Over thirty runners set off on the Glen Loin trail at 11, only a couple behind me for the 4 mile run to the Vorlich path, left the road after 40 minutes giving 1 hour 20 to get up and back down to the Sloy dam. Its a long trudge to the top and I try to settle in to a steady pace, only one or two runners in sight in the clouds, we leave the path to cut out some corners but I swing back across to the path as its smoother and not as steep. Ghostly runners come flying past in the mist when I reach the summit ridge and a few minutes later after a 55 minute climb I get to the top, no marshals, only a kite and punch to record your visit. This leaves 25 minutes which is ok for the descent to Sloy dam. In the cloud three of us miss the steep drop off the ridge and chose one further along, not as steep and no real loss of time and I swing across to pick up the ususal line and reach the dam in 2 hours and seconds.
Next Ben Vane where it went wrong last time, losing 20 minutes on the steep trackless climb. About 6 of us go to the left of the large buttress behind the dam and then up on a 220 degree bearing which I hoped would lead to a steep rock filled gulley to the summit ridge. The first part of the climb went well, my bearing tied in with a series of gullies and gaps in the crags, a couple of the other runners popping in and out of the clag on similar lines. Large crags imposed a couple of worrying deviations to the chosen bearing but I could now hear a stream which hopefully was the one that runs along near the bottom of the gulley. Just then the clouds cleared around us and I could relax, spot on for the gulley to the top. It gets quite steep for the last few yards, a bit of a scramble. Back into cloud at the top I start on my bearing for the run off Vane, when I reach this rock arc round to the left to miss the worst of the crags, towards the bottom I could see the two runners in front and appeared to be closing in until I went too close to the last set of crags which slowed me down.
From Lag Uaine I go up a narrow ridge towards Glas Bhealach the two in front going off to the left, two behind slowly closing in, hard work now, they catch and pass me just as I leave GB for the last 900' climb up Ben Ime. I catch them having a breather at the summit and ran past. The run off Ime deceptive as the path splits and the wrong one leads you to steep cliffs just as the right one fades away for a while, a 165 bearing takes me to the checkpoint at Bealach a Mhaim.
The clouds break revealing glimpses of the path for the last climb up Narnain, I try to push on but it feels very slow, thankfully its the shortest climb of the day and the summit cairns soon appear through the cloud. The run off Narnain a tricky 3000' drop in two miles starts with a careful scramble through the spearhead then a twisty narrow track down a series of steep drops. Pop out below the clouds after about 25 minutes and Arrochar comes in to view with a runner just in front, he must be struggling as I catch and pass him easily. One last scramble down a rocky muddy stream then its down a path covered with huge concrete blocks. Timecheck as I reach the forest road is 5 hours 33, and I jog in to finish in 5 hours 46 and 27th out of 30 finishers.
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