Early Summer 2009

After the West Highland Way run I managed a couple of weeks running before we went away on holiday. We went to a village called Chite about half way between Granada and the coast of the Mediterranean at Motril. It was even hotter than expected in mid-June. One day in Granada it reached 42°C! So the only time I could cope with running was in the morning before breakfast. Add to that the fact that Chite was on a hill top with lemon and orange groves all around and you can see that running was going to be difficult. I did one run straight down the hill on a narrow road which turned into a track and then a path and then a lemon grove. The run out and back was about 3 miles and was hard. The next day I picked another downhill route and ended at the lake. The lake had a path around the side which I followed for about 2 miles seeing ahead the track leading to a dam and the road back to Chite. Unfortunately the path a bit further on had been washed away and I had to retrace my steps all the way back to the villa. A bit further than I had planned but an excellent 6 miles or so. You can just see the lake in the picture at the top of this post. The view is from the balcony of our villa. It turned out to be my last run. Late nights and busy days meant that I slept soundly and never made it up for another early morning run - but we did have a great holiday especially the visit to Granada's Alhambra.

West Highland Way relay.

I finally get round to reporting on our relay race up the West Highland Way. Those who were up early to catch the whole day or to run the first leg are pictured in Milngavie on the right.
The run took place on Saturday 6th June which was a good day for the run because it was warm and mainly sunny. This meant we could have a comfortable run and see the scenery. It did rain while we were in Glen Coe but it wasn't heavy rain like last year. I ran the last section from Lundavra over the hill into Glen Nevis and down to the finish on the edge of Fort William. It starts off as a very up and down section as it takes you into the pine forest, but once into Glen Nevis you have a long descent on a stony path. I was the slowest runner (taking just over an hour) on the last leg, even beaten by Leslie who was some months pregnant, but it was most enjoyable. We are very lucky to have such a place to run just on our doorstep.
We stayed overnight at the Inchcree Centre at Onich. Hardly any midges this year - what a relief. The food and the beer was good and I managed to get the results sorted before the end of the meal. The winning team took 13 hours and 45 minutes to complete the run and the slowest team took just over 15 hours. A great weekend.