Hills 9, 10, 11, 12 & 13; am I really fit enough?
I expected to come back in the dark. I expected to be absolutely hanging, aching for days after and crying with exhaustion at the top of the hill. I haven't run this far in four months. But, rather excitingly, I exceeded all my expectations and completed a full on hill marathon, 26miles, 1800m ascent in just under 8 hours. Not too shabby, I thought.
The objective of the day was to recce part 3; Devil's Point, Carn Toul, Angel's Peak, Monadh Mor and Beinn Bhrotain. Large parts of this route I knew fairly well already, but I had never made the descent from Angel's Peak to Monadh Mor and it's likely I'll be completing this section in the dark. I also wanted eyes onto the descent from Bhrotain down to the Geldie Burn, although was not going quite so far out of my way to actually do this today.
I made steady, if what felt rather slow, progress from the bothy at Derry to Corrour and up onto Devil's. Although quite windy the weather was kind and I was treated to some magnificent views extending South to Ben a Ghlo and North to Cairngorm. Another hour saw me to the summit of my second peak; it was too much to eat cake and move forward at the same time and my face narrowly avoided the ground. Darn, I'd put a hole in my soft shell and my hand. The downside of carrying such minimal kit meant an improvised dressing of a ripped up plastic bag and some zinc tape - Nightingale herself couldn't do a better job! On towards Angel's Peak, and how this remains on the munro list is beyond me - barely 20 minutes elapsed summit to summit. Now for the descent I needed; it seemed quite boulder and although I found a path wasn't convinced I could do so again after 11 tops. I decided on a better route and committed it to memory and made the easy ascent to Monadh Mor. No need to visit both summits and so onto the final hill of the day. Four and half hours after setting out from the bothy I stood on the summit of Beinn Bhrotain, feeling neither like I had worked particularly hard to get there or completely wasted. Things in the fitness department definitely moving forwards.
I had, however, forgotten quite how long the descent into Glen Dee was and then still had 6/7 miles of landrover track to go. I died a little bit inside.
June may bring with it 4 times the distance and 5 times the ascent but at least it will be interesting underfoot all of the way!!
The objective of the day was to recce part 3; Devil's Point, Carn Toul, Angel's Peak, Monadh Mor and Beinn Bhrotain. Large parts of this route I knew fairly well already, but I had never made the descent from Angel's Peak to Monadh Mor and it's likely I'll be completing this section in the dark. I also wanted eyes onto the descent from Bhrotain down to the Geldie Burn, although was not going quite so far out of my way to actually do this today.
I made steady, if what felt rather slow, progress from the bothy at Derry to Corrour and up onto Devil's. Although quite windy the weather was kind and I was treated to some magnificent views extending South to Ben a Ghlo and North to Cairngorm. Another hour saw me to the summit of my second peak; it was too much to eat cake and move forward at the same time and my face narrowly avoided the ground. Darn, I'd put a hole in my soft shell and my hand. The downside of carrying such minimal kit meant an improvised dressing of a ripped up plastic bag and some zinc tape - Nightingale herself couldn't do a better job! On towards Angel's Peak, and how this remains on the munro list is beyond me - barely 20 minutes elapsed summit to summit. Now for the descent I needed; it seemed quite boulder and although I found a path wasn't convinced I could do so again after 11 tops. I decided on a better route and committed it to memory and made the easy ascent to Monadh Mor. No need to visit both summits and so onto the final hill of the day. Four and half hours after setting out from the bothy I stood on the summit of Beinn Bhrotain, feeling neither like I had worked particularly hard to get there or completely wasted. Things in the fitness department definitely moving forwards.
I had, however, forgotten quite how long the descent into Glen Dee was and then still had 6/7 miles of landrover track to go. I died a little bit inside.
June may bring with it 4 times the distance and 5 times the ascent but at least it will be interesting underfoot all of the way!!