Last year I did this event, I loved it, I raved about it to anyone I could …this year I had a minor wobble as the event was just three weeks before The Great Glen Way Ultra, but stuff it, by end of January I was on the entry list.

The usual weekday chaos led up to the event, which did at least mean I had no time to stress about it, let alone book a tent spot at the campsite and was winging it as usual.  The drive across from Findhorn on the Friday evening gave some welcome respite from day-to-day life, listening to my favourite cheesy tunes driving through humid mist and rain.  A straightforward journey though and I arrived at the Shiel Bridge campsite about 8ish I guess.

First step – get tent up before midges completely devoured me … tent seemed to have acquired some damage since I lent it to a friend and the sound of one of the poles snapping was not a great moment! Some bodging fixed it enough to get byand I quickly settled in … then the stove wouldn’t light – ah well caffeine was never going to help me sleep was it?  Midges were going ballistic outside so sorted out my pack for the morning, cleaned teeth etc and settled down with ipod for a fairly early night (for me anyway).

Alarm set for 5.45am – yay!! Slept the usual restless pre-event sleep, the kind where you wake every hour thinking you’ve overslept.  Large bowl of muesli and a maple-pecan Danish made for a fine breakfast, even if I was missing the cup of tea I REALLY did need by now!!  I met Tangy (RW) shortly after ejecting myself from the tent, I spotted her hovering looking a little nervous, but immediately recognised her from profile pictures and FB; was so lovely to finally put name to face.  It was nearly 7.15am so we made our way over to the parking area of the site, had our names ticked off and clambered aboard the bus.  A good mix of runners and walkers on board, and fairly sociable considering it was quite early for a Saturday morning.

It was humid and damp already and the midges were still biting with ferocity.  Journey of about 20 minutes or so brought us to Glenelg and the Village Hall where the challenge would start from. AT LAST … mugs of tea!! Lovely ladies selling bacon butties (I’ll pass on that) and endless tea. Settled down at a table with Tangy and some others and proceeded to work my way through two hard boiled eggs – always need some protein to keep the hunger pangs at bay. Three cups of tea later and I was ready to face the day.  The hall steadily filled up as further bus-loads arrived of other Challengers – be they walkers or runners for the 30 or 12 mile option.

9am, we are all herded outside into the car park for a fairly humorous briefing – lots of digs at runners about lifting their heads up to look for directions etc so they don’t go the wrong way … The route is marked (it’s a permanent way-marked route), but tbh, even with their enhanced signage this year, it’s still pretty vague in places so a fair few people were concerned about going wrong, despite having OS maps etc.

Three … two … one and we are off. Steady jog down the road from the village hall and out onto the road towards Loch Alsh.  Mist was hanging low over the surrounding hills and mountains but this only seemed to add to the beauty of the scenery. A good mile along flat tarmac and then we are off up onto the trail. Over a stile and I make a route error, thankfully quickly realised, corrected the guy blundering in front of me and with a bit of bushwacking we return to the main trod, with a stinging sensation in my shin. I looked down to see a bruise quickly emerging so assume I must have crashed into a branch or something!!  We were on a grassy wide trail climbing slowly uphill, hugging the edge of the hill and meandering in and out of trees, across little streams and tiny waterfalls – all extremely damp and midgey.  Eventually we dropped down for a section along the shoreline. Although this was flat, it was fairly boggy and wet, in fact feet had been thoroughly soaked soon after leaving the road and this was not something that was going to change any time soon. Turning away from the shoreline we headed uphill slightly, cutting through waist-high wet grass, inland, to meet the first checkpoint.  “22” I shout (my number) “same as your age” shouts the cheeky marshal at me, and off I head onto the road and a short steep uphill that gives me a good opportunity to get a food bar in. Just over six miles here I think.

At the top of the road the course splits and a marshal directed us accordingly with the 30-milers heading off on a track towards ‘The Wood’ … the one with the mud … the track undulated more than I remember and the going is fairly muddy/squelchy. Eventually we descend into darker woods with red/white taping to aid us through the quagmire – and it was a quagmire, a dark Gruffalo-esque kind of environment, … one where I managed to take a lovely graceful sideways slide into the mud, coating my arse and leg … lovely!!! Despite the gloom, rays of sunlight peaked through in places making it quite mystical.  So we staggered and waded our way through here before eventually emerging high up on the hill above the loch. The trail narrowed and turned its way down to meet the road at the loch edge. We were now running on mainly flat lochside road – the shores of Loch Duich.  The midges had been savage up high in the woods and were only marginally better down here.  Passing through Totaig we eventually came to the infamous ‘Jelly Baby Pit Stop’ … water and sweeties available here but I felt sorry for the marshals sitting there swathed in midge nets handing out bottles of ‘skin-so-soft’ to anyone who felt it might help.

Two checkpoints down, about 12 miles down and five miles of road – bleugh … tarmac … nooooo. I felt quite sluggish plodding along here, couldn’t get legs to knock out anything faster than 9.2mm (exactly that as that is my plod and plod pace). Lungs felt tight and a bit coughy so cold brewing or asthma a bit out of kilter I think.  It was still VERY humid and sweaty but a light mizzle in the air helped freshen things up.  Despite feeling rather sluggish I did start to reel a few people in along the road (and I’d snared a few in the wood too!!).  I caught up with a lady I knew from Highland Hill Runners and we ran into Shiel Bridge checkpoint together.  Sixteen-and-a-half miles and we are off the road – yippee!!  So far I’d consumed two muesli bars and one gel; I’d stashed a banana and some other bits in a bag behind the toilet block earlier because I knew (1) I’d head into the toilets – nice chance for a pee without being devoured by midges, and (2) the path into the hills ran straight past so it was a good point to collect from.

The banana was a good call as I was just starting to get that empty rumbly feeling in my tummy.  It was an absolute delight to get off the tarmac even though I knew what was around the corner … We headed out of the campsite on a path that, although not really climbing yet, was boulder strewn and slippery with water. Started to pass a few guys who were mainly complaining about having overcooked it in the early stages – men hey!!  We crossed lots of little rivers which I just ran straight through – was cooling on the feet and got rid of any grit that had crept into shoes.  My left shin had been starting to bother me on the road and my back was also a little sore from the pounding – it’s very difficult to get the right shoe for this race because of the complete contrast in terrain covered. I suspect I could have done with a bit more cushioning for the road, but then again, I got down the gnarly stuff better than last year … anyway, along the path and up the glen on a gradual climb; but then we do a hanger right, there was no more hiding from what we knew was around the corner … THAT HILL … Shiel Bridge campsite sits at 50m above sea level and the top of the pass we have to cross is at about 550m and we climb 400m in just over a km and the only way to do it is slowly and steadily. Last year I stopped lots as I found it so hard, this year I managed to just keep a steady climbing rate going, pausing occasionally to look at the stunning views – would have been rude not too – but I did keep moving all the time. Took me about 45 minutes from campsite to top of the pass and I went past a guy who’d not brought any proper food with him, was relying on energy drink alone and was in bit of a state, another guy with chronic cramp, although to be fair, I’d been suffering with bad cramp in my feet too. I think it was the heat, even though it wasn’t sunny it was so humid we were all sweating buckets.

The sun was starting to try and come through though as I gained the top of the pass. From here the route off was a narrow mountain path that wove its way through a few rocks before starting to drop steeply away down a boulder-strewn hill side. Last year this was all dry, so although skiddy because of the rocks, still dry … this year it was all running with water so the rocks were extra extra-slippery, combined with the fact it was steep, narrow and rocky!  You couldn’t stop concentrating for a moment, and it was very mentally tiring.  It took me 17 minutes to cover the first mile off the top and I felt I was moving quite well!!! I rounded a corner to be confronted by a guy not really hiding behind a rock trying to take a ‘comfort break’ but I managed to look the other way and avoid that particular view!

Off the rocky stuff but still no respite as we entered into the bog zone!! Sometimes ankle-deep, sometimes knee-deep but never consistent and very gloopy!! Eventually we crossed a larger river, emerging onto a forestry track which took us down to checkpoint number four around about 23 miles I guess.  A few directions from the marshal as the next section was a bit vague – and they really didn’t do much signage here either.  Passed a guy walking – his knee was ‘buggered’ to quote him.  Down the forest track, across a river, and then yay, another area of featureless bog as we headed across to a bothy which was apparently out there somewhere. Despite remembering this from last year, when there was no signage at all, I missed the red/white tape here and started to veer off a bit but thankfully realised and got back on track. More mud and soaking wet feet, but eventually I gained the bothy, crossed a few more mini-streams and bogs to eventually end up on a land rover track – YIPPEE, solid ground, I could actually, dare I say it … RUN.  So started to pick up the pace a bit, refused extra water from the Mountain Rescue Team who were handing it out, I’d filled up my bottles from the streams on the hill and would rather leave supplies for those more in need.

The land rover track undulated its way out towards civilisation but nothing too overwhelming and unlike last year I managed to run all the inclines at a good steady pace. I hadn’t seen anyone for absolutely ages, but came round the corner to see a couple wandering along quite happily, Lucy Colquhoun, out for an afternoon stroll! She seemed in no hurry and yelled ‘runner coming through’ as I passed which made me chuckle as it didn’t feel like running, although I think I was at least back to 9mm!  Eventually the track led down through a farm – more mud, this time slurry due to the cows – euch!! Checkpoint number five in the bag now though and just four-and-a-half miles to go.

Last year the tarmac seemed to go on for ever, but this year, despite increasing pain in my ankle - which seemed to have encompassed the whole ankle – I started to pick the pace up – 8.2/8.4mm, feeling rather chipper about this but was willing the miles away. It was still too bloody hot but at least the midges had given up for the time being.  Passed a table covered in all sorts of food goodies on posh glass food display trays, helped myself to a huge lump of fudge and steadily ate up the remaining miles, keeping the 8s in the minute-miling. A couple came past on bicycles and told me I was fourth lady. Upon reaching the outskirts ofGlenelg village I passed a table where a bottle of whisky had been put out, inviting walkers to partake in a ‘wee dram’ – erm no, I think I pass on that for now!

I rounded the last bend in the road and then immediately got directed up a hilly track, my heart sank, last year I got sent up here and there was no signage, blundered into someone’s garden and ended up back on the road clueless as to where the finish was and having a mini-meltdown!!! However, I thought I could probably remember the way … and then I caught sight of the lady in third place … hmmmm … would it be cheeky to try and pass her at this late stage?  Well I power-stomped up the hill (was bloody steep) and hailed her in a friendly kind of way and she waved me through with a ‘go on, I’m done for’, so off I trotted down the hill to the main road, a brief moment of panic about where to go but pressed on and soon saw the village hall through the trees. YES, finished, and a PB on last year. On my watch it said 5hrs 50 but the guy on the computer insisted on rounding it up to 5hrs 51 … ah well, I’m not going to quibble the minute, I got my third place and 11th overall out of 42 I think.

A couple of minutes later Lucy Colquhoun came running in, so she clearly wasn’t out for an afternoon ramble, quickly followed by the lady I’d nabbed on the hill. 

Another cup of tea, lots of cheering in of other finishers – so nice to get this as you finish, really welcoming. Then the bus arrived to start shuttling everyone back to camp site if they needed it (free service this). So I purchased a HUGE slice of chocolate cake and headed onto the bus for the return journey.

I was still feeling fairly sprightly in the body but definitely tired overall, and totally delighted to have absolutely no blisters, despite keeping same wet socks on throughout!  Shoe dilemma for Great Glen way because, although these shoes gave me  no blisters, they were definitely lacking in cushioning … hmmm, food for thought on that one.

 A piping hot shower at the campsite vaguely restored me, but I was quite horrified at the number of midges I seem to have collected on my body … clearly they had drowned in my sweat!!!  I quickly collapsed the tent and shoved it in the back of the car along with all my kit. The midges had eased slightly and soon I was on my way home. I had to pull over for a small power-nap at Drumnadrochit as was feeling seriously sleepy here, but all too soon back home to absolute chaos!!