Braid Cairn, Glen Tanar

The Deeside Corbetts still summon us just now with minimal snow and short travel time.This week was the turn of Braid Cairn, a child summit of mount Keen and Corbett.

Goes without saying any run begins with coffee and what better place to stop off but Spider on a Bicycle in Aboyne where I bumped into Zicky who were off to solve mysteries with their bike gang (actually they were off to bike a route on the Fungal). Good wee catch up tho..





The problem with the Mount Keen area is monotonous landy track no matter which way you go in.
Our route started from Glentanar car park then taking the more southerly track following the same course as the Water of Gairney between Clachan Yell and Little Cockcairn then at Black Craig take the south fork on the track and ascend Gathering Cairn first then onto Braid Cairn. Return was the reverse and the quickest way back.

The guts of the first 10kms is on what seems never ending Landy track. Once you clear the Forest of Glentanar and head out onto the open hills the views are great. At the ruined shelter at the fork under Black Craig it's onto single track and some nice techy steep running up to Gathering Cairn.

Black Craig and Clachan Yell from Gathering Cairn

The forecast as ever was bullshit and what started out as a nice blue skied, dry day although a bit breezy, turned into a full on blizzard-fest up top! Gusting 50mph and -10 wind chill with horizontal sleet and hail and often zero visibility made Cairn finding a bit tricky!

Braid Cairn

We got some short glimpses of Mount Keen but it was mostly hidden in cloud and the snow flurries. It was bad enough at Gathering Cairn and we still had to nip across the plateau to Braid Cairn where it was more exposed.

Lions face and Mount Keen behind

This was the worst bit and we got battered here, bare legs pelted with freezing wind and hail! As soon as we found and touched the Cairn we were off, no photos nothing, just a big fat U-turn back to Gathering Cairn and directly down to the broken shelter off grid through deep heather!

Then all that was left was the 10kms back out to the van and another mad rush to catch Spiderbike for 2nd visit this time choosing Lentil and Coconut soup by the wood burner.. bliss!

Ace day, mad weather and although mostly landy track it was good and fast running and another Corbett bagged. Route was 30km/4000ft!

The route

Culardoch and Creag Dail Bheag

Back to Braemar for the 3rd time in a row to tick off more Corbetts!

I'm really enjoying exploring these smaller hills nearer home plus they're more runnable than munros just now with less snow lower down.. I'm never fed up of Deeside either with some of the best coffee stops in the country! :)

This week we chose Culardoch and Creag Dail Bheag which lie just North of Braemar and SE of Ben Avon.
Parking at a freezing Keloch car park (-4) on the Invercauld estate there's a 1.5km run on tarmac to begin with then turning right and North into the forest just before Invercauld house..

???

The route is mostly Landy track which is a little monotonous but the views are amazing especially with a little snow..

Once you climb out of the forest and onto the open hills the scenery really is spectacular looking SW over to Carn a Drochaide and down into Mar Lodge estate with the Dee snaking its way down towards Braemar, SE over to Meikle Pap and Lochnagar and then NW to Beinn a Bhuird and Ben Avon.

Carn na Drochaide to the right, Morrone to the left, Mar Lodge and the Dee center and Glen the Ey Munros at the very back.

Culardoch was first up after the long slog in on the Landy track then a good steep push on single trail up to the trig point. Although the weather was mostly clear with blue skies it was quite gusty and bitterly cold with -10 wind chill gusting up to 40mph on the tops. Thankfully I chose leggings!

Culardoch

Lochnagar with the nipple of Cac Carn Beag and Meikle Pap to its left

Close up of the Gar

My kit list for a slightly cooler day -

Inov8 Arctic Talons, OMM Flow vest under an Inov8 ATC long sleeve and then OMM Sonic smock which I switched between wearing just on my arms and shoulders and then when particularly cold or if stopping for any length of time pulling it down over my pack to my waste. I find this works really well year round and a good compromise between keeping cool when running and warmer when not.

Sheltering behind Culardoch trig point with Beinn a Bhuird/Ben Avon behind shrouded

The wafer thin Sonic does have its limits though and on Creag Dail Beag where wind was particularly bad I briefly pulled on my OMM Kamleika jacket for more protection.

Rab Powerstretch beany and Mountain Fuel buff, OMM Fusion gloves, OMM Flash tights on top of  a crotch-less leather thong (just checking you're reading this!).

Salomon Ultra 8 pack containing everything I would carry for an AL race so full body cover (INOV8 Race Ultrapants, OMM Kamleika Jacket), spare OMM thermal T, map, compass, head torch, bivvy, 500ml water (loads of water courses on route), nutrition was my staple Mountain Fuel jellies and a couple of NAKD bars.





From Culardoch it's back down on to the Landy track and retrace until back at the Bealach Dearg then it's a bit of heather bashing up onto Carn Liath or Creag Dail Bheag as it's now known.

This is where it got interesting on the summit and out of the lee of the lower slopes and into the full weather from the NE with strong gusts and driving blown snow hitting us on our right hand side making difficult running. I had my buff pulled diagonally across my face covering my right eye! The views out of my left eye were great! Unfortunately we only got rare glimpses of the nearby higher munros because of cloud.

Beinn a Bhuird and Ben Avon money shot!

Ruined wall on Carn Liath

Once back at Carn Liath cairn and following the ruined wall south we turned SE zig zagging down through deep heather which was a slow slog and difficult under foot then finally back onto the Landy Track and the tedious run out back to the van.

The long road out

Then another race against time trying to catch Rocksalt and Snails in Ballater before it closed but we lost! I had to make do with the Spanish Board at the Barn in Banchory instead, oh well! :)

Great day out even on killer landy track and well worth it for the amazing views!
The route was 23kms/1200mtrs.

The route

Live long and prosper! ;)

Knockfarrel Hill race 8kms/380mtrs

The short races keep on delivering!!

Considering I've had the craziest season of long plod races I'm surprised at my recent speed. All I've done this year is long training days in the mountains, AL races or Skyraces.. Either everyone is getting slower or Sonic the coach is managing to squeeze some more effort out of me! ;)

Myself and Stuart

I'd never done Knockfarrel before and since I'd been going well recently with Morven and Meall a Buchaille I thought I'd have one more crack at a shorter race before retiring for the year so off Stuart and I went up to Strathpeffer to check out this short and fast race put on by HHR!


Running slightly late and once we eventually found the shinty club it was quick reg, quick change and warm up run up to the start line!






It was cold with snow on some of the near by tops and we were warned of ice! The sun was out at least.
Stuart and I lined up right at the front in vests brrrr!! Seconds later we were flying a long the first flat trail for a few hundred mtrs until a sharp right onto the first short climb through a part frozen, cow trodden, dubby field. Loved the leap of faith over the burn!
I was probably top 6 or 7 for the first few kms. The 2 guys in front slowly started pulling away but when the first steep climb came onto Knockfarrel I was back right behind them as we all bunched up, pulling up on heather and grass up onto the summit. I knew Stuart was right behind me having pulled away from him on the field.

A white capped Ben Wyvis in the background

Stuart only a few seconds behind

Ord and Smiff battling it out!

Javier sweeping

The steep climb onto Knockfarrel really saps it out of your thighs and once on top trying to accelerate my legs felt like lead!
However I managed to get some power from somewhere and got in front of the next 2 runners sitting around 5th now. There were a couple of lead swaps here and there across and down to the foot of Cnoc Mor. This was a sketchy decent on a steep, wet techy trail and the sun in our eyes! I had no idea where I was putting my feet but kept up with the Moray guy in front eventually getting past him on the last climb.

Just before the last decent back down to the field

Jack Travellyen wasn't far behind and I thought he was closing in until I looked back half way across the bottom field but he was too far back to do anything on the last flat trail back to the finish. 

Stuart was just a few seconds behind Jack.

Home straight!

Stuart

I crossed the line in 45:50, 5th overall and 1st V40! Boooom!! Stuart was only seconds behind finishing 7th overall and 3rd V40. Next Deeside in was Smiff having got passed Ord on the steep decent through the trees from Cnoc Mor.

Back at the shinty club for coffee and cake was great and catching up with the usual suspects and folk I'd not seen in a while was good craic including Graham Briffet and hearing his grim tales of the OMM he and Dave Kerr had just competed in coming 2nd overall in their race!

Prize giving  was a free pick and I chose the Shiraz out of the chocolate, Rosey and beer. No brainer! ;)

The Deeside homeless and some guy having a fit

Another quality day racing but probably my last race (I know I said that ater MAB) this year. Although the Lochaber winter series was mentioned today.. hahahaha.. Just can't stay away from this racing lark! Which reminds me, off to enter some Sky races! Shazzaaam! :)


*All race photos courtesy of HHR

A wet, moody day on Pannanich!

A fine start to the day in the warm and cosy Birdhouse cafe in Banchory for coffee, smoothies and croissants, staring out at the rain pouring down, the cars ploughing through standing water on the road and people walking past the window under umbrellas generally looking miserable.. Oh great! 

What's that old saying - There's no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing! 

Then it was the short drive out to Ballater and to the start of the days route, Pannanich and Craig Vallich loop.

On with the suitable clothing and off we went starting from a layby just east of the town on the South Deeside Road. It's landy track winding up through the forest following the tree edge east and parallel to Brackley Burn which was a raging torrent with 2 days of heavy rain. It's a steady climb from here all the way to the trig point.

If for any reason you stop to take in the views on the way up past the forest, be careful not to lean on the fence by the path... you might get a wee 15,000 volt kick! lol

Pannanich summit

We took a wrong turn early on which had us visiting the mast site on Craig Coillich which was a great steep climb! I can see myself coming back here for reps!
Although the weather was awful there's still something satisfying about running in the rain and zero visibility! It was very, very wet with multiple small streams forming and running down the trails and mostly no visibility with the very occasional break in the sky. A shame as the views here are amazing. I've been hiking and running in the Glen Muick area for years but not really looked at these much easier and more accessible lesser peaks.

Hole in the sky

Once on top it's fairly flat and good running, well apart from the deep troughs of water we had to either bypass through heather or wade through.

From Craig Vallich down towards the Bridge of Muick we were treated to the most amazing, atmospheric and moody scene developing from the west where we got a sunny break above and between the Coyles of Muick and Creag Dearg lighting up the heather which stopped us in our tracks!

Gorgeous!

Soaked to the skin while soaking up the atmos!

Because we went wrong at the start we were up there a bit longer than anticipated so it was touch and go catching Rocksalt and Snails before it closed!! Nooooo.... We picked the pace up and got back to the car, dried off, changed and into town for 4pm which gave us just enough time for the most amazing, fully loaded and hot plate of Minestrone soup! Yaldie!!


As landy track routes go it was great and the terrain suited my companion's injuries so a win win for an easy accessible 18kms/700mtrs road side sesh. Booom!

The route

Meall a Bhuchaille hill race (13km/720mtrs) and the annual SHR ceilidh!

Good start to the weekend, the van broke down at Old Rayne Saturday morning on the way over to the race! luckily Sonic Sinco wasn't far behind in his new V-Dub and was able to pick me up which meant crazy, top bants all the way over to Aviemore, narrowly missing a dog in Dufftown on the way - good skills by my driver!

250 runners this year and a championship race with a lot of fast names on the start line! I was going to be well down the finish list but as long as I got a PB I wasn't caring.. I did a 1:19 here last year in snow so I was fairly sure I'd get one..

Last year's weather

Last year

Pre race chat

Stuart, mysel and Walter

I started with Stuart and it pretty much stayed like that all the way to the finish. It's a fast start on a good landy track for a few Kms but I was struggling to keep up with Stuart who was motoring on.. I couldn't wait to get onto the hill and start climbing!

Once on the hill and slowed down it was great and I settled into a good steady run/hike. I picked a few folk off here and onto the summit before the first decent on very uneven rocky heather. Perfect ankle breaking terrain!

As usual I had a great tussle with Stuart swapping leads with each other several times.






It was very cold and blowy up high and a couple of times I regretted the vest!
I love the tops on this race, enjoyable, fast running over varied terrain, undulating trails, deep heather, loose rock, bog, it's got it all! And with Cairngorm and Coire an t-sneachda as a backdrop, what else do you want!


The decent is awsome. From the last top it's flat out, barely in control, plummeting down a wet, peaty, boggy trail with holes everywhere! We were chasing down Stefan Wagner who appeared out of nowhere and overtook us at the last top so he made a good target for Stuart and I.
This section was carnage with several folk falling here including Stuart just as we were neck and neck. At least it''s a soft landing! I managed to stay up somehow but it was close.

Just about back

Out of the forest and back onto landy track, Stuart caught up with me being stronger on the flat but I managed to cling on and only in the finishing straight I caught him and just got in front finishing in 1:13 and a 6 min PB coming 32/250 overall and 6th V40. Happy with that especially being a championship race and I'm clearly getting some speed back after a season of racing long and slow!

My coach was proud! ;)



Rob had a great race considering he'd finished 2nd at the Mourne Skyline last weekend and now down with a cold he finished 3rd in 1:02 just behind James Espie 2nd and Findlay Wild 1st (course record).

Sonic

Rob getting his 3rd place prize

After the race prize giving we went back to our luxury Coylumbridge lodge that Sam had organised to blow the froth off a couple and to get cleaned up. I was told casual but it turned out everyone was getting ponced up so Sinco and me went looking like the homeless! .

A dapper Esp and myself

The annual SHR dinner and ceilidh was brilliant. I caught up with loads of folk I've not seen in ages over a few beers and good food. Then it was back over to the hall for the ceilidh.

Ally and Diana

Charming! 

Everyone was up dancing at the ceilidh, what a laugh, the amount of folk that had no idea what they were doing including me was hilarious! There were bodies strewn all over the floor but the band did well keeping everyone right.

The only criticism for the night was nae bar! Fit!? Hill runners, a ceilidh but nae bar!?  Luckily though we came prepared! :)

Sinco giving it large!

Deeside vs HHR and most of the lodgers

Trouble ahead! ;)

After the ceilidh finished we dropped a few folk back at the lodge then the rest of us went into town to Mambo's which was bouncing! Things got a bit crazy but I won't go any further than this apart from saying that what happens in Aviemore stays in Aviemore! Bwahahahah! ;)
An amazing weekend running and partying! 

That's all the races done I think for this year. I might do a couple of short speed session races but I'll mostly be looking forward to getting back to long training days in the mountains. I might even dust off the axes and crampons! Shazzam!