Beanie’s Birthday Bash – Part Two

Posted on October 19, 2011 by Susan

On day two we headed out towards Ardnamurchan to enjoy some coastal routes.

In the morning we walked to an abandoned crofting village called Simirisary and then on over the hills to a beautiful white beach looking across to Eilean Coille and other small islands.

Our hearts sank when we got our first view of the village and the flock of sheep happily grazing amongst the old buildings. Fat chance of ‘Brother Biggles’ sticking to his vow of silence. Actually, we’d have been fine if those darn sheep had just stood still. But they bolted and our Beagles went ballistic! Biggles was so outraged he kept his woofer turned to eleven for the rest of the day.

The road-less village has long since been abandoned but many of the ruined cottages have been restored for use as holiday cottages.

The path from the village to the beach is really quite dramatic – it takes you through bogs, across streams and along a cliff edge before descending to a lovely secluded beach. The only other way to get to the beach is by boat.

Beanie and Biggles explored every nook and cranny of the beach:

Searched for crabs in the rock pools:

And STILL the recently ex-communicated Brother Biggles was mouthing off about those sheep:

After lunch we set off on a 10k run to another secluded beach. This time the route itself wasn’t as spectacular – a little section beside a loch then along a bog standard forest track. It did however take us into an area known to contain unexploded WWII munitions; we passed a couple of big red warning signs cautioning us not to disturb any metal objects we might find. Beanie & Biggles of course couldn’t read the signs but that was just as well, because telling a Beagle not to do something is a sure way of getting them to do it as an act of defiance.

Against all odds we made it to the beach without getting blown up. The beach is called ‘Singing Sands’ due to the low frequency sound that is generated when you shuffle your feet along the beach. Even on a dull day it has the feel of a tropical island. Beautiful white sand, lovely blue-green sea and white frothy waves crashing on the beach.

Here’s a short video clip of the run. We actually look more ‘spritely’ than we felt in this video. The previous day’s hill climb had really taken it’s toll on our poor old legs!

Coire Ardair

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Paul

Last week we returned to Glencoe for a canicross get-together. We got there a day before the others – the only dry, sunny day of the whole trip as it turned out – and did the “Coire Ardair” walk. This is actually about an hour from Glencoe, but it’s an easy drive, and with a rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars on our favorite walking site we figured it would be worth the the extra mileage. It certainly was!

It’s a there-and-back 12km route and its showpiece – Lochan a’Choire – comes right at the turning point. The walk up to that point is truly glorious. The path winds and undulates through beautiful scenery and if Biggles’ Geiger-counter sniffing is any indication, every inch of it is lined with the most incredible smells.

As you approach the cliffs the anticipation of that first sighting of the loch builds. It’s as though the path makers deliberately set out to tease walkers, because you hit ten or more blind corners and rises in that final kilometre, each one promising to be the last.

Beanie & Biggles strain towards the next corner..

We turn it to find yet another up ahead…

These steps are a tease too – believe it or not the lochan still isn’t visible from the top!

Could this finally be the last one?

Yep! And what a view..

A couple of minutes after we arrived at the lochside the sun did a vanishing act, the wind picked up and it grew very cold, so we didn’t hang around for long..

Biggles wants to explore the great sniffs further, but Beanie’s feeling the cold. Time to head back.

As soon as we got a kilometre or so from the cliffs things warmed up again – it’s as though the immediate area around the loch has its own private microclimate. The way back was just as enjoyable as the way in, and as our pace picked up Beanie took to bounding through the heather at the side of the path. I’d rate the walk as the best I’ve had so far, and it would make a great route for a there-and-back run too – something to do the next time we’re up around Fort William.

Running up that hill

Posted on September 7, 2011 by Paul

Beanie & Biggles love hills and we love running, and we’ve been trying to combine the two. Our first attempt – a couple of weeks ago – was Kaim Hill in North Ayrshire. It seemed like a good choice on the surface; it’s the venue for a popular annual race and by all accounts is a good laugh to do. Unfortunately our experience was a little different. In the asbence of any obvious path we chose our own route up (never a good thing!) and soon discovered that the “hill” was really a heather-covered, insect-infested bog. We ended up walking more than we ran and I counted myself lucky to make it back to the car with both shoes still on my feet.

So, with the need to run up a hill still unsatisfied, we tried Dumgoyne (one of the Campsie Fells) on Sunday. This time there were no bogs or swarms of insects, but there was a well-worn path leading right to the top. In fact there were two paths, and that was the problem. One of the paths takes a winding approach to the summit, whereas the other one takes a very direct route straight up. Guess which one we chose?

One of the descriptions of the run I’d seen mentioned that at the steepest points we may have to drop from a run to a brisk walk, but on the route we took, I ended up crawling on all fours with two sniffy beagles merrily tying me up with their leads.

Still, we did eventually make it to the top and got to enjoy some great views despite the hill’s modest height.

We got to do a lot more running on the way down when the alternative, much gentler and winding route revealed itself. Beanie and Biggles – who had pulled very little on the way up – now decided to coordinate their efforts in an attempt to get me arse-surfing my way down the hill. First there was a united all-out tug-fest to get me going faster than I wanted, then Biggles abruptly switched into sprint-stop-sprint mode while Beanie did her best to get under my feet. Somehow I managed to stay upright, but when we reached the final style they got me with the old “straight under the fence” routine.

Why is it that Beagles never have a reverse gear when you need it?

All in all it was a great work out and Beanie and Biggles loved it. I’ve a feeling we’ll be doing it again soon, and now that we know about the gentler path, we should be able to keep running more of the way up next time!