R*n 642: West End

A hostel in the middle of nowhere, that used to be a 1960's church, next to a reservoir (or Reservoy - this is Yorkshire you know!) where an old village has been flooded, no idea or indication of in which direction the not-so-local local was.  Setting out on this trail was definitely a leap of faith, but only after the faithful followers, Upperskirt and myself were acknowledged for our 500th and 400th runs respectively -"Get a life" indeed!. 

Some hounds nearly swam or flew - but more of that later!  Bubbles had the best idea - he set off walking on the road armed with a torch and a map.  There's no stopping our GME when there is the faintest sniff of ale around.

The rest of the Drinking Club with a Running Problem set off in what we now know was the opposite direction to the pub and soon found ourselves running along a path bordering the aforementioned Reservoir.  Did we all have torches?... No.  Do some of us have Half a Mind?...Yes!

However even with a torch it was hard to see the innocuous left fork that ended in the water - luckily Toy Boy was able to do an emergency stop in time before he dived into the murky water to explore the flooded village. The path was great terrain for running - the hares having kindly scattered soft larch needles all over it in preparation for the event, but soon we had to revert to the tarmac road.  We didn't really want to and tried every check or option that would lead us off road - but to no avail - the route was definitely up up up and there was no escape from the tarmac until we made it to the welcoming lit up windows of the Stone House Inn.

This was when Dormouse tried the new extreme sport of flying whilst holding 2 full pints of beer - he has set the bar high for anyone who wants to contest his new record - he only spilled half of one pint and a quarter of the other! After a convivial couple of hours we left the pub to the growing hordes of domino players and returned down and up the road to the hostel to welcome the late arrivals and more soup, cake and beverages. 

The start of an excellent weekend!