51 miles, 27,000 feet, 35 hours
Between 2005 and 2007 I devised three rounds of Glencoe and Glen Etive. These were all bruising, but magnificant mountain adventures of great character. Renewed enthusiams for long rounds led me to have another go in an attempt to determine the best of these. Examination of the maps and reflection on my previous rounds led to me concluding that the round starting and finishing at the Kingshouse was the finest of these, but only a repeat would really settle the issue.
The only small issue was that I am now 55 and unable to run as I once could. Nevertheless, I convinced myself that maybe it wasn't as hard as I had previously imagined and after all, the raw statistsics didn't seem that challenging. Maybe I could even improve my time? In my dreams! You don't move quicker at 55 than 41, especially if your legs don't play ball. I won't be repeating any of my other routes any time soon.
Yet, this was a good experience and confirmation that this has the potential to become a classic round that belies the relatively modest mileage. There are no out-and-backs, it follows reasonably natural lines for the most part and includes some good scrambling. And there's still the carrot of being the first person to complete it within 24 hours which should be eminently feasible with support.
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