Thu 22 Oct 2020

After sitting on my bum all day I was looking forward to an evening trail run! However, on the drive to the Sidlaws my enthusiasm waned somewhat – rain was pouring from the sky and ex-rain was pouring from the fields on to the road creating huge lakes to drive through. Not promising for the hills. Not that I could see the hills, the fog was so thick. My route was blocked by roadworks, so I feared my diversion would get me there too late and I would miss the run, secretly I hoped that would be the case. But on arrival Iain, Paul and Lu were there, drat. But then I realised I’d forgotten my headtorch. Phew, the best excuse not to run. But of course Iain had a spare…! So we set off up the hill, with a bit of comedy route finding resulting very shortly in a full soaking of the shoes. Going anti-clockwise this time we soon came across the wee stream crossing, which sounded like a raging torrent, but luckily was still crossable. Was there an actual path up Craigowl? I’m not sure, it seemed almost-vertical mud. But soon enough we reached the summit. Very spooky, the red warning lights on the antennae hardly pierced the thick fog at all. Descending the path was an adventure, slipping and sliding (and falling over) in the mud. Headtorches were either too dim to be of any use, or the brightness reflected in the fog, so equally useless. The best plan seemed to be to aim to run through the water, at least its reflection was visible and you knew it wasn’t mud or a hidden rock. An enjoyable run over Balkello and up onto Auchterhouse hill fort. Everyone arrived at the summit having enjoyed it so far. The descent was new to me, down the side of the hill and then a few km of running through a river of mud. And so it turned out to be the most fun you can have on a wet Thursday evening 🙂

• Report by Andrew, accompanied by Lu, Iain, Paul