An early start got me to the Mar Lodge estate for breakfast at 9:30, and to Braemar soon after 11. And not a TGOer in sight! Many places were closed on this Monday morning. Braemar Sports provided the main hub of activity with a busy café now attached to the mountain gear shop. Having bought …
Acharacle to Montrose The TGOC 2021 notes: days 10-14 Read More »
The Duke of Gordon Hotel is not an obvious choice for an overnight stay. My original plan was to pick up a resupply parcel and camp; but I needed gas too. TGOC management were able to arrange delivery of a canister to the hotel. So this worked well for me. As I approached the hotel …
Acharacle to Montrose The TGOC 2021 notes: days 7-10 Read More »
This post currently make use of the free Meow Gallery plugin for WordPress and the (not-free) WP/LR plugin which links pictures from an Adobe Lightroom repository to WordPress. Are these tools good? Well, difficult to say! This is a first attempt, and has left me with a few questions! In 2006 we sat after-hours in …
The Lakeland 50 is for walkers as well as runners. I entered in 2019 for a walking challenge. But I soon realised that I wanted to run at least part of the course if possible and decided to check out my general capability. It seemed there were no obstacles, so I started running regularly. Preparation …
Coming to running: the Lakeland 50, post-event reflections Read More »
[Viewing the blog – in case you hadn’t noticed pictures are zoomable if you click on them. Maps can be pulled and pushed to follow the route in blue. Maps can also be zoomed in and out and viewed full-screen.] The Macdonald hotel makes a pleasant stop. It is on the edge of town, exactly …
Acharacle to Montrose the TGOC 2021 notes: days 4-6 Read More »
[Viewing the blog – in case you hadn’t noticed pictures are zoomable if you click on them. Maps can be pulled and pushed to follow the route in blue. Maps can also be zoomed in and out and viewed full-screen.] 14 Different start places on the west coast of Scotland. How to decide? And then …
Acharacle to Montrose the TGOC 2021 notes: days 1-3 Read More »
(@45670!) A confluence of events into the post-lockdown period of 2021 meant that coherent training for the epic Lakeland 50 race just was not possible. At this point my longest race was 10 miles, and I had no way of knowing how I would find this 50 miles ultra. 3000m of ascent made it doubly …
Here we Go – TGOC 2021! The Great Outdoors Challenge Scotland coast-to-coast backpacking In 2016 I ‘walked’ through the jumble of rocks that make up Dirc Mhor, this time I will be definitely walking around! Planned for May 2020, postponed to 2021, and now shifted a month or so into the midge season! Here’s the …
Coming To Running: Getting ready to Run – Assessment (part 2) [Coming to Running at 40, 50, 60, 70 years old] We are thinking about running and avoiding the common pitfall of injury. The risk increases with age. The risk increases with posture and body imbalances, and that’s why we considered an assessment before getting …
Coming To Running: Getting ready to Run – Assessment (part 2) Read More »
[Coming To Running at 40, 50, 60, or 70!] There are big differences between running at 17 and running at 70. At 70 you are most likely slower. More significantly however, at that age you are at high risk of an accident. And if you do become injured recovery will take longer. Much longer. Read …
Coming To Running: Getting ready to run – an assessment Read More »