Low Bradfield - Edale
Route
With only a weekend in hand, both of us coming from the other ends of England and this being Tom’s first time Fastpacking we opted for a short loop in the Peaks. The loop started in Low Bradfield, a village just North West of Sheffield, weaving over the peaks to Edale with a slightly shorter return leg. We covered a total distance of 55km and just over 2000m of ascent.
Kit
Largely unchanged since Hadrians wall. Besides the sleeping mat, head torch, jacket and shoes.
Sleeping
- Tent – Z packs duplex
- Sleeping bag – Rab ascent 500
- Mat – thermarest neoair uberlite
Food and drink
- Sawyer mini water filter
- Snacks and dehydrated meals
- Vango compact stove
- Propane 230g
- Lightweight pan and mug
Clothes
- Salomon bonatti jacket
- Salomon gloves
- Montane allez micro fleece hoodie
- Thin down jacket
- Buff, leggings, WP trousers, microfibre towel
Other
- Garmin in reach mini
- 20,000 mAh battery bank
- Fenix hm65r-t head torch
- Ultimate direction 35l fastpack
- Hoka Challenger ATR trainers
Day 1
Planned distance 33km
Actual distance travelled 38km
With a 0900 start we didn’t have much time in the bank if we wanted to avoid running in the dark. We sped through the day with only 1 stop in Castleton for a much needed refuel.
Arriving in Edale at 1530 and settling right next to the fire in the pub by the campsite. After a burger and chips we tucked in for the night, hoping for a long refreshing sleep.
Day 2
Distance 21km
Although comfy and warm in our sleeping bags, we just couldn’t get to sleep. We decided that if we were both still up at 02oo then we would just run the second leg back to Low Bradfield in the dark.
Neither of us had done such a long night run before, and we both quite enjoyed it, despite the lack of views. We made it back to the car at about 0800 after a little nap on the side of the trail.
Lessons learnt
- Too much kit
- On this occasion the stove and dried food were probably unnecessary
- I will try a smaller pack next time to encourage less kit
- New head torch was brilliant and far superior to the previous LED Lenser. I could see far and wide the whole night without changing the battery. On the other hand, Tom was becoming frustrated with the small patch of light falling from his head torch
- Still struggling to sleep after a long day of running… I’m unsure how to fix this. Maybe running slower with more gaps will help.