Morrone, Carn nan Drochaide, Gong and Viv!

Saturday afternoon we headed out to Braemar for the first of the weekend's runs. Short of time we opted for the very accessible Corbett - Morrone Hill which overlooks Braemar. This is the same hill as the Braemar Highland Games hill race, a short but steep out and back.

Unfortunately I forgot my phone so didn't get any pics but it was a short run in snow, ice and low cloud, around 700mtrs. We did get some nice views south towards Glen Callater but no visibility to the North. There was a fair bit of snow higher up and the path had some ice on and off from the very bottom to the top. I wore my Salomon SG's but my Artcic Talons would have been the better choice.
We were going to do a loop but we really were short of time and had plans at night so one out and back speed rep was all we could manage.

Saturday night was great, a fine meal at the Buchanan Bistro, good banter, serious life chats, a couple of character taxi drivers and far too much wine!

Sunday was a lazy morning and late start again but we went back out to Braemar this time deciding for the Corbett Carn nan Drochaide from the Lynn of Qoich.

River Quoich, another classic Deeside spate paddle

The weather was Ok, not much wind, cold but not like Morrone the day before.

As the estate are rebuilding the road that was swept away in the crazy floods a couple of years back, we had to park further back up the road. After an initial landy track climb you drop down into Glen Quoich and cross the river at the new bridge built by the Cairngorm club.

Morrone Hill

Once you clear the forest at the Quoich it's a flat 2km landy track until you turn north at the Allanmore cottage and onto the lower slopes of Creag a Chleiric following a very overgrown landy track up to its summit.

 This was good running turning steep and no give right up to Creag a Chleric.

Braemar down on the left, Morrone centre and the Glen Callater and White Mounth hills at the back

Then drop down and across to the rocky side of Carn nan Drochaide. There is a faint trod which we followed for a short distance but then went off grid which was more direct so it was into deeper heather, rocks and some snow up onto the summit.

Approaching the Carn nan Drochaide cairn

Looking SE to Carn nan Sgliat and Creag nan Leachda on the other side of the A93

Ben a Bhuird (1179m) towering behind!

Looking over to Glen Quoich and our decent

This was a great route and still very runnable unlike the higher hills just now which are becoming more difficult with deep snow. Reports of the higher munros in this area and over towards Lochnagar the same day sounded like very difficult running.

After the run we stopped past the Bothy at Braemar Mountain Sports for food before we said our goodbyes and I carried on over Glenshee towards Blairgowrie and Perth having some fun on the way as I was in the car (van still off the road) and then onto Glasgow for the night as I was going to see a gig.

Gong and Steve Hillage

What a night at SG3 in Glasgow seeing one of my all time favourite bands and idol live, the legendary, hippy axe man himself - Steve Hillage who was being supported by a distantly related version of his band Gong. It was amazing and a great nostalgic trip! ;)

The maestro himself

Jazz club - Niiiiiice!

After the gig and on my way back to the hotel I stumbled upon this jazz quartet playing in a pub so I popped in for a listen and a couple more shandies! ;) They were brilliant!

Absolutely blinding weekend from one extreme in the snowy hills to another in Glasgow city center listening to the most amazing prog rock!

Mike and the Mechanics taking away Viv with a blown turbo!

Now Monday morning was another day! Up reasonably earlier and I was zooming up the road from Glasgow to meet Mikey who was picking up my van from Stoney to take it away to fit a new turbo. Getting it onto the trailer was comedy gold! For a start the smoke belching from the van was like thick fog and eventually blinded the whole street while the minor road block we had created started getting a bit heated as folk started losing patience with us! This pretty much brought the Stoney Marina to a stand still for half hour! Pffffff..

Mikey hero tho was able to pull the engine that afternoon ready for the turbo which I was now on my way to pick up. My plan was get the turbo and then nip out to Bennachie for a quick blast before meeting Mikey again later on to give him the turbo.

Engine oot

Mither Tap on Bennachie

Here's where my day really got crazy! After my run and back at the car getting changed I was sitting on the passenger seat pulling jeans on and I sat on the car key and the car locked. I unlocked the car and threw the key on the drivers seat thinking nothing of it.. I then got out of the passenger side of the car and shut the door... you know where this is going don't you!?

BEEEEP I heard! This is when I knew I had fucked up! I clearly hadn't unlocked the car when I thought I had thus locking my key in the car! Noooooo!! It's Ok I thought.... I'll phone the house and arrange the spare key to be taken out but how could I do that when my freekin phone was also locked in the car!? Shite!!

Oh, I only had a T-shirt and a wafer thin OMM top on.. I was freezin, it was minus something with ice on the ground and starting to get dark and not a soul about in one of the more remote carparks at Bennachie.. At least I managed to put my jeans on!

I had just run out of hope and started running towards Chapel of Garioch when an older gentleman drove into the car park. I think he might have been God! I was able to borrow his phone and call who else but the one and only big Kev who came to the rescue AGAIN after towing my van from Inverurie to Blackburn 2 weeks ago when it first broke down. He picked me up, took me home to get spare key and then back to the car!
What a diamond!

Finally I was back on track although running massively late to meet Mikey to deliver my turbo down at Asda Garthdee..
Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, nipping on to make up time, I ran a very debatable red light while crossing Great Western Road on Anderson Drive! Oh wait, is that blue lights behind me!? Yes it fucking was!! I pulled over waiting for Jeremy Beadle to jump out of the bushes but sadly not only a pair of fucking jobsworths! After the usual condescending good cop, bad cop bullshit and bringing up my slightly shady driving history, I was finally back on the road but with 3 points on my license and a £100 fine! Thanks for that... Just to put this into perspective.. I've had an exceptional amount of shit to deal with this last month (REALLY!!) and it seems like there's some sort of conspiracy going on against me! I'm waiting for some sort of earthquake or volcano to erupt next!

Anyway, one of my more full on weekends I've had in a while. All good now though, Mikey finished Viv and she's back running like a dream!! Booooom!!