Beinn a Ghlo and a wee blast on the Pentlands

A special night in the van at the Loch Tummel campsite on Friday night - Fillet steak, melted Camembert and a fine bottle of Malbec or 2! :)

Opening the rear doors of the van on Saturday morning we were treated to the most unreal scene directly overlooking a glassy Loch Tummel in spectacular autumnal colours..

A quick coffee stop at the Queens view before heading off to the start of this weekend's nearby run, the Beinn a Ghlo range at Glen Tilt with a route tally of 3 munros - Carn liath 975mtrs, Braigh Coire Chruinn - Bhalgain 1070mtrs and Carn nan Gabhar 1121mtrs. Total route 22k/1900mtrs.
Last time I was down this way I was shouldering a kayak and hiking the hefty 10km slog up to Marble Lodge and to the get in for the excellent river Tilt and one of my favourite paddles!

From Carn Liath over to Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain

After a couple of easy landy track kilometers and past the wee hut to the foot of Carn Liath, it's a good, steep, glute burning push all the way to the summit with absolutely no let up and into some atmospheric weather! 

What follows is an exposed but quality and very runnable trail taking you over to Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain. A good bit of fast descending and then more pushy uphills, I could really feel the last few weeks training kicking in, pulling me up the steeper climbs..

Looking back to Carn Liath and the huge streak of lightening ridge

We were reasonably lucky with weather but we passed a very concerned looking Edmund Hillary, staring at our shorts and running shoes who reported high winds and - " you can't stand up on top, it's freezing cold, seriously mate!!" etc.. My immediate response was - "maybe I'll take my kite!" which didn't seem to go down well with Edmund's sense of humour but fortunately his mate Tenzing got the joke and giggled! Starting later in the day after having checked MWIS and several other sources of weather info, apparently we missed this category 15 typhoon! Oh well my kite will have to wait till next time! :)

Still, a wee bit breezy and mostly clear for much of the run it did deteriorate for a short while on Carn nan Gabhar with some rain and poor visibility but nothing bad at all..

Carn nan Gabhar in the clag

 

The descent path from the Allt Beallach an Fhiodha starts well but it's very eroded further down and becomes a hard going, boggy mess only to turn back into a very well built path skirting the foot of Beinn Beag and back onto the main landy track back to the van. A good opportunity to really open it up on the way out and stretch the legs.

The pyramid of Airgiod Bheinn and the shoulder of Beinn Beag to the left

Allt Bealalch an Fhiodha path

Typical breaking weather on our way out..

Carn Liath and Viv as the weather broke

A great route, very runnable and would make an awsome mountain race!

Saturday night was a strange one.. We checked in then checked out 10 mins later from the hotel from hell! 

Imagine an ancient John Cleese crossed with Riff Raff off of Rocky Horror and you have the proprietor of the Weem Inn near Aberfeldy! "Cash only" he said as he stooped over the counter eating a carrot! This should've rung the alarm bells but it took the no heating, no TV, a towel as a curtain, stained bed rests and 70's decor and damp smell to convince us to leave! Getting my money back was a laugh, he really wanted to hang onto my cash!!
I'm convinced if we'd stayed we'd have been on his menu the next night! Oh wait.. no that couldn't happen because he doesn't have a cook or a working kitchen!! lol

Today we headed down to Edinburgh from Perth to watch a couple of folk we knew running the Ultra tour of Edinburgh which takes in some of the Pentlands so it was a good opportunity to get the running gear back on to see them coming over the hills and get a bit more running done. 

Pentlands today

I missed Pentland Skyline this year because I only entered it to get the 4 Long Classics I needed to compete in the series. I've done Jura and Trotternish so far and due to clash of events the only 2 races I could make were Pentlands and 2 Breweries. However, Glencoe Skyline was the week before 2 Breweries and still a bit stiff  and worried about my calf, I binned 2 Breweries last minute which meant I didn't have to do Pentlands either. It's not really my bag as a race anyway..

Saying all that, it was great to be out on them today and not racing but just for a leg spin. Edinburgh's not a bad back drop after all!

Another great weekend running around our hills with special company looking for that PURE experience! Shabba! xx