Run to Allermuir

A long easy training run from home to the Pentlands and Allermuir summit. 14 miles in around 3 hours.

Portmeirion & Carnarfon Castle

A long weekend away with Tim and Warren in Wales. On Saturday I did they race while they took a trip to Llandudno. 

On Sunday we headed off to nearby Portmeirion. The place was very beautiful and there was the added bonus of a prisoner convention being on at the time with lots of people in fancy dress.

We continued driving on to Carnarfon to see the castle and have lunch before driving on through Llanberis back to the rented house in Dolwydellan.

Lots of beer drunk over three days in Wales.

Ras y Moelwyn - British Medium

Ran today in the British Championship Medium Race in Blaenau Ffestioniog in Snowdonia. The weather was absolutely stunning with totally clean skies and temperatures heading towards 16 degrees. 

The race started in the centre of the village where there was a bit of a party atmosphere with stalls and music playing. The race started at 2 pm with a run up the high street, over the railway and then into the mountains. There was some queuing on the footbridge over the railway.

About a mile on pleasant trails before a steep incline up to a lake and a flat section along the side of it. Then steep upwards along a path up the side of the valley before the real mountain terrain began. Did reasonably well on the ascent but really struggled on the rough downhill bits.

Was tiring badly after 90 minutes and struggled to move at any pace over a rough section after the second reservoir. 

Final time was 2 hrs 16 minutes which was slower than the target range of 2 hr 5 to 10 mins.

Very friendly race and the views were fabulous throughout.

Cycle Biggar, Broughton, Dawyck

A nice gentle cycle of around 20 miles from Dawyck to Biggar via Broughton and back again by different quiet roads. A really pleasant route. Stopped for coffee and scones in Biggar.

Deuchary Hill Canter

I missed the hill race last Sunday as my feet were blistered after the race the previous day. So a week later I decided to travel the route as it is one of the nicest most scenic races on the calendar.

Headed out early on Sunday morning to arrive in Dunkeld around 10 am. My aim was for a gentle canter but my legs had no energy at all and it turned out to be a walk for about 90% of the journey. The weather was fantastic and it was a really pleasant outing.