Keen to settle their festive excess debt, a dozen or so Striders met at St Mary and St Cuthbert Parish Church in Chester-le-Street, lured by the promise of a challenging, hilly yet rewarding route – Cuddy’s Corse.
I explained at the start how lucky we were not to have to carry the uncorrupted body of Cuthbert, the Patron Saint of the North, like those who went before us. I then suggested we stage a club relay run with a coffin – this received a less than enthusiastic response.
Off we went from the Church, under the A167, following part of the Riverside parkrun route, then across the River Wear towards the field edges and a lovely climb up to Great Lumley. Luck and fair weather were on our side as the conditions were favourable compared to the slip-slide of the last Striders’ run on this route. Having paused at the top to admire the views, we processed on to Finchale Priory and to more familiar ground – HMP Frankland, continuing down to Durham (at this point folk seemed to rejoice in the downhill opportunity).
Following the exact Cuddy’s Corse route, we crossed Framwellgate Bridge and startled shoppers as we climbed Silver Street and up to the Cathedral – job done and well done all!
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