With the Three Brethren in sight ahead. We started up the path which with the recent wet weather proved to be very technical but great fun and really tested the technical ability and stamina of everyone.

After a brief rest stop at the summit of the 3 Brethren it was time to blast down a nice fast little descent (flying past a couple of walkers) flattening out through a heather strewn path heading over towards Broomy Law climbing back up to 463m. This next section was grassy and boggy in places but great fun,

Then comes the start of  yet another tough climb
up an old drove road towards Brown Knowe and
a lung busting height of  523m.

At last it was time for the real fun to begin and
the smiles to appear on everyone’s faces ! Crossing Wallace’s Trench down towards Elibank Forest until we reached the edge of the trees and a sign for Yarrowford where the trail turned sharp left onto the the Minch Moor Road. Following some wicked, flowing downhill trails flying past some worried looking sheep, and over some very very slippy mud tracks, most of which was swallowed by Mr Kona ! He almost coughed up a lung full of mud.
The trail soon reached the tree-line below and Yarrowford.

After a couple of mile on tarmac to Philiphaugh (and a slight detour, thanks Mr pinkeye) a couple of us decided to head back to Yair Bridge on the road and the rest of us prepared for the final climb back up towards the 3 Brethren, which starts of innocently enough up an old farm road, twisting and turning gradually climbing until you reach a small reservoir and this is where it really gets tough! Due to very tired legs this climb was brutal and even the fittest of us found it a real challenge. You could almost hear a sign of relief when we reached the top of this climb and knew it was all downhill now back to the car park.

I think it was the promise of some nice Indian food and a cold beer that kept some of us going up the last hard climb!

With a total distance of 28km and 975m of climbing, the weather was better than last time, and I am sure everyone enjoyed it even if we were all a bit worse for wear by the end.

Big-W
Sniperkona (official pic-taker)
Pinkeye
Rossi46
Richie
Andycantjump
pdc

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