Dancing At Lunacy

parkrun #391, event #106

Now that’s got to be one of the coolest names for a parkrun, as well as “roo” being the nickname for my youngest grandson. We’d had a long standing agreement to take family holiday in Scotland, with plans to climb Ben Nevis. But we ended up staying in a holiday park near Pitlochry, which I felt was too far for the highest peak. Plus I hadn’t done nearly enough climbing or even walking this year, and didn’t think I’d be up to it. So we opted for Schiehallion instead, given its links to Scottish Country dancing, as well as being the peak where contour lines were first developed.

As for parkruns, I’d assumed I might be revisiting Faskally Forest parkrun, but to my great delight I discovered that this one in adorable Aberfeldy had just started a few weeks ago. And the Saturday would be Harry’s actual birthday. So off we set!

My son was pushing a double buggy and running with super speedy O, while I was accompanying H on his first ever adult parkrun, though he’d done plenty of juniors.

Access:

It’s on a fitness trail just by the fabulous John Wade bridge. Parking on some grass, which can get slippy and mucky, but there’s space for 100 or so vehicles – we even managed to park a motorhome! I recognised the car park marshall as none other than PFS ambassador Davie Black, who I’d first met back when doing parkrun tourism: Edinburgh

Facilities:

No loos on site, but parfaff afterwards is at the Ailean Craggan Hotel, where they do a parkrun special offer on bacon butties and coffee.

Crowd:

There were 120 when I visited – plenty of local Scots, some holiday makers like myself, I spotted one other cow cowl. Lots of family groups, and plenty of dogs, both running and volunteering. Speaking of which, the timekeepers had really smart little umbrellas to avoid the phantom times recorded by raindrops.

And the RD wore a kangaroo costume!

And a visitor celebrating his 500 delivered the parkrun brief in the style of Rabbie Burns. (Don’t go looking for the statue, it’s away for cleaning. So they say).

Course:

3 laps of the fitness trail, lovely views of the bridge, trip trap over a few wooden bridges, well marshalled. Some of the course is on grass, so wear appropriate footwear. We had a female first finisher this day!

Gear:

I was in long black running pants, my 250 t-shirt though it wasn’t visible under my blue raincoat, saucony trainers that I was travelling in. Midge repellent is a good idea!

Time:

We were walking. My muscles were still aching after the climb on Wednesday, and I was wearing an ankle support on my right foot. So it took us just over an hour. And I did my signature skip-change step over the finish line.

All my parkruns:

NI (and other) parkruns: summary list

Filed under: Parkrun, running, Scotland, Uncategorized | Tagged: FeldyRoo, parkrun, parkrun tourism, parkrun-uk |