29 May 2006
ANDALUCIA, May 2006
Jane and I enjoyed two weeks in Andalucia running, cycling, being tourists and generally having fun. Photos here
22 May 2006
Scottish Islands Peaks Race
Ten tears ago I did my first Islands Peaks Race and I still haven’t tired of this fantastic event, though my legs are certainly getting a bit wearier and slower each year. I was back on the good ship LEMARAC, the boat of sponsor Boyd Tunnock, though he wasn’t on board this time. Having done my first race on a tiny wee boat, this 38 foot Moody is a great way to travel in between the mountains, with lots of home comforts and lots of the sponsor’s own products. Catriona Miller was my Westies accomplice this time, having told her that it was simply a nice wee sail round the West coast with a few hills in between, with the promise of lots of Tunnock’s Tea Cakes all round. The race comprises a wee warm-up 5 mile trail race round Oban to stagger the field out, a sail to Salen on Mull to run up Ben More (22miles/1185metres), a sail down past the Corryvreckan Whirlpool to Jura to run up and down the Paps of Jura (12miles/1600metres), a sail round the Mull of Kintyre in to Lamlash on Arran for a saunter up Goatfell (18miles/1285metres ), and a final sail across to Troon = easy eh? Well it might be IF you didn’t have to more or less do the 60 miles and 5270 metres in less than 48 hours (started Mull at 5.30pm on Friday and finished on Arran at 10am on Sunday) and IF you didn’t have to try and eat, sleep and recover on a boat in between, BUT I wouldn’t miss it as it is simply superb.
We had a nice jog round the sunny and scenic Oban trail run before being rowed out on the dinghy to the boat by Billy where he, Keith and Matt took over as we dove below to put on our warm stuff. When we emerged it was to the faintest of winds and to the dread news that it might be nightfall before we even reach Mull if the wind didn’t improve – nightmare scenario! Fortunately the wind did get up and we even managed to beat a change of tide to arrive on Mull with 4 or 5 hours of daylight to spare, unlike lots of other boats just behind us who were delayed for hours as the tide proved stronger than the wind. On Mull we had to endure 40 min of rucsac-laden tarmac running, then 20 min of stony trail before getting on the hill proper where we could at least “walk”. We stormed past the Israeli paratroopers (honest!) and headed up to Ben More, getting a good line under the screes of A’Chioch, unlike a few other teams who looked horribly crag-bound. We spotted a multi KIMM Elite Class winner naughtily having his rucsac carried by his partner! While Catriona was having none of that and despite my offers carried her rucsac throughout. The top of Ben More was bit claggy, but we hit the next checkpoint spot on and started off on the contour to the final mountain checkpoint, the altimeter proving very useful in the clag and rapidly fading daylight (it was almost 10pm by now!). The choice of the bottom of the glen for the horrible trudge back to the track was a bad choice compared to the more usual sheep trod higher up, but at least I know never to do that again. We didn’t need our head torches for the last run-out and arrived back at Salen pier at about 11.30pm, having taken just under 6 hours.
Our sailors had a good sail down to Craighouse on Jura getting us there at a very civilised time of 10.22am, avoiding the dreaded “Jura In The Dark” nightmare. The weather on top, however, was very wet and windy adding to the challenging terrain of huge loose boulders, fast-moving scree and lots of climbing. The boggy trudge across to the foot of the first Pap was exactly that, but at least we were spot on with our bearing and found our way through the many wee lochans and hillocks to the mist-covered foot of Beinn a’Chaolais for its steep ascent. It was pretty miserable on top and from there we headed down the loose scree descent hitting the check at the lochan, before the climb up to the Corbett of Beinn an Oir. For once I managed to hit a great line off this middle Pap avoiding most of the boulder fields that bar the direct way to the last pap of Beinn Shiantaidh and finding some decent heather to ease the pain. Coming off this last one we even found the “secret” descent route off the last Pap, courtesy of Chris Upson’s tip, thereby missing the dire mixture of loose scree and treacherous boulders that await you on the direct route off. The weather relented on this descent and while the path from the lochan to the road was its usual quagmire, we enjoyed a very scenic and sunny plod on the 3 miles of tarmac back to Craighouse finishing in a shade over 6 hours, and leaving Jura @ 4.30pm.
After some pasta and cakes and whatever else we could manage to hold down, we spend some time up top enjoying the very strong winds and big seas on the way down to the Mull of Kintyre, including a near disaster with an out of control spinnaker. Knowing we could be at Arran in the early hours, we strapped ourselves into our beds and tried to get some sleep. At the unearthly hour of 2pm we were given the “45min to go” call, oh ####! After a bleary-eyed breakfast and packing of bag the wind proceeded to die and our eta was revised back to a more civilised time of 4am-ish. The boat crawled into Lamlash to start us off at 4.45am in daylight, which was fortunate for me, as I had left my head torch on the boat! It was a lovely spring morning and we hauled or weary bodies and rucsacs through Clauchlands farm and up and over the ancient hill fort of Dun Fionn and into deserted Brodick, passing Don Naylor and Louise Provan of HBT going the other way, having had to do Goatfell in the dark. It was a nice sunny plod up to the summit, with stunning views of Glen Rosa and the Firth of Clyde. This point is always a highlight of the race, as it marks the last real hill and leaves “only” a couple of hours mostly flat stuff left. The finish at Lamlash pier is always a joyful and emotional one for me and it was no different this time from ten years ago. By the time we finished in just over 5 hours it was a lovely summer’s day with a seal preening itself just offshore and kids paddling in the sea. We were greeted by Christine Menhennet and Val Houston for a celebratory Westies hug, which was well appreciated.
The sail across is usually very enjoyable, principally for the fact that you know you do not have to get of at the end and run up yet another big mountain. It was also warm and sunny for the first few hours when we enjoyed the rays over a meal of cheese and onion pasty and baked beans, washed down by some beer and malt whisky, but it then greyed-up and the wind died, taking us almost 5 hours to do what the ferry can do in about one! Cat and I hobbled along the marina walkways for the final few hundred yards to the finish to bring to an end another fantastic/exciting/challenging episode of this highlight of my running year. We finished as about 19th boat in, some 11 hours after the winners. Well done to Catriona and a great big thanks to - the crew of Keith, Matt and Billy and to Boyd; all the marshals and helpers who made the event possible; it was a privilege to have taken part.
Photos here
We had a nice jog round the sunny and scenic Oban trail run before being rowed out on the dinghy to the boat by Billy where he, Keith and Matt took over as we dove below to put on our warm stuff. When we emerged it was to the faintest of winds and to the dread news that it might be nightfall before we even reach Mull if the wind didn’t improve – nightmare scenario! Fortunately the wind did get up and we even managed to beat a change of tide to arrive on Mull with 4 or 5 hours of daylight to spare, unlike lots of other boats just behind us who were delayed for hours as the tide proved stronger than the wind. On Mull we had to endure 40 min of rucsac-laden tarmac running, then 20 min of stony trail before getting on the hill proper where we could at least “walk”. We stormed past the Israeli paratroopers (honest!) and headed up to Ben More, getting a good line under the screes of A’Chioch, unlike a few other teams who looked horribly crag-bound. We spotted a multi KIMM Elite Class winner naughtily having his rucsac carried by his partner! While Catriona was having none of that and despite my offers carried her rucsac throughout. The top of Ben More was bit claggy, but we hit the next checkpoint spot on and started off on the contour to the final mountain checkpoint, the altimeter proving very useful in the clag and rapidly fading daylight (it was almost 10pm by now!). The choice of the bottom of the glen for the horrible trudge back to the track was a bad choice compared to the more usual sheep trod higher up, but at least I know never to do that again. We didn’t need our head torches for the last run-out and arrived back at Salen pier at about 11.30pm, having taken just under 6 hours.
Our sailors had a good sail down to Craighouse on Jura getting us there at a very civilised time of 10.22am, avoiding the dreaded “Jura In The Dark” nightmare. The weather on top, however, was very wet and windy adding to the challenging terrain of huge loose boulders, fast-moving scree and lots of climbing. The boggy trudge across to the foot of the first Pap was exactly that, but at least we were spot on with our bearing and found our way through the many wee lochans and hillocks to the mist-covered foot of Beinn a’Chaolais for its steep ascent. It was pretty miserable on top and from there we headed down the loose scree descent hitting the check at the lochan, before the climb up to the Corbett of Beinn an Oir. For once I managed to hit a great line off this middle Pap avoiding most of the boulder fields that bar the direct way to the last pap of Beinn Shiantaidh and finding some decent heather to ease the pain. Coming off this last one we even found the “secret” descent route off the last Pap, courtesy of Chris Upson’s tip, thereby missing the dire mixture of loose scree and treacherous boulders that await you on the direct route off. The weather relented on this descent and while the path from the lochan to the road was its usual quagmire, we enjoyed a very scenic and sunny plod on the 3 miles of tarmac back to Craighouse finishing in a shade over 6 hours, and leaving Jura @ 4.30pm.
After some pasta and cakes and whatever else we could manage to hold down, we spend some time up top enjoying the very strong winds and big seas on the way down to the Mull of Kintyre, including a near disaster with an out of control spinnaker. Knowing we could be at Arran in the early hours, we strapped ourselves into our beds and tried to get some sleep. At the unearthly hour of 2pm we were given the “45min to go” call, oh ####! After a bleary-eyed breakfast and packing of bag the wind proceeded to die and our eta was revised back to a more civilised time of 4am-ish. The boat crawled into Lamlash to start us off at 4.45am in daylight, which was fortunate for me, as I had left my head torch on the boat! It was a lovely spring morning and we hauled or weary bodies and rucsacs through Clauchlands farm and up and over the ancient hill fort of Dun Fionn and into deserted Brodick, passing Don Naylor and Louise Provan of HBT going the other way, having had to do Goatfell in the dark. It was a nice sunny plod up to the summit, with stunning views of Glen Rosa and the Firth of Clyde. This point is always a highlight of the race, as it marks the last real hill and leaves “only” a couple of hours mostly flat stuff left. The finish at Lamlash pier is always a joyful and emotional one for me and it was no different this time from ten years ago. By the time we finished in just over 5 hours it was a lovely summer’s day with a seal preening itself just offshore and kids paddling in the sea. We were greeted by Christine Menhennet and Val Houston for a celebratory Westies hug, which was well appreciated.
The sail across is usually very enjoyable, principally for the fact that you know you do not have to get of at the end and run up yet another big mountain. It was also warm and sunny for the first few hours when we enjoyed the rays over a meal of cheese and onion pasty and baked beans, washed down by some beer and malt whisky, but it then greyed-up and the wind died, taking us almost 5 hours to do what the ferry can do in about one! Cat and I hobbled along the marina walkways for the final few hundred yards to the finish to bring to an end another fantastic/exciting/challenging episode of this highlight of my running year. We finished as about 19th boat in, some 11 hours after the winners. Well done to Catriona and a great big thanks to - the crew of Keith, Matt and Billy and to Boyd; all the marshals and helpers who made the event possible; it was a privilege to have taken part.
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