ATHOLL HILLS
Looking down the Carn a' Chlamain ridge towards the changeover. Photo tms.nickbramall.com
17.5 miles 971 metres
Start Tuesday 10.29
Carn a' Chlamain 11.14
Beinn Dearg 12.11
Finish 13.09
Squares: yellow - changeover, red - finish. Circles summits: green this leg, red - done. Map Colin Matheson
Time: Estimated 4.00 Actual 2.40
This was the one I was least pleased to have been allocated. I thought the hills were relatively uninteresting, and the miles of track to finish positively awful. However I was feeling refreshed and rearing to go.
A peregrine falcon added interest to a very pleasant ridge climb. This was followed by the long undulating route to Beinn Dearg. I was running very comfortably, and thoroughly enjoyed the task of picking out a good line. A mother grouse doing the injured ptarmigan act whilst her young danced at my feet, quite unlike the silent, still, fluffy balls of ptarmigan chicks which are so hard to see, enhanced the joys of the day.
The descent started equally enjoyably, with a great contour round Beinn a' Chait. Then came the dreaded track. However as it was mostly downhill, I found myself actually enjoying it.
I had been aiming to cover the leg in two and a half hours instead of the scheduled four. I was actually two minutes over target at the planned finish. Fortunately, I was anticipating that this point was a private road, so although I did not like the extra mile of tarmac, at least it was not a shock.
Peaks done 227 time taken 10 days 10 hours peaks to go 50
John drove Dave and me over to the Shiehallion car park at a speed that made Dave start feeling green at the gills. We had passed the van outside the Blair Atholl Hotel – another breakfast for Ian.
After Dave had set off, and we had all enjoyed some relaxation in the mild weather, Rob, Ian and Alwyn set off for their series of short legs, whilst the rest of us went off in the mothership to the Camping Club site Killin where the manager kindly agreed that we could park up and use the facilities.
Here we had arranged to meet up with Doug Gillon from the Glasgow Herald who talked to us for a long time.
There is no charge for reading this account but please consider donating to Worldwide Cancer Research, the new name for the charity that we ran for.
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