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| The official start of the Annandale Way |
The Annandale way is a
new long distance foot path running from the source of the tributary rivers
that feed the Rivers Tweed and Annan and finishing on the banks of the Solway Firth
where the river Annan meets the sea.
It was an inauspicious start to the Mainland Mule’s world
record attempt on the Annandale way. Two weeks before the run Simon was struck
down with the dreaded Noroviris/winter vomiting bug and promptly passed it on
to me. Being the kind generous soul that I am I really didn’t think I could
keep it all to myself and gave it to Bert. Four days before “D-Day” it looked
as though we had all just about recovered when disaster struck. Simon was out
for a run and was crossing the road when he got his feet tangled up in the wire
rim from a hub cap sending him sprawling but most worryingly his knee had
swollen up like a balloon. By the time we arrived at the start of the run we
found Davie complaining of painful hamstring problems. It was going to be a
race of attrition – nearly 50% of the team were on the start line at less than
their racing best! Would the world record for the Annandale way be set or was
this just a run too far?
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| The Moffat Ram |
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| Fudge the dog was the team's reserve runner |
Moffat
We started our run in Moffat, which has a large statue of a Ram in the centre
of the town that apparently dates from 1875 and commemorates the wool trade
which was of importance to the town in years gone by.
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| And they're off... |
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Heading towards the Devil's Beef Tub
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Leg 1 – 5.5 miles
The actual start of the Annandale way is located in the
hills to the north of Moffat up above the Devil's Beef Tub so from the start
line in Moffat the leg one runners, Davie, Bert and myself, followed the river
and small tarmac road northwards before following a trail that gradually
climbed upwards, all the time giving stunning views of the Devils Beef Tub. A
big concern for the weekend had been the weather but we needn’t have worried,
it was a beautiful morning, chilly but sunny and the wind pushing the clouds across
the sky cast dark shadows over the Beef Tub and gave an ever changing view of
the hills in front of us. Bert had set the pace for this leg and I drifted
along behind as Davie sprinted up and down the track in front of us to get the
best photographic opportunities. Finally the path climbed up to meet the main
road leading to Edinburgh and we crossed the road to tackle the final climb on
the other side over the long tussocky grass and bog before descending to meet
the road again at the leg 1 & 2 change over point. It was here that
disaster struck again and Davie pulled up, his hamstring having given way. With
the finish in sight Davie made his own way down the hill as Bert and I ran on
to the changeover point but unfortunately that was Davie's world record attempt
over today.
The Devils Beef tub
The Devils Beef tub is
a deep valley surrounded by hills. It was named the Devils beef tub as its dark
and uninviting interior was used as a place to hide stolen cattle.
“It looks as if four
hills were laying their heads together to shut out daylight from the dark
hollow space between them. A damned deep, black, blackguard looking abyss of a
hole it is” Sir Walter Scott
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| The Devil's Beef Tub |
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| The start of leg 2 |
Leg 2 – 8.2 miles
I assume from the quote above that Sir Walter Scott didn’t
like the Devils beef tub – obviously he wasn’t a hill runner!
I was running with Cath for this leg and from the changeover
in the layby it was a steep climb up in to the hills above the Devils Beef Tub.
It was still sunny but being on higher ground meant that you were more exposed
and I did feel a bit chilly in the cold wind. The course was undulating but on
pretty good soft runnable ground although it has got to be said that Finlay’s
description of “a little bit uphill then mostly downhill” was a tad sketchy…
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| The uphill bit of the run! |
The Annandale way website does describe how you will
“squelch across the watershed of the tributaries” and indeed you do squelch.
Cath let out little shrieks every time her feet plunged into one of the mossy boggy
pools much to my amusement.
Just as we were getting concerned that we had climbed too
many hills and maybe missed the turn off we spotted the little Annandale way
marker leading us down on to a well trodden track and a nice not too steep decent
through farmland. We went past a very impressive sheepfold but unfortunately,
maybe distracted by the sheepfold, we must have missed a marker or
left the track as it wasn’t obvious what route we were supposed to take through
the farmland. We ran through a couple of fields and eventually found the
small farm tracks and farm road leading back to Moffat. As we passed the pens containing some very
large bulls I did voice my concerns to Cath that we were wearing red t-shirts
but she assured me that bulls were colour blind….I was keen not to have to put
this to the test though.
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| A sheepfold |
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| Leg 2 -3 changeover |
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Finishing Leg 2
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Leg 3 – 4.4 miles
This was Simon’s leg. Due to doubts over his fitness the
idea was suggested that I would continue running with him so that if he had to
stop then I would carry on and finish the run however at the handover he shot
off with such speed I had no chance of catching him or staying with him so I
didn’t bother….I wasn’t that disappointed either as I really just wanted a cup
of tea and a biscuit. Fortunately Eric and Lynda had arrived with a car stacked
with flasks of tea tea and goodies – a mobile canteen to keep the hungry Mules
fuelled up for their epic run.
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| Race official Finlay - will the record be ratified by the Guinness Book of Records...? |
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| Simon finishing Leg 3 |
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| The mobile canteen |
The big unknown about this leg was how to cross the A74(M)
but fortunately there was a route underneath the road meaning that dodging
vehicles going at 90mph would not be required. Simon’s gammy knee didn’t seem
to affect his running and despite complaining about a “huge hill” he finished
his leg very quickly – I barely had time to finish my cup of tea!
Leg 4 – 3.1 miles
Allan was on this leg and so we hurried off to the next
changeover. By now we were travelling in convoy and I was completely
disorientated and I actually had to look at my compass to work out from which
direction Allan would be appearing. Again it didn’t seem long before the red t
shirt clad figure of Allan could be spotted trotting up through the golf course
to handover to Robin and Bert.
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| Leg 4 -5 Changeover |
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| Robin and Bert |
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| The dynamic duo |
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| Finished! |
Leg 5 and 6 – 6.1 miles and 5.5 miles
Robin and Bert were on leg 5 and disappeared quickly into
the woodlands so off we headed in convoy again. I was so glad of this as by now
I had not got the faintest idea where we were going and I hoped the runners did
– a glance at the map showed a distinct lack of footpaths just the arrows that
Finlay had put on the maps indicating forests to be negotiated and open
farmland to be crossed. Another cup of tea later and our bold lads appeared.
Bert was only supposed to do leg 5 but decided to run on with Robin and do leg
6 too. As they set off at great pace Bert was heard to mutter something about
“getting in more miles than Louise…”
By the end of leg 6 we were just outside Lockerbie and
suddenly Robin and Bert appeared through the forest and it was time for myself
and Cath to go again.
Leg 7 – 4.7 miles
The first part of this leg was simple and pleasant enough
through forests and tracks across farmland. Some slight confusion with signs
pointing in two different directions at the edge of another wood land was
swiftly resolved and although it was getting noticeably chillier and cloudy
things were still going well as we made it to the road junction. It was here
that we made our big navigational error and I’m still not sure how. I’m sure we
followed the arrows in the right direction. Anyway, after a bit of backtracking
and turning the map to various orientations we concluded that we were indeed
lost and asked the owner of a farmhouse for directions. Somewhat worryingly she
didn’t seem particularly clued up either but we took a chance and ran in the
vague direction that she had pointed. Luckily this led in the right direction
and we were back on track. Mule Meister Eric had ran out along the track to
meet us by the magnificent and eerie ruins of Milkbank house about which I have
been able to find out very little. Records show that it was demolished in the
1960s which is clearly not the case and one website suggests that it was the
ancestoral home of the Bell Irving family and was used as a serviceman’s
hospital during the war although it does not specify if this was in a similar
vein to Craiglockhart hospital in Edinburgh. Either way there was something
very atmospheric about the place as well as downright creepy although it must
have been an extremely grand house in its heyday.
The team seemed rather relieved to see us back although
there were one or two dark mutterings about pubs being shut by the time we got
to Annan. I suppose we had taken quite a long time to complete the run and I
did wonder if I could get away with a more interesting excuse for our delay
involving ghosts at the old ruins rather than simple navigational incompetence.
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| The end of leg 7...and Finlay is off...!! |
Leg 8 - 6.4 miles
Finlay was on this leg from Pathhead to Brydekirk. This
seemed to be the first time that the path really did follow the river properly
which was something I was quite surprised about, I had expected there to be
more in the way of riverside paths. The Mules convoy made its way round to
Brydekirk and sat outside the pub by the river to wait and I decided that a
pint was in order. By now the “who can do the most miles” contest was hotting
up big style and Bert and I were keeping a very close eye on each other. As
Finlay appeared on the other side of the river Bert started to get ready to run
again. I shot him a furious glance, necked my pint and started to get ready to
run….but he was bluffing.
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| At the pub |
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| Finlay storms to the finish |
While this was going on Heather and Eric set off on the
glory leg for the Mules.
Annan – some facts
1 The most famous
resident of the town of Annan was Robert the Bruce although his residency,
Annan castle no longer exists.
2 Annan Bridge was built
in 1827 by Robert Stevenson (of lighthouse fame)
3 Robert Burns worked as
an exciseman at the port in 1790’s
4 Annan used to have
shipbuilding yards – many photos on the wall of our hotel were devoted to Annan’s
maritime history.
Eric and Heather followed the footpaths alongside the river
past the town of Annan to the river estuary and finally round to the cairn
marking the official end point of the Annandale way. A new Mules world record
had been set. There was nothing more to do other than open up the champagne and
celebrate!! The evening was spent at the hotel in Annan eating and drinking and
enjoying Cath’s amazing Mules cake.
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| Celebration!! |
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| The dream team |
And who won the most miles competition? Well, who do you
think ….?
What a fantastic weekend - how can such an activity packed weekend be so relaxing at the same time? Saturday was scarcely over when plans were being hatched for some new epic adventure, "world record" attempt or beautiful island race - roll on next year! (Do we really have to wait that long..??)
Footnote
For the most part the Annandale way is reasonably well
marked and is on little country roads and forestry and farmland tracks but as
Cath and I found its worth checking the arrows carefully as I suspect sometimes
there are a choice of routes. The Annandale way website suggests public
transport and accommodation options for anyone wanting to do this over a few
days as I guess the norm for a long distance footpath. Obviously the downside
about doing this as a run as opposed to a walk is that it leaves less time for
exploring the many places of interest to be found en route.
The fascinating thing about the Annandale Way, as is the
case with many long distance footpaths, is the way the countryside and
character of the countryside, the character of the towns and the buildings subtly
change as you move across the land, something that you are markedly less aware
of if you travel by car or bus. Starting on the high fells above Moffat with the
sheep grazing on the open grassland, you go past the couthy cottages and farmsteads of the borders, until
the rolling farmland then gives way to the great and bleak river estuaries. Of
course there is also a corresponding change in wildlife to be spotted as you
pass through these different environments and the lack of spring buds and new
leaves on the trees in Moffat compared against the full leaf growth of the
trees on the banks of the river in Annan showed up a unexpected differences in
climate even in the space of just 50 or so miles.
