Looking Ahead

The Heb and Rat Race have been fantastic. "But what next" I hear people cry (maybe only in my head, but hey...).
I'm gonna be out of the groove for a while, but looking to get back into it for September time. I'm going to spend the rest of the time faffing, planning and basically being an Armchair Adventure Racer. And they say that forewarned is forearmed (and if you're forearmed you can hold twice as many swords...) , So I'm posting a list of events that I'm looking to do in the future, and if anyone else wants in on the jollies, mail me or post summat.

26th Sept - Carsington Water Challenge, Carsington, Derbyshire
3 hour, 3 person mixed teams. Have a girly in the form of Katy Curtis, Canadian AR'r who's coming to Leeds Uni in September.

2nd Oct - Ace Race, Southern Scotland.
2 day, 4 person mixed teams. Pyro, Katy + + ?

9/10th Oct - Polaris Challenge, Lake District
2 day Trailquest event. Enteringpairs with the Canadian again. She's gonna be really hacked with me by this point, I suspect...

Anything else around then that people can think of and need people for, give me a shout.

Smoke me a kipper...

Pyro

A girlie hill ....

Sunday 4th July 2004


It sounded like a plan …

Work an “easy” nightshift, grab some sleep on Gina’s floor then a ramble up and down Ben Ledi before heading back to Edinburgh to see Bonnie Raitt at the Usher Hall. In the end the shift went horribly wrong and I only made it to Gina’s for a cup of coffee before Ailsa picked us up. Don’t think I saw the end of the street and was gently woken in Callander about an hour later.

Last time I was up on Ben Ledi was with my favourite Texan (who put Lance Armstrong into 2nd place) – a lass called Wendy. This time was with a group consisting of Emma, Gina and Ailsa. The previous route was reversed saving the aptly named “stank glen” for the descent. Weather was pretty much everything – heat and sun to start with, wind and rain on the summit, dry and breezy on the descent.

There is something special about being in the mountains with girls – LUNCH !

In the same way Wendy always brought an interesting change to my garage bought stuff, this time was no different. Can’t remember who brought what but as we sheltered just off the summit cairn, a selection of oat cakes, goats cheese, camanbert and cashew nuts were passed about.

Once back at the car it was sleep time again for me … for an hour at least. Still plenty of time to catch up on that mid-week.

Cairngorm Assessment

Sunday 31st August 2003 - A last dose of revision for the imminent Mountain Leader assessment was planned for the Sunday afternoon. The venue was the crags low in Coire na Ciste on Cairngorm. During training this location was midge hell! Apparently, this was on the only known occasion that an ML training course was forced of the hill by the wee menace! Things had been going well with direct, indirect belays, Thompson knots etc... during a classic abseil Jasmin's feet lost contact with the rock and she rotated out and swung into a rock corner, hitting it square with her back. Quick rescue and she was back at the top of the crag and in the South African abseil position - but the back didn't feel right ...

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Wednesday 30th June 2004 - In the end, her back was as far from “right” as it can be. A severely bruised spine, two nights in hospital and 8 weeks later and it was still sore and unable to bear any additional weight. Withdrawing from the 2003 assessment was inevitable even before it started.

That afternoon was relived a few times following a phone call from Jas to say she was heading back to Glenmore Lodge in July 2004 to complete what had been started 11 months before. The main purpose of the call had been to arrange a mock assessment style expedition. From her point of view, it was an opportunity for preparation from my point of view it was an opportunity to play “assessor” (as opposed to just an “ass”) and to ehhhh … bag a handful of subsidiary tops needed for the collection.

With free weekends being scarce, we opted for a wee mid-week gig. The format was simple 3 nights wild camping with loads of navigation and route finding on steep ground in between times.

Bite to eat and a pint in Café Mambo then up the ski road to the usual tramp up to Coire an t-Sneachda and the goat track. Some folks have complained about the repetitive nature of using this access up to the Cairngorm Plateau. I prefer to think of it as visiting an old friend you haven’t seen in a while. Once at the bealach the fun began – an easy start with the summit of Cairn Lochan being the first nav target (yup – one of the subsidiary tops cattled). The next few hours were spent with some more ambitious features e.g. specific index contours, indistinct cols before the first camp over at the twin lochans on Carn Etchachan.

Next morning it was time for Jas to find a suitable route and lead down from the summit of Carn Etchachan dropping down the steep boulder strewn slopes to Loch Etchachan. From there, we headed up Beinn Mheadoin for another wee top then onto another hard to find contour ending with the descent down to the Hutchison hut and lunch. The day continued with the ascent up onto the bulk that forms Derry Cairngorm and onwards to the top of the “tailors” burn below the summit of Ben Macdui. A decision had to be made – drop down into the Lairg Ghru and head for Braeriach (optimistic eh ?) or camp until it was dark and some night nav. We choose the later as it was more relevant (plus we were tired and hungry). Tent up, fed and into the sleeping bags for a snooze.
For some reason I woke … at 00:50 !!! Sleeping in for night nav is just plain embarrassing. Within ten minutes, packs were packed and the we were off towards the summit of Macdui. Sounds silly but the views were amazing ! To the left we had a full moon breaking through the drifting mist and by the time we had visited the RAF memorial, north summit, a couple of index contours – we were seeing the start of sunrise in the east. By about 03:30 it was too light to continue and the tent was up again.

Next morning we continued over towards Lurchers with the emphasis being on timing and accurate pacing.

Mid-morning and we were down on the route back to the car. For some reason people do look at you strange when you are descending at the same time of day they have only just got out onto the hill – can’t think why. The fantasy food conversation was in full tilt by the time we reached the café down at the ski centre. The lass behind the counter informed us that if we wanted hot food then we had to go to the “restaurant” at the top of the funicular – ehhhh NAW ! So back down to Aviemore it was.

For Jasmin, there is only the real assessment to go now …

Hebridean Challenge 2004

"When first I came unto this land,
And the roads lay bare before me.
And the miles and miles of eagle feather wind,
Blew through the singing valley...

There's so much could be said about the Hebrides, and about the Challenge itself, but the words don't always work. Once you've been there, there are things stuck in your head that don't want to be written down, or trapped in silver nitrate - they're utterly personal.
Well, the Heb Challenge is both brutal and beautiful, and the combination does the same thing, but to greater effect. Pain, joy, beauty, humour and frustration, all in one 5 day, sleep deprived dose.

...if i had heard any name or word
There'd be none could well describe it
For my heart was the heart of beast and bird
And they spoke to me their language."

I can't possibly recount every inch of the race, but it would be good to put some of the best bits down, some of the silliest, and some of the just plain entertaining:

The team consisted of captain Nonie, Heather, Linda, Gordon and Pyro. We were team Pyro & the Vets - the amusement started with trying to find a name, but a pun on Benny and the Jets won out. Some of the training has already been recounted here by myself and others, but it was realised early on that I'd not have a chance to meet the rest of the team before being 'on the brink' already.

"is this the calm before the storm, or the storm before the calm?"

Meeting at Oban, feeling ropey from one too many pints of 80/- in the Ben Nevis, watching Linda get progressively greener on the ferry out, meeting up with old friends like the One.Tel team and new friends like H4 and Hitchhikers, camping for 3 nights on the machair, waking to the surf and going to sleep to the rain. Epic planning sessions, wrangling over who, what, when and where (fortunately, no-one ever posed a 'why'...). Intimate Bike Surgery in a car park when I realise the chainrings are worn enough to slip.

"Spread your arms, hold your breath, and always trust your cape."

Being the only team to beat the 'only 2 bikes' rule on day 1 by using scooters, paddling along, realising that despite a nice expensive, lightweight boat, I was destined to be near the back of the pack (mental note: kayak polo is not a good training method for 20-odd km paddling days...), having a lunch stop at Castlebay and already being badly in need of pie, finishing at Aird Mor, travelling back to the site of last years ceilidh and being fed IPA by the H4 team while one of their team members was in agony with cramp.

"Where the eagle glides descending,there's an ancient river bending,
through libraries and museums, galaxies and stars"

Watching Nonie get more out of the Inuk than I ever could when she came in first on the sound crossing, MTBing across the machair on South Uist past a hostel I stayed in 5 or 6 years ago, wheels spinning in deep sand. Having tea and sandwiches at transition while Gordon hacked up Beinn Mhor, then blasting off for 3 stages on the trot - MTB, road bike and run, dragging my sorry carcass up Eaval and Bunabhal behind Gordon, trying just to get to the finish before I died.

"Still the wind lifts me up, so light am I, and it blows me on and on,
Far above this place I've given the name 'home'...

Hacking round Lochmaddy bay to the top checkpoint on the kayak mystery stage, being one of only 2 teams to get all the checkpoints, flatting on the way back (didn't realise then but this was due to a cracked rim weld) and getting very frustrated changing a tyre with very bendy cheap tyre levers, then hacking back in a real mood, only to be told we had a time out (blooming typical). Racing off and grimly hanging on to Linda, Heather and Gordon as we pelotoned it to the ferry terminal, Gordon putting £1 into the vending machine on the ferry and it not letting him have his crisps (schadenfruede, I know, but...). Driving into Tarbert, setting up and then blasting off for one of the best MTB loops available, struggling up the big hill on the Rhenigadale path, knowing exactly how Rob felt last year, then hammering the descent and having enough left on the road leg to Scalpay to catch 7 minutes on the guy in front.

...I long to see the living tree that heart and hearth hath grown,
In a land that's not just made of dirt and stone."

The long wait at transition while Heather ran, Linda biked and Nonie paddled, having tea and cakes with One.Tel and H4, then cruising along the road with H4 and Friends of Genghis to start the MTB time trial. More long drags, the frustration of a slipping granny cog, meaning I couldn't attack on the climbs like I should have. More epic descents as well, both steep, technical and just plain cool. The last offroad hill, worried I'd passed the checkpoint, then finding Gordon's little 'signpost' to the sheiling. being paced up the last hill, then tagging, pulling in, and falling over still clipped to the bike.

Having a bit of rest, then setting off to paddle up the side of Great Berneray while Nonie blasted past on her road bike, with the 'big bloke' from FoG drafting off her (would have been better the other way round...), hating the swell round the headland, then surfing in to the 'meet teams and portage' section to find I was short of a team. Running across the bogs in a BA and portage boots to stop the clock, and watching Matt fall out of his boat while getting in on the lochans.
Supporting Heather for the swim and then running up the road to the hall paddles in one hand and boat in the other.

"Why do I keep f**king up?"

Puncture. Again. Same reason, waiting on the side of the road for the van to catch me to change the bike. Nonie blasting in from a road bike sectiobn to find the others asleep in the van. Laughing at H4 as Ant rode off with Rhoda's map. Going knee deep in a bog. Getting in the boat on friday morning expecting another racing slog, only to find we were having a social paddle. Finishing said paddle at 9am, and waiting 'til 1pm for a pickup, being fed by each consecutive team as they came to get their paddlers. Another slog of a road bike leg, then running across the heather, thinking 'only 3 1/2 km to go'. Hitting checkpoint 166 spot on, despite trying to do fine nav on a 1:50,000 map. Misplacing Linda temporarily. Jogging through the woods to the finish, stopping occasionally to stop Linda hyperventilating.

The last run to the finish.

Crossing the line, feeling close to tears.

Shaking hands, hugging and congratulating other teams and each other.

Cheering in the last finishers.

"...and he drew that bow across those strings, it made an evil hiss,
And a band of demons joined in, it sounded something like this..."

Dancing the Orcadian Strip the Willow, spinning Claire off her feet. Jon 'Raffling' the top kit prize. Moira's 'Paddler's Paddler' prize and Jas Hepburn's impromptu poem. Dancing, drinking, chatting, swapping e-mails.

Sleeping.

Fried breakfast.

Sleeping in the van. Stopping for another 'transition' when H4 shredded a tyre (don't know where, I just woke up and started getting ready to run...)

Bill cooking for us.

Getting up early (again!) to go paddling on the Tay.

FINALLY managing to get a smooth surf on Stanley wier (thanks Bill and the two Ians!)

More sleeping.

Thinking "hmmm. Rat Race in 1 week. Better start carbo loading..."

That's enough from me. I can't put into words the feeling of accomplishment, joy and relief, but anyone who reads this who knows the feeling will remember. I'll end with another quote.

"When first I came unto this land,
And the road lay bare before me,
And the miles and miles of eagle feather winds
Blew through the singing valley.
If I'd seen then where we are now,
Would my path have been a straight one
Into the heart of the nameless wild
To live and sleep,
Not lonely, but alone."