While I await my next adventure, I thought I would take a dive into the archive and recall the tales of old in a shorter format. In January of 2022, I decided to walk the Gritstone Trail with one minor difference. I was going to walk it overnight. I was undertaking my Level 4 in Arboriculture at the time and working four days a week, with Fridays reserved for coursework. After a full day of writing about tree defence mechanisms, I was dropped off at Sheffield station for the 20:11 service to Kidsgrove.
At 21:35, I took a selfie in front of the information board for the Gritstone Trail and set off. This was at a time when I had a knee injury which limited my ability to run, so I had decided to walk the route, meeting my dad the following morning in Disley for breakfast. Within five minutes I had already made a minor navigation error, which has become pretty much par for the course on any of my longer jaunts.
I had no knowledge of the route, relying on a spotty GPX file and that I needed to basically just go north. I had a weak headtorch so the majority of the walk I was trapped in my own bubble of light, completely unaware of any of the landscapes that sprawled out (or not) around me. In fact, the only two visual markers I remember having were the lights of the settlements to the west, like Manchester and Macclesfield, and the reflection of a farm dog’s eyes, which stood motionless above the path I traversed. Needlessly to say this rattled me. But the lack of visual stimuli made me appreciate any sounds more. The crunch of slightly frozen grass, squelch of muddy fields, and oh yeah, the nightmare fuel that is ducks at 3am. If I had been wearing a heart rate monitor, I think I would be able to pinpoint the exact location as I went into full fight or flight mode.
But what was nice about doing it at night was that it was just me, a private outing, only bumping into people as the sun came up. It was a hike that allowed for hours of self-reflection and perseverance with pain from the knee. It also taught me that I don’t have to try go to go quickly over longer distances to have fun. In fact, it acts as a reminder now during my training that low and slow is an incredibly valuable technique to build endurance.
The walk was finished with me climbing the locked gates of Knightslow Wood, with a long descent to Disley train station, and much anticipated full English with dad, before getting home and promptly crashing until the following morning.
Stats
Elapsed time: 10:43:16
Moving time: 10:17:32
Distance: 55.21km
Elevation: 1671m
Average Pace*: 11:11/km
Average Speed*: kmph
Calories: 5496
*from moving time