More Highlands and Islands

Monday evening of that week I took my kids for a walk to the top of their first Scottish peak, Am Mam from where I took this picture of the clouds gathering over the Cuillins.

Cuillin Ridge from Am Mam

Another clear evening and I decided to try and head up onto Sgurr Alasdair, this meant climbing the great stone chute. I thought I had left myself plenty of time before the light faded but I was wrong, completely underestimating the severity of the scree slope. I was quite disappointed when I realised I wasn't going to make it to the top, right about where I took this picture:

Looking out over Glenbrittle beach from the slopes of the Great Stone Chute.

I'm afraid to admit I did lose my bottle briefly up there (I'm not on about my water bottle). I had been scrambling up crags to try and stay off the loose scree but when I rounded a corner and saw that there was still a very steep section before reaching the col leading up to the summit, foremost in my mind was how steep the terrain had been and I still had to get back down! I strayed too far right at one point coming back down and everywhere was very loose and steep, I couldn't see the route back the ground just seemed to drop off a cliff. Realising my mistake I headed left and could finally see the whiter stones of the path. I was a little fed up by that point, I hadn't enjoyed myself at all and felt that I had put myself in unnecessary danger just trying to tick off a summit.

I was making so much noise crashing back down through the scree, there were a few people on the ridge opposite - I think they were climbing the Inaccessible Pinnacle - must have thought I was a right vandal kicking all the stones around.

Sgurr Dearg opposite, where some climbers were on the Inn Pinn.



A nice consolation on the way back down was the view of the sunset over Glenbrittle bay.


 The day after was a little cloudier and I wanted to get a proper run done which didn't involve my hands touching rock, so I went from the Sligachan Hotel up onto Beinn Dearg Mheadhonach (I'm copying this from the map, don't ask me to pronounce it). Notice the Beinn instead of Sgurr, so not too rough and rocky.

Glen Sligachan with Marsco in the foreground and the Cuillin Ridge.



Looking north(ish).Beinn Dearg Mhor on the left with Loch Ainort and the Isle of Scalpay.

Highlands and Islands

 Just back after a week on the Isle of Skye where the weather was particularly kind. On the drive up we stopped off in Wasdale to pick up my eldest daughter, she had been staying with some friends of ours who farm in the valley. We dropped her off the week before, driving there after the event in Grasmere.

I took these pictures that evening:

This is the view from their front door...

...and this the view from the back.

As driving goes, you can't get much better than the drive up through Glencoe into the Highlands. I haven't been further north than Fort William before so found it very distracting seeing such a lovely part of the country for the first time.

I took this shot from the side of the road as we passed through GlenGarry

Skye, like the rest of the Highlands is a paradise for hill lovers. I was spoilt for choice while looking for routes on the map. The evening after we arrived I decided to go for a jog up towards the highest peak on the island to see what the Black Cuillins are like. I wasn't going to get to the top, I only set out at 8ish but I wanted to check out the only route up that doesn't (apparently!) need climbing skills. Looking at the map I was wondering why the names of all the peaks began with 'Sgurr' as opposed to 'Ben'. I found out that the Gaelic 'Sgurr' means 'rough, rocky peak', nowhere I have been has this been more apt than here.

Anyway I got as far as the small loch in the glacial corrie 'Coire Lagan' and took a couple of shots.

This was as far as I got, a small loch in Coire Lagan. I took this from the base of the Great Stone Chute. You can just about see the Isle of Rum on the horizon.

The view up to the top. I decided to head up the stone chute on the left the next time I headed out which turned out to be a mistake.

One more picture on the way back down of the sunset as I passed Loch An Fhir-Ballaich.

More pictures to come...

Back to the Lakes at last.

Saturday saw another well run LDWA Event: Grasmere Fells, Tarns and Gingerbread organised by the Morecambe Bay & Bowland group. The previous Sunday Mark and I ran another ldwa event - the Essexwalker Challenge around the Crouch estuary on a sunny Sunday where I had a decent run apart from getting dehydrated towards the end. Mark however didn't have such a good time, he was suffering when I passed him (I started about 10 mins late) and I half expected him to be waiting for me at the finish having cut it short, as it was he visited all the checkpoints but took a few shortcuts to make it around 22.5 miles. He was struggling with a sore hamstring plus he also has a touch of shin splints and didn't seem too happy at the finish. He took this as I caught up to him early on:

For Grasmere after much changing of minds during the week Mark decided to drive me up there and bring our eldest boys along; I would run the long route while he would take them for a walk up to Alcock Tarn, he didn't seem too keen on running. Leaving blue skies in Wigan the lakes were misty and overcast but not particularly cold. We only got there just after 8:30 to see everyone heading off into the hills, I got a brew and some toast before getting changed and setting off about 45 minutes late.

The mist was quite low until approaching midday and I didn't see another soul until Great Rigg. There were a few points on the course where the organisers had placed arrows marking the route which was a nice touch but it didn't stop me getting the compass out once or twice to check where I was going. We were tantalisingly close to the top of the cloud on Fairfield and if I had had my wits about me I would have kept my eye out for a Brocken Spectre, as it was there was very little for me to see until coming out of the mist way down from Grisedale Hause, I haven't been down that way before and not having done any big downhills for months my legs were already feeling a bit jelly-like at the Ghyll Foot food stop.

From there on the weather brightened up and navigation became less of a concern. Easedale Tarn was quite busy by the time I got there, I met a runner coming down from Far Easedale who seemed quite pissed off he had gone so wrong. There were runners and walkers all over the place heading across to Silver Howe and I noticed many runners were taking the direct route down to the Youth Hostel rather than following the route notes. By the Youth Hostel I caught up to Ian and Pauline then before I knew it we were climbing fences through woods trying to get back on route (we can blame the walker we caught up for leading us astray!). I was quite tired on the last climb up Loughrigg but the view from the top was well worth it. Then it was a last tortuous stretch round both Grasmere the 'lake' and Grasmere the village to get to the finish. I think I was out for just over 5 hours but time doesn't matter with these events, I was glad to have enjoyed a nice day out.

As ever there was lots of food at the finish and a nice bonus of a piece of Grasmere Gingerbread, a superbly organised event and a credit to all involved with putting it on. I had a great time though I have been suffering since; I ran with a bit of a sore throat that turned out to be the beginnings of a cold, my legs are only just coming back to life now and it's Thursday! Not having done any big downhills for well over 6 months can't help much though.

As per usual there are some fantastic pictures on Ian's blog and Nick Ham's blog. Looking forward to Easter now since I'm off to the Isle of Skye for a week.

Looking forward...

I haven't really got any major events planned this year, I have been looking for something to do around July but haven't found anything suitable yet so this has meant my training hasn't followed any sort of plan either.

After the Peeler's Hike in Feb I concentrated on getting some miles in on the bike since I had entered Wiggle's No Excuses Sportive towards the end of last year. The main reason being it wasn't too far from where I live and it was free!

I had a good day out, the weather was reasonably kind apart from the headwind around the 60 mile mark which was very frustrating especially since I was having a bad patch at that point. I was impressed with the organisation of this event and really pleased to be out with lots of other cyclists on what turned out to be very quiet lanes around Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire. I even managed (very briefly) to make it on the official video.

The following Sunday was another LDWA event that I entered at the last minute: The Daffodil Dawdle in Suffolk. I was surprised how dry the countryside is at the moment as well as relieved since some of the fields we ran through had recently been ploughed and if wet the mud would have been a nightmare!

This was exactly the type of event I like to do; just turn up and get your route description then when you're ready off you go. I spent the first few miles alone and at a couple of points on the route thought I was hallucinating; first I saw what I thought was a pack of hounds in the distance before I realised they were particularly silent for dogs - it was a herd of deer; then later on when we were heading through the village of Burrough Green where you run past a red telephone box which looked to be stuffed full of books - the village had turned it into a library where you can book swap! I saw tyregirl on the way round as well, last time I saw her was on the Steppingley Step last October.

Again another well organised and laid-back event, I feel guilty for hoping that these events don't get too popular; it's great to be able to go running in such quiet surroundings with the support provided at checkpoints all for much less than it costs in fuel to get there and back. Here's a map of the route that I found.

Next up for me is the Essex Walker Challenge, which follows a similar route to the Blackwater Marathon I did with Mark in 2009. Then it's up north for Easter break and Grasmere Fells, Tarns and Gingerbread I'm looking forward to getting out in the hills again!

Only March and the moorland fires have started..

Running on the Lostock AC Wednesday night the fire engines were present on Winter Hill. The glow from the flames looked to be coming from an area between the Pike and the mast but by the time we got up to Two Ladds the fire must have been out as the fire engine was just leaving and no fire could be seen.

Friday turned out to be another day for flames as the moorland over on the Belmont side of Winter Hill managed to catch on fire. Apparently 50 fire fighters from the surrounding areas were tackling the flames. Not sure how the fire started but the grass is VERY dry at the minute (on top layer at least) so it wouldn’t take much to take hold.

Today (Sunday) on a run out with Albert we headed up the back of Winter Hill. The flames seem to only have skimmed the surface but they have covered a large area as you can see below. As we headed from the Mast to the Pike there was also a small area towards the Boggy section in the middle that must have been the focus of Wednesday nights activities.

Looking out towards Great Hill after Fire on Winter Hill