15th October, 2020
Breakfast at the Inveroan was as good as the dinner. It dealt with the last vestiges of the whisky as me and the walkers chatted over our plans for the day. Some were going to Kingshouse 10 miles away and others on to Kinlochleven which is 18 miles or so from the hotel. I was heading for Fort William and had around 33 miles left to go.I packed everything up and hit the road a little later th…
14th October, 2020
Day 2 broke with a comprehensive clag out on the low peak outside the B&B bedroom window though with a tiny patch of brilliant sun so I thought it could go either way today. Spoiler alert, it wasn't the sunny one.The one solid thing about the accommodation was the breakfast and the granola course would have done me on any normal day but I shoved in a toast course and a veggie fry-up course for g…
13th October, 2020
With COVID raging and at the time of writing no prospect of it reigning in its raging any time soon a getaway or if you like a forgetaway was in order. I'd toyed with a route around Knoydart - bits of the Cape Wrath course - and then the Great Glen Way, both of which obviously meant the immediate purchase of maps and despite rejecting both in the end, no map is ever wasted. You can't have too …
29th May, 2019
The week-long Berghaus Dragon's Back Race is a major commitment in terms of both time and finance. Having just finished the race (blog post here), I wanted to give my thoughts on whether it's worth the investment and also how I would advise next year's first timers to do things better than I did.I should point out that I'm not sponsored in any way by anyone or any company with any relationship to …
27th May, 2019
Ever since the Internet has provided the opportunity to suspend all productive activity and watch dots instead, that's been my guilty pleasure. Days are lost every year to the Spine and I remember watching Jez Bragg's dot glide across the Dragon's Back route map in 2015. There's something about the combination of knowing someone else is doing something heroic and outrageous with the potential for …
27th November, 2018
Next May I'm due to start the Dragon's Back race from Conwy Castle on the North Coast of Wales down to Llandeilo, the best part of 200 miles South. It's run over 5 days and over pretty much every mountain in between with strict cut-offs throughout for good measure. It's an enormous undertaking whichever way you look at it - my major (of many) concerns being the cumultive lack of sleep with wha…
28th August, 2018
Great Yarmouth Seafront and PierEvery year since forever my extended family has decamped en masse to Sheringham on the Norfolk Coast, 4 miles up from its more well-known neighbour, Cromer. My lot were in the shoe-making business in the distant past in Leicester and all the factories used to shut down in the Summer at the same time for 'Leicester Fortnight'. Half the city would flock to the coa…
26th June, 2018
Cortina is a town that has redefined itself as a centre for trail running after the national level winter sports moved away and surrounding this picturesque town are some of the world's greatest trails winding through some of the world's most striking landscapes. Lavaredo is a 4-day trail fest with the main event being the Ultra Trail - a 119km race through 5800 metres of climb.I've run it once be…
31st July, 2017
This year's injury of choice - some sort of plantar fascia/policeman's heel/bruised fat pad sampling platter of frustration hung over this warm-up race for the CCC for a few months. I made a last-minute decision to run, mainly thanks to a cock-up on my part over the last day I could cancel my hotel. I took that as a sign and reasoned even getting part of it done would be useful training.The drive …
25th June, 2017
SiS (Science in Sport) generously sent me some samples of their caffeinated energy gels recently and I've spent the last couple of weeks trying them out. The original plan was to use them during the comprehensive set of long runs needed to build up for the Lakeland 50 in July and the CCC in August but.. as bad luck would have it, I've gone down with some heel-related niggle which has made a bonf…