Carn na Loine

Sometimes the motivation is so hard to find. I spend hours agonising over whether I really want to go out. Every time I finally drag myself out of the house, sometimes with a helpful push from Emily, and I love it. In whatever weather I feel so much better doing something, anything. The joy of being outside and physically active seems to dispell even the darkest of moods. Today was a great example of the carthartic properties of hill running. I headed again down to Dava 14 miles in land of Nairn, but this time headed south on the disused railway track under overcast skies in the direction of the Cromdale hills. Even these relatively modest hills were skimmed with layers of cloud. Even further south and east the tiger-stripped lower slopes of the Eastern Cairngorms indicated the extent of the past couple of days thaw. After about 5km a track lead off to Upper Derraid and I then followed quiet country roads to Knock of Auchnahannet. Without the dark, oppresive patches of dense conifers it would easily be mistaken for the Dales or Mid-Wales. The pleasant nature of the route carried on up a track to the bealach near Carn na Loine where I turned due north. Despite the next 4km being over tussocks, bog and heather I was now fully warmed up physically and mentally. Earlier negative thoughts about life in general had been successful met head on and dealt with. The summits had views which allowed the beauty of the area to be appreciated. Maybe it is just me, well it could be as I very rarely see anyone else on my runs, but these areas of rolling hills and deserted glens hold as much interest and beauty as any other area of the Highlands. At Black Loch, which really was black, tracks were rejoined and in an hour I was back at the car next to the AA 'phone box, strangely devoid of a telephone.

Time: 3Hs Distance: 16.5M Av HR: 145 Max HR: 165

I stopped on the way back home in at Tescos to grab in some food. It was packed full of people, most of them too wrapped up in their lives to take a moment or two to take stock and actually look around about them. All of a sudden I felt very lonely and I noticed as I used the Self-service till that I hadn't spoken to anyone at all during the whole day. It may have been better that way as they would understand me as little as I understand them. Perhaps this is where I should come to get motivation for that next run.