For some time I’d been pondering the idea of doing the 3 peaks. However I didn’t want to spend hours in a car to visit the three highest points in Scotland, England and Wales. Similarly I didn’t want to wait until April for the slightly more local Yorkshire version. No my version was far more convenient.
So it was on a fine Sunday morning that I set off to jog the 3 miles up to the top of Eddisbury Hill. My starting point for this challenge was the central stone of the stone circle overlooking Delamere Forest. From here the plan was to run to the trig point on Helsby Hill and then to the Memorial on the top of Frodsham Hill. To complete the course the plan was to then return back to the starting point on Eddisbury Hill.
Given that my longest run over the previous 2 months was only a little over an hour I headed off towards Helsby at a steady pace. Following mainly footpaths but with some roads to keep a fairly direct route I reached the trig point on the top of Helsby Hill in a little over 53 minutes. The second stage of the route was probably the most familiar as a lot of it followed the normal summer time Wednesday club run route until it joined the Sandstone trail which I joined to head up to the Frodsham Hill memorial. This leg the shortest of the three saw me reach the railings at the memorial 32 minutes. Now all that remained was to get back to Eddisbury. Keeping a fairly direct route and sticking mainly to the trails, though some road couldn’t be avoided I returned to my starting point in almost exactly 1 hour.
After a few well earned minutes admiring the views and trying to identify the distant geographic features that are commemorated by metal plaques arranged round the centre stone circle I slowly jogged the last 3 miles home.
My total time for the Helsby 3 peaks route was 2 hours 26 minutes and 9 seconds. The total distance covered was 15.4 miles and I can safely say it made for a thoroughly enjoyable Sunday morning run.
The Challenge
So now that I’ve set a time for the route it seemed a good idea to throw open the “Helsby 3 Peaks Challenge” to everyone else at the club. The rules of the challenge are pretty straight forward. To run between the three peaks listed below following a circular route which must start and finish at one of the 3 summits.
- The central stone of the Eddisbury Hill stone circle
- The Trig point on Helsby Hill
- The railings surrounding Frodsham Hill memorial
Ian
Update September 2024: FOUR Peaks
A more achievable local round has been put together by Spartan Nick Wishart – same idea, construct a circuit from any top including Frodsham, Woodhouse (fairly low key top in the woods, above the steps climb), Snidley Moor (call it the bench) and Helsby, finish back where you started. Join the fun here: Woodhouse Four Peaks Challenge
