all around the town

I didn't have any big plans for Sunday 28th Oct. Mary was busy elsewhere so when Mike said himself and Gordon were doing the Hermitage 10k recce it sounded an ideal central section to a longer urban run. 

The same team who put on Scurry to the Sea have organised a Hermitage of Braid and Blackford Hill 10k Trail Run (plus 5k, plus kids fun run) on the 9th Dec. Going to be a busy weekend with the WoL Half the day before. The meet time was 9am at the Hermitage, normally a little early but we had the advantage of the clocks going back, which effectively made it a 10am kick off.

Leaving the house it was blue skies and only got better as the day went on. I had thrown a few things into a back pack, though hoped I wouldn't need the waterproof or winter gloves. Like the day before the sun was out but it was v chilly if you stopped and stood around for any length of time. Ideal running weather. Possibly too cold for butterflies but maybe once the sun had been out for a while there might be the occasional one in a sheltered spot?

I had given myself a full hour reckoning it was 5 miles to the Hermitage. The extra time was for photos if there was any cause - there was plenty; the sun streaming through the grasses in Holyrood, lighting up the autumnal colours in the trees and the slight frost on the ground. I was very pleased to be out and running in such great surroundings and hoped to get maybe 20 miles by the end of the day. 5 miles to the Hermitage, run the 6mile course, and then take a long way home (another 9?)

Nicky also in speedgoats

I arrived with 5 mins to spare. This is not a great photo

 but is v typical of those 2 dogs who spent the whole run doing this.

Gordon spent the whole recce out front.

His secret? Dog power! (New parkrun pb to prove it!)

I will post a separate self-contained blog of the recce in detail as it covers nearly every path over the Hermitage and Braids and is worth paying close attention to. (Although it will be marked and marshalled on the day.) I took loads of photos and only post a few here as a teaser. It was a fun hour zig-zagging around the hilly route. Should be a great (and quite challenging) event.

This crow was keeping tabs on the local doggies.

recce team photo

Hope we get weather like this on Dec 9th. Ideal place to do a 10k trail run. The rest of the runners were going for a coffee at the cafe but I felt I had to make the most of the superb weather and get a few miles in. I am only running on Weds and Thurs and at the weekends these days and so can be doing as little as 20 miles a week. The cafe was tempting but it was a glorious day and I was keen to see a few favourite haunts. I planned roughly to retrace the 7 hills route back through the Braid Valley, Craiglockhart Hill and over to Corstorphine Hill, in search of Autumn colour photos.

saw Mike coming off Craiglockhart

the squirrels were out and about, this one on Corstorphine

Corstorphine Hill was looking FAB. I rather resented the climb up Kaimes Rd which was 15miles into the day and, I think, done at a brisk walking pace. But it was worth it. The gold and red leaves in the sunshine were just outstanding and everywhere you pointed the camera produced excellent images. I wondered if it was mild enough for any end of season butterflies; it felt remarkably warm between the trees, shaded from the wind, mind you that might just have been the climb up the hill.

I was then distracted as a small group of unusual birds as they flew from tree-top to tree-top. About pigeon sized, but not pigeons. With blue flashes on their wings. I was thinking Blue Jays but googling later, they are just called (Eurasion) Jays. Latin name Garrulus glandarius. Garrulus meaning noisy or chattering and glandarious meaning "of acorns" a favoured food. I couldn't get a clear line of sight and they were expert at putting branches between me and them. They were flying about and calling and making weird noises, living up to their name and flying between large oaks. I would give up the chase then realise they had settled in a nearby tree and try and get more distant and blurry photos. Every time I had one in the cross hairs they would fly off. I was surprised to see on getting home I actually had a couple of usable images. They are a fairly handsome bird and I don't see them on many occasions, so felt I had half-captured something a bit special. However it reminded me that chasing butterflies is usually more rewarding as they rarely fly as fast or far and aren't as easily spooked by human proximity. But a boost to see Jays nevertheless. 

Garrulus glandarius chattering in an oak

a sad loss

I ran over to the bit Mary had shown me recently, near the zoo, where we had seen Small Coppers and monkeys and a kangaroo. I hunted around for any butterflies, but predictably there were none. However with the light so magical I dicked about taking pics of the grasses and furry stick plants, my enthusiasm outstripping my knowledge base.

furry stick plants

I left Corstorphill by the main road and quickly ran into the low point of the run, about 50 coaches disembarking about 2000 Celtic fans who were keen to pollute any shop or pub locally before heading into Meadowbank for the game. I say pollute, as they were chanting and behaving like imbeciles, smoking and drinking and eating pies and generally being the opposite of impressive. (I have no bias here I'm sure the Hearts fans are just as bad, but without the swagger and gallus accents,) I took a couple of photos to show how awful they were - congesting the roads and generally lowering the tone, but they are too depressing to post here so we should move quickly onto the Water of Leith cyclepath. Where I caught perhaps the photos of the day.

A swan swam elegantly through these marvelous reflections on the water and I had the camera to hand, literally in my hand, as it did so. I can't really take the credit as it was the sunlight and swan doing all the creative work while I just noticed and recorded it. 

I tried to resist taking pics of all the berries about as every bush I passed was laden with them. These above were quite large, beside the WoL below Pizza Express, before I left the WoL path and headed up to the Botanics. 2 young ladies were just about to pluck and try them (small tomato sized) and I thought about waiting till they dropped dead or at least keeled over vomiting. But I was keen to check out the sights at the Botanics and the sun was beginning to disappear below the horizon.

I had seen the shell and pine cone interior of the Queen Mother's memorial thingy before, but not for a while. So when the Herbacious Border proved a bit of a let down for butterflies (it had been splendid last year mid-October for long white plumes attracting dozens of RAs) I ducked in to remind myself and take pics of the shells. They contrive through repetition and simple patterns to be more than the sum of their parts. But due to it being small and dark, not the easiest thing to capture. I then checked out the rock garden, always delightful if sunny, via the Chinese garden and a squirrel, up for some interaction even though I only had sports bars to share, not the usual nuts.

This well trained fellow saw I might have food to share (I was unwrapping a nakd bar) and checked out the ascent judiciously before jumping from shoe to shorts missing the bare leg part in between, which I was appreciative of. No idea if this was considerate, learned or just instinct. Do squirrels have a sense of clothes vs animal skin? Does skin present a less good climbing texture? Do these food providers boot you across the gardens if you dig your claws into their naked legs? Is skin repellent to squirrels? (Doubt it, they will happily interact with hands in search of every last crumb of food.) This chap also understood the rules of reciprocation and happily posed with his snack really close by while I took his photo.

The flowers in the rock garden were just dazzling, esp in the low-angled setting sun. I was just moving over to take pics of some purple blue blooms when I realised there was a Red Admiral sitting on them, sunbathing while jabbing his/her long tongue into the flowerheads. It stayed for long enough to get a few photos. The perfect end to a great day out. 

first 5 up to the Hemitage

last 13 back home making 24 in all

(mid 6 to be blogged shortly)