Highland Ultra- last bits

 Luckily, a later start for us on the final day. Woke up with a better mood than last night, partially due to finishing all my hot chocolate drinks in one sitting  . Last stage, only 25k. Maybe today I'll hit the jackpot and actually finish in the daylight. 

After another sort out of food, then rucksack, then food, then socks, finally tent...we set off at the gorgeous time of ten o clock. Once again, I found Sarah and the poor girl had no hope of shaking me off. Back along the Loch path - was it really this muddy and hilly the other day ? Not sure. A beautiful flat gravelly

path for 2k, which to be honest I felt like kissing. The final checkpoint, then trudge up the final mountain. At this point the Scottish weather had taken over with a vengence, even to the point of being blown over by the wind. All was well though, I didnt fall far. Reached the top, slid through the mud and mountain streams down the other side. Accepted gratefully some assistance across a fast  flowing mountain stream from a member of the Spine safety team - thank goodness they were there. 

Sarah turned into ultra-and-slightly-competitive Sarah at the bottom of the mountain, and decided we were changing gear into ultra march to cover the final flatish three miles. I gratefully followed, still sticking to her like that irritating bit of chewing gum on your shoe that you cant get rid of. 

One slightly scarey moment involving some Highland cows with very sharp horns wondering why we were marching across their ground. No fights though, phew.

We saw camp and cheered up. We even saw a few marker flags, which made us cheer even more. And....the end. Six hours and about a half. Alot better. Followed by lager and pizza. 

Marvellous stuff. Adventure indeed.

Highland Ultra 2021- a bit more

 After a pretty dubious nights sleep, day two started with the thought of 42 km mountainous terrain ahead. Aha, I thought- shorter than yesterday so maybe I'll get through the finish in daylight and with a chance of listening to some of the talks. How wrong can one person be in life.

I had the luck of starting behind two other women, Sarah and Megan. We stuck to each other like glue. We stomped, fell, swore, got lost, together. Three became four at the top of a boulder-strewn mountain. It took us over six hours to get through the first 15 k- things were not looking too sparkly for us.

The four of us became the fab four for a while : a few running stories told, a fair few more falls in the peat. We decided we had no chance of completing the day, so planned to pull out at checkpoint two .Bizaarely, some of this was caught on video, our girlie bad moments- so might not look too good on the BTU promo video .  However, after being promised a nice track to follow to the end, only 12k which any fool could manage, we stayed in the game and took our tantrums to the finish.

All our fears were probably realised. It got dark, the promised track was a peat bog leading up a mountain, we were exhausted, we couldnt see the markers, it was hideous. At this point four became six and we decided our best policy was to stick together across this challenging terrain. After taking yet another wrong turn, we got a message on our trackers to turn around and backtrack. Also to keep following the pylons : er,, hard to do this in the pitch black on a cold mountainside . Swearwords were uttered, medicines shared, somehow we continued. We ended up splitting up into smaller groups to move quicker down the mountainside. Move quickly, try and stay warm. 

At last vague lights in the distance. A stroppy end to the day. I couldnt even find it in me to hug my favourite medic, when she had done nothing but be really nice to me in this event and the ice ultra.  Thats what fourteen hours of getting lost can do to you.

Guess what....already, I look back on this with fondness. Ah, ultra adventures.

Highland Ultra 2021

A pretty special event all round. Excellent organisation by BTU,in spectacular, dramatic surroundings. 

Race registration and kit check was reached by ferry. A pretty unusual way to get to a race start, maybe . We camped for the duration of the event over two base camps. With a backdrop of Highland hills, Lochs, howling winds, hammering rain, deers calling. Wild .

Day one, approx 50k.....started off road, undulating, amazing sunshiney views . Changing into trails, then rapidly deteriorating to peat bogs ( I still have the evidence of this ingrained under my nails, yuk). Checkpoint at 25k, then the real off grid route began....trails, spectacular hills, long mountain climb, further checkpoint, then the longest ever undulating slippy muddy path along the Loch to camp. Did I fall over .....at least a hundred times. Did I worry about falling in the Loch....oh yes. Did I wonder what on earth I was doing when I couldnt see anyone else on the course in front or behind in the dark ? Oh yes. But I did buzz as I got to the finish , got hot water for my food, and tucked myself smugly in my tent to listen to the rain and wind again. It took me approx 11 hours. One set of soggy running kit down.

 All finished,safe. Fab race. Pics to come

 At Mallaig, off to meet the race now. I'm guessing no mobile phone coverage across on Knoydart, will take pics

 Amazing train journey, beautiful

up here

Highland Ultra, 2021

 Well, this long anticipated event is the first time the event has been carried out, a new event from BTU. Even trying to get close to the event start is a bit of an adventure in itself. 

It is 125 km over three day stages, on a small island Knoydart, accessible from Mallaig. Semi self sufficient : carry all food and medical kit, filter own water throughout the day: camping at nighttime. It looks pretty wild, to be honest. 

The event itself looks so well organised.  I think the BTU team are probably more excited than we are that its going ahead, due to the disappointments of lockdown postponements. Quite brilliantly, there are organised talks each evening by ultra runners, event organisers, or local conservationists. More brilliantly than this, there is a strong emphasis on supporting the environment through this company : they are working with the Knoydart woodland trust to promote woodland replanting, plus local trail maintenance. You just gotta love 'em.

Highland Ultra 2021

All packed, getting too excited for words.

Whats that, a weather forecast for rain every day ?   Oh...

Highland Ultra

 Starting to prepare for next week's Highland Ultra, with Beyond the Ultimate.

Definitely an adventure : already a resilience test as the local trains have been cancelled on the way home.

Exciting exciting. Amazing to track down running kit and start sorting running packs and kit. Oh my.