Beinn Chabhair

Peaks: Beinn Chabhair (933m)

Area: Loch Lomond, Scotland

As an innocuous little hill above Loch Lomond that I had never done, this seemed an ideal way to kick off my Highlands trip, particularly as I was still depleted after Manchester. The usual routine: 6am start, breakfast in Lancaster, lunch at Firkin Point, Loch Lomond. However, I either underestimated the hill or was still tired after Manchester (or, more likely, a combination of the two). I parked at Inverarnen in Glen Falloch at the top of Loch Lomond and walked through the campsite to the surprisingly obscure sidepath that leads off from the West Highland Way. This is very steep initially, although I felt OK up to an easing through a stream valley, Beinglas falls and woodland with views across to the Arrochar Alps. It was a beautiful afternoon: warm and sunny. The second part of the route is gentler but very boggy even after a dry spell. It had a moorland feel, albeit with nice views of the summit ahead, which looked closer than it was due to the complexity of the route. It follows the route of the Ben Glas burn up to Lochan Beinn Chabhair in a nice position below the peak. The route then turns left up a steep stream valley and then becomes quite tortuous, surprisingly so, and similar in character to the Arrochar Alps across the valley - lots of craggy humps and hollows with the path twisting between them. Nice sunlit views across to An Caisteal and other southern mountains. Finally, after numerous false summits, the route kinks south towards Loch Lomond and a short pleasant ridge leads to the summit. Lovely views of the Southern Highlands with fluffy clouds above and a nice sense of anticipation at the start of another Highlands trip. This all took far longer than I expected though, and I definitely felt the marathon in my legs - and this continued on the descent. I had a bath in the River Falloch and then retired for seafood chowder in Tyndrum before parking up at a favourite nook in Dalrigh.

Manchester Marathon

Race: Manchester Marathon

Time/Position: 3.07.19 (1281 from 24,000)

I last did Manchester in 2013, when the course had been wrongly measured and all the results were declared null and void. This was a shame, as it was a PB for me at the time - it took me until 2021 to get back to that level with my first post-Covid London. The idea today was to get my London qualifying time back: even though I've done London 12 times I still feel I'm missing out when I don't do it. As usual, I hadn't done enough long runs on tarmac at race pace, and this year that was combined with a general lack of racing. In particular, I would usually have a fast half marathon in my legs. That was all missing, but it still went well on the long haul out from Old Trafford through Sale (where we had parked) to Altrincham. I went through half in 1.29, feeling reasonable although not brilliant. It was too warm, and the heat was starting to build on the mild hills around Altrincham and Timperley: unbroken sunshine throughout. I vaguely remembered bits of this southern suburban section from 2013, although the course was generally pretty different. At the 16 mile mark I began to slow, and at 30k I started to implode in classic fashion. I then just went from gel to gel, losing energy pretty rapidly when they worked their way through the system. I had a couple of really grim patches, worse than I have experienced for years, and obviously lost a lot of time as a result. But I just about held it together to get to the last 5k, which I jogged in, upping the pace for the final section along Denmark Road and up Oxford Road to the University, which made a brilliant finish for obvious personal reasons.

Tryfan

Peaks: Tryfan

Area: Glyderau, Eryri

A very quick morning jaunt up one of my favourite scrambles, the Little/North gully combination on Tryfan's East Face. Given the modern popularity of the North Ridge, this route has become even more valuable as a way of avoiding the hordes, even though I've been doing it for decades. Took a direct line up to the Heather Terrace, then the usual boulder hopping along the terrace to the start of Little Gully. This is always very enjoyable, a romp on huge holds enlivened today by a raven cronking at me constantly from just a metre or two away, presumably nesting nearby (they nest early). Up into the wide top section of North Gully, then curving upwards the finally gain the tricky slab that leads to the summit from this side. Saw nobody until the top, and even then only two or three. Nice weather, hazy sunshine with a little cloud building. Then it was down the western gully, then taking the new steps which leads pretty comfortably in a long sweeping (but gentle) line back to Ogwen. Around 1.15 for the sub-5k loop.

Zarnesti Gorge

Even deeper into the heart of Transylvania, via the tiny branch line that allows Zarnesti to be reached from Brasov. Zarnesti is the end of the line, but also the start of the high mountain ridge of the Piatra Crailului. I emerged from the train into subzero conditions and a freezing wind: the forested high ridge caked in snow with all the trees draped in white. My guesthouse was just a room in a house and it was right at the far end of the fairly sizeable village/town (because it housed a secret weapons plant in the Communist era). After a quick chat with the owner, I settled in to the front bedroom and pondered my options. The high ridge looked unfeasible, partly for weather reasons and partly because I was conscious of the high bear population, by far the highest in Europe! Solo, at this time of year, it seemed wise to take precautions despite the extremely unlikely scenario (and in many ways I would have loved to have seen one). I also thought about running to Bran castle, which was entirely feasible. But in the end, the location of the house very close to the entrance of the Piatra Crailului National Park swung it, and I set off in a heavy snow flurry up a little road leading towards a valley splitting the high main ridge on the right, and a range of lower hills left. It was very atmospheric, the epitome of what you might expect the Transylvanian mountains to look and feel like. Native woodland on all sides, wild silence, icy blasts from the high peaks. The road became a track and it became quite eerie in the heavy snow for a short while, although higher up two or three cars were parked. Looking at the park map, I wasn't too far from Zarnesti gorge so after poking around a bit higher up I decided and out-and-back would be a sensible objective, so did this, through deep dark woods to the entrance to the gorge - a thin but decent covering of snow throughout, which continued a I rounded the corner in to the tight limestone walls of the gorge. This twisted and turned and was pretty wonderful, with wild mountain sides higher up and dark threatening skies above: memorable. I had walked up to this point, but ran all the way back down (between 5 and 6k back to the village) as the snow stopped and a tiny hint of sunshine peeked through. The rest of the trip was more urban and 'train based', up to Sighisoara via Brasov, and then back to Bucharest on the slow train from Vienna.

Tampa

Peaks: Tampa (960m)

Area: Brasov, Romania

A classic urban mountain, Tampa provides a lovely backdrop to the beautiful centre of Brasov and made a perfect mini objective this afternoon. The weather did indeed worsen overnight, with a snowy but highly atmospheric train journey over the Predeal Pass into Brasov and Transylvania proper. Brasov is lower, so there was no snow, but after checking into my room, lots of flurries and absolutely bitter windchill characterised the rest of the day. A running approach seemed sensible, so I waited for a heavy snow flurry to clear then set off in sunshine through the lovely centre towards the set of steps that lead to the 'serpentine', a zigzag path giving walkers access to the summit. This was perfect, suiting a fast approach, and I reached the top in 21 minutes (the Strava segment anyway). I then went east towards the giant Romanian flag, which was awkward to reach and obviously not encouraged. It wasn't the summit anyway, so I headed there next via a viewpoint above the Hollywood style Brasov sign that dominates the city. The main summit is just above, and from here there are great views towards the mountains around Poiana Brasov (Varna for example) bringing back memories of that insanely adventurous 1986 skiing trip! Bitterly cold, with more snow flurries, and it took some time for me to find the descent (I wanted to go down a different way to keep it interesting). But when I did it was superb. The beautiful valley framed by Racadau was in front, but I dropped down the Valea Boului through lovely pine woods. A short contouring section, fast running, and then it was back into the Brasov streets where I extended the run as I was in road shoes, down the quiet Strada Fagetului which my guesthouse was on. Refuelled on magnificant Mititei and fried potatoes at the atmospheric La Ceaun as the snow fell outside.

Sinaia hills

Peaks: Furnica (2103m), Piatra Arsa (2044m), Pintenui Pietrei Arse (1962m), Jepii Mari (2071m), Varful cu Dor (2030m) 

Area: Sinaia, Romania

A trip to Romania during an unseasonably cold snap, unluckily coinciding with perfect British springtime weather. So not the best timing, but after two nights in Bucharest I got the train to Sinaia, which is not formally part of Transylvania, but marks the start of the mountains that encircle it. Looking at the forecast, time was of the essence, as this Saturday looked like the last window of any kind before it got really bad. So the hour long delay at the Gara de Nord, sitting on the train after it arrived from Constanta, was annoying. Still, we made it in to Sinaia around midday, mountains looming all around but particularly impressive to the west. Then came another time delay, as my hotel was well outside the town, so it took a while to ditch my luggage and head back to town - at least 6 or 7k. However, a huge bonus as I realised the cable car was running, very early in the season and presumably because it was a weekend and the last feasible day before the weather changed. So I didn't look a gift horse in the mouth, and took the gondola up the middle station, then the spectacular top cable to Cabana 2000 just below the summit of Furnica. There was a fair bit of snow around, with more threatening, but it looked like showers rather than anything more serious. So I plodded up to Furnica to decide what to do, and what looked feasible. The highest peaks around the much higher Omu, above 2500m, were obviously out, totally plastered in very deep snow and with low cloud covering the plateau. I was only in trail running shoes so hatched a plan based on judgment and experience. I descended the steep slopes north of Furnica, a tiring combination of neve, soft snow and scree. At the bottom, a rolling plateau stretches out so I plodded up to the named peak of Piatra Arsa where I took stock again. To the west, what I took to be the Fagaras range looked wild and wonderful, with black clouds threatening. My route now seemed obvious, so I negotiated a large snowfield, tiring with the occasional soft bit, down to the little conglomerate pinnacle that turned out to be the Pintenui, a mini scramble and a superb viewpoint down hidden valleys like Pelesului right down to my hotel. From here, another snowfield down to a col, and then a lovely narrow path leading through juniper copses high above the Sinaia valley to Jepii Mari. I then more or less retraced my steps but took a direct line across to Furnica, much further east above the valley. The weather was very changeable throughout, and very cold, but nothing compared to what was to come so I extended the day towards the appealing peak of Varful cu Dor further south along the Drum de Vara. This was lovely, albeit marred by ski developments. A steep scramble to the top, for superb views down to Vanturis to the south, pristine forested valleys everywhere, and a galaxy of peaks to the west. Snow showers created spectacular effects as they tracked across the landscape. A wonderful place to sit for a while, but I was getting hungry so it was back to Furnica for the cable car down, where I stopped at the middle station for a magnificent ham and cascaval pancake, made in front of me at a outdoor stall, plus a Timisoreana beer, before getting one of the last gondolas back to Sinaia. 

Glyder Fach direct

Peaks: Glyder Fach

Area: Glyderau, Eryri

Time pressed, which was a bit of a shame as a chilly easterly gave rise to superb clarity of light this morning. I had a yen to revisit the main cliff of Glyder Fach, never the best choice in the morning as it is sunless and slightly grim as you approach through Cwm Bochlwyd. But I set a decent pace and was at the Alphabet Slab in 40 minutes or so. Quite some time since I was last here, although it was once a regular haunt and I have done a lot of the classic climbs here. Nothing like that today, as I scrambled up the side of the slab then took the surprisingly narrow and delicate traverse along its top to sidle into East Gully above the hard section. It was pretty dry and gave pleasant scrambling through the narrow section until it opens out above a capstone. It has the virtue of directness and in fact this entire line is pleasingly direct from the car park - almost arrow straight to the true summit of Fach. Extraordinary clarity: the Isle of Man perfectly clear directly above Nant Francon and Anglesey. The Wicklow Hills, Plynlimon and every Eryri peak all visible - every line and crevice clearly visible. The classic view of the Snowdon group above Castell y Gwynt was most notable, and I traversed the latter before dropping down the Gribin back to the car 90 minutes after starting.