Thank you Hillbillies for your fantastic company this morning!!
We had a great turnout today, with 4 Hillbillies running - Charlene, Chris, Rob and myself.
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| Route Profile |
Rob had a warm-up run from home, and joined us at Great Westerford just as we were about to set off. Perfect timing Rob! And Rob even had an interesting new route suggestion - a partial merge of 2 of our old favourites. Welcome back Rob!
We set off up Dean Street as usual, but slowly. Caught our breath back along Newlands, and we were feeling great by the time the M3 came into sight. So early in the morning - and still school holidays - we had no traffic troubles cross the M3.
We sailed along Boshoff Avenue, for a change following it to the very end at Rose Street. Left into Rose as usual, but instead of heading across to Kirstenbosch Drive as has been the habit (to either head towards Canterbury, or Stone Church), we continued on past the link-road and down Riverside back to the M3 - strange feeling running down here and still feeling so fresh, this is usually nearing the end of our runs!
We stopped for water at the Shell - we were all hot and thirsty by this point: hot day yesterday followed by an uncomfortably warm night, we started our run at 05:30 in 23degree weather!! Summer is most definitely here!
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| Route Map |
From the water-stop, we decided to follow the Liesbeek River Trail for the short section towards Bucksburn Road, which lead us out onto Protea. Across a pleasantly deserted Main Road, we picked up steam heading over the Newlands railway bridge, the guys leading for a while. Past the cricket grounds and through the cul de sac, Chris broke away and headed back home with painful blisters on both feet. Charlene, Rob and I continued, feeling alive and overjoyed to be back on the road.
At the Campground Shell we stopped of for a [warm] water break, and here Rob bid us farewell. Charlene and I set off again.
Quick and easy over the usually-busy road, along Belmont, up and over the railway bridge. We opted to follow the peaceful river trail (except for a few kamakaze mountain-bikers flying along the trail) and avoid stinky old Main Road. Crossing the back end of Arbor Road we saw the last mountain biker, and from there we had the trail to ourselves.
All too soon we reached the Main Road underpass and found ourselves back at Great Westerford where Chris was already waiting.
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All in all a great run! Thanks Hillbillies for awesome company along the way!
Following Hillbilly tradition, I have plotted an interesting new route - still sticking to our regular stomping ground, but with a few twists.
Here is the link:http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4218609 - this is a cool site I discovered yesterday, and spent a few minutes playing with this morning. As with Google Maps (which I usually use to plot our routes as it gives a fairly accurate distance estimation), I can plot an exact course along the roads, but the added bonus is the elevation feature - you can see the predicted elevation graph underneath the map, updating as you add to your route!! Awesome!!!
In case the route has too many twists to be clear, it goes something like this:
Starting up Dean Street, follow Newlands Avenue to the M3 (2km). Left down the M3 till Fernwood Ave, which leads to Boshoff (3km). Follow Boshoff till the very end at Rose Str, down Rose to Kirstenbosch Dr, and right into Bishopscourt Dr. Continue over into Canterbury (5km), all the way to the top at Kirstenbosch Top Gate (7km). From Kirstenbosch along Klaasens Rd, and onto Monterey (good old Monterey!). At the wendy-house/security-shack (9km - the worst of the climbing is over, mostly downhill all the way home!) head down Upper Bebington, then second left onto Upper Primrose. Just past 10km we get back to the Klaasens Road intersection, and here we take Gloucester (yes, somewhat in reverse of our usual Monterey route). Gloucester leads back to Canterbury. Down, down, down along Canterbury until we reach Hillwood. Right into Hillwood, then left into Forest Ave (12km). Cross over M3 and follow Bowood all the way through to Cavendish Str (14km), then follow Cavendish as it becomes Kildare. At the circle turn into Mains Str (15km), and back to Great Westerford. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4218609
All in all a great run! Thanks Hillbillies for awesome company along the way!
Following Hillbilly tradition, I have plotted an interesting new route - still sticking to our regular stomping ground, but with a few twists.
Here is the link:http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4218609 - this is a cool site I discovered yesterday, and spent a few minutes playing with this morning. As with Google Maps (which I usually use to plot our routes as it gives a fairly accurate distance estimation), I can plot an exact course along the roads, but the added bonus is the elevation feature - you can see the predicted elevation graph underneath the map, updating as you add to your route!! Awesome!!!
In case the route has too many twists to be clear, it goes something like this:
Starting up Dean Street, follow Newlands Avenue to the M3 (2km). Left down the M3 till Fernwood Ave, which leads to Boshoff (3km). Follow Boshoff till the very end at Rose Str, down Rose to Kirstenbosch Dr, and right into Bishopscourt Dr. Continue over into Canterbury (5km), all the way to the top at Kirstenbosch Top Gate (7km). From Kirstenbosch along Klaasens Rd, and onto Monterey (good old Monterey!). At the wendy-house/security-shack (9km - the worst of the climbing is over, mostly downhill all the way home!) head down Upper Bebington, then second left onto Upper Primrose. Just past 10km we get back to the Klaasens Road intersection, and here we take Gloucester (yes, somewhat in reverse of our usual Monterey route). Gloucester leads back to Canterbury. Down, down, down along Canterbury until we reach Hillwood. Right into Hillwood, then left into Forest Ave (12km). Cross over M3 and follow Bowood all the way through to Cavendish Str (14km), then follow Cavendish as it becomes Kildare. At the circle turn into Mains Str (15km), and back to Great Westerford. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4218609
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Dean Street Hillbillies
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