On a sunny Sunday morning 8 lucky runners (Mark H, Gio M, Thomas W, Lee M, Bruce M, John B, Humberto H and myself) were on the train from Edinburgh to Lochgelly in Fife to enjoy a nice long day out. The journey flew by debating on the forecast, route and alternative to the 19h50 train back.
Arriving at Lochgelly, Neil M joined us and here we go ready to start our journey through the kingdom of Fife, direction Loch Ore. John took his map out and never let it go. The sun was shining, huge bonus compared to the miserable day it was on Saturday but the underfoot conditions after a few hundred metres of tarmac gave us an indication of how it was going to be, wet, very wet. We probably managed a few hundred metres with dry feet then the mud bath started. We ran along muddy track, puddles and across fields to reach Loch Ore, where we went around on the west side then aimed for our first hill of the day, Harran Hill. It was a nice warm up climb before the Benarty hill range. We started climbing up from the west side of the range where the track was like a stream, some deer watched us from above then we ran along the ridge with fantastic extended views north to south and east to west. We took a few pics and a wee man shouted “look at the yellow camera if you can’t see it the camera can’t see you”. While we were chatting away we all agreed that this would be a great place for a race, so there it is – FYI the race, it’s on the 25th October 2020.
When we were heading down towards Loch Leven we decided to go up this little mount standing on its own in the middle of the field Navitie Hill then sprint down and focus on our main objective the café at Loch Leven’s Larder. After running alongside the Loch we reached the café where some fasties were waiting on us to order food.
Once we were well fed and hydrated (according everyone the food was excellent) we left the café for the second half of the run which would bring us over the Lomond Hills. The sun was already going down giving us a fantastic view over the loch when we reached Glen Vale at the foot of the West Lomond Hills. From there Neil decided to turn back and run to Kinross to catch a bus home. From the glen a discussion started about which way we were going, then the group split in two, Mark and John went for a direct line up and the rest decided to go along the glen and up. Let’s see who would to be first to the top. We reached the summit where a cold wind welcomed us and we waited on Mark and John. Together, we dashed down the track aiming for East Lomond. As dusk started to fall our President decided to show us one of his numerous talents; who would know that Mark was a gymnast… well he’s not! A step and a tumble later Mark was lying in the mud swearing. John gave him the artistic note of 7. After checking there was no blood, and no injuries the President was safe so the group continued our way to the summit of East Lomond. At the summit a chilly wind was waiting for us and it was time for the head torches to come out. Once we were all armed with our lights we said goodbye to Gio, who went to Falkland to catch a lift home. The string of the remaining seven lights ran down towards Glenrothes to catch a bus home instead of the 19h50 train from Markinch. We ran through the woods on more muddy track then a cycle path with a few stops to check our location and direction on the map then we ended this scenic run by running through a shopping centre, not the ideal way to finish a trail run… We arrived at the bus station with only few minutes to wait to catch the bus. All happy and looking for a cosy seat on a warm bus home. Well done everyone!
Overall it was a great route, very scenic with some fantastic views. The day was full of chat, friendship, mud, hills, food and coffee. In summary another great Carnethy running day.
Lucas Lefèvre