A couple of weeks ago, I was chatting on facebook and there was a suggestion that a few of us in the Greater Manchester area should get together and barefoot.
I suggested Sunday 9th December at 10am and someone suggested Rivington Pike.
And so it was that the first meeting of the Lonely Feet Barefooters took place.
I had done a recce of the route the previous Sunday and knew it was challenging but runnable.
There were four of us.
Sharon travelled over form Southport. She usually runs barefoot on the beach so in Vivobarefoot shoes up Rivington Pike was a big difference.
Georg travelled up from Alsager in the Vibrams. Georg was one of our Real Barefooters a little while ago.
Tim comes from Sale. He is an experienced barefooter wearing his crazy homemade conveyor belt huaraches. They are so good.
I travelled from just over the hill and decided to wear a combination of the Swiss Socks I am testing and my Lunas.
We set off and I ditched the Lunas almost immediately after we hit the mud. The Swiss Socks seemed to be handling the ground well even though they were wet through straight away.
After a mile or so we started the climb up through the Chinese gardens to the summit. Sharon took a left half way and made her way through the lovely grounds of the Great Barn to meet us at the finish.
Georg and I commented on how light Tim is on his feet. He moved across all types of ground with a short smooth stride. It was reminiscent of an elf from Lord of the Rings. Running next to Georg, I felt like one of the dwarves. In the book of Lord of the Rings there is a scene where Aragorn, Legolas and Gimili run for hours on end trying to hunt down a pack of orcs. I reckon that is exactly what we looked like as we made our way from the pigeon tower to the summit.
As I chased Tim up the steps to the tower, I could hear my name being shouted in good natured abuse. Phil, fellow runner and companion on last week’s recce was waiting at the summit and joined us on the descent.
The drop off the summit is steep and we witnessed a mountain bike wipeout as someone bit of more than they could chew. Smiles all round fortunately. Georg spent most of the descent sliding on his backside, i slipped a couple of times and Tim just pattered gently ahead in his homemade huaraches without a care in the world.
We all took off our footwear to run barefoot for the last section. You can see the grins on our faces. The Swiss Socks were really good. I will be out again in them soon.
Back at the Great Barn, we met up with Sharon and Tim and Georg’s families. We had cups of tea out of the back of Tim’s new campervan. It just finished off the morning.
We want a few more people for next month’s run. we are going for the 2nd Sunday of the month.
Keep and eye of the Barefoot Beginner Facebook group for details.
3 comments
Nadine
December 13, 2012 at 4:39 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
That sounds such a great day, being out and about exploring the countryside…nice work guys.
Tim the Elf
December 13, 2012 at 10:55 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
It was a great day!
Thanks for the flattering write up.
The great news is that I’ve got my hands on more conveyor belt…
Barefoot Beginner
December 14, 2012 at 6:21 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi Tim. Good news, Phil will be on your conveyor belt like a flash. I would really like to try and make a pair.