Trail running through middle age

Ourea Northern Traverse 2025 (or……. How Many 300gram Jackets do we Actually Need?) I’ve been aware of this race for a number of years, but never thought I’d ever run it. The Ourea Northern Traverse essentially follows Alfred Wainwright’s Coast to Coast route from St.Bees on the West coast to Robin Hoods Bay on the East. A distance of around 300km (190 miles). I walked it 15 years ago over 12 days so the prospect of trying to do it in under 4 days was a bit daunting. The adventure started at the finish, with me being dropped off in Robin Hoods Bay on the Friday afternoon to catch the organised coach to the registration point in St. Bees. The sun was shining but there was a nervous energy amongst us all. I met several friends at this point which eased the tension. The journey seemed unnecessarily long, especially after a bit of creative navigation through Middlesbrough, but was helped along with a fair dose of middle-aged man mumblings between Andy and myself about how we would have done...