Solstice fun and xmas avoidance

Winter sunset

So apparently this year the winter solstice was at 4.19am on the 22^nd of December. This is where the tilt of the earth’s axis means that the northern hemisphere is leaning at its furthest point away from the sun. Basically it means that if you live in Aberdeen it doesn’t seem to ever get light, with sunrise being at 8.47am and sunset a mere 6 and ¾ hours later with a few hours of murky greyness between the two.

This year I was early in celebrating the solstice with a run to the summit of Morven. When I say I was early, I mean I was early in doing the run by a day or so but I wasn’t actually early in getting there for the start of the run. A combination of a last minute panic at work and some proper dorks on the road made me late for the start of the run. Very late. However, a frantic text to Gillian revealed that she too was running late albeit not quite as late as me and so I stepped on it and screeched into the car park at Groddie only a few minutes behind everyone else. A quick change of shoes and a check to make sure I had my head torch (essential kit) and we were off through the field passing the ruin of the farmhouse which I would love to do up and live in.

Climbing Morven

My dream architectural project in the field below

It was surprisingly mild for a midwinter night in Aberdeenshire as we trudged up the steep muddy path but soggy underfoot and I soon gave up on all attempts to keep my feet dry. Overall all though it was easy going if a bit of a slog upwards as the sun disappeared quickly from view. The sky took on a pinky glow with the lights from the villages and farmhouses twinkling in the darkness below us. Somewhere on the ridge Rod and (I later found out) Rolfe appeared from nowhere having started their run earlier. I didn’t recognize Rolfe at all with the brightness of his headtorch blinding me. After a quick “hello” they continued their descent down the mountain and we continued upwards. 

Beginning to get dark

I had left putting my headtorch on until the very last minute, it was still just about light enough without a torch by the time we got to the summit. Good job too as im not sure Richard had one with him. In fact, I’m not sure he really had much kit with him at all and he was wearing shorts and so he was looking a little chilled. A Corbett at 871m Morven stands higher than a lot of the surrounding hills and seems to catch every bit of weather going past. Even though it was a mild night and pleasant at the bottom of the hill the summit was still a chilly place to be. I was my usual over cautious self and had both a bivvy bag and a foil blanket in my backpack along with a spare torch and battery.

The summit

Filling in the summit log book

Still just about bright enough without a headtorch

Steve filled in the summit log book hidden in the summit cairn and passed around the hipflask of whisky and after snatching a couple of photos of the very last rays of sun disappearing quickly on the horizon  we started the descent, losing the path to start with.

A wee refreshment....beats a gel any day!

Catching the last rays of the sun

With the path quickly relocated it was a pretty uneventful descent and we seemed to be back at the car park in no time at all. And then it was back to the craziness of Union street on “mad Friday”, a total contrast to the silence of the winter mountains only a couple of hours earlier. Having been in a hurry and skipped lunch I was pretty hungry by the time I got to the pre-arranged venue only to find they had finished serving food. Half a bowl of chips later I knew it was going to be a long evening…

Descending in the dark

 

It was also Darceys 18^th and so at some point there was going to be a gaggle of teenage girls at the house but when I got home all was in silence. I left the lock off the door expecting that they being young party animals would be back in the early hours of the morning. Simon dryly informed me that Darcey had got back home quite a long time before me….Kids these days! Huh! So sensible and responsible. Some comparisons were drawn with the TV show “Absolutely Fabulous”….

I slept badly, definitely hungry and probably a bit over tired so this meant I was awake in time for Saturdays hill run with Cosmics and therefore I HAD NO EXCUSE. It was a glorious sunny morning although the roads were icy on the way there and the golf course at Elrick was covering in a crunchy frost. Martin led us around the forest paths and around the golf course before crossing the road and starting the climb to the summit of Brimmond. Having not unpacked my running pack from last night I was still carrying a bivvy bag, a torch, spare batteries spare socks. Still, I guess we would have been fine if we had ended up out there all night.

The morning after the night before...

A low winter sun

This morning the climb felt like a struggle as did the descent to the other side of the hill before we climbed yet again to the summit. Ian and Gillian were also feeling the effects of the previous evenings excursions and Ian did mention that this seemed like rather a long run. I quietly agreed. It was indeed “the morning after the night before”. 

The view over Aberdeen

We descended Brimmond and crossed the road again before climbing Elrick with me questioning why I was doing this to myself. Ah Yes! To avoid any Xmas related activities especially that horror known as Xmas shopping. As much as this run was a struggle it was nothing compared to the purgatory reported on Original 106 last night, that of trying to exit the Berryden retail park and taking an hour to do so. I think I would have lost the plot completely stuck in a queue like that. All of a sudden running on very tired legs seemed like a good option. A great option in fact. Actually given a choice between Union square on the weekend closest to Christmas and running up the Eiger I’d be booking my ticket to Grindelwald. To make matters worse my spiritual partner in avoiding all things xmassy seems to have buggered off to Tenerife leaving me to get on with it.

Summit photo

Add caption

By now the hills were bathed in sunshine and we wound our way around Elrick on the track and descended to the car park to tuck into tea and cakes. In fact todays offering was my disastrous xmas cake attempt with the burned bits hacksawed off. It was edible (just) and nobody suffered from any ill effects from it (that I know of). 

At least I now had the excuse of being too knackered to go xmas shopping. I probably could have managed it but theres no point in over-doing these sorts of things is there? I wonder what I can come up with for tomorrow for in terms of a xmas avoidance strategy?

Yes! A race! Sunday morning! That’s xmas shopping forgotten about! A nice little handicap race of 5k or so along the front at Stonehaven. I gave my last parkrun time as my handicap time and I was set off at 13 minutes after the first runners along with Richard Ingram and just behind Hannah Kennedy, Rod Campbell, Sue Taylor, Murray Bryce and Neil MacBean. This meant a bit of hanging around in the cold and so I put in a decent warm up in order to stay warm but fortunately it wasn’t windy or icy underfoot. Perfect conditions really.

Midwinter means a late sunrise

Pre-race photo (photo-Neil MacBean)

The route was simple enough, along the front to Cowie, a loop of Cowie, back along the sea front southwards to the car park at the harbour, back along the front to Cowie for another loop and then finish right back where we started. The route was fast and flat although maybe a little too congested with dog walkers and families out for a Sunday stroll which I suspect we probably ruined for them. Happily though the wooden duckboards along the beach were not covered in ice or wet and slippy as it would have been a bit treacherous running at any sort of speed over them. The fun thing about this course as it is made up of 3 loops and you pass the start/finish line twice as well as starting and finishing there you get to see where virtually everyone is during the race.

Richard stuck right on my heels most of the way (photo A Chaiban)

He's still there....(Photo-A Chaiban)

It was clear from the start who had been a little “economical with the truth” about their predicted times for the handicap. The wee group I was in included Richard Ingram and we all seemed well matched apart from one guy who disappeared into the distance straight from the gun. I decided my strategy would be to go as hard as possible for as long as possible and so I ran about 95% of the race with Richard on my heels until he made a break for it in the finishing straight when my legs had tied up completely.

And he makes a break for it and out sprints me in the home straight (Photo-E Rennie)

Do i look knackered? (Photo-E Rennie)

Then it was back to “The Shed” for tea and cakes and the prize giving with prizes for the fastest in the handicap as well as prizes for the fastest overall.

Team photo (Photo-H Kennedy)

So Sunday night came and went and I duly trudged into work this morning with that sinking feeling of dread of what lay ahead – no, not work – lunchtime xmas shopping. It was time for my penance for my weekend of running and hill related fun. And it was as bad as I feared, elbows were flying and queue jumping and trolley shoving was rife in that genteel upmarket store known as M&S. The less said about John Lewis the better. And I’m still not finished.

How much is a ticket to Grindelwald?