Another demon tackled

[HeavyFoot]

Last September a 10 km race I took part in, in France, was my undoing: I struggled on a km of rocky ascent, and finished last of 366 !

Recently I’ve been walking to the next village, 4km each way, to buy my weekly paper. Kms 2 to 4 rise 120m and the first part is a rough, rocky path. When wet, the slate is treacherous and just inviting a “face plant”.

I decided last night that this weather was ideal for putting that demon to rest, so it was on with the little-used trail shoes and off to frighten the citizens of Delabole . Luckily, the papers had arrived so I didn’t have to run back with an empty backpack.

It was a very tiring ascent but the return was wonderful. And a new local run in the bag 🤗

[Frenc Graduate10 60minGraduate]

Brilliant HeavyFoot 😊. It’s always great to have a new local run too. After that climb I bet the coming back down was lovely.

[Cmoi Graduate10]

Félicitations HeavyFoot ! I only ever faceplant on easy terrain 🙄 Conquered a couple of baby demons of my own today - wore my Ghosts for the first time since falling, and stayed on roads.

[HeavyFoot Graduate10 in reply to Cmoi]

As they say in franglais Grande Étoffe Cmoi! Do you usually avoid roads because of traffic or its ungiving surface? Or simply the love of grass?

[Cmoi Graduate10 in reply to HeavyFoot]

I find most roads monotonous and boring HeavyFoot ! There's very little traffic here, but no pavements either as it's either single-track roads or routes départementales with an 80kph speed limit.

I rarely run on grass unless I get the urge to run round a field, it's either gravelly tracks or forest paths. They're more fun, more varied, and the scenery and views are much better too.

[ForbiddenPlanet Graduate10]

Nice to have a run with a purpose, and such memorable place names in Cornwall. I was going to say picturesque, but I'm not sure what a Delabole would look like. 🤔

[HeavyFoot Graduate10]

Delabole is a large village which lived to serve the slate industry. With the almost total decline of that industry (you can still buy very expensive Delabole slate) what’s left is what some people might consider an unprepossessing, dull place albeit with Europe’s second biggest excavation hole in the ground. But scrape the surface and you’ll find a proud community spirit and quirkiness.