Having foolishly signed up for the Endurancelife South Devon Coastal Half-Marathon I ventured out for my first run on the course on Saturday.
First of all I'll get my excuses in - didn't go to bed until 2am the previous morning and I've got a cold. Also it's been tipping it down for weeks now and most of the course is pretty muddy!
However, despite my lungs only working at 75% it didn't go too badly.
I started from the car park at Beesands where there's a nice flat run for a couple of hundred metres. You then start up a narrow muddy/rocky lane and out on to the cliff top where the path climbs gently before dropping down to Hallsands. A short, but surprisingly energy-sapping run across the beach is followed by a short climb up some steps before dropping down again past the ruins of old Hallsands.
This was followed by a long steady climb up to the car park above Start Point. Really muddy path here which had been puddled up by cattle. Difficult to walk up, let alone run. This side of the headland it's very sheltered so was getting hot and starting to think I should have worn shorts & T-shirt.
From the Start Point car park it's a drop down the hill on tarmac before hitting the footpath and crossing over the headland. Stunning views open up here but you hit the wind. Lovely run down the coastpath around various headlands, cross a stream and then across a field.
Started to feel a bit out of sorts - lungs really hurting due to my cold. Dropped down to Lannacombe and decided to have a breather and chocolate break. Started to rain and not feeling great so decided to cut route short. After the next couple of coves I took the footpath up the valley and through a green lane.
Crossed a field between a farm and pond, onto a concrete track and then across some farm tracks. Dropped down steep field into woods and then on to the road through a small hamlet. This was followed by a long hard climb up the road over the top of the peninsula, crossing the main road and dropping down the other side.
Passed down through some sort of religious community and followed a narrow green lane down the hill to rejoin the road. Passed through another small hamlet and down a green lane before rejoining another road. Short run along the road before turning right onto track. Followed path up a long, wet and muddy climb past lovely farm. Rejoined road briefly before turning right across fields.
Nice views across to Start Point from here. Path gradually drops downacross fields before rejoing coast path. Easy drop back down the path to Beesands with a tired run back along the front to the car.
Time was well off the pace, especially considering I missed some three miles of the course out. But I wasn't feeling great and big chunks of the path were so muddy they practically sucked your shoes off making it very difficult to run. It also tipped it down from Lannacombe onwards.
However I'm looking forward to tackling the course again soon, hopefully without cold, rain and quite as much mud!
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