Chasing best times

Loch Venachar, Stuc a' Chroin and Ben Vorlich from Ben Gullipen

Over the summer I have made Ben Gullipen my regular morning exercise, the views from the summit are terrific on clear mornings. I pace walk up the 254-metre climb, running the less steep sections, admire the view and catch my breath before running down the steep and twisty track. It has been a few years since I have been chasing personal best (PB) times but old habits die hard. 

Today, I managed a new PB on the 2.5-kilometre ascent, 26:25, beating three previous PBS achieved in August. Unless I can force myself to run the whole route, which would be difficult with several sections of gradient of more than 20%, I am not sure that this will be possible. It was more surprising because I had carried my phone that was bouncing about in the pocket of my flimsy wind top to take photos on the first clear morning for a long time. I had broken my descent time earlier in the week, 12:34, but could not match it today.

Loch Venachar and Ben Ledi

Looking north with Ben Ledi and Beinn Each

Menteith Hills, Lochan Balloch and Ben Lomond

The Campsies and Lake of Menteith 

 

Busy August

Loch Lomond and Luss Hills

It's been a busy two weeks with family and friends visiting for the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Cycling World Championships and the Edinburgh Festival. I've provided 17 bed nights for family and spent 9 days out and about with visitors over the past fortnight. It was good to have company and to be involved in jaunts to different places, although I had to forego my morning exercise most days. The summer weather has not been kind but there have been only a few times that I have been caught out in the frequent August showers. I cannot recollect a full-on sunny day since June and this was the very conversation raised by my friend whom I met on the summit of Lime Craig yesterday morning. 

After the cycling events, it was an opportunity to explore some local attractions with family and grandchildren. Although I have lived in the area for 35 years and visited most places on numerous occasions, I had never been to the Loch Lomond island of Inchcailloch which is a mere 4 minutes by ferry from Balmaha. Balmaha is always buzzing with the West Highland Way walkers and the Oak Tree Inn adjacent to the public car park has become a busy and well-run restaurant that has introduced all the latest technology as it feeds the multitudes who are passing through. After lunch, we sauntered along to the nearby jetty and caught the oldfangled wooden boat to the nearby Inchcailloch island, one of Loch Lomond's 22 islands. It was the usual mixture of Europeans, British Asians and British retired couples. The Scottish children were already back at school and families from other parts of the UK seem to have forsaken staycationing this year. We walked across the island to the beach, climbed the hill and visited the graveyard on a windy afternoon before returning to Gregor's new house for an evening meal.

The next day the family left and I had a long-standing lunch with old work colleagues in Glasgow and then returned home and put my feet up as I watched the World Athletic Championships from Budapest. It felt like a transition point. I needed to be more focused on making a new life for myself. My initial efforts over three days have been varied; three early morning runs, making another batch of blackcurrant jam, buying grout to repair the rear patio, writing emails to old colleagues and friends and beginning to write up the story of Aileen's illness that started exactly a year ago today when I called for an ambulance. I have not so far had the mental fortitude to start making sense of what has been the most traumatic period of my life. Let's see how this goes.

Inchcailloch ferry, Loch Lomond

Inchcailloch - Port Bawn beach

Inchcailloch summit - 85 metres

Inchcailloch

Conic Hill from Inchcailloch

Feet up time

World Cycling Championships

Women's Elite Last Lap, Park Circus

The World Cycling Championships were in Scotland. All types of cycling were on display, from Road Racing to BMX freestyle to Mountain Biking and incorporating Para-Cycling on both the track and road. The events were spread out from Fort William to Peebles to Dumfries with the Time Trails in Stirling, Road Races across Central Scotland. Track Cycling at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome and BMX events in Glasgow. It was a chance to sample how cycling has escalated from a humble mode of transport in towns and cities to a staple ingredient of sport, leisure activities and healthy lifestyles. It was the first time all the disciplines had come together with 200 world champion Rainbow Jerseys to be won. The success was measured by over half a million people turning out to watch the events and by the excellent comprehensive coverage by the BBC.

First up was the velodrome and the chance to catch up with an old school friend I used to ride to school with on his Dad's tandem. Para-Cycling had been integrated into the World Championships and there were several tandem events with the para-cyclists piloted by experienced ex-professional cyclists who were usually more powerful than the lighter competitor seated behind. The speed of the tandems on the track was very impressive and, surprisingly, we saw no accidents. The velodrome was full and apart from the lengthy queue to enter the velodrome and the noisy diesel generators in the team trucks parked alongside, the whole event was superbly managed with events taking place with a minimum of delay despite the need for setting the bikes onto timing devices at the start.

I watched the Women's Time Trial in Stirling where the ascent of the cobbled streets to the Castle was the straw that broke the majority of cyclists. I watched the American rider, Chloe Dygert, ride so much more smoothly than the other riders in the early starts and she held on to win against the most of the favourites who were scheduled to start at the end of the field. The number of vehicles and motorbikes following each rider made a mockery of the notion that cycling is a sustainable sport. The Police must have had over 50 motorcyclists and each rider had a support car, usually a SUV and another motorcyclist accompanying them. 

Crowds were not allowed onto the Castle esplanade to watch the medal ceremony despite the PA announcer urging us to go along. Hundreds of supporters had attended from most European countries and they were disappointed that the UCI had restricted access to stewards and cyclists. It was a bad mistake, the last time we had an event like this was the first stage of the Prutour of Britain in 1998 won by Chris Boardman when the large esplanade was open to the public. We complained and the head steward seemed to agree with the sentiment of the irate crowd. 

My old school friend, together with his son who is an ex-professional cyclist, who runs a cycling business in France, and his two sons visited for the Men's Time Trial that passed through the village. There had been lots of locals moaning about the road closures and the fact that the roads had been resurfaced for the cyclists but there was a good turnout of several hundred. Watching Geraint Thomas, Tadej Pogacar, Filippo Ganna, Remco Evenepoel and Wout Van Aert hurtle through the village at twice the speed limit was spectacular. Van Aert had spent a few days in the area and shattered most of the Strava segments and will have put crowns out of reach for local cyclists for all time.

The road races passed through the Stirling area so there were good opportunities to watch the men's elite, the men's under 23 and women's elite races. I set off on my road bike to watch the first of these but had to return home with a puncture and thought I had insufficient time to get back to see the race near Fintry. I could have made it as the Stop Oil demonstrators had stopped the race for an hour by glueing themselves to the freshly resurfaced narrow road. On consecutive days I watched the Men's Under 23 and Women's Elite Race pass through Balfron on the country section of these races which finished after crossing the Campsiers with a criterium of 7 laps in Glasgow.  

We drove from Balfron to Glasgow to watch the elite women make 7 terrifying 14-kilometre laps of Glasgow's hills and potholes with 48 sharp bends and no respite. We enjoyed some wonderful viewing points in and around the West End and visited the University Quadrangle and Cloisters whilst dodging between Gibson Street, Kelvin Way, Great George Street, University Avenue and Park Circus to see the leading group. I took myself to stand opposite Aileen's old flat on Great George Street where we had spent time when we first met. We saw crashes on the Kelvin Way, speeds of 60kph on the descent to Gibson Street and hairpin pinch points on the ascent to Park Circus which explained why there were so few finishers from over 200 starters. Lotte Kopecky of Belgium won the race after breaking free on the last lap and leaving some stellar names in her slipstream. 

The caravan of backup vehicles and motorcycles was even more disturbing than during the time trials. They were bunched together and flying around bends and down hills at speeds that defied any definition of safe driving. We saw Anna Henderson crash at the bend on Kelvin Way when she was a contender in the leading group. We were standing next to the crash and watched the delays in getting her a new wheel and then a new bike with a mechanic running back and forth to the team car which was 8 or 9 vehicles behind. It convinced me that the caravan of chasing vehicles simply delays recovery from punctures or crashes and severely hinders the unfortunate riders. We had a jam of twenty or thirty support cars for the wealthier teams that were a barrier to the second group of cyclists. Anna Henderson lost at least three minutes and had no chance to rejoin the leading group.  Cyclists from less developed nations have no team cars and have to rely on a motorbike that carries 4 or 5 spare wheels. This causes little disturbance to the race if there is an accident in a criterium race. In this respect cycling is like rowing, sailing, and equestrian events, it discriminates against competitors from less developed nations who do not have the resources to have the same level of technical or individual support.

By Sunday evening we were all pedalled out and watched the edited highlights of the race. There had been some great filming of locations. The countryside of Stirling looked good and the Glasgow 14-kilometre circuit gave a flattering vision of Glasgow's scenic buildings and parks. More important were the crowds who were noisily appreciative. As a spectacle, it had worked well for the UCI and Scotland. 

Scratch Race in Velodrome

Para-cycling Tandem Pursuit race

Start of Scratch Race

Top 4 riders joust for position in the Men's Elite Race

Wout van Aert - Men's Time Trial, Thornhill

Tadej Pogacar- Men's Time Trial, Thornhill

Men's U23 Road Race, Balfron

Women's Elite Road Race, Balfron

Glasgow University

George Street Climb and Aileen's Flat

Women's Elite Road Race - the descent of Gibson Street

Beinn a' Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich

Beinn a' Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich

Wednesday, 9 August 2023

Ascent:         1203 metres

Distance:      16 kilometres

Time:            4 hours 20 minutes

Beinn a' Chochuill     980m.  1hr  58mins

Beinn Eunaich           989m.  2hrs 59mins 

After a wet July, an early August frequented by showers and a couple of trips away from home I needed some Mountain respite. Wednesday seemed the best option but the earlier promise of sunshine has been downgraded by the Met Office to a dry cloudy day. I switched my plan to climb the 4 Munros in the Ben Lui group to a shorter day on Beinn a' Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich, two hidden Munros east of Ben Cruachan. 

I was away by 7:30am and held in a convoy of vehicles on the A84 beyond Callander by a large articulated lorry that was fully loaded. I hustled my way past on the ascent of Glen Ogle and drove on to Dalmally after a fuel stop at Tyndrum and parked by Castles Farm on the B8077. There was one other car there, a couple from Munich climbing the Munros. I explained the route and suggested that they climb Beinn a' Chochuill first as the initial climb from the track to Beinn Eunaich is tortuous. They set off a few minutes after me as I began the 3-kilometre climb up a good track that eventually crosses a burn that descends from the bealach between the two hills. The track doubles back and a small cairn marks the start of a steep path that follows the apex of the south-east ridge of Beinn a' Chochuill. It was muddy in parts but a good direct route which was relentless. I made reasonable time to the ridge and there is then another mile with 180 metres of ascent over a pleasant ridge. I just managed to break the 2 hours that I had set as a schedule.

The weather had held with patchy cloud cover on Ben Cruachan. Some shepherds with a posse of sheepdogs and lots of shouting and whistling were collecting sheep further along the ridge. I had a short break and some food before returning eastwards along the ridge. The couple from Munich had stopped for a rest at the top of the steep path, they waved but were probably cursing me for suggesting the route. I decided not to drop down to speak to them and charged on, it is a 250-metre descent to the bealach. The consequence is a 250-metre climb up a shorter but steeper slope to the summit of Beinn Eunaich. I recalled meeting Gerry McPartlin here in 2010. This prompted me to think about the previous six ascents of these hills, something I often try to recall as I make what will probably be my last ascent of these hills. I have climbed them three times in each direction. The highlights were breaking 2 hours for the round in 1991 (1hr 55mins) on a training run with Keith Adams, my hill running partner. On another occasion, John, Mark and I did the two hills in 2005 along with the two Ben Cruachan Munros after bivvying above the dam the night before. We started very early the next morning and made it home for lunch

Wispy clouds had gathered on Beinn Eunaich where I finished any food in the rucksack before taking a leak and saying farewell to the hill. I then remembered I had said goodbye in the very same place on my last visit in 2018. I was with Alex and John and we had climbed the hills in the opposite direction on a late winter's day when there was still snow on the hills. I don't anticipate any further farewells, 7 visits to these hills seem more than enough.

The descent of Beinn Eunaich is an easy walk down grassy slopes for the first couple of kilometres before a steep twisting muddy path back to the track. This was why I told the couple from Munich to go the other way. It was probably worse descending than climbing this part of the path. I felt justified in my advice and hoped the couple felt the same. My feet had not enjoyed this part of the descent but reaching the track meant a couple of kilometres of easy walking back to the car. I was home by 3:30pm and out of curiosity checked my previous times. Almost exactly the same (4hrs 21mins) in 2010 when the conditions were similar and 5 hours 49 minutes in 2018 in wintry conditions. Perhaps I should be less pessimistic about the prospect of more years of hill walking than I have been contemplating recently.

The track towards Beinn a' Chochuill

Ben Cruachan from the slopes of Beinn a' Chochuill

Beinn Eunaich from the Beinn a' Chochuill ridge

Beinn a' Chochuill summit

The route up Beinn Eunaich

Beinn Eunaich summit cairn

Loch Awe from Beinn Eunaich descent

Route from Drishaig

The Descent of the UK

It has been a hard 15 years for the UK since the banking collapse of 2008 but the past five years have been the most disruptive. Brexit, Covid and Climate Change have been yoked with a government at war with itself as well as Europe, Russia, China, immigrants, its own citizens and UK businesses. The United States no longer regards the UK as its trusted supporter, nor does the United Nations or developing countries that have watched the UK slash its aid programmes and retreat into a state of selfish obfuscation.

We have been blessed by the guiding hand of three Prime Ministers who, with diverse personalities, have all managed to accelerate the decline without any remorse. Boris Johnson was so disengaged from the job that his knowledge of his government's actions and policies were unknown unknowns. Liz Truss was so unaware of her limitations that her unknown knowns led to a rapid dismissal. In both cases, these frailties in leadership were self-evident to most electors and well evidenced by journalists, civil servants, and academics. Sadly, the Tory party members and MPs, who were the electors in this dumbed-down democracy that we are so proud of, had no such acuity. 

Rishi Sunak is allegedly smarter and harder working than his predecessors as well as claiming integrity, professionalism and accountability as his leadership credentials. In which case his lack of concern about known known issues such as the cost of living, social injustice, climate change, air quality, the environment, tax havens, industrial relations and international aid tells us he will never sing along with common people. He is damaging the country and its reputation just as much as his shamed predecessors.

Barbie Unleashed

I had made a fleeting visit to London to do some childminding and to see my granddaughter perform in a theatre production of The Railway Children. The final Test match at the Oval was taking place, it was only 2 miles away and the scoreboard was fizzing along. Alas, my daughter had arranged tickets for the Ritzy cinema in Brixton. I was pleased to see that Oppenheimer was on but our tickets were for Barbie. Her sweet revenge, we had not let our daughters have Barbie dolls. What was wrong with proper dolls or teddies, climbing trees, card games, bikes, books, swimming, children's TV, walks and films? 

Barbie was promoted as the fount of happiness for girls when it was a marketing tool for fast fashion and encouraged sedentary activities. I had not registered what a success it had been in this respect. Perhaps Barbie is responsible for the exponential growth of beauty treatments, makeup, glossy magazines, TV reality programmes and fast-changing fashion trends during my lifetime. 

What I had not understood is that it was all the fault of men like Ken who obsessed over their Barbie look-alikes. I have always preferred natural, sparky, healthy-looking women without all the glitz and glam. Although I slept through parts of the film, I did enjoy some of the film makers self-mockery of the Barbie cult such as when the old-fashioned dolls were trashed. When Barbie states that “I’m not pretty anymore. I’m not ‘stereotypical Barbie’ pretty,” the narrator, Helen Mirren, observes “Note to the filmmakers: Margot Robbie is the wrong person to cast if you want to make this point.” I thought that Margot Robbie was natural, sparky and healthy looking. It was just all the Kens I couldn't stomach.

Not Ken