Back Up the little Ben

Ben Ledi to Ben Vorlich

Loch Venachar

It is over a year since I last climbed Ben Gullipen, which is when my hip found it too steep and difficult. It is a lung-bursting ascent for the first kilometre, and I have been warned by physios not to attempt too much since my new hip operation, although I have had a few longer walks with less steep ascents and made a couple of walks up the slightly less steep Lime Craig. 

The bad weather, supporting Gregor on his Big Run and now the World Cup have provided a good excuse to avoid a hill that is only ten minutes away and could be done, up and down, in 45 minutes in the past. Today it took 47 minutes to reach the summit. I did have a chat to a man on an electric Mountain Bike on my way up; he urged me to get one.

I ran part of the way down until I met a local Councillor and her partner and stopped for ten minutes for a blether. The actual descent took 23 minutes compared to a PB of 13 minutes. I was still pleased and celebrated with a Corncrake Beer from Orkney. The Netherlands 5-1 defeat of  Sweden in the World Cup was an easy watch on the couch after some exercise. The weather is to be fine for the next three days, so I will try to get back into the habit of a pre-breakfast walk up the hill. (I did and was out by 7:30am the next day on a perfect summer morning. I managed to get the ascent time down to 41 minutes by taking no rests, but it took 25 minutes for the descent despite running several sections. My legs and lungs still have to get used to running again. I am good with the couch, but the 5k jaunt up Ben Gullipen will need some patience.

The outing convinced me that I should buy a new bike. I have a 1970s steel-framed road bike, a 30-year-old Cannondale road bike that has had little use since I was running 3 or 4 times a week until 18 months ago and a 25-year-old heavy Mountain Bike that I have used for getting into the more remote hills on mountain tracks. None of them suits my current need, which is for cycling on forest trails as an alternative exercise to running. I am tempted to buy a gravel bike, but the local shop thinks a lightweight Mountain Bike might be more useful. Several friends have suggested an e-bike might be better at my age! Time to make a decision.

The early morning view of Ben Ledi