I'm heading back to the UK some time next year after having been in France for the past several years. While here I got in to trail running and is something that has become very important to me. I'm familiar with the UK, having lived there for 35 years before leaving but I was never interested in trail running so I'm trying to do some research before heading back.
"Unfortunately" (maybe a bit harsh) I'm going to be settling in the East Midlands for the first 3 years or so, but here in France I'm used to mountain trail running, averaging around 300 m per / 10 km of climbing in training and maybe double that in races (a typical race distance would be 60 km with 3300 m of vertical).
Part of me is looking forward to coming back to the UK but there is another big part of me that is too used to the solitude of the outdoors here, and the idea that I won't be able to have easy access to that is the thing I'm least looking forward to. Apart from finding somewhere off the beaten track to run, I'd still like to incorporate plenty of climbing in my runs (at least regularly). I'm hoping that after 3 years, we might be able to move a bit closer to the Peak District but until then, I guess I'll be trying to travel somewhere every other weekend for "special" runs.
Maybe the answers to my questions are common-sense obvious, but in general, I'm wondering what do people do to get out on challenging trails ? Travel a lot ?
Are there any clubs or groups that meet up to run during the week, and also for trips to National Parks etc ?
And is this Ultra/Adventure racing thread the main forum in the UK for the type of trail running I'm talking about ? I couldn't find much else when searching for "UK trail running" - maybe I'm missing something or it's called something else. I'd be interested in finding the sites that have the most discussion and info on UK trail running so I can start planning my adventures !
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Comments
I can't get very specific on answers, don't know the EM, but here is a good place for you to look I think: http://www.tra-uk.org/about
Peak District
There are a load of awesome runs here
http://www.walkingenglishman.com/peakdistrict.htm
Yes, they are labelled as walks but just run them
Also a couple of good looking races coming up in October and November.
https://www.facebook.com/Ranger-Ultras-1052884814744424/?fref=nf&pnref=story
Sorry here is the non Facebook link.
http://rangerultras.co.uk/
Also https://www.sientries.co.uk/ if you are interested in races, this has ones of different length.
if you want to start of getting around a bit and starting off gentler, you can always pick one of the national cycling routes to do, or do a part ofF.
http://www.sustrans.org.uk/ncn/map
Thanks lowrez and booktrunk
Those links were useful, especially the tra-uk and the Ranger Ultras ones.
And more info or ideas either about running around East Midlands/Warks area or more general info would still be welcome.