As soon as I saw the name, I knew we had to do this event 🤣 And, everything about it was brilliant! To quote Andrew "I have done about 140 marathons and not enjoyed doing most of them. But this one I loved, and it was my favourite." If that's not an endorsement, I don't know what is 🤣
The event starts and finishes in Lochlash, over on the west coast. It's about 2 hours from here, so it was an early start and quite an epic drive, but we got to registration in the village hall in plenty of time to register...and relax with a bacon roll and coffee from the cafe. By 08.50, I'd already had an excellent morning to be honest, and would have happily called it a day at that, but managed to work up sufficient enthusiasm to go outside to listen to the race brief, and bagpipes.
It's a pretty small event (in it's 18th edition) with walkers and runners doing the Dirty 30 starting at 9am, and there is also the Dirty Dozen, starting later in the morning.
At 9am we set off! The whole route was sublime! I felt like we had been in Narnia for the day, it's so remote and beautiful. No phone signal, just you, nature and the trails.
All along the coast for the first half, with views to Skye over the Kyle Rhea Narrows, then views over Loch Alsh and Loch Druich.
Up into foresty, with glimpses of the water sparkling below. Tricky bit through some forestry clearances, downhill to a boggy detour around a landslide.
Past Eilean Donan Castle - THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!!!!
A few more miles (up an extra bonus hill) along forest tracks, before dropping back down to the coastal road at Sheil Bridge for CP 2 at about 17 miles.
Then, time for the DIRTY part to start! 🤣
Headed up Gleann Undalainn for the big climb.
Phew! Reached the top, reapplied suncream (can't believe we were so lucky with the weather), admired the views, and continued over the top of the pass to come down the other side.
This was by far the hardest part I thought, really tricky underfoot. Lost the path for a mile or so, and had a bit of bog/ heather bashing to find it again. Refound the path (hurrah!) and passed the ruins at Bealachasan, the along foresty tracks to CP3.
A short respite from the bogs, down a forest tracks, before joining them again. First big river crossing (waterproof socks only waterproof if the water doesn't go higher than they do 🤣), to Suardalan, past the bothy, and back onto a track to CP4 at Balvraid.
Then, 4 miles along a lane, past the Dun Troddan and Dun Telve and (remains from the iron age), back to Glenelg and the finish.
A brilliant event, absolutely loved it! Low key, no fuss. Great marshals at the CPs, and water at all of them, but take your own stuff to eat/fuel. Mountain rescue all around the course too - great support! Route finding was a bit tricky in places, having never done it before, but the GPX off WalkHighlands was good, and there was a marked up map at the start.
