For the second Saturday in a row I made my way down to
Cramond for ParkRun. The weather
forecast was less good this week, in that there was meant to be a
South-Westerly wind, rather than the perfect calm that graced us last. But Jack and Jamie both had hockey at 9am,
only a mile or two away, so there was no good reason not to run.
Strangely I managed to complete it in exactly the same time
as last week (17:50), despite the stiff breeze into my face on the homeward
half. My first mile this week (with the
wind) was actually slower than last, and I felt more comfortable at the finish,
which probably demonstrates something about the benefits of adopting a proper
approach to pacing. So the same time,
but arguably a better run.
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| Andrew producing another trademark strong finish |
I got home to find a very welcome message on Facebook –
Peter asking if anyone was coming out to play on Sunday. Ya beauty!
With Stuart (and Anne) still on holiday in Italy, I had resigned myself
to another lonely/boring long marathon training run. The thought of company, and a chance to learn
some of Peter’s routes (particularly around Binning Wood and Seacliffe),
cheered me up no end.
Because I had a need to be at my Mum and Dad’s in town for
tea at 6pm, and because Peter couldn't get a train out to NB until 11.06, I
elected to dump the car near “Tam Bides Here” and run what ought to have been
the last 4 or so miles first. With
plenty of leeway until PB was due to arrive, I took my time, meandered around a
bit (e.g. going down to the beach at NB for no particular reason other than
that I could), and frequently slowed right down to have a bloody good nose at
some interesting cottages and houses with nice gardens.
Our first destination was the top of the Law. The visibility was excellent, although
unfortunately you might not be able to tell from the photos I was able to take
with Jamie’s camera – it is fine for close stuff, but its zoom isn't up to
much. You’d be better checking out the
pictures on Peter’s blog. If you
do, it is worth considering that he has a hair trapped in the mechanism that
leaves a squiggle in the top right corner of every single picture. Which he has to painstakingly photoshop
out. Given how many pictures he takes,
that is a lot of photoshopping. Anyway,
I didn't take as many pictures as Peter did.
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| Not long for this world :-( |
Coming off the Law, and heading down the John Muir Way
towards East Linton, we crossed paths with Dot, Billy and Gemma. I love when that happens. Although running can be quite a solitary
pursuit (and I do enjoy time on my own with my own thoughts), I really
appreciate the sense of community that exists and the friends that I have made
over the past few years since joining Dunbar.
I guess seeing other faces I know makes me feel like an insider, one of
the gang, “a runner”!
The next stop of note was the curling pond at the Balgone
Estate. I had seen Peter blog about it
before, but in my head had thought it was nearer to Newbyth/Binning Wood. Indeed, I hadn’t realised that I had been so
close to it – simply a question of a 90 degree turn, and a few hundred yards
off of the JMW - but obscured by trees, it was totally invisible to me. We had a bit of a chat about how often it
could have been used for curling, and I recalled hearing that the Thames used
to freeze much more frequently 100 or so years ago. A bit of googling reveals that it was
slightly longer ago than 100 years – more like 300!
“Even at its peak, in the mid-17th century, the Thames freezing at
London was less frequent than modern legend sometimes suggests, never exceeding
about one year in ten except for four winters between 1649 and 1666. From 1400
to the removal of the now-replaced medieval London Bridge in 1835, there were
24 winters in which the Thames was recorded to have frozen over at London”
But I guess a smaller body of water would freeze more
easily, so it must still have been cold enough that it seemed like a good idea
to create a pond specifically for curling.
Apparently there used to be one at the foot of the Law as well. The bottom line though is that it is very
picturesque (no photo found!) and the little cabin there must be a great spot
to while away a warm summer’s evening.
We carried on past “Stink Farm”, up the hill and over into
East Linton. After I worked out that we
were into a new month for Tynecastle Bronze purposes, we made sure to find a
war memorial, and then headed out along the Tyne towards first Hailes Castle where
we had a snack, and then on to Traprain Law.
The ponies were out in force and happy enough to pose for the camera.
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| The perspective in this one is fun - if only I'd managed to get Peter "standing" on my shoulder... |
Reaching the Co-op at East Linton for the second time, we
stocked up on provisions, which in my case were mainly liquid – I’d brimmed my
hydration reservoir with 2 litres before the off, but had used it all
already. We were making very good time
though, despite very much sparing the horses – Peter suggesting that I was
keeping him honest; dissuading him from chasing off into fields for 10 minutes
at a time in search of butterflies. I
was amused by his line that he could easily spend an hour “taking pictures of
the sole of his own shoe”.
After a brief road stretch we made our way into Binning
Wood. The chat was at such a high
intensity at this point however that, despite having a general sense of it
being really lovely, I can’t for the life of me remember the route that we took
through it. Ah well, I guess that is part
of the fun of woods – there is no one “right route” anyway.
We then crossed the A198 and went down Limetree Walk to the
beach near St Baldred’s Cradle. The tide
was right in, so we had to climb up and round the back of the first rocky
outcrop. The path was a little overgrown, so I managed to clatter into a woody
shrub with my knee. On first inspection
it didn't look like it had done any damage, but after trying to run on a few
yards, something “didn't feel right”. I
looked again and saw that there was a puncture wound in the centre of the skin
over my knee cap. Feeling around it
revealed that I had a splinter of something (which turned out to be a thick
woody thorn) roughly matchstick-sized under the skin. Although not terribly sore, it was a little
off-putting having to work at it from the other end, trying to push it back out
far enough that I could get purchase on it to pull. No real harm done though – lucky that it went
in where it did and not, for example, into the meat of my quad.
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| Lego en route from Denmark |
We ran along the shore until we reached the Peffer Burn, and
then turned inland to make our way to Seacliffe. Seacliffe is not a beach/estate that I visit
very often – partly because it is a little far to run to from Dunbar, and
partly because I am a bit tight and grudge paying £3 to park there. So I enjoyed having another good nosy at the
quaint little groupings of cottages, often with gardens and outbuildings filled
with wonders!
Getting back to the car, I needed to do a little extra loop
to bring me over 30 miles for the day, before thanking Peter for a terrific day
out. A tremendous way to bring my
mileage for the week up to a record 72.
Which leaves me pretty happy with the marathon training that I've
done. One more long run this Sunday, and
I should be able to start the taper without too much fretting that I've not
done enough.
Ha, yeah right!
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