Through the Elan Valley
44 miles/70 k
7185ft/2190m
0600 start
Time on feet 12h 22m
0600 am start, the heat had died down, I had this morning routine to a tee now.
We roll out the start, Sam (the bell guy) Blayne and Jason are there, which felt quite sad as I knew they were going home that day, one last fist bump to send me on my way.
Day 4 on paper is easier compared to the rest, but this day still had it's issues (they all do!) and it's one of the days I hadn't reccied, I was completely blind to it.
It starts with a gentle climb straight out of camp, a climb that gets those legs nice and warm.
You go over some boggy ground then hit the woodblock of doom, a steep descent through some woods where it seemed like nothing was alive.
All the tree's were weak and brittle, but still had leaves on them, it was the territory where poles were needed, they were a savior here, as grabbing onto these brittle branches for help just wasn't worth it.
It was a weird and eerie place.
Finally you hit a track, that is flat and well trodden, but you get the sense that a climb is around the corner.
Eventually I hit a climb and I must admit that these climbs were nowhere near as harsh as the previous days. You always seemed to crest them just as the fatigue would kick in, some might say the perfect climb.
My knee was swollen even more today, the daily impact just making things worse, this was a day where the poles would be used with every step.
You approach the top and then you are greeted by giant wind turbines. They are bloody massive and pretty cool, I've never been this close to one before.
I sort of just wanted to stand there and look at them, but you can't waste precious time.
A good thing about this day wasn't just the easier climbs, there was a lot of flat track and road, which meant I could jog and power march.
You soon leave the land of the wind turbines and come to a nice section of track. Most people were jogging this section and there seemed to be loads of people here, everyone was chatty and the morale was high. Was it because we've completed day 3? Was it because we all knew the day was a bit easier? I don't know.
Steve caught me up, he is struggling with some shin issues and we were both limping on this lovely runnable track. We just knew on this ground where we both should ideally be running, we had to march as fast as possible to make good time.
We got onto some boggy ground, and I started to see what the issue is with this day, it's the poor ground, tussocks or baby heads or whatever people call them, were everywhere.
Clumps of grass with boggy bits In-between, its weird, the ground is flat so you want to run, but you feel like you are on Takeshi's castle, tussock hopping, trying your best to not roll your ankle and keep your feet dry.
I started making my way to the Elan valley, and I though "thank god, its road and I'm finally off this shit ground."
Boom, I hit the first support point with loads of time in the bag, as always, no messing about and I got back out, I can also see the clouds are clearing up, which meant the sun is coming back out.
You cover some nice road sections on this day, plenty of marching and jogging time. I had to take advantage of every good moment with my knee at this point. The knee pain was there and then there were moments it wasn't, getting the dosage and timing of painkillers was paramount for me carrying on.
Rolling through these nice tracked valleys seemed to good to be true!
Before I knew it, it was time for another big climb, fortunately the ground consisted of grassy tracks, phew no more tussocks!!
I definitely felt like I had some new blisters developing on the side of my heels, these definitely came from the rough ground from earlier in the day.
Comments