Deeside 4.5

Race: Deeside 4.5m (Border League race 4)

Time/Position: 25.32 (46th from 263 [1st V50])

Still struggling to get anywhere near the finishing positions I used to get in the league, although I've long since concluded this is only partly due to age! It has genuinely become more competitive. I felt I ran reasonably well today, slow on the long hill out of Kelsterton (much slower than I have managed in the past) but much quicker on the descent where I made up a handful of places and kept the pace going reasonably well to the finish on the track. Time compares reasonably well to previous years, although I went a lot faster in 2014 (possibly a shorter course). First V50 and leading the category in the league at present: three races remain, however!

Penon Bermejo

Peaks: Penon Bermejo (730m)

Area: La Aldea, Gran Canaria

Limited time this morning, so I opted for the walk towards the famed Gui Gui cove from El Albercon, a village between La Aldea and the sea. This was a good choice - a shady valley. I had perfect views of the endemic Canarian Southern Grey Shrike (the koenigi subspecies) along with Sardinian warbler. My target was merely the pronounced col below Penon Bermejo, where I hoped to have a choice between the very striking Cedro (La Aldea's signature peak) or the consolation prize of the Penon. The route up the valley passed a few shacks and again reminded me of previous experiences in desert mountain areas in many parts of the world. After steep zigzags up an open gully, the walls of Cedro closing in, a traverse path led to the col and a breathtaking surprise view, the best of the trip (and that is up against some stiff competition). Below, rock walls plunged down to a deep rock valley down to the Atlantic. Above, the narrow ridge to Penon Bermejo and beyond. Left of this ridge, the deep blue Atlantic with Teide rising in perfect clarity from Tenerife. Behind, the sun rose over the shoulder of Cedro (which was clearly unfeasible in the time available). So, it was the consolation prize: I took the ridge north-west in an exhilarating position. This became quite narrow and scrambly, beautiful but slighly loose orange rock, and led to a small summit with stunning views. The next peak, Amurgar, was clearly dominant, but like yesterday it looked involved and was certainly unfeasible given my need to check out of the hotel. So I settled for Penon Bermejo, descended to the col, and went back the same way to El Albercon.

Tasartico ridge

The day was young when I returned to the car after the morning outing, so I decided to try to get up Hogarzales, an impressive wedge-shaped peak, if I could find a way up from the Tasartico col. To my surprise, after a bit of searching I did find a path, which led up another dry stream bed to gain another pronounced high col. Onward views were superb, although it was immediately obvious that the route was complex and far more involved than I had anticipated. A pinnacled ridge formed the skyline, and the tenuous path weaved through endemic vegetation and eventually weaved up to the ridge itself. It was all quite time-consuming (and I had left without water, expecting a quick peak bag), with tricky route-finding until I finally gained the ridge. This was really good, with some great scrambling in a superb position. A few distinct rises and a pioneering feel until an easing led towards a large square subpeak. Tricky slabs led east of this to a broad col. This marked the end of the 'pinnacle ridge' but the route to the peak remained rather involved and complex, weaving round an exposed ledge system to the final slopes. I decided to call it a day, tired and dehydrated, and settled for just the ridge. The route remained hard to follow even in descent, and I initially went too high on the grey slabs that I had just ascended a few minutes before!

Viso-Lechugal

Peaks: Montana del Viso (997m), Montana Lechugal (993m)

Area: La Aldea, Gran Canaria

Two contrasting mountains: Viso, which was very striking from my hotel room in La Aldea, is runnable and popular along a marked trail, while Lechugal was an obscure but striking peak that caught my eye and formed an interesting though arduous extension to the day. I parked at the Tasarte col, enjoying the complete contrast with the first two days: the mountains above La Aldea reminded me of Jordan or Morocco: baked and arid. First, I headed to Viso along a fabulous path that contoured along a distinctive terrace that offered a way through what is a very steep hillside festooned with crags. It rose gently along the contour to a slightly exposed section which gave way to a shallower hillside and upward climb. This gained an open plateau that led west to the trig point on Viso (45m from road). Although it is little more than a spur of the much bigger Inagua mountain, Viso is poised directly above La Aldea and its valley: superb views down to the Atlantic and across to the rocky peaks that had surprised and impressed me from the hotel, like Hogarzales and Cedro. Lechugal was not quite as striking but still looked very good from Viso, and dominated the head of the valley, so I decided to append it to the day. The descent was superb, perfect gentle running with fabulous downward views. At the col I took on water from the car then ran down towards Tasartico before taking a steep side valley that I calculated would lead me to the east ridge. It was completely untravelled, festooned with the usual scratchy vegetation and loose volcanic scree. The ridge above was more troublesome still, much steeper than it looked, with scree and cacti barring progress. I did spy a way through some of the crags which gave some good scrambling but prospects looked bleak. I was just about to give up when I found a tiny path, which I assumed was a goat track but turned out to be human! It was tenuous, but led south to a much more comfortable route, which reached a col and then headed up to the summit enjoyably. The top was small with magnificent views in all directions: Inagua was impressive, as was Mogaranes, a pyramidal peak above the sea. I took the path all the way down, losing it at times (I doubt the peak is ascended more than a few times each year), which avoided some of the unpleasantness of the ascent.

Cruz de Maria

Peaks: Altavista East (1302m)

Area: Gran Canaria

Just a short warm-down walk, but an exquisite one. After lunch in the mist, within five minutes of descending from the obvious watershed of the Cruz de Tejeda I emerged from the cloud again, to spectacular views down to the west coast beyond Roque Bentayga (second only to Nublo in distinctiveness). From here, I drove to Artenara, with the scenery completely different and Gran Canaria proving its cliched description of a 'continent in miniature'. I was now close to Tamadaba, and the scenery was memorably beautiful, thousands of slender green Canarian pines, soft yellow hills, and beautiful low sunshine. From the Cruz de Maria, I walked up the 1302m hill that marks the eastern end of the wooded Altavista ridge. It would have been nice to have carried on along that lovely ridge but unwise, so I saved some energy. Just as well, as the drive down the GC210 to La Aldea was relentlessly stressful, singletrack the whole way, the scenery growing more and more arid.

Nublo-Aserrador

Peaks: Roque Nublo* (1818m), Montagna Aserrador (1688m)

Area: Gran Canaria

After leaving Santa Brigida (a little too soon), I drove up to Cruz de Tejeda in weather that was even worse than yesterday - impenetrable thick mist accompanied by driving rain as I headed south to Cruz de los Llanos. Within 10 minutes of leaving the car, however, heading towards Garanon, I burst through the clouds again. This time, unlike yesterday, that was that: the rest of the day (until the last five minutes) was characterised by the most glorious imaginable weather: no wind, no cloud, no humidity, no haze, temperatures in the high teens to low 20s. From Garanon, I headed west and soon Roque Nublo came into view - a truly extraordinary feature of the landscape, a huge free standing rock monolith visible from the entire island and never less than sheer. It is a compelling objective although without a partner there was no change of getting to the actual top (and I suspect the easiest route would still be quite hard). To get there, superbly enjoyable paths, taken at a relaxed jog, led west past a reservoir to La Goleta. Fabulous views north with cloud spilling into the valleys. From La Goleta, a change of tone as dozens of tourists trekked up to Nublo. I did too, and it just gets more extraordinary until you are between the two towers. El Fraile, a free-standing pinnacle, is pretty remarkable too. They stand like plinths on top of a vast area of bare rock: it put me in mind slightly of Arches in Utah, but there are few real comparisons. I now had views north and west, and extended the day by heading south-west towards an obvious peak, Aserrador, which looked untravelled and interesting. It was, and it was actually fairly easy to leave the path and plot a satisfying route up an open dusty gully to a long, broad ridge leading to an obvious summit. Obviously rarely climbed, I had it to myself. Views down the baked western valleys were stunning, with Roque Bentayga (sacred to the indigenous Guanches) surpassed only by mighty Teide, clearly visible on Tenerife across miles of Atlantic Ocean. It was rather awkward to regain the marked path down to Hoya Vieja and I then stupidly lost it lower down, taking two daft and tiring detours before finally getting back on track and reaching the GC60. I ran east to Ayacata and had a drink at the cyclists cafe, girding my loins for a fairly brutal, relentless 500m climb back up to La Goleta. From here I retraced my steps, popping back into cold mist five minutes before reaching the car! Just a few miles away, I stopped for lunch at Cruz de Tejeda, peering out of the cafe at constant rain and mist, sitting in my coat in an unheated room while I ate my pork, aioli and chips.

Nieves-Campanario

Peaks: Pico de las Nieves (1949m), El Campanario (1926m)

Area: Gran Canaria

I was expecting some dramatic climatic contrasts on Gran Canaria (having been caught in a blizzard in Tenerife three years ago immediately after a sun-drenched morning run) but I was still taken aback by the suddenness of the change this morning, my first on the island. Some drizzle last night and this morning in Santa Brigida, and rather cold as I had breakfast in San Matteo higher up. Even colder when I left the car at the Llanos de Ana Lopez, windy, drizzly and unpleasant - although the endemic canarian pines provided some shelter as I jogged up towards Cruz de los Llanos, a road crossing. From here, I just jogged up the metalled road east towards Redondo and then up to Pico de las Nieves (essentially the island's highpoint although its craggy neighbour is very slightly higher). The sheer reach of the road network is a little unfortunate, though was actually less intrusive than I was expecting. It does detract a little from the mountain ambience, however, as does the geodesic military installation on Nieves, similar to Puig Major on Mallorca. Unlike that mountain, however, at least you can get to the top of this one and, whilst there, the cloud began to rip away in dramatic fashion. Initially, I could only see an obvious basalt peak across the valley and then a few more shapes through the mist. Then, as I headed away from the road on a superb sandy path heading west I just popped straight through the fog bank into perfect, startling clarity. I'd been wearing insulated coat, buff and trousers and instantly removed them. The entire range was suddenly flooded with light: blue skies ahead, a huge bank of mist behind. Even better, the peak I'd seen was clearly doable from the marked trail. A few minutes running and I ploughed upwards through the pines, gaining a vague path up a broad ridge. This twisted and turned up to a rocky summit with some short scrambly walls. A groove gained a pronounced summit raised above the cloud banks. It was a stunning place to be. The peak turned out to be El Campanario, far more interesting than Nieves, which I now looked across to (and was still draped in mist). Views down to the east coast began to open out, although I remained only just above the cloud bank and it was obvious I would soon plunge back into it. So I left Roque Nublo for tomorrow and just enjoyed the wonderful running down to the Degollada de los Hornos, a five way path junction. Descending to Llanos de la Pez, I popped back into the dank, cold fog. Extraordinary. I retraced my steps down to Ana Lopez and then drove to San Matteo for a bocadillo, coffee and cake. Replenished, I drove down to Pico Bandama, much lower and not far from my accommodation in Santa Brigida. This was superb, and I did the 5k run round the extinct volcanic caldera, wonderful paths along the lip, and another leading to the bottom of the caldera itself.

Nick Beer 10k

Race: Nick Beer 10k

Time/Position: 38.02 (24th from 554 [3rd V50])

Slowest time at this race since the first time I did it, which was on its 10th anniversary 20 years ago! This was disappointing, and can only be partially explained by tricky conditions including a fierce southerly headwind just at the point you can normally start to relax down to the West Shore. That wind was a help initially, and I went quite well up to the final climb, which is always very tough (the race has a good 600ft of climbing, so will never be especially fast). I was making up some ground on a group ahead, but then lost time on the descent before recovering a little for the run-in up Church Walks and down the Prom. 

Tryfan to Gallt yr Ogof

Peaks: Tryfan, Foel Goch, Gallt yr Ogof

Area: Glyderau, Eryri

Not far off 100 ascents of Tryfan stretching back to 1988, yet I have never before done the 'direct' route which hugs the steep slopes below the west face before taking the first gully to the summit. I had always felt that my favourite Little/North gully scrambling combination up the East Face was the quickest way from A5 to summit, but that is not the case. I had 90 minutes at my disposal this morning, an early start before 9am from Ogwen, so ploughed straight up the direct. It is relentless, of course, steep from the outset with no real let-up (unlike the North Ridge). I reminisced about the West Face climbs I've done over the years (always Tryfan's unpopular side) to take my mind off the steepness, then the mist descended for the scrambly section up the first shallow gully. The rock was wet in the drizzle, which slowed progress, annoyingly, but I really enjoyed the scrambling, as ever, and touched Adam and Eve in exactly 35 minutes after leaving the A5 (34.15 for the strava segment). I think I would have been surprised back on my first youthful ascent of Tryfan in 1988 if I'd been told I'd get up the mountain in 34 minutes aged 51. The North Ridge and East Face routes both take me at least 45 minutes if I'm moving very quickly, so this is definitely a 'Tryfan pb' for me (6th on the all-time leaderboard). The mist began to clear on the descent of the South Ridge to the bwlch, and I still had some spare time before work commitments, so took the contouring path across to Bwlch Caseg Fraith. Boggy as usual, but I ploughed up Foel Goch in less than five minutes from the lake, the continued along to Gallt yr Ogof in improving weather: all brilliant. From the summit, it is a direct descent (done before) down the obscure horribly tussocky valley to Gwern Gof Isaf. Another shower for the run along the miners track back to my car in just over 90 minutes for the round.

Oswestry XC

Race: Oswestry XC (North Wales XC league, race 3)

Time/Position: 36.16 (23rd from 111 [1st V50])

The first time I've ever finished first in my category in the league proper, after a fair few fixtures over many years. It is always very competitive, although it was admittedly slightly less so today, with a smaller field than usual. Classic cross-country conditions though, wind and rain throughout, and I have always felt that this course around the hilly grounds of the Marches school is one of the harder league fixtures with two thigh-deep bogs, a stream and a steep climb on both laps. From the first few metres onwards, an epic battle between fellow V50 Dave from West Cheshire and myself ensued: nip and tuck the whole way until I just managed to pull away after the last climb up from the bottom field. Slightly shorter than previous years I think, which explains the quicker time.