It stayed dry on the West Highland Way
….and it wasn’t even Highland Fling Day!
Had a cracking run last Friday. Weather (from nowhere) turned, and it was a fantastic blue-sky day for running across some familiar but inspiring trails.
I parked up in Drymen, and took the WHW over Conic Hill to Balmaha. From there it was on to my most dreaded section of WHW to Rowardennan. I don’t really know why – the trail itself is good, the views are great. It just always feels much longer than it is whenever I’ve run it (and particularly in a race).
At Rowardennan there was something missing (other than the wee toilets – what happened to them?). Took me a while to work it out…..Midges! No midges and the sun was out – all very strange. From there I headed up Ben Lomond.
Being a Friday the Ben wasn’t too busy, passing only a few walkers on the way up. Being the closest Munro to Glasgow it does get it’s fair share of visitors ‘fae the toon’. On a clear day though it does have some spectacular views from the top.
Once I re-packed my camera safely 😉 It was a fast and enjoyable descent back to Rowardennan. Can never understand how it can be that runners are so very annoying to so many hill-walkers. Maybe they’re just generally grumpy, maybe they think that the hills belong to them. Either way, I’ll keep on being friendly and smiling – you won’t break me!
It was then a matter of getting back to Drymen – along that stretch I hate and back over Conic Hill. I ran out of water long before Balmaha and I was getting pretty tired. For a mile or so I made a couple of phone-calls just to take my mind off the running. I was delighted to finally see the Oak Tree pub at Balmaha. I headed straight for the bar – a bottle of water and a can of fizzy pop was exactly what I needed before I made my way across the empty carpark to the steep climb of CH and the final 8’ish miles.
Was becoming aware of the fading light at the top after a few photos and with no headtorch had to put in a shift to get back before it got too dark.
Soon enough the moon was out and it was dark a mile before I reached the main road at Drymen. It was nice to reach the car and to get some food and drink. My feet were fairly sore – my heels in particular having run the 37 miles without socks. I could tell that there might be a little bit of pain to come when I first stepped into a warm bath at home.
The sockless barefoot / minimal running shoe approach isn’t right for all conditions I guess.
It won’t stop me 🙂
All in all, it was a tough day and I was happy with the training. Wasn’t exactly the quickest run I’ve ever done, but with almost 8,000ft of ascent it wasn’t exactly the easiest.
This entry was posted on October 17, 2011 by pyllon. It was filed under Barefoot, Ben Lomond, Conic Hill, Endurance, Hill running, Minimal, Minimus Trail, New Balance, Offroad, Trail, Ultra, Ultra distance, West Highland Way, WHW and was tagged with Barefoot, Ben Lomond, Minimalist, Minimus, trail, training, Ultra runner, West Highland Way, WHW.
Superb 🙂
October 17, 2011 at 4:19 pm
In the words of dizzie rascal- bonkers!! Well done Paul x
October 17, 2011 at 10:17 pm
What a shift that was dude ! I find Rowerdennan to Beinglas Farm more of a slog ;-/
October 22, 2011 at 9:30 am
I know. That’s a tougher section as it’s difficult to get a decent pace going from Inversnaid. Don’t know what it is, just never enjoy it!
October 24, 2011 at 9:44 pm