Four Trigs

Martin and I headed down to Sidmouth last Sunday in the lovely spring-like sunshine for our third running of the Four Trigs. Following the frantic recce-ing expeditions of 2007 and 2008 we were extremely complaisant this year and had not been near the route. This is a self navigating run of the four trig points surrounding Sidmouth – and to make it more interesting it is run in opposite directions each year. This year the route was anti-clockwise, my personal favourite, as it gets the killer hills between Sidmouth and Branscombe out of the way early on whilst there is still some life left in the legs.

The run starts at the Yacht Club in Sidmouth and follows the coast path past Salcombe and Westonmouth to reach the first trig point on Branscome cliff. This is the easy bit (from a navigational point of view!). The route then heads inland through Weston and past the donkey sanctuary at Salcombe. At this point it became apparent that two runners who clearly had no idea of the route were using us as guides. This didn’t bother me too much, but when Martin started pretending that he couldn’t remember the way, I realised that it was upsetting him and thought it was probably time to stop chatting to one of them and try to lose them!

We crossed the main coast road and headed into the woods to emerge near Harcombe with our irritating posse still on our heels. The second trig is definitely the hardest to find – it nestles in a knoll of scrubby woodland with no discernible path, so we plunged into the woods, clawing our way up the steep hillside and managed to briefly shake off our pursuers. Emerging a few minutes later, arms and legs badly scratched, we legged it out of the woods trying to reach a cunning short cut before our companions came back into view.

A steep descent through the woods, out into the fields and we headed down to the road crossing at Sidbury. At this point Martin noticed that a girl who had been ahead of us was now several hundred yards behind – together with several other runners who had obviously also had problems locating the second trig – and unfortunately the duo who had been following us.

After the road crossing there is a long, muddy bridle path leading uphill which is quite easy to follow, although it resembles running along a riverbed for most of its route. My female rival had caught us up by this point and was clearly quite happy to discard her map and join our guided tour group. We tried to lag behind but the slower we went the slower they went too. Our cunning plan was that there was plenty of scope for getting lost in the woods leading to the third trig.
Unfortunately we had not counted on another local runner, who clearly knew the route as well as we did, catching us up and, obviously a far more sporting type than us, being quite happy to point everyone in the right direction. Three of our “group” including female runner began to forge ahead with him but we didn’t give up hope of shaking off some of the slower members of our entourage later on.

Once past the third trig there is a long, steep descent before another road crossing and a very tricky section where you have to leave the safety of the East Devon Way behind and indulge in some serious mountain climbing through thick woods whilst hoping that you are heading in the right direction. It was on this descent that Martin decided we would shake off our pursuers, so as not to give them any hint of our cunning short cut through said woods.

The first part of the plan went well and we bombed down the field at breakneck speed. Unfortunately the second part of the plan didn’t work quite so well – we definitely took the most direct route through the woods, but the cliff face we had to scale slowed us down a fair bit!

We crossed the road (again!) and knew that we were finally on the homeward stretch - another long, steady climb up and then a mile or so of nice easy running on flat paths through the woods – and we were on our own now, no sign of anyone either in front or behind.

The fourth trig – High Peak – is out and back and it is so hard turning away from the finish after 14 miles or so and running west towards Budleigh instead of east back to the delights of the Yacht Club. There are two routes up to the trig point and Martin decided to take the second one whilst I opted for the first. When I reached the trig there was no sign of him, so I went back down the other way assuming that he had been and gone and was proving the point that his way was quicker by not waiting for me.

As I headed back towards Sidmouth and climbed the final hill there was no sign of him, either in front or behind. I did have a small twinge of guilt that he was lying in the woods with a badly twisted ankle or had approached the trig a tad too enthusiastically and plunged straight over the cliff, but I managed to quash it and continued to push on to the finish. Halfway down Peak Hill, with the blissful sight of Sidmouth ahead of me, he suddenly appeared from a side gate and ruefully admitted to having made “a bit of a navigational error “ resulting in more bramble clearance and some impressive scratches. I managed not to look too smug as we enjoyed the final run along the promenade, trying not to scare the old age pensioners and Sunday strollers with our battered, bloody rush through their midst.

We finished in 2.55.10 – some seven minutes slower than our 2007 circuit, but as this was by far the hardest run we’ve done since last July we were both pleased to have broken the 3 hour mark. We celebrated with our annual dip in the sea , which was a bit on the chilly side and then retired to the Yacht Club for well earned pasties, cakes and coffees, all included in the modest £5 entry fee.

This is one of our favourite runs – low key, friendly, stunning countryside and great fun – and it’s fast becoming an annual “must do” event. Apart from anything else a great warm up for the Grizzly which is now looming dangerously close!



Running through Salcombe Regis