Sidlaws in the sun

My legs took a few days to recover from the mid-week, 40 mile fastpack but by yesterday it seemed time to venture out again to try and get one more quality run in the bag before the D33 next weekend.

I didn’t have any great distance in mind but I remain keen to get as much hill training as possible in the run up to Arizona. Given the weather forecast was for sunny intervals, I decided to head for the Sidlaws.

The Sidlaw Hills are a line of hills which run from the north-east of Dundee, along the north of Dundee and the Carse of Gowrie to the Perth area. They are not of any significant elevation, but their character is such that within half an hour of leaving the city of Dundee, one can be up in a landscape with technical paths that would not be out of place in wilder parts of the Highlands.

For those like me who live in Dundee, it is a fantastic spot for a day’s walking or for a short, sharp session of hill training on challenging technical ground.

I headed up for late morning and it is literally about a 5-minute drive from the north edge of Dundee to the well established carpark at Balkello Community Woodland up near Auchterhouse. It would be safe to say I have never seen as many cars in the carpark so clearly I wasn’t the only one with this idea for the day.

My plan was to head straight up to the top of Auchterhouse Hill, backtrack slightly before heading across to Balluderon Hill, thereafter to the top of Craigowl Hill which is the highest of the three but also the most distinguishable due to the cluster of masts at its summit.

Craigowl Hill, sitting at 455 metres, is the highest summit in the Sidlaw range.

From Craigowl I would see what I felt like by way of extending the day before the return leg back over Balluderon Hill and down to the carpark.

I started out, trying not to overcook it as the climbing begins almost immediately. The path heads up through the woodland before becoming more technical as it heads up the hill. The gradient changes often so I ran as much as I could, power-hiking the steeper sections.

There is a level area after the majority of the climb before a short incline up to the top of Auchterhouse Hill, actually an old iron age fort.

The wind was strong and chilly but the view was superb in all directions, south towards the Tay and north across the Strathmore valley.

I didn’t dawdle but headed back down, moving at a reasonable pace until I reached the turn on the left for Balluderon Hill. This leads to a short but steep descent before the steep and rocky ascent up to the top of Balluderon Hill.

The top is marked with a fine trig point with a 360 degree viewing guide for the other local features.

It was even windier up top so again, I moved on fairly quickly, heading east to the short but steep technical descent which precedes the climb up Craigowl.

Craigowl is not too steep and actually levels out to an almost flat plateau about halfway up before the final push to the top. This being the case, I would say I managed to run at least half of the way up, eventually arriving at the collections of masts and buildings inside the fence at the summit. Once again, the view was outstanding but the very chilly wind forced me to retreat and I began the fast and enjoyable descent without much delay. It is technical in places but not so steep so one can open up the throttle and let loose a bit on the downhill.

I was very glad of the sunglasses, not so much for the sun itself but for the protection they gave my eyes from the strong headwind. I might otherwise have been running blind a lot of the time.

At the bottom, I decided to do a few short ascent/descent loops on the steeper, lower part of the hill, almost as a set of hill intervals. I applied myself to run as much as possible on the uphill sections to maximise the benefits for my legs.

Then, it was back up to the top of Balluderon Hill, down the rocky and technical section before the last downhill sprint for the carpark.

Now, up to this point I had been congratulating myself on choosing the VJ iRock4s for the day. They were brilliant as expected on the loose, wet and rocky sections and with awesome grip on the descents. However, you can wear the grippiest shoes on the planet, and they still won’t save you if lose concentration for even a moment.

I was blasting downhill towards a couple with a dog coming up in the opposite direction. I must have just caught a toe but in any event, I treated the somewhat surprised couple to a fairly spectacular fall. Not just straight down onto my face either. I went for the full rolling and tumbling effect with flailing arms and legs. It was a slightly softer piece of ground I am pleased to say so only some mud and minor knee gashes to show for it.

Despite the lack of air in my lungs I needed to save face, so I sprung to my feet and sprinted past the couple as if this was a regular and inconsequential occurrence. I kind of expected them to be sniggering but instead they both had a ‘you deserved that you f@*!&*g smartarse’ look on their faces as I dashed past. Oh well, c’est la vie!

I pushed hard on the remaining descent and was soon back at the car.

As per the plan, only about 5 miles in distance but some very beneficial ascent/descent training. Any fall you can run away from is a good one in my book but nevertheless, always a salutary reminder of how wrong it could go if you take your eye off things. Great outing though.