km over rough ground) and forgot to check out the road section on Google Maps to make sure there was actually a way of crossing it between two slices of access land. There wasn’t.

Let’s review what went well, and then make some take-home points as reflection for the next QD which is taking place very shortly…

1. I managed to take some good photos of my journey after checking out the Fotovue guide to the Peak District area.

This is the guide I am using as a basic planning tool for my routes.

2. I did some flower and habitat research and found a caterpillar that I am still trying to identify.

3. I did LOTS of off-path navigation. Probably a bit too much actually considering the heat. I now know that here in the Peak, my pace is 1km per hour over rough ground. This is due to crossing the many cloughs and bogs which mostly need walking around which adds lots of extra time to the distance. It goes to show that if you don’t do this regularly (once upon a time I knew my pace on this ground) you just forget and make the same mistakes over and over. Logging personal days helps you stay sharp.

4. Finally, I sumitted two hills, High Neb and Broadstone Hill. Both were new to me.

Points for the next hike…

Have more escape routes planned. I did not have enough of these, so by 2pm, 7 hours in to my walk, I realised I was dangerously out of water and also miles from my car with no easy way back. I ended up hiking on the Manchester Road which is a 60mph A road. The alternative was to cross loads of bogs and waist deep heather. A well-planned route with multiple escapes would have solved that problem.

Less is more – For rough country journeys, planning 10km is about right, as I should be stopping more often to learn about the surrounding habitat anyway. A higher quality journey is better than a longer one.

I will increase the length of rough country crossings gradually, starting with 1km total to begin with. Over a 40 day period this could increase to about half the route with consistent practice. None of these awards are easy and the quality days show this very clearly.

Until next time…