Whinney Hill and Glen Loin

Club Cross Country, round and out the back of Balloch Park. Woke up to a cool calm morning, perfect for running, pity the wind and rain blew in by the time 14 of us set off round a muddy park and onto the Whinney Hill trail. We marked the top part of the course Fri PM and had an idea it was muddy, marked the park on Sat before the race, it was worse not a lot of traction for my trainers with an inch or two of slipperiness on top. Its about a mile round the park before you get onto the WH trail which undulates up through a couple of muddy forests. The run back, mostly downhill, brought three of us together by the time we reached Balloch Park, good fun as we finished within a couple of seconds of each other. Post race tea, coffee and sugar sheltering from the elements in the castle rest rooms. Sunday's forecast poor, managed to get up reasonably early, went to Arrochar for a run round Glen Loin, anticlockwise then the out and back to Ardgarten, similar to last week but too wintery to chance a detour over the Beallach. Thought about sitting in the car until the monsoon eased, just got on with it and no respite for the first half hour. Cleared up for 20 minutes or so until I was lured into the upper reaches of the glen where it was not so pleasant for a mile or so each side of the ford, slushy snow underfoot with howling sleety rain.

Good test for my gear, and with a change of gloves the only problem was cold toes. Met a few mountain bikers sliding uphill as I ran back towards Succoth and slush free trails. Toes gradually warming up as I ran the out and back to Ardgarten, out on the lower trial, back on the upper trail from Honeymoon Bridge, about 17 miles, 3000' in 3 hours 10. No camera today, only a few phone pictures here.