On the trail of happiness
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Inspired by a new book about off-road running in Scotland, I’ve been rediscovering my love of the sport far away from pavements.
Pounding the streets is a great way to keep fit – as anybody who did the Inverness half marathon like me on Sunday (March 17th) will agree – but if you want to really enjoy your running, this surely has to be the way to do it.
Armed with a copy of Susie Allison’s Scottish Trail Running, I got myself a new pair of trail running shoes and decided on a few routes to try.
Some I had already done – or had walked parts of – but one in particular caught my eye. It was a route that follows a right of way between Glen Carron in Wester Ross and Torridon, cutting back through remote glens below the Coulin Forest hills.
It’s an area I haven’t spent a lot of time in, so it would be the perfect opportunity to discover a new place and experience the real spirit of trail running.
Starting out at Achnashellach station, a request stop on the Inverness-Kyle of Lochalsh line, I crossed the level crossing and headed up to a junction of forest tracks – only to find the right of way closed and a diversion in place.
A map detailed the diversion, taking me via a lower forest track to a path the book suggests avoiding because it is “rough and boggy”. It gave me a good excuse to walk some of the steep climb up to the Coulin Pass, which I soon arrived at with the sun beating down, even this early in the year.
It was a magnificent day to be out yet I saw nobody on these high trails, meeting my first human being on the route in the last mile back down in the forest. It was absolute bliss.
The thing I most enjoy about this type of running is there is no pressure to run at any pace. On the streets at home I’m always comparing how quickly I ran with previous runs but here it doesn’t matter; it’s just about being here.
So I walked when I needed to, stopped to take photographs or even just to take in the views. As I came over the top of the pass, that Torridonian giant Beinn Eighe came into view, snow sprinkled across the top of its steep slopes. That was to be my view for the next couple of miles as I jogged down a superb vehicle track, the Coulin Forest in the foreground and the peaks of Fuar Tholl and Sgorr Ruadh visible over to my left.
There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and I was happy to be out in the mountains making the most of this fine day.
Of course, it’s not always like this. I remember running around Loch Affric (another route which features in the book) at this time last year and getting caught in a fierce snow shower halfway round. That was another fun day but shows why you have to go prepared if you’re heading to the hills, even for a short time.
Back to Coulin, my run took me over the Easan Dorcha then left up a track to a hut. Beyond the hut there was a wooden footbridge to cross before an excellent stalkers’ path led all the way up to the entrance to Coire Lair, the highest point on this run and one of the finest.
The Munros of Sgorr Ruadh and Beinn Liath Mhor tower temptingly above the corrie with Fuar Tholl further around but today I was content to run past the three cairns which mark various paths further into the mountains.
From here it was all downhill, steeply over slabs of rock in places, to Achnashellach Forest. Even at this time of year, I was relieved to get out of the baking sun and into the cooler, sheltered air of the trees. I followed the fine path through a gate and turned right onto the forest track, which led me back down to the forest junction near the railway station.
I’d been out for little more than two hours, yet I had seen so much of this wonderful area. With more runs like this to discover, my new trail running shoes will be well used.
