The Long Mynd Hike - never again

The Long Mynd is the last of the 3 (Fellsman, Bullock, Long Mynd) longstanding 50 mile scouts events that I hadn't done. It clashes with the RRR so I never did it when Runfurther was still going. It's a hundred qualifier so is quite popular, but this year I put a reminder in the calendar to enter as soon as it opened. With hindsight I maybe shouldn't have bothered.

The start is at 1pm so on the day we set off about 8.30 and arrived in plenty of time. Registration was quick and easy although the hall was very busy. We went back to the van parked in a field behind the school to get our kit sorted out.

Around 12.10 it seemed like everyone had vanished. We quickly shouldered our bags and set off following the few who were still filtering out of the field, on what turned out to be a 20 minute walk to the start. Claire had been here before (both the school and the start field) for a couple of fell races.

At the field the sun was getting hot. We stood around in our queues waiting to exchange cards for tallies. At 1245 or so the tallies were handed out and everyone headed up to the top of the field for the start. Someone said something more or less inaudible over a tannoy and we were off.

The first couple of km we were fairly closely packed together. Once we started climbing up Caer Caradoc the crowds started to disperse and we were soon on the top in the sunshine, enjoying the spectacular views out towards the Wrekin.

The descent was steep and gravelly, and a lot of people were slipping. We were OK, but glad we were wearing grippy shoes.

At the bottom of the hill we crossed over to the short out and back up The Lawley, another interesting little hill with a pole on top. At the bottom we had a route debate - whether to follow everyone else, or take the road. The organisers had suggested the road and bridge over the railway, rather than the level crossing but no one seemed to be going that way and since we weren't carrying football boots the level crossing held no fears, so we kept going with the rest.

Looking forward from Caer Caradoc

Across the other side and the climb up to the CP at High Park. Greeted by a very enthusiastic scout who seemed to be having as much fun as we were, we beeped the fell track and filled up with water.

There was a portaloo at the CP, so we availed ourselves then carried on up towards Pole Bank, inhaling cheese pittas as we went. We got chatting with another walker who told us about several other events locally, and a bit about the history of the event.

Pole Bank didn't have a pole, but it did have a trig point and some cheery volunteers. It also had a turf zone (Claire had forgotten to stop turf earlier in the day). It was an out and back, so we turned back on our tracks. This was another route choice - OS Maps snap-to-path had chosen a route via Medlicott but a quick glance at the map suggested the better route was straight down to Coates Farm. I was really glad we took the latter option as the farm included an absolutely adorable and very friendly little black cat.

From Coates Farm we were on the road to Bridges, where lots of people were enjoying the sunshine outside the pub and cheering us on. More road up to Stiperstones, where Joe Faulkner was lurking in the car park for surprise kit check. Joe was asking to see head torches, and seemed to be enjoying kit-nerding out on the different torches people were carrying. 

The route over Stiperstones is rough underfoot, but nothing we're not used to and we made good time. We skipped climbing up to the trig, but decided that would be where we'd go for Claire's birthday later in the year as it's a really striking place.

The route followed the top of the ridge all the way along, then dropped sharply towards Habberley. Claire fell on the muddy path & lost a water bottle, but wasn't hurt beyond a bruised elbow.

At the bottom we opted to cross the fields instead of gaining height on the road, and came into Habberley where we met an enthusiastic crowd outside the pub.

The climb up Earls Hill was short and steep. Someone was running with a bluetooth speaker playing music, which pissed me off, and a loud voiced bloke was telling anecdotes to his friend. The anecdotes were quite funny, but we were glad to leave him behind on the climb as he was very loud indeed.

More happy scouts at the top, and we turned around for the descent, stopping just before the woods to put on windproofs and dig out head torches.

Back through Habberley where it was now fully dark, and up the road to Bank Farm and a cup of tea.

Sidequest - the history of the grouping rule

Grouping is a bit of a holdover from the days before trail running became a big thing in the UK. Fifteen plus years ago, the Scouts events (and the LDWA) were the main ultra distance events here. The assumption was that walking was the default (although many fell runners took part), and everyone would slow down at roughly the same rate.

Everyone hated the grouping rules. The Bullock Smithy never enforced it particularly strictly, although they retain the option in the rules and still encourage participants to group up. The Fellsman enforced it strictly, and got a lot stricter after a serious safety issue in 2012. They stopped enforcing the rule post covid when they brought in GPS tracking to pretty much universal sighs of relief, although it's still an option they can invoke if the conditions call for it.

Everyone had at least one grouping horror story, whether it was being grouped with someone who was  a complete arsehole; or someone completely irresponsible or inept. My own grouping experience from the 2011 Fellsman had been positive - I'd entered in a group of three, and when we lost someone to injury at Stonehouse we picked up 2 more who were well matched for speed, and good company.

So Claire and I weren't sure how strictly grouping would be enforced. We've done several mountain marathons together, walked thousands of miles through the night in all weathers and seasons, completed 2 LDWA Hundreds as a pair, walked and run the Fellsman together. We really hoped the grouping rule would be lightly enforced like the Bullock, and we'd be OK as a pair.

Long Mynd Hike part 2 - night time

By the time we reached Bank Farm it was apparent that we were going to get grouped. I'd overheard an conversation among volunteers about grouping. At Bridges CP the system for controlling groups had been in place and visible, and I started to feel uneasy.

We were eyeballing people in the hope of finding someone quiet we could get along with. Once we were ready to leave there was someone waiting, and we'd seen him running the descents during the day. He was on his own, not a member of a big rowdy group so we thought we'd be fine.

I won't give a detailed account of the rest of the event. Our companion was pleasant, chatty but not noisy. But he'd run hard to the mid point and burned out. He wasn't used to climbing, and the Long Mynd has 3000m of climb. Claire and I train specifically for hard sustained climbing.

We did the first 25 miles in 6 hours. The remaining 24 miles took 12 hours. The last 5km alone took 2 hours.

The unplanned sunrise

We weren't interested in our finish time - we're well past being precious about that by now, especially when walking rather than running. But the experience of dragging along at half your comfortable speed for many hours is excruciating, and what could have been a lovely walk through the night became an exercise in patience and forbearance.

There are multiple failures here. Anyone who works with me will tell you I'm not afraid to be assertive. But I don't like to punch down, and when someone is struggling I'm going to put my own feelings aside and try to help, even to my own detriment. Our companion probably should have recognised that we were struggling to go as slow as him, and hung on at a CP to regroup with someone else. The state he was in by the finish, perhaps he should have DNF'd. It didn't help that whenever I asked "are you OK" he was always really chirpy and upbeat, and likewise in  CPs, so there wasn't really an opening for "would you like to stop here for a rest and group up with a slower party?". Nevertheless, I should have said something at the time.

But in my view the retention of the grouping rule in 2026 is the bigger problem. There are many things wrong with the grouping rule as a safety system.

• It assumes a more or less consistent pace throughout. While that might be true for walkers, it's very much not true for runners, especially now when many more people are entering events that are stretching their capability to breaking point. We see an awful lot of runners who run the first part of an event then burn out and slowly plod the rest. Or, more often, runners who can't climb at any pace, so we catch them on every climb, then they catch us on the descents.
• You'd hope that marshals would be careful about gender mixes in groups (although looking at some of the groupings I'm not convinced). But how does a woman say "no, I don't want to be grouped with this creepy bloke I've been ignoring for the last twenty miles, even if you group me with him and another woman"? More difficult still, how does someone break a group when they feel uncomfortable but the social pressure is to continue? Far more men than women enter long distance events and I've heard quite a few women talk about being worried by the grouping rules.
• Even beyond immediate safety and practicality concerns, grouping assumes that people are gregarious and happy to be with others. Being grouped with a loud extrovert (or god help us some idiot with a bluetooth speaker) would completely ruin the whole event for us, and others like us.
• In benign weather, with hundreds of other people on the route, you're never alone for long anyway. Being grouped is completely disproportionate to risk under those circumstances.
• Where a group isn't working, as ours wasn't, it relies on tired participants to force the issue and overcome cultural/social pressure to deal with it themselves. It lets the organisers off the hook at the expense of participants.
• Mandatory grouping is probably discriminatory under the Equality Act (2010). The threat of it is likely to deter some people from entering at all (ADHDers for example).

Grouping was a "best we can do" sticking plaster for safety at a time when there wasn't an alternative. It probably wasn't a particularly appropriate solution on the LMH from the start - a more light touch implementation like that of the BSH would have made more sense.

Overall, the Long Mynd is a weird event. The Scouts love a night hike, but starting at 1pm means missing most of the beautiful scenery because you're walking in the dark from quite early on. At 50 miles an 8 or 9am start would force all but the very fastest into the night and give the rest more opportunity to enjoy the Shropshire Hills.

On the plus side everyone was absolutely lovely, the weather was fantastic and it was great to see so many scouts really getting involved. The organisation was more or less flawless. Food was limited to biscuits, sweets, crisps and hot drinks, but that suits me perfectly.

The LMH models itself on the Fellsman, but little resembles it. Even in the dirtiest of weather, the Shropshire Hills are never going to be as bleak and inhospitable as the tops of Buckden Pike and Great Whernside, and although the area isn't densely populated there are plenty of villages in the valley bottom. It doesn't seem to attract huge numbers of competitive runners (although the entry is enormous), and is more of a social event for groups of friends to enter. Entering in a group of 3 or more, if that's your thing, is probably great fun.

I'm glad to have ticked it off the list, but I won't be going back.

Kit

• OS 216, 217, 241 maps.
• Montane Prism hat
• Montane Fireball primaloft
• Columbia waterproof coat
• Kalenji waterproof trousers
• Patagonia nanopuff gilet
• buffalo mittens
• 2 fluo yellow buffs
• another buff
• UD Fastpack 20 bag
• screw top mug
• Saunders T shirt
• Patagonia mid length shorts
• Patagonia full length leggings
• Bridgedale socks
• Waterproof socks (on at the evening stop)
• Montane windproof
• ME wide brimmed hat
• Altra King MT 2.0 shoes
• compass
• printed map
• first aid kit
• SOL survival bag
• Zebralight H600fw torch & spare 18650 battery
• Small anker charger & watch cable
• small patches of retroreflective tape
• UD soft bottle
• Spare (empty) bottle

Food

• 2 cheese pittas
• 1 peanut butter pitta
• 2 cheese scones
• mixed nuts
• a few crisps at CPs.