The Devil's Burdens

Team number 1

Well I suppose it could have been worse, I could have lost one of them out on the side of a mountain somewhere never to be seen again. The blank looks I received from my dream team when I started talking about contour lines and compass bearings were not promising and the potential of losing one of them did seem quite high but fortunately it was a glorious day with fantastic visibility. I was just hoping that the team was going to be able to cope with the pressure of wearing race number 1…

Leg 1 route

Leg 1

Leg 1 - frozen waterfall

John finished leg 1 strongly for team Lynx Pack and then it was the turn of myself and Bert to head off first of all along the track through the woods out of Strathmiglo and then out on to the side of the hill picking up little tracks that ran long the hillside under the cliffs and rocky outcrops and, contouring gradually upwards, we managed to hit a track that bought us out right on the checkpoint on the spring. From there it was the steep pull up the gulley and then up the grassy slope to the cairn at the top of west Lomond.

Leg 2 goes to the top of West Lomond

The north side of the hill was in shade and pretty chilly

Climbing West Lomond

“On Lomond’s slopes the warlocks grim,

And fairy brownies dances,

Wae unca tales o’auld land syne,

Held Younkers oft entranced”

There are many legends and superstitions surrounding these hills which are the highest summits in Fife, visible from many miles around. The Bunnet stone, Carlin Maggie, John Knox pulpit are to name a few of the landmarks and features dotting the landscape, it is a place where history and legend are intertwined. West Lomond also goes by the less well-known name of “Devil’s Burden” supposedly because it was built by the devil himself, but the race takes its name from the boulder and gravel strewn slopes of West Lomond leading down into Glen Vale which are known as “The Devil’s Burden’s” and which, as legend has it, were formed by the devil dropping his burden of stones during an altercation with the witch, Carlin Maggie. I am sure there is also a scientific/geological explanation for it but I think on balance I prefer this one.

We kept to the south of the slope by-passing the burdens and my sneaky route finding paid off as we popped out onto the path ahead of the other teams who had headed more towards the burdens. We descended into the valley, keeping left and found the path which took us over the open hillside. Turning through a gate we then found the path that took us to the top of the Bishop hill and the next checkpoint bypassing the rough land which on most winter days is extremely boggy but today was frozen solid into ankle twisting ruts and large clumps of frost covered grass, stunning to look at but treacherous to run on in places. I kept hearing little squeaks from Bert which confirmed that his ankles were suffering as much as mine were. I had been pondering what shoe option was best for the occasion – my absolute minimalist zero support Walshes or Bert’s huge clompy Hoka clown shoes. The jury is out on this one although the Hokas are funnier to look at.

Route choices coming off West Lomond

Heading towards Bishop Hill

Reaching the last checkpoint without incident it was now time for the big descent into Kinnesswood and it was at this point I started to hope that all was going well with the team logistics and that someone would have made it to Kinnesswood to take over from us so I was very glad to see Mike at the start line. We were one team member down and so after a bit of faffing at the changeover Bert and I decided that we would just carry on and do leg 3 with Mike. This would have been fine had I not felt distinctly wobbly legged once I turned to go back up the hill and had Mike not shot off up the hill like a scalded cat. Concluding that I was suffering from a bit of a sugar low I wolfed down the biscuit that I had taken from the hotel room that morning and stuffed into my backpack as an afterthought. My swift recovery seemed to suggest that this was a good move and I picked up the pace.

Bert descending over the frozen grass. Still, I guess the beard kept him warm...(C Pete Bracegirdle)

Climbing back up the hill (and looking better than i felt!) (C Pete Bracegirdle)

This leg 3 route is a new addition to the race to alleviate car parking problems that were always an issue at Holl Reservoir and I had recced it on Xmas day so I was fairly confident that it was a route that no one could get lost on, the trail was obvious. It is a very pleasant trail run once the initial climb is over and on such a clear day the views of the East and West Lomond were stunning.

Leg 3 with West Lomond in the background (C Kirsty Archibold)

Leg 4 went over East Lomond

We followed the twisting and turning forest tracks hoping to catch sight of Mike up ahead while avoiding patches of ice on the route and eventually descending into Maspie Den towards the finish line fully expecting to see Mike waiting for us, after all we hadn’t overtaken him, but Geoff was standing there ready to set off on leg 4….and Mike was nowhere to be seen. Had he actually got lost? Had the pressure of wearing race number 1 got to him? Where could he be? Fighting the overwhelming panic that was rising in my chest about what Louisa might do to me if I had allowed some mountain related misfortune to happen to Mike it was out with the mobile phone and Mike was soon located. (How did we manage before mobile phones?) Apparently we had overtaken him and just not noticed. Geoff set off up the hill and managed to claw back some of the time that we had lost in our less than slick changeover while the rest of the team meandered back down into Falkland for soup and tea.

Recovery was aided by beer

The team all professed to have enjoyed the day, probably helped somewhat by the glorious weather. These hill races aren’t nearly so entertaining when it’s horizontal rain or sleet and blowing a hooley. I definitely think we could have made up some time firstly by having a fresh runner on leg 3 to run with Mike rather than having me slowing up proceedings as I plodded laboriously up the hillside and secondly by improving the efficiency at changeovers. The leg 3-4 changeover cost us minutes and even the leg 1-2 changeover wasn’t slick either as we faffed around making sure the incoming runner was given the car keys and the outgoing runners had possession of the punch card. Oh well, I guess its better that than finding the car keys in your pocket when you are on the top of West Lomond and you are expecting your team to drive to the changeover to meet you...

Footnotes: The little poem is attributed to Michael Bruce, known as the "gentle poet of Lochleven" who was born in Kinnesswood in 1746 and is buried in the churchyard there

The legend of the devils burdens and other stories and legends from this part of the country can be found in the booklet "Journeys into a literary landscape" published by The Centre for Stewardship and Falkland Estate

Winter Solstice

Here’s the science part - At the Winter Solstice the Earth’s axis tilts the furthest away from the sun at 23 and a half degrees, meaning that countries north of the equator see little daylight with the 21^st of December being recognised as the shortest day. Apparently the sun rose today in Aberdeen at 8.46am and set at 3.27pm. The actual Solstice itself is the moment that the North Pole is tilted furthest from the sun which can actually either fall on the 21^st or the 22^nd of December. This year it falls on the 21^st December at 11.03pm in Aberdeen. I believe next year it will fall on the 22nd.

And here’s the mystical part – Since the beginning this time of year has been celebrated by people as a time of the rebirth of the sun heralding the approach of spring, the world resting under a blanket of ice and snow. At this time of year where there is little daylight many of my runs are done by the light of a torch and in the last month I have run through bitter icy still nights and spotted shooting stars, mild windy nights and frightened myself senseless listening to the eerie creaking of tree branches and owls hooting overhead and then finally, on Friday night, some real winter conditions, bitterly cold, hard packed snow and ice and a freezing wind that threatened at times to knock me off my feet. All this done by the light of a torch. There really is something quite life affirming about it, running in the dark all of your senses are heightened, you are truly aware of every creak of a tree branch and every pair of eyes glowing in the undergrowth. 

The Winter Solstice was celebrated in ancient times

What better way to celebrate the Winter Solstice than running up a mountain? What could be more life affirming than that? When we got to the car park at the foot of Morven, the ghostly white outline of the mountain stood clear against a not-quite black sky with every star visible above. It was chilly hanging around and chatting while folk arrived and got ready but nothing compared to the wind whipping up the snow further up on the ridge. The natural world really was setting the rules tonight.

After a quick head count we set off, a wobbly line of torch light heading up the mountain although Simon who was watching from the “base camp” car park did say at the start it looked as though we were all lost as torches were all going in different directions. 

Torches on the hill

Setting off...

Into the snow...

 The first moment that your foot breaks through the ice into the cold water below is always a heart stopping moment but at the foot of the hill conditions were really quite benign, further up it became very slow going over the icy rocks and deep hard packed snow. I found someone bigger, taller and heavier than me to follow and just stepped where he had made foot prints which made things a whole lot easier. 

It got quite windy with snow blowing through

 Simon, clearly with little faith in my ability to run up and down a mountain in the depths of a Midwinter night without coming to grief, decided he would accompany me to the run….and slept in the car while I was out on the hill. I too had little faith in my ability that night and was very glad to get back to the car with Kirsty while some of the others went on. My ability to pack sensible winter kit seemed to have deserted me. I think I’ve been lulled into a false sense of security by how mild it has been and by just not getting out into the hills enough. I was very cold.

Head torches on, ready to go.

I asked him what normal people did on Friday nights...

Recovery and warming up took place at Margaret and Steve’s house in Torphins where a fantastic meal had been laid on along with fruit punch and chocolate cake and I even started feeling a bit more festive. Amazing what a wee adventure with like minded folk can do for your state of mind! 

Many of the aspects of modern Christmas finds its route in the pagan custom of Yule and celebration of the winter solstice such as mistletoe and the yule log although back then the tree and the yule log were for burning rather than putting in your house (cave?) and decorating. The celebration of the birth of Christ has well and truly hi-jacked any other form of winter celebration and it in turn has been hi-jacked by the gods of John Lewis, M&S and Peter shopping at Lidls.

Well it had to happen, all that Christmas procrastination had to come to an end, and it was time to throw myself at the feet of these gods of commercialism and they were not merciful. It didn’t start well, as soon as I stepped inside a store I was blasted with the melodic sound of Cliff Richard which I took to be payback for tormenting Peter Buchanan about Xmas songs last week. After a couple of hours and more than enough of Cliff and Co warbling I ended up with a few presents in my shopping bag. I really haven’t cracked this shopping malarkey and, fighting rising claustrophobia, I bolted for the door and had to go for a Belgian chocolate waffle and a 10 mile run to recover. Looking on the bright side it was a more successful shopping trip than a memorable one a few years ago when I got lost in a department store and had to ask the security guard to show me the way out. I suppose on reflection Simon was maybe right to have doubts about my navigational abilities.

Happy Winter Solstice everyone. 

Xmas Procrastination Part 2

Autumn colours in Glen Tanar

Last weekend I found a relay race to enter. Perfect. And it was in Glen Tanar. Even more perfect. Another reason not to go Xmas shopping. Perfect! Perfect! Perfect! Just a fun relay race organised by Dave Hirst of Deeside Runners who kindly invited runners from other clubs to make up the teams and it had a format that I have come to really like – turn up, no entry fee, run, no prizes and that is very refreshing given the quite expensive entry fees to many events these days. One of the  highlights of the day of course was the huge post race lunch at Aboyne bowling club where everyone had contributed some food and needless to say there was far too much, it was mince pies as far as the eye could see.

The Chapel

When I first emailed Dave to register my interest in running he sent me the leg 1 map (short leg, 3 (ish)miles) the leg 2 map (the medium leg at 4 (ish) miles) and the leg 3 map (Long. With a Hill) Dave had divided us into teams of almost equal ability, the idea being that all the teams finished close together. I noticed from the team listing that Simon had been put on leg 1 and I was on leg 2 for a different team so I handed Simon his leg 1 map and off he went to warm up and recce the route. 5 minutes before the start it became apparent that the plan had indeed changed and Simon's face was a picture as I ripped the map from his hands and replaced it with the 3^rd leg map which was now, in fact, the first leg map. He was doing the long hilly leg. At least it didn’t give him time to worry about it as the runners were lining up next to the gorgeous old bridge in Glen Tanar waiting for the off.

Ready!

And they're off!

Leg 1 runners head off into the distance

It wasn’t particularly cold waiting for the first leg runners to come back which was fortunate as I had no idea how quickly my first leg runner would be, a lovely lady named Sally. Luckily for me she was very fast and so I set off along the path past the chapel in Glen Tanar. I met Simon on his way back and stayed as far to the other side of the path as I felt safe as he didn’t look like he was smiling... Once I started climbing up through the woods I assumed that all the first leg runners were in so I was most surprised to see Bob Sheridan run past in the other direction and he was most definitely not smiling. It later transpired that he had gone the opposite direction to the way the arrow was pointing and had got lost. Oh well, at least he got more running for his entry fee….

Bob at Race HQ

Leg 2 route

Leg 2 elevation

My legs felt sluggish on the way up the hill which Simon put down to the half marathon the previous weekend and that was a bit of a shame as I couldn’t take advantage of the position that Sally’s great run and put the team in. Two runners came past me quite early on in the run and the stiff chilly breeze was noticeable as I climbed however  I warmed up during the climb and chased down another runner…only to have another runner go past me. From the turn it was all downhill (after a quick glance at the beautiful view and sigh that I didn’t have a camera with me) and easy running on wide forest tracks, my legs started to feel better and I enjoyed the descent and happily nobody else passed me. I’m not sure it was one of my best runs for my composite Cosmic Hillbasher/HBT/Deeside Runners team but I handed over to the third leg runner not in last place.

Leg 1 finish

Leg 2 finish

Pauline having way too much fun!

By now Simon was changed and eating biscuits so seemed happy, or at least unlikely to kill me, and regaled me with stories of his arduous adventure. Anyone would think he'd just ascended the Matterhorn, such a drama queen. I pointed out to him that at least the race had got him out of doing Xmas shopping to which he informed me that he had done his. Meh! If that's not one-upmanship I don't know what is...