As usual Colin managed to make the January
Cosmic’s headtorch run coincide with the full moon, a so-called “Wolf moon” –
just the right kind of night to introduce two newbies to night running Cosmic’s
style. And, no we didn’t lose them.
First the science part – pay attention….
The January full Moon is often called the Wolf Moon.
Other names include Old Moon, Ice Moon and Snow Moon, although this name is
usually attributed to the February Full Moon. While an average howl from a
single wolf lasts from 3-7 seconds, a chorus by a pack can last from 30 to 120
seconds and longer during the breeding season in February. So wolves are
particularly loud and vocal in the first months of the year, which is probably
why people associated the month of January with howling wolves. In ancient
times it was common to track the changing seasons by following the lunar month
rather than the solar year, which the 12 months in our modern calendar are
based on. Some years have 13 moons, which makes one of them a Blue Moon, as it doesn’t
quite fit in with the traditional Full Moon naming system.
Traditional
full moon names…..
1.
Wolf
Moon – January
8.
Sturgeon Moon –
August (the fish, not the First Minister)
(info from https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/wolf.html)
Appropriately enough it was an icy cold night
with the frost settling on the grass as we headed up the track into the forest
and then, crossing over the bypass into another part of the forest and climbed
the hill up above Dyce and then ran across the field towards the Tyrebagger
stone circle. The stones standing in spooky darkness on the hill set against a
backdrop of bright lights from the built up areas below.
After poking around the stones and speculating
about the reason that they were built (someone cheekily commenting that Ewen
would probably know as he was around at the time) we posed for photos looking
for all the world like those BBC adverts for up and coming programmes, you know
the ones I mean, the ones of “hill runners in the Mourne mountains” and
“kayakers in Tobermory”.
 |
| "Hill runners from Aberdeen..." |
We set off
back down the hill and back over the bypass into the forest, eyes adjusting to the increasing darkness. Next we followed the
large track round the hillside in the darkness of the trees then turned left up
the narrower path leading out on to the open hillside, then dropping back
down on to the wide track before tackling the final ascent up to the Tappie.
 |
| Frosty grass |
After the obligatory “summit photo” and dodging
the crazy mountain bikers it was the nice long sweeping descent back to the
finish before heading off for a curry.
Strangely the two newbies haven’t been seen
since…
