Peak Raid 3 - Goyt Valley

Towards control 18

 Last year's PR3 at the Goyt Valley was cancelled due to tree disease. This year the organisers had the go-ahead, which meant a shorter journey for us. We'd arranged the Runfurther AGM to use the sailing club after the PR3, so a few RF members were around.

Our start time was 9:10. We set off from home around 7.30 after a quick cuppa and some toast. By the time we got to the sailing club I was getting painful stomach cramps - bread is always a bit hit and miss for me. Thankfully the cramps eased before the start, and we got going.

Last year we attempted to map out what we'd do in detail before setting off (I think I'd been reading the Kjellstrom orienteering book), and ended up with loads of time in hand. This time we decided to identify the first few controls and a rough route, then refine as we went.

The first control (5) was a doddle - on a fence between two arms of a wood, really easy to find. The second (16) gave us a bit more of a pause. It was at the foot of a crag as we climbed up the side of the wood. When the path started to flatten out I got a bit nervous about ending up at the top of an unclimbable crag, and took us a long way down hill. Almost as soon as we'd lost about 30m of height we spotted the crag, 30m above us directly on the path. So we had to slog back up through the bracken, losing a few minutes at the very beginning.

Control 3 of the day (15) was the other side of the plantation. The map suggested there was a clear firebreak all the way through that we could follow, but we struggled to find it. We ended up running round the top of the woods (as did lots of others), finding the control easily once we reached the right location. The firebreak was very visible on this side.

Next up was another control (12) at the top of the woods, on the same contour. We found a few trods as we went, but did a lot of tussock hopping. We arrived ahead of another team who'd climbed up to the path higher up.

Next was a crag the other side of Shining Tor (19). We debated a control (9) well down the other side, but it looked like a dead end, a lot of climb back up for a single control. Instead we headed down to the end of the res to pick up a control on a stream crossing (2), getting (13) on the way. I'd suggested (17) further up the same reentrant, which we later thought might have been ok, but we opted instead to head for the control in the ruin on the hill top (18).

From there we went cross country to the trig point, then down the hill to a quick side excursion for a control on a ruined wall(4) and one in a dip by the old railway (14). By this time we felt like we needed to be getting back, so just took in a last control overlooking the woods above the finish (3) and back in with 5 mins to spare.

The sailing club was busy and noisy, so we picked up our bags and headed back to the van to get changed, then returned for the Runfurther AGM.