Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Ardgarten Loop

Three of us set out for the 20 miles and 4000' plus of ascent in cool drizzle. A fun time was had by all as the frozen ground meant rain and melt water froze into a smooth invisible icy film for much of the way.

Within one minute I was breathless as I fell winded on the edge of the road trying to tiptoe round the ice. No evidence of serious damage and I got up and from then on ran tentatively wary of ice. The run along to the lochan took some 1 1/2 hours as I shuffled along, mostly on the verge or in the ditch to avoid the ice. Conditions improved as the track climbed a few hundred feet in the last couple of miles ice turning to snow.

Good run across the top on a snowy cycle path until the descent back towards the Loch Goil track, more ice. The track through Lochgoilhead and on up to the top of the Rest and Be Thankful icy in patches thankfully turned to snow nearer the top.

The last 3 or 4 miles down to Ardgarten snow at first then back into the ice. All in a tougher than usual run finishing in about 4 hours 50 instead of the usual sub 4 run.

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