After an aborted attempt at these hills in July due to a failed fuel injector, I found myself once again headed up the A9 towards Aviemore in my wee van.
I had finished work bang on time for a half day and was lunched and on the road about 1300 and feeling pretty good in the afternoon sunshine. I stopped in at Aviemore for a coffee and cake in the cafe above the outdoor shop and then jumped back in the van, ready for the next leg. I noticed a new light on the dashboard, but fairly quickly worked out it was just a bulb out, and I wasn't planning on driving in the dark on this trip so pressed on.
As I headed up, the conversation on the radio was that we were in the last official day of meteorological summer and that set my mind thinking...I knew my next run would take me over the 1610km line, meaning that I'd be 2/3 into the year and 1000 miles. I realised I could just get a few kms in and I'd make that in a tidy 8 months.
I arrived at the road-end car park at Glen Affric just before 6pm and decided to get a run in before I made the dinner. I faffed about a bit, checked out how easy the bulb was to replace and then got into my running gear in the back of the van. I headed off down towards the big estate house and along the trail on the north side of the loch and just enjoyed the views and the light, then turned round when I hit 3km.
I thought I'd seen some grouse on the path earlier, but on the return, the sun was behind me and I could see it was actually a partridge. Unusual I thought, but I guess they are introduced for sport. Given I could walk right up to it, I can't imagine it would be a hard target to hit.
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| Partridge |
That wasn't my only encounter with the locals, and as I got back towards the car park, I came across this little fella:
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| Slow worm |
I was fairly convinced I'd seen a grass snake, but after some chats the next day, it seems to be a slow worm. Very interesting and another first!
I made it back to the van, and celebrated my 1000 mile achievement with some pasta and a can of Stella, left over from the Devil.
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| The wee van |
I got cleared up, then sat and read the remainder of a book before I hit the hay.
I was up at 0600, had breakfast and got stuff ready and ended up chatting to a man that just drove in - his father in law hadn't reported in last night, and his car was next to my van. There was no sign of him, but I assumed he had either stayed at the YH or had camped out. The lack of mobile reception probably caused a wee bit of extra panic there. I told him everything I knew about timings and a bike I'd seen chained to the fence at the estate and headed up to the car park at Chisholme Bridge.
I started my run at 0713 and was really enjoying being out that early, with no one else around. I'd made it to the hydro dam at 0740 - there are so many of these all over the place now!
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| View down from the hydro plant |
It was pretty gloomy but dry and not cold. The view up the hill was not filling me with the confidence that I'd get a view and I'd pretty much resigned myself to that.
I crossed the Allt Toll Easa and followed the track, looking out for the break off to ascend via Creag na h-Inghinn, which was easy enough to find.
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| Path to Creag na h-Inghinn |
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| Misty approach |
I could see the skies starting to appear a wee bit blue above, which is normally a good sign! It was indeed today and as I ascended, I started to come out of the cloud.
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| Transition |
Pretty soon, I was out of the cloud and in the sunshine, and the views were looking really special.
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| Affric Munros |
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| More Affric Munros |
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| Tom a' Chòinnich |
I was running these ones (on the downhills and flats anyway), so I was travelling light and making great time. I was on the summit of Tom a' Chòinnich at 0900 bang on and I was glad I decided to take the day off.
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| Happy wee man, a Munro down by 9am! |
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| Summit of Tom a' Chòinnich |
So good! There was no one else for miles either. I watched a herd of about 50 deer below me, and somehow they caught wind of me and were off, down the hill. Gleann nam Fiadh indeed!
It was time to head to Munro number 2, so I was off, taking my time on the descents just out of an abundance of caution really. Then it was a long slow ascent on good grassy slopes up to Toll Creagach and it's double cairned top. I got there at 0946 and just felt great about how quickly you can cover the ground when you're running like that. I had been eating loads too - lots of choc chip brioches and a cereal bar.
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| Fab views as the inversion burns off |
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| Toll Creagach summit |
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| Toll Creagach summit selfie |
I knew the descent could be tricky, so I took a bearing on the summit so I didn't veer too far east. I met a couple of lads who were on the way up and carrying full packs, ready for a couple of days out on the hill. I was quite happy with my two Munros though.
I made it back to the glen pretty quickly and was back at the van at 1055, pretty happy to have a couple of hills in before lunchtime.
I was manky however and wanted to freshen up, so I drove on a wee bit and found a layby near Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin and had a very pleasant if cold dip in the beautiful surroundings.
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| Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin |
Then it was back down the road for a slow pootle home due to lots of Friday traffic, but I was back home for 1830 and ready for a huge curry.
Run Distance: 17.93km
Hike Ascent: 1126m
Hike Time: 3h 41m
Munros Completed: 205
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