Set off Sunday at 10.50 with Camelback and about 2 ltrs of water with Nuun tablets.
First obstacle, crossing the East Coast mainline! Then followed the promenade out of Spitall before climbing to the cliff top. The track here was rough tarmac to start with then close cropped grass. Very flat and easy going and once running not too cold either.
At the first opportunity though I dropped down onto the beach to run on the sand. The wet sand was mostly firm and very easy to run on but my feet would occasionally sink into softer stuff which was much more tiring. A short detour into the dunes also made me realise that running uphill in very soft sand is pretty much a waste of time! Good fun though but soon dropped back onto the wet sand.
As I neared Holy Island and the vast expanse of sand and mud flats I decided it would be wise to hug the coastline and soon had to divert back into the dunes to cross a wide, deep stream. I then picked up a clear track that took me all the way to the causeway across to the island.
Luckily, the causeway was clear until 5.30 that afternoon, so plently of time to get across to the island and back.
This then meant 3 miles of dead flat tarmac making for a quick run onto Lindisfarne. It was easy going and made more interesting by the incursion of sand over large parts of the road and even seaweed in places (though this was a bit slippy to run on!).
At Lindisfarne I met up with Pamela and Emma and we visited the castle which was redesigned by Lutyens around 1900 and had a picnic in the very sheltered walled garden designed by Gertrude Jekyll.
It was then back on with the Camleback for the 12 mile return run. Just about made it before dark but happy with the run which I completed just inside 4 hours in total.
This also meant another 40 plus week with 44 miles run.
Hopefully return to the caravan at the end of January to do more sand running in full MdS kit...
Click on the thumnail below to see a montage of the Holy Island run.
Run to Holy Island 30/12/2007
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