Hill Running: Harriers Get An Early Taste of Winter
February 16th, 2009Whilst some harriers decided to stay indoors and sit and watch others running at Kevinhall, a group of nine odd (no comment needed) runners set off from Yarrowford on 31st January up Minch Moor.
On one of the few milder days of the winter so far, and before the recent snows, we were a little surprised to find a slight frost on the ground at the car park. The climb from Yarrowford up across the Minch Moor to Innerleithen is one of my personal favourites, so I was pleased to hear the chatter of general admiration at the views as they opened up ahead, around, and eventually beneath us. The ridge line as it curves up to join the Southern Upland way just seems to call out to be run up.
The temperature hadn’t risen by the time we joined “the Way”, but the wind had, so we didn’t spend too much time hanging about once the steadier runners had caught up those fleeter of foot. The next section gave us some shelter from the wind in the trees, but was also covered by more snow than we had expected. Mostly there was enough soft snow to provide purchase most of the way, but the final few yards before leaving the path to head onto the summit were more like ice skating than running.
The summit of Minch Moor was no place to hang about in the cold and wind, so most of us headed back down via the old mountain bike trail to allow us to take in the mysterious “heather circles”. For those who don’t know them, these are really ovals and ellipses, which look like circles from one vantage point. There is a photo of them on the web site – along with several more of us all in the snow.
Back at the point where we had originally joined the Southern Upland Way, a decision was made to return via a different route. This allowed a lovely steep descent, followed by a very enjoyable run along a valley track before crossing a burn, and a final short steep climb back to the original ridge to descend to the cars. By now we were all pretty warm again, but even so, I was the only one who opted to “freshen up” in the Yarrow Water before driving back to Gala. One member however did decide that our 2hr run was nowhere near long enough, and headed back up into the hills for another couple of hours before heading back to Clovenfords. Well done Graeme.
Our next run is on 28th Feb – probably near Lauder. Eb is hosting, so I’m sure he’ll let us know a local starting point beforehand. Car sharing from Gala pool at 9am as usual. There are a few Hill races coming up soon if anyone one is interested in sharing lifts. Bishop Hill (Fife) is on the 1st March, Chapelgill (Nr Broughton) is on 21st March, and Criffell (Dumfries) is the following day. The first two are both short races, with steep descents, so may not be the best introduction to hill running for novices. Criffell is probably the best introduction to hill running of the three – it is probably equivalent in terms of “effort” to a 10 miler. Let me know if you are interested.
Paul
