Saturday 22 January 2011

22nd January Run - BoO to Fort William




Jamie,Me,Ian and Neal after a warm bowl of soup in  Kinlochleven
Thanks to Ian King for arranging the 22nd of January run from Bridge of Orchy to Fort William. we met in the Carpark at BoO at 8:20 Ian  had Arrived just before me and Jamie Aarons, then Caroline and Neal arrived from Paisley, just after we set off at 8:40 and headed north, Ians wife headed to Fort William and Caroline was going to Kinlochleven and running back to meet us,i had checked the 10 day forecast prior to the run and it said that it would be part cloudy with highs of 4 C.
We set of at an easy pace heading for the Kingshouse, coming over Glencoe we met George Cairns heading in the opposite direction, he and his colleague set off at 6:30 from Fort William heading to Bridge of Orchy, we said a quick hello then headed down to the Kigshouse  we arrived in 2h10m and stopped for a refuel, we were heading for the Devils Staircase when we met Caroline (Neals wife) coming towards  us, Neal presuaded her to about turn and head back with us.
It was an unbelievable day the sun was spliiting the skys and it felt so warm, what a contrast to the last eight weeks, we could not believe how lucky we had been, the only problem at the other side of the Devils was the underfoot conditions where still icy, so Me, Neal,Carol and Ian put on our Yaktrax and Jamie her kathoolas, what a difference this made to get us to Kinlochleven.
Kinlochleven took a further 2h 10 m, we headed for the pub for a warm bowl of soup, then left about 30 minutes later to finish off the last leg of the course, by this time the sky was overcast and it was starting to feel cold, so we continued on until we reached Lundavra ,this section was closed for forrestry work ,we were diverted on to the road for a further five miles.
We arrived in Fort William just before it was starting to get dark, just as well the Lundavra section was closed because if this had been open this would have added an extra two miles and we had left our head torches back at BoO.
We arrived at the Morrisons car park where Neal was meeting Caroline, we had a quick chat before Neal drove us back to BoO, this saved Me and Jamie waiting for the train an hour later (thanks).

total time on legs 7.5  hours, total mileage 34.11, av speed 12.23 (and a good day by all)

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like a great day out. Glad I'm not the only one who enjoyed the warmth of the sun yesterday. Lovely wasn't it.

    Bob

    ReplyDelete