Springing into action

It's been a while since I posted on the blog. Initially, this was due to me being pretty idle. Apart from that lovely week in March, it seemed like we were having a re-run of November and, despite my best intentions, I was struggling to get enough enthusiasm to head outdoors. On the bright side, the van conversion is almost complete. It now only requires a couple of hard-to-find trim pieces to cover up some wiring.


After a bit of prevarication I decided to make the most of the van and head down to the 2nd UK Fatbike Gathering. One of the major attractions for me is that it was taking place in the English Lake District, and area I'm forever promising myself to visit and cycle in. The other was a chance to catch up with and meet some folk I've chatted with online.


The first surprise of the trip was due to my sheer laziness. Rather than looking through maps, I'd simply programmed the destination into my Garmin Dakota GPS and I was idly following the prompts when I noticed I'd turned into Ferry Road. No - I don't mean the one in Edinburgh, this was the ferry across Windermere, something I didn't realise even existed. I had a brief "moment" when I realised I might get charged as a minibus but a convincing reassurance saw me across for the car rate. As surprises go, this was rather pleasant and it really made me feel I was somewhere a bit special. 


Arriving at the site on Friday evening, I found the festivities already under way and the chat turned easily to each others bikes and gear, to firewood and to the planned ride for the morning where semi-drunken bravado added a few extra miles on to the route to enable us to ride to/from the site.


We were, magically, all ready to ride the next day as planned and it was a fair convoy of fat-tyred bikes that wove its way along the road to Hawkshead and then on to the Fells. Unusually for me, I had no route loaded in the GPS, no idea of where we were headed and I relaxed and let Andy guide us up hill. down hill, along adjoining roads, pushing where necessary and enjoying some cracking stony descents along the way.  All in all, it was grand riding. The weather was great, the company more so. Any walkers we meet were mostly agog at the fleet of bikes and everybody seemed to be in a fine mood. 








By the end of the day, we'd covered almost 51km, given a test-ride to a solo girl rider who was intrigued by the lake-riding, "suffered" a late lunch and enjoyed an ice cream along the way. A grand day out altogether, even if legs were getting a little weary at the end. 


Our plans for a pub meal, listening to whatever the live music was going to be were dashed when we found out the the pub was already full, but a fantastic offer from Mike to collect pizzas for us went some way to make up for that, even if we couldn't quite get the camp fire to generate the same amount of heat we'd enjoyed the night before.

Guaranteed to draw attention....

Sunday morning was a little less relaxed. The saying "time and tide wait for no man" has a very literal meaning in Fatbike land and we had to be off sharpish to make the most of the beach at Walney island. This proved to be pretty chilly, but it was a very relaxed bunch of fatbikers who played around on the beach, comparing tyre prints and experiencing the roack-crawling capabilities of the 5" Moonlander tyres. We made it back to the cars just as the rain started and   enjoyed each others company over Sunday lunch before all drifting off to make our individual ways home. 


All in all, a great time and my thanks to everyone who was there, especially Andy and Mike for being such great hosts. 

Stuc a' Chroin

Mim is back from Nepal and the plan is to keep the fitness going throughout the rest of the year, so at the first weekend available we decided to head off to knock off a Munro - the first "new" one Mim will have done for 4-5 years. I've climbed Stuc a'Chroin twice already - once by each of the publicised routes. While the "normal" route from Ben Vorlich has a lovely little scramble for added interest, I'd a feeling that Mim would prefer the more leisurely approach from the South. 


Having found our way to the little car parking spot at the end of the public road, we were both a bit surprised by just how chilly it was, despite the intermittent sunshine. So, it was an with all the layers and up the good track, past the farmhouse of Braeleny and we could already see most of the days route out ahead of us. At the river crossing at Arivurichardich we briefly considered running across the pipeline, before sensibly opting for the double river crossing, the water being low enough for a bit of boulder-hopping. Even the two geese honking loudly at us didn't put us off :-)


The path then climbs, steeply at times, to the col on the long SE ridge and then up that same ridge all the way to the summit. Mostly, it's a straightforward walk, but there are a couple of really steep sections that would require some care in more slippy conditions. Perhaps the best thing about this rote is the splendid isolation one feels. The scenery ahead and to each side is more reminiscent of Affric or Kintail than Stirlingshire, especially with the light covering of occasional snow patches, still lingering from the last few weeks. The view behind gives the game away though. Being on the edge of the Highland Boundary Fault, the views to the South cover all of the central belt as far as the distant Pentlands. 


Two and a half hours after setting off, we found ourselves at the summit - just as three other walkers were heading back towards Ben Vorlich. They were the only folk we saw on the whole trip and Mim remarked how peaceful and quiet it all was compared to the Everest base Camp route. We were also being buzzed by three ptarmigan, colours now swinging back towards summer plumage. I'm sure there would have been a nest nearby, so I made sure we moved to a spot where they were happy to leave us alone.

Mim at the summit

A wee spot of shelter just off the summit made a pleasant enough stop and the sun came out again to warm us a little and make it a bit less unpleasant to be hanging around. I was rather enjoying the experience, but Mim was already getting cold hands, so it was a quick pack-and-go and we were off down the hill again. 


All in all , another great day out and another Munro in Mims collection (I need to fire up the old spreadsheet and see how many that is now. For somewhere so close to home, it's really given me an incentive to be heading north soon.

Making the most of it

It seemed like a fairly simple plan. Mark was going to be off work on the Tuesday and rather than sticking to the Pentlands or visiting a trail centre, we'd both felt in the need to go a little bit further afield. Normally, I have a drive time: ride time rule. Never shall the former exceed the latter. However, I was prepared to bend it a little to make it up to the Cairngorms again, so much do I love that area for riding. As luck would have it, we also ended up with a little spring-time mini heatwave.

I'd spent the evening before the drive looking at maps and trying to work out what rides we could do, but here we were driving North and I still couldn't decide. A big loop - Burma Road perhaps? Play around in the corries? There really is so much to do that I only really decided as we saw the turn off the A9. We'd head for Loch Morlich, go over An Slugan to Nethybridge and back round via Ryvoan. Nothing technical, no gnarly jumping, just pleasant tracks through beautiful countryside.


I had the Scandal 29er with me. I'd been playing around with bar position a little, fine tuning it. This would be a good test and as we headed up the good landie track to An Slugan, the Scandal felt really nice, with the bigger wheels making smooth work of the trails. I'd only come this way once before and the forest had been pretty much cleared since then. What I remembered as a long, dark, steep climb was over in a flash and we had a real blast on the descent down to the road. I could see that Mark, on his Ibis, was able to blast over the terrain faster than I could, but that just made it more fun trying to keep up. 


After a short road section to the Boat of Garten junction, it was back into the woods all the way to Nethybridge. This is a great little trail - rooty, with little climbs and sharp descents. Very engaging. Out of Nethybridge, it was all landie track again to Forest Lodge and then that lovely vista which hits you when leaving the forest with the track of the Lairig an Laogh very visible over the shoulder of Bynack Mor. And what a day for it. with a stunning, clear blue sky and temperatures in the high teens, I felt truely privileged. 

Before too long, we rocked up at the Glenmore Visitors Centre for lunch, having begun to feel hungry just before. While the "main course" was good, we were both saving ourselves for the mega slice of Victoria Sponge which we'd spotted whilst ordering - and that was awesome!

With no hurry to get back, we decided to detour round Loch Morlich to see how we felt before making more plans. As it was, the weather was just getting better and better, so we set off on the Loch Einich track. Again, I'd only been down this way once before. I didn't remember it being quite so bouldery but I was certainly glad that the crossing of the Beannaidh Bheag was possible without dismounting. My previous visit had entailed a knee-deep wade! The track also seemed to be quite a bit longer than I remembered and it seemed that, like some mirage, Loch Einich was getting no nearer. Eventually, we made it to the loch. I took he opportunity for a quick head-dunk in the cold water and lay back on the grass just soaking in the sun, the sounds and the situation. With mountains on three sides, this really is a marvellous spot and it thoroughly put me in the mood for some camping.

After a while, we could sense the cloud just thickening a little and a cool breeze came down the loch. That was our signal to go and off we set down the boulder-strewn track. Again, I could see that Mark was having a slightly easier time of it on the Mojo and my cause wasn't being aided by a growing numbness in my hands, caused by the vibrations. I was very relieved when, 10 minutes later, we were on to smoother tracks again. 


The small climb from Rothiemurchus to Loch Morlich was despatched with wearier legs than had set out in the morning, so it was rather pleasing to reach the van and get ready for the drive home. 


Lessons learnt today? 
(1) Sometimes, rules are worth breaking.
(2) My handlebar position needs looked at again. 
(3) I need to get the bikepacking kit organised.


A big thanks to Mark for the company and for letting me use some of his photos. 

A new buzz

If you've read the wee "about me" box on the front page of this blog, you'll see that I make reference to some foot problems which have severely curtailed my hillwalking. I've had every type of test and scan available, tried foot-beds and gels and yet just can't crack the problem. 


Despite this, when my wife was beginning to get into training for her Everest Base Camp trek, I accompanied her a couple of times out running. It would appear that, if I'm careful, I can avoid the heel-strike which causes most of my problems. Now - I haven't run for years. Not since school in fact (other than running for a bus of course). It was therefore somewhat of a surprise to me that if I kept a nice steady pace and didn't run off hell-for-leather, I could actually do a couple of miles without any major trauma. 


With a few more attempts, I was able to go out one day and knock off 11km in a time just over an hour. I was very pleased and started to consider doing more. However, the colder weather hit us, the trails and pavements got a bit icy and my wife decided she'd stick to other forms of exercise so I left it at that.


Fast forward to spring and there I am in Go Outdoors looking at some snazzy Salomon Cross Running shoes. I had to have them! 


So today, and after a couple of recent bike rides when I've been feeling a bit low on energy, I decided to slip into my trainers and try a couple of laps of Harlaw Reservoir again. It was a bit of a shock of course, but after half a lap or so, and to he sounds of Ibiza Euphoria, I found I was really starting to enjoy it. The two laps I'd decided to limit myself to went in pretty quick and easy and when I stopped I did, indeed, have a sense of "euphoria". 


I never thought I'd be getting into running at the age of 53, but I'm definitely finding it stimulating and already pondering which hills I'll be using to break in my new shoes!

The other wheels

I've posting about my bikes and the rides I've done on them, but my time over the last couple of months has actually been spent mucking around with a 4-wheeled vehicle, my Trafic van. 


The van was purchased after a couple of family holidays when we'd overload the old Multipla with bikes, kayaks and camping gear and the stress of packing it all just started to get me down. I did a lot of research on both the van to buy and what I wanted it to be capable of. As a result, I now have a long wheelbase Renault Trafic which has had the bulkhead removed, a row of Q/R seats installed and a couple of extra windows fitted. I always wanted to be able to use it for a bit of overnight "camping" and after doing some reading I found out I'd have to insulate it - well - in order to make it warm enough and to stop the condensation from giving me an impromptu shower.


Many hours of work later, I think it's almost complete. I've added some 12v sockets in the back so I can run a power washer or charge lights and phones and a super-duper 3W floodlight just inside the rear doors so I can have a bright "work" area before and after any night rides and for illuminating an area I might actually camp in. 


With all of this effort going in, I was glad to eventually get a chance to use it "in anger" for a weekend in Speyside and on the Moray Coast. My initial impressions are very favourable. Despite leaving the cab windows a tad for some air, it is warm enough, dry enough and big enough for my plans. A full length camp bed fits easily beside a couple of bike in the back and there's enough room to manoeuvre myself around. My only bugbear so far is finding suitable places to stop overnight as there are so many signs "forbidding" overnight parking - but I'll persevere. Now I just need to decide where else I'm off to in 2012.