Boxing Day Recovery Run

Boxing Day pre-breakfast bash on the summit

I have been a less regular participant at the weekly meet of the local running group this year but managed the Boxing Day bash up Lime Craig before breakfast. Our resident Met Office weatherman, Colin, had advised of the best window for the run between the frequent festive storms which were generously laced with heavy rain and winds. He called it right and we were becalmed on the summit for what was my 180th ascent of the hill.

I had taken a flask of gluhwein and this was drunk more out of politeness than any desire or need to warm up, it was another of those feverishly warm wet days that have smothered us in December. Despite managing my best year of running since 1993, with 1300 miles clocked so far, I was slower than I hoped up the direct steep path, it may have been the flask of gluhwein, but then I am the old-timer in the group. The women are still in their late thirties and the men mainly in their fifties. We took the longer scenic route down the zig-zags which loosened me up for breakfast.

On arriving home there was an ambulance at the house, my 92-year-old mother-in-law, who was staying with us over the Christmas/ New Year holiday, had been very ill on awakening whilst I was out. The Doctor had been called and he immediately requested an ambulance. She had not been able to partake in Christmas dinner and had retired to bed in the afternoon. The house was empty in the afternoon. Aileen was at the hospital, Gregor had returned to his flat in Glasgow, Amy was on a ski holiday in the Alps and Eva had gone to her husband's mother's house for Christmas. It felt like the end of family Christmas as we had known it.

Sunday Ritual; remembering Ellie

Duke's Pass campsite of 1961

One of my rituals most weeks in recent years has been to drive over the Duke's pass on Sunday to collect Ellie, my 92 year old mother in law, and bring her over for lunch. It is a pleasure on days like this when the traffic and even the cyclists have hibernated for the winter and the bright noon sunshine brings out the late autumn colours. Today brought back childhood memories as I drove over the Duke's pass that I first visited on a family holiday in 1961 when we camped above Aberfoyle to split the 2 day journey home from Lovett Bridge at Beauly after a fortnight's tour of the north of Scotland.

I took some time out from the usual trip today and stopped by Loch Venachar. I walked along the shore mesmerised by the clarity of the views and the shadows cast by the oak and birch woodlands that stretch down to the Loch. When I picked up Ellie, she was elegantly dressed and greeted me as always with a hug. Our usual easy chat was put on hold as we absorbed the views and landscapes that changed with every twist and turn of the journey.  Despite having made this journey with Ellie on hundreds of occasions, today seemed very special. We were at one with each other and with the stunning scenery that made the journey memorable.

Postscript: And so it was, it turned out to be the last time we travelled over the Duke's Pass. We made another trip in December on the longer route through Callander, she thought the Duke's pass would be too dangerous in the icy conditions. But after two spells in hospital immediately after Christmas Ellie died peacefully in hospital on 11 January 2014.

Loch Venachar

View of Ben Venue

Oak woodlands

Winter water

Winter Noon December

Foothills of Ben Ledi