What NOT to do before you go on your ski holiday !!

If it helps, we started from Holmfirth, and walked five and a bit miles up the Saddleworth Moor Road as far as Wessenden Head, then turned south over Black Hill.

The finish was at Buxton.

Have since completed a fair amount of fell running, nothing like the standards of Joss Naylor, Mike Reid or Ricky Wild, (who I one time partnered in a Lakeland two-day mountain marathon) I still reckon the Four Inns to be among the toughest, mostly because of the conditions, partly because I was a bit young to be involved in that kind of stuff. You need the miles under your belt.

Quick spot of historical research, extracted from Bygone Derbyshire:

"In spring, came the annual Four Inns Walk – and tragedy. As a traditional walk, originally the Three Inns, it dated back to the 1920s. In 1957, a group of Derby Rover Scouts had decided to turn the walk, of around 50 miles, into an organised team competition.

Starting at the ruined Isle of Skye Inn, near Holmfirth, in West Yorkshire, it took in both Snake Pass and Edale, where the Snake Inn and the Nag’s Head provided the second and third of the four inns, before finishing at the Cat and Fiddle, high above the Goyt Valley.

By 1964, it drew teams from all over the country. As the 240 or so competitors set off that Saturday morning, the weather was wet and cool, but offered no hint of the sudden severe conditions that were to challenge walkers later in the day. Indeed, the first teams to finish experienced few difficulties but, for those that followed, conditions quickly became dangerous.

Rain turned to snow and then into a blizzard. In all, only 22 walkers were able to complete the course. As word came of the worsening conditions, and of the non-arrival of several competitors at the various checkpoints, search parties were sent out.

Four Rover Scouts from Birmingham University were reported missing. They had been caught in temperatures barely above freezing and were battered by 30mph winds hurling snow and rain at them as they crossed Snake Pass and Alport Valley.

One Scout was found near Alport and was taken to safety but, disorientated by the conditions and his experience, he was unable to tell searchers where the others might be. The Glossop Rover crew rescued another of the party; the youngest of the group, aged just 19, died later in hospital.

With conditions worsening, the search had to be called off as darkness took hold. The following morning, a full-scale rescue operation was launched. With snow several feet deep in places, this was no easy task and it was not until Monday afternoon that the first body was recovered near a waterfall on the River Alport.

The third victim’s body was not discovered until Tuesday, by which time more than 350 people were involved in the search. This Scout had died on open moorland above Snake Pass, just 10 minutes’ walk from safety. Although the Four Inns Walk continued, and even increased in popularity, organisers and participants were forced to review safety precautions."

It was three lads that died, not two. By 1964, the start had been pushed back down the road to Holmfirth School, and the finish to a school at Buxton.

Holmfirth is where they film Last of the Summer Wine, the 4 Inns start is at Holmbridge church, or church hall where most of the competitors spend the night, and the finish in Harper Hill college, Buxton where competitors also spend the night.

What was remarkable in 1964 was that conditions were entirely predictable and in no way unusual for the area or time of year, it may have changed quickly on the day but that's pretty normal on those moors. The race organisers were exposed as having no emergency planning in place and allowing ill prepared young people onto the hill. This led to the formation of the Peak District mountain rescue teams, of which I was later a member, and rules being established requiring teams to carry equipment to spend a night out on the moors and making sure teams didn't become too spaced out on the hill.

It's disappointing current teams can't get around in a decent time though, unless the rules have recently changed to make them carry bricks and wear flip-flops it's a poor state of affairs they're two hours slower than we were in the '80's :lol: