Training Log Archive: SarahD

inc foot / toe mobility stuff

Sacked the bike ride and went for another swim in QL instead. Back to running in the next day or two.

Frog CP73 Overlook Loch. Brown, shallow and too many biting ants to make this rate very highly!

Off road route to Queens Loch with a wee lap of the woods first. Legs recovering well. Feet still a bit tender.

Lovely swim in QL with J :-)

Glorious swim (and wash) in a favourite loch above Balmacara :-)

Glen Shiel Round with JS. Five Sisters, Three Brothers, S Glenshiel ridge, Sgurr na Sgine and the Saddle. Epic.

We set off from Invershiel on a c-w round shortly before 5:30. The mist had descended overnight, but the sun was almost breaking through even at that stage and we knew this was going to be a hot one. Fuelled by pastries, Jim bounced off along the road faster than my body was capable of, but I let him drift ahead while I woke up and slowly got going. We were soon onto the path up the valley towards Sgurr na Moraich and climbing through the cloud to give stunning views out to the isles over the inversion. Once we left the path to climb the hill it was easier to match Jim’s pace and I relaxed my fear about holding him back the whole day. The first few peaks passed by in a joy of running the ridge line with views of mountains poking out through the cloud in every direction.
By the time we were through the Five Sisters our initial 1.5l of liquid was all but drunk and we had started scanning the slopes for any possibilities to pick up water. After a dry spring, options were even more limited than normal and in the baking sun it was clear this was going to be one of the biggest challenges of the day. Jim attempted to scratch around in some peat below the Bealach an Lapain, before resigning ourselves to negotiating Saileag before we would find anything. Our joy at seeing a muddy puddle was to become a theme for the day. By the third of the Brothers it’s fair to say we were both feeling pretty weary and doubts about the reality of completing our objective on such a hot day were lurking in the back of my head. But Cluanie beckoned and the thought of an ice cold coke was a good motivator whilst running off the north ridge.
Rehydrated and fuelled we crossed the road to head for the south Glenshiel ridge. Jim was in shock from having to take out a new mortgage to pay for the cokes, whilst the sugar high had briefly put me in denial of the rest of the day to come. The track running was a pleasant relief initially, but before long I could feel the soles of my feet burning and I couldn’t wait to get off it. With water bottles filled we headed up the stalker’s path onto Creag a Mhaim. There was some relief for the feet, though clegs came in to take their place as the annoying distraction. But it was a stunning day and awesome to be out in the mountains on a great challenge.
It was a long slog up CaM and recovery time at the top gave a chance to investigate my feet. They weren’t looking great and I was pretty sure that doing nothing was going to lead to an early exit for me, so I strapped them up with tape and crossed fingers it would reduce the friction. They did feel better and we got going again well, until my energy flagged after a couple more tops - the coke effect had clearly now worn off and not been adequately replaced in the interim. We were well in the heat of the day, there was a long long way to go and I hit a serious low. We had some debate, as J was keen to push on ahead, but I wasn’t quite for throwing in the towel yet. We agreed to continue together for now and soon enough new fuel kicked in and I was back in the game.
It was, however, still a very long way to go. Much further even than we realised, as our distance estimates based on FWs route turned out to be rather minimalist. We plugged on steadily, regularly refilling water bottles from muddy puddles that I normally wouldn’t even look at. Finally we had reached the end of the S Glenshiel ridge. Just Sgurr na Sgine and the Saddle to go - how hard could it be?
Very as it turned out. There were several big drops and climbs and SnaS has major cliffs on the side that we were approaching from. Time was ticking on, but I was still comfortable that we could hit the top of the Saddle with enough daylight to get quite well down off the tops. And sure enough we arrived in time to catch the sun setting over the isles. What a special place to be on a day like this.
We had long since sacked the concept of adding in Biod an Fhithich, intending to drop into the valley after descending the side of Forcan ridge. However, looking at the ground and map from the top we realised we could lose a lot of height quite quickly if we dropped towards Loch a Choire Uaine and head out the adjacent glen. Heading down into unknown steep craggy ground was a bit of a risk, but we took it and successfully managed to weave our way down through rock bands to the loch and safer ground for negotiation with mini head torches.
From there it was just a long trudge back in the dark and though I was exhausted the grin was already starting to spread across my face. We were finally back to the vans at 11:45, some 18h 20m, 64.5km, 5070m of climb, and umpteen litres of muddy water after we set off. What a day!
There’s no doubt it’s harder in many ways to complete a round like this as a pair and would almost always be faster going solo, but the shared experience can more than make up for that and I seriously doubt I would have ground this one out on my own. Awesome and memorable!

C • Definitely awesome! 1

Trot round Trustach. Legs feeling fine but humid again!

Aboyne - SDee - Potties - home.
Need some quality rapid recovery for later in the week.