Petestack Blog

Having spent the past two days wondering what kind of resurrection Alexander Mackonochie was hoping for, I just had to go back and check sometime. So, with the run up to his monument and back being rougher but no further than the round trip to Altnafeadh (which had been tempting me this afternoon), there seemed no time like the present to head up with pencil and paper. And no wonder I couldn’t get that line (‘AJOYFVL’) from my photos when you see how it’s actually written…

On a decidedly more flippant note, perhaps my running’s currently experiencing something of a joyful resurrection when, after a spring and early summer of mysterious lethargy, I’m suddenly starting to find myself going better again. Whether it’s too little too late for a quick Devil o’ the Highlands, I can’t yet tell, but at least it feels like tangible progress!

So what’s the difference between a cairn and a pile of stones and how long does it take to find out? I’ve blogged about these before but, despite having passed below Meall a’ Bhainne with school DofE groups (when I’ve not been free to head off my own way) since, it’s taken me over a year to slot in the lengthy run necessary to go back and check…

To keep you in suspense for a little longer, however, I’d like to talk about the monument to Alexander Heriot Mackonochie, which you pass heading NE from the Blackwater Reservoir to Loch Chiarain. Turns out he’s quite a well-known figure with his own Wikipedia entry and a McGonagall poem on his demise (found dead at that very spot, guarded by his dogs, miles from anywhere long before the building of the Blackwater Dam) and, having read the inscriptions on the monument before, I’d thought a couple of photos should be sufficient to note them down when I got home. But that’s reckoning without the lichenous state of the stone and, even after enlarging and enhancing the photos in every way I could think of, I was struggling to get some of it before (post edited here 19 July) going back to check.

Side facing the Allt an Inbhir:

THEREV (There’s a dash above the V)
ALEXAN (And another above the N)
HERIOT
MACKON
OCHIE

FIRST
VICAR
oFSAINT
ALBANS
HoLBoRN
LONDON
DIED
HERE
INTHE

Opposite side:

FAITH
oFJESVS
CHRIST
ANDIN
hOPEoF
AJOYFVL
RESVRR
ECTION
ONThE
XVDEC·
MDCCCL
XXXVII
HISBoDY
RESTSAT
WoKING
InSVRRY.
R·I·P.

And so to those piles of stones, having been lured into running 20.9 miles today by a combination of my own curiosity and Murdo’s questions:

Those Piles of Stones are not shown on the 1:50,000 map. Does this mean that they are fairly small Piles of Stones, so do not feature on the smaller scale map? I think a full explanation is called for (not on Facebook, preferably ;-)) once you have checked them out, Pete.

The simple truth is that they’re pretty tiny and basically all cairns (two flatly embryonic and two of more elegant build). Who put them there and why they’re all lined up, I’ve no idea and, as for why they’re marked like that on the 1:25,000 map, my best guess is someone at the OS having a laugh… but perhaps we can all sleep easier now we know! ;-)

Note that the photos take you along the line from SE to NW and you can see the one true ‘cairn’ (photos 4, 5 and 6) uphill/right of the equally cairn-like NW ‘pile of stones’ (photos 7 and 8) in the final shot.

If you’ve read Tuesday’s blog post, you’ll know exactly what! Meant to turn right at Meall Dearg today to head straight for Garbh Bheinn, but conveniently ‘forgot’ and fortunately found most of the ridge (apart from the steep descent from Am Bodach) in similar good dry condition to Monday. So (armed with GPS) I managed to record some times today, taking 16 minutes from Am Bodach to Meall Dearg then almost exactly half-an-hour each way along the Aonach Eagach proper to Stob Coire Leith and back (= 76 minutes for what I guessed took me 90 on Monday). Thought Garbh Bheinn direct from the south a real b*gg*r with much steep, loose ground, purgatorial scree and the effects of my half litre of water and two gels (see, not travelling so light today!) long since having worn off, so was almost glad when the GPS battery dying (couldn’t find the charger last night) gave me an excuse to slow down and ‘enjoy’ the rest (NB the blue line on the map is my hand-drawn continuation to the red one recorded). And that’s about all I’ve got to report right now, apart from nearly running straight into a baby deer while descending to the bealach between Meall Dearg and Garbh Bheinn (who knows whether its surprised squeal or mine was louder?), a total time almost identical to Monday’s despite the inclusion of Garbh Bheinn, and a feeling that Sron a’ Choire Odhair-bhig (Monday’s route) is after all a more logical and aesthetic approach from the north than Meall Ruigh a’ Bhricleathaid (today’s).

Afraid the blogging’s been getting a bit sporadic recently, with some good stuff like May’s excellent Polldubh Club Skye Meet (on which I spent the first day climbing at Neist and the second traversing the ridge from Sgurr nan Eag to Sgurr Dearg) just not getting written up here. But yesterday’s run strikes me as interesting enough to merit a line or two, starting (as it did) as a routine late afternoon jaunt over to Altnafeadh and back, but spontaneously transmogrifying somewhere above the Allt a’ Choire Odhair-mhoir into a double traverse of the Aonach Eagach. So I peeled off the West Highland Way at the top of the zig-zags to run up the lovely broad ridge of Sron a’ Choire Odhair-bhig and over the tops to Am Bodach before slowing down somewhat for the more exposed descent and pinnacled knife-edge between Meall Dearg and Stob Coire Leith. Which, wary of a lightheaded ‘bonk’ in the wrong place when I was carrying neither food nor water (the ridge being 100% spontaneous change of plan), I took pretty steadily in both directions before cutting north from Meall Dearg on the way back. Saw nobody apart from a pair I didn’t quite catch up Stob Coire Leith, and must admit I was almost (but not quite!) tempted by a dropped Gummi Bear I spied on the return traverse before finally finding water on my way out by the Feith nan Lab (between Sron Gharbh and Garbh Bheinn). Having left home at 4:00pm without a watch, I could only guess at the time but, estimating two hours to the top of Am Bodach, ninety minutes for the double traverse (told you it wasn’t quick!) and another hour-and-a-half home from Meall Dearg, I guessed I should be back about 9:00pm… and might have been spot on there but for the three or four sit-down stops on comfortable-looking big rocks that kept me out till 9:10pm (funny how experience of the terrain and that ‘inner clock’ can work so well together!). So I was tired, thirsty, hungry, chafed by my nylon shorts (no planning = no BodyGlide!) and quite glad I’d skipped the return over Garbh Bheinn I’d been contemplating at one point, but what priceless joie de vivre from simply following my nose! :-)

48 today (surely some mistake!), an overdue spell of lovely autumn weather and Stob Dubh (‘the other one’) was calling as the only local summit of stature (Munros, Tops, Corbetts etc.) I’d never visited. So off I drove down Glen Etive (a favourite bit of single track because of its generally good lines of sight), just about found a parking space with the not-very-November hordes presumably all up Ben Starav (met just one pair of walkers on Stob Dubh) and was rewarded by the uncompromising b*st*rd of a West Coast hill run I’d pick for a birthday treat. And that’s really all I’ve got to say, except that a GPS track not quite touching point 757 (the kind of pointless ‘summit’ I just have to take in, but didn’t quite) and descending prematurely from a virtual twin of Beinn Ceitlein (fortunately not a ‘counting’ top) is undeniable evidence of 1. the consequences of ignoring/misreading your map in good visibility and 2. the changing middle-aged vision that means I’m starting to struggle with small print and spot heights with my contacts in! ;-)

[Edit: 16 August 2015… just realised while starting to plot Corbett Tops that I actually hit the top of Beinn Ceitlinn and it’s the spot height labelled on the map that’s the virtual twin!]

Nothing auspicious about my preparation for today’s 2011 Ben Nevis Race, with a half-marathon PW on Coll two weeks ago, a niggly right knee that briefly exploded into something far worse above Glen Coe last Sunday and a raging cold that had me feeling like sh*t Monday/Tuesday and still coughing (albeit not painfully) today. But I managed to get running again Wednesday/Thursday with a knee support (not something that normally tempts me in training for fear of masking further problems), resolved to do likewise today and ultimately suffered more from other factors than the knee…

Have always been frustrated by getting trapped in walking ‘snakes’ (very difficult to pass in places) on the ascent, so tried to hit the road harder up to Achintee to get further up the queues, but afraid I’m just not fast enough on the road to make much difference there! So got stuck in the snakes (with a few attempts to muscle my way round) from the aluminium bridges to the Red Burn, from the Red Burn to the summit and much of the way back down to the grassy bank, occasionally hearing myself cry out loud ‘come on, folks!’ but largely finding myself forced to settle for the prevailing pace. Frustrating, but probably more like the difference between the 2:15 PW I recorded and (say) 2:12 than 2:15 and the sub-2:00 I’ve so coveted but am realistically unlikely ever to run now!

Some other quick points of interest to finish up what I’m trying to keep as a quick post with none of the agonising over wording that frequently has me spending far too long on the writing…

• A comically well-timed meeting with Anne MacRae from school as she emerged from the top of Heart Attack Hill (above the Youth Hostel) to watch at the exact moment I ran past on the way up.
• A surprise attack of hellish cramp in both thighs immediately after reentering Claggan Park with just half a circuit of the pitch (during which about five folk sauntered past) to run to the finish.
• Meetings with fellow WHW Race ‘family’ Davie Bell, Bob Allison (‘fresh’ from completing UTMB in difficult conditions last weekend) and Dirk Verbiest, although I never saw Iain Ridgway (who should have finished about half an hour ahead of me) and there may have been other ‘family’ members competing who I’ve missed.

So it was a PW (2:15:15 by my watch, although that could go a second or two either way on the official results), but not a disaster when most would still consider that a very respectable time. How much I want to go on banging my head off a brick wall is another matter (not making any decisions yet), but I’m certainly not wanting to keep going back for slower and slower races and think I might have to reset my sights on 2:05 as a tough but attainable target (when I’ve twice run 2:08s) to tempt myself back!

Think I got what I deserved here when I was barely on the rebound from three ultras this summer, can’t say I treat road running seriously at the best of times (preferring to run hills and trails with little formal speed work) and found myself inexplicably battering the ‘last-minute self-destruct eating button’ on Thursday and Friday, but Coll is Coll, the Half-Marathon’s a great excuse to go back and I was committed long before doing my best to sabotage my own already fairly unpromising prospects. So I was up at 4:00am on Saturday to meet Eileen and Donald in Oban for the 7:00am ferry as planned, arriving on the island to clearing skies later that morning after a bumpy, grey crossing which did nothing to make me feel any better. Just about survived the race, however, completing the last 11 miles with a churning gut and recording my worst time yet at 1:42:14 (previous worst 1:41:29 at Coll 2008) for 19th place from 107. But it’s a tough, tough course (hardest half I’ve ever done) and, considering how my general distaste for ‘road’ running (in quotes because you also get a nice, slow track through the machair from Totronald to Ballyhaugh here) impacts my training, I’m pretty OK with that. And Donald did well in his first serious race at any distance (?) to record 1:46:24 for 29th place, so he’s buzzing!

Not really much else to say except that my £10 ceilidh ticket never got used as my stomach told me to head for my tent instead, so missed all the fun with friends old and new including Zoe Newsam (ex-Fly crew) and Ian Anderson (WHW Race ‘family’). But must add that the name of my grandpa Glover (‘doctor on this island for fourteen years’) had already worked its customary magic in introducing us to Ewen McGee, who promptly produced a photo of my aunt Eppie (Eileen and Donald’s mother) on a small boat to Tiree donkeys’ years ago! So we were talking long before leaving the island about coming back next year (which will be the first with the new An Cridhe community centre open), I was checking the web to find the results already up on getting home last night, saw that entries for 2012 were also already open, thought (despite my general distaste for ‘road’ running) ‘go on, just do it’ and was astonished to find another two names (no, not Eileen and Donald… yet!) up beside my own this morning. So that’s that, of course I love Coll and will now just have to see if the fortnight’s gap after the Devil o’ the Highlands (which I’ve been stupid enough to enter as well) works for or against me in taking me to my (presumed) best mean, lean shape (no last-minute self-destruction, right?) that close without leaving me too wasted to buck the trend of my ever slower halves!

(Photos from Donald’s phone by Eileen and Donald.)

While my original, post-WHW Race plans for this ‘summer’ included a possible crack at the Rigby Round (think Cairngorms equivalent of the Ramsay), that’s been looking fairly improbable since early November, when No Fuss Events received my entry (the very first, to show support for a great new local event!) for ’10 in the Glen’ (yesterday, 16 July) instead… with this multiple circular tour of Glen Nevis being a running version of their popular mountain biking ’10’ events (soloists or relay pairs, trios or quads trying to complete the most laps of a loop course within the 10-hour time limit) and my interest inevitably piqued by tackling this inaugural event the hard way (ie alone)!

Now, it was wet (at times very, very wet), which was probably fine for those taking part in the simultaneous/neighbouring Glen Nevis River Race, but certainly impacted underfoot conditions with swollen burns, plenty of mud and a technical, rooty downhill section to negotiate every time round. So I managed 10 laps (recording just over 53 miles and 5,800 ft of ascent) of a course falling some way short of 10km since they took the top corner off what they’d originally planned, but should also point out that, being allowed to count the lap you’re on at the 10-hour limit so long as you make it back in under 11 (see one poor guy sprinting for the line to be timed out by 2 minutes!), it actually took me just over 10:15 to do that. Which (while not crowing about it too much when the field for this inaugural running wasn’t that big and the event deserves to grow beyond the point where I’m a potential prizewinner) was good enough for third place in the male solo category and what’s probably my first athletics prize since receiving a yellow plastic Concorde with pencil sharpeners for engines for second place in the sack race in Primary 2!

So what else can I say? Well, of course most soloists are going to get lapped now and again by most relay teams and I don’t think I’ve ever been overtaken by so many of my fellow Lochaber AC runners in my life (not least Susan-Jane Ross, who somehow managed to pass me three times on what felt like consecutive laps when she was running one lap in three as part of a trio which only did two laps more than me)! Also had a bad spell in the middle with tightening calves and (despite regular food and drink) a hungry/dizzy half-lap that left me struggling desperately up the final incline of the fire road and unable to trust my spacial awareness descending that technical, rooty trail, so huge thanks to Donnie and Marie Meldrum for pasta etc. and some wondrous oil that rejuvenated those calves enough to get me going again for my final few laps. Congratulations to all winners and participants alike… sorry I don’t have everyone’s names but the winning pair managed 14 laps (!) and my solo class (won by Jim Meehan) might have been decided on time with the first three all completing 10? Which all seems ample justification for raiding the Co-op for beer and pizza on the way home… not, perhaps, for daily consumption when I’ve already put on weight over the four weeks since the WHW Race, but not exactly going to kill me when I’ve just run 53 miles and got my first athletics prize for 41 years to celebrate! :-)

Prizegiving photo by Donnie Meldrum…