SCOTLAND!

Moral Bay swimming

What a beautiful place! 
Set off on the 16th August in the evening and headed to the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs excited to be off on our first proper van adventure in Winifred.  We indulged in a lovely Chinese take away and parked up for the night in a visitors car park that overlooked an extremely expansive Loch that was just stunning. It was raining but we were just happy to be on our holidays and it wasn't that cold.

17th August we made our way to Morar Bay to the most stunning beaches I have ever seen. They are on par with Kenya beaches, minus the heat of course. But the weather cleared and we strolled along the white sands and I felt like I was in heaven. Surrounded by mountains and countryside, on a white sandy beach, what more could we ask for? Kibo was absolutely loving it too! I was just dying to run along feeling the sand between my toes.

We managed to park up in a lay-by next to the beach for the night where we cooked for the first time on our little gas cooker. I felt so proud for what Joe has worked so hard on over the last year. An oven, hob, sink, shower and even hot water, amazing!

It rained through the night but stopped long enough to enjoy a walk, jog, potter on the beach in the morning. I still couldn't believe we were in Scotland and that these beaches were so close to home!
The rain started to come down hard so we made the 20 minute drive to Malliag where we got the ferry over to Skye (Armadale). It really felt like an adventure :) The rained stopped long enough to have a walk in Harrapool through a bit of a woodland area. it was ok but nothing too spectacular, but we all needed to stretch our legs. Then it was on to Brittle Bay.
We got to the beach of brittle bay and although it wasn't the lovely white sands we'd just been spoilt with the mountains, sea, cliffs and waterfalls made up for it. There was a camp site right on the beach so decided to spend a couple of nights there. 

19th August
What a fun run along the coast lines of Brittle bay. We were expecting to get wet and boy did we get wet. The rain came on and off like a tap and the ground was really tough going but it was so fun! Not being cold definitely helped:) We ran from the camp site right to the end where it goes out into open sea and it was totally worth it! I felt like I was at the end of the world! We got back to the van and indulged in a hot shower, coffee and lunch whilst chilling in the van. Afternoon delights were the Fairy Pools. The weather wasn't great and there were a lot of tourists so don't think it was as spectacular as it could have been. But it was still special and just being out in the gorgeous hills of Skye was really special. 
Another exciting and memorable event happened this evening! WE HAD OUR FIRST BBQ! After years of saying we would have one in Horwich at our old house, and never doing so, we finally did it. This was helped by having a BBQ of course. It was lovely, BBQ going looking out to sea. The midges cut it short and had to go indoors to eat, but it was still lovely.

will continue...

A month on...

I can't believe it's been a month since I ran 105 miles! I actually did it. And I want to do it again...or something else. I felt a pang of jealousy on the 1st September at 9am when I wasn't entering and seeing all the posts of who's entered what. But that's not it for me. I may take some time and do some shorter races and have some time off the pressure of training. I'll just continue to get out doing what I love, running in the mountains with my friends and dog. And I will continue to record it and mention anything that may interest others, or is actually an excuse to write a load of babble :) 

Little field mouse at the National Trust Beatrix Potter place 

Spending a few days in Coniston with my family, catching up with friends and having ice 'baths' in the river followed by a relaxing hot tub was a perfect way to recover. The swelling in my legs (particularly my left) took the week to go down but general soreness went pretty quick, except with stretching my quads! Fatigue really set in a few days after the run and another week taking it easy with gentle walks was enough. I noticed some people get back running quite soon and i had to be reminded by joe that there was no need and recovery was important. 
After a couple of weeks no running I got itchy feet and decided to enter a local trail half marathon for a bit of a run out. Ended up having a great run. I set off quite quick and really didn't think I'd maintain a good pace. I was in 3rd and got into second on a climb. The lady i overtook (who was a local runner) wasn't having it and cruised past me putting a good distance between us. But I really just wanted to enjoy the run. The ground was tough, boggy and uneven with lots of heather. There was even river crossings that were quite fun and refreshing. The biggest climb of the route put me back into second place and before I knew it I was ten miles in. 5km to go, that i could do! 
The lady in first place had been out of sight the whole way but I caught sight of her with about half a km to go. She took first place by 5 seconds! exciting and fun. 
Next stop...Scotland for Holidays! :)