Milngavie to Balmaha and beyond...

Day 1 - Milngavie to Drymen (12.11miles) - click link to see route video)

In the spirit of starting early for a long run (couldn't quite manage starting at midnight) I got up at 6am and headed out the door for a run before work. 

While this is not an actual real live race the hype created on social media around the start was actually quite exciting and electric. I couldn't wait to get started. So by 6.30am I was out the door and ready to run. I had just under 2 and a half hours before I had to start work so set off onto quiet streets. 

As with a lot of streets these last few months I was passing beautiful street art (mainly done by school kids) and this one made me smile. 

My route then took me up towards the Bush Estate where there are trails all around Bush House. Lots of lovely wild flowers and a slightly odd artwork (which I believe is a seed pod but me and my pal giggle every time we pass it running and have nicknamed it the 'big poo' ).

Once I passed the seed pod (😀) I headed over to the University of Edinburgh campus. This is the site of the Dick Vet for small animals and the equine centre. The road was closed due to road works so it was lovely and quiet. 

There is a gorgeous sculpture of a horse (like the Kelpies) outside the new campus building. So I had to stop for a selfie, would be rude not to.

The next bit of my run was the boring bit of the run. The long road back into Penicuik. Time was getting on, I was due in a meeting at 9am! This bit of the run started to feel a bit like a commuter run!

Finally, I was back in Penicuik and heading up towards Mauricewood Woods. Quick trip around the fairy path (it would appear that many fairies have moved into these woods over lockdown - it is quite cute!) 

It would appear I am on the road to Narnia and not  Drymen 

Back at my desk just in time for my 9 am meeting. Time for a shower, quick cup of tea and my colleagues had no idea I had almost run to Drymen by the time I was chatting to them! A short walk after work with Kobi (in torrential rain - no photos too wet) and I was up to the 12 miles I needed to get me to Drymen. Happy with that! Day 1 done.

Day one - overall total 12.01 miles - 2:57:50

Day 2 - Drymen to Balmaha (6.84miles) overall 18.95miles

The weather on day 2 was not much better. A proper misty Scottish summer day! The mist hadn't joined up with rain when I started out but it didn't take long before it turned proper driech! An early start to my run again, in the vague hope I could avoid the worst of the weather! I decided to take myself around some of the historical monuments and buildings in Penicuik to give myself something different to look at from my usual runs. First stop was the ruins of an old church. Now for the history lesson.

The ruins in the Churchyard are the remains of the pre Reformation St. Mungo's Parish Church. The Presbytery minutes of 1648 indicate that the Church and Manse were in dire need or repair and over the following 10 years major rebuilding took place.

In 1743, it is recorded Sir John Clerk added an aisle to the Church and had built the Romanesque tower or steeple which still stands to this day. However only portions of the Church walls remain and those have been incorporated in burial enclosures.

The bell tower houses a 5cwt bronze bell gifted in 1680 by John Anderson, an Edinburgh merchant. In 1970 the bell required repairs, but before these took place it was stolen. Luckily it was recovered by the Police and rehung in 1975. In 1887 the vault on the ground floor of the tower was used as a cell to incarcerate rogues and thieves for the night.

Next stop the memorial to French Prisoners of war. 

Penicuik was the site of a prison camp for French prisoners during the Napoleonic Wars (housed in the old range at Valleyfield Mill). The former camp is now the site of a housing development in Valleyfield. 

A monument dated 1830 by the River Esk commemorates "the mortal remains of 309 prisoners of war who died 1811–14". It was erected by Alexander Cowan, owner of the paper mill, whose house overlooked the burial site.

After visiting the memorial I headed for Pomathorn Road. If you have ever taken part in the Penicuik Harriers 10km road race then you will be familiar with the infamous hill that is Pomathorn. It just goes up and up forever! On the road up you pass Uttershill Castle (which I took a wee detour via on the way back down). On the way up I did pass some miserable looking sheep!

Uttershill Castle was originally a late 16th century stone rectangular defensible farmhouse or laird's house, founded by the Penicuik family. This western half of the two storey castle consisted of a barrel vaulted undercroft, with a stair in the thickness of the east wall giving access to the main chamber, with probably a garret above. Defined by steep scarps and the possible remains of a wide north-western barmkin wall, the castle stands on a low platform. 

In the early 17th century, the Preston family founded the first floor hall house when modifying the main chamber and adding an eastern extension of a ground floor kitchen, with a solar and a garret above. Two 17th century outbuildings once abutted against the south wall but after the castle was abandoned in the late 18th or early 19th centuries, both the internal and external structures plus the roof gables, collapsed or were dismantled. Later a substantial portion of the south wall collapsed but a mural chamber in the kitchen was still used as a gunpowder store. Abandoned again in the early 20th century, the castle was then left to slowly crumble

Very wet but still feeling strong I headed back up the hill to home. Via more fairy woods, these have sprung up throughout lockdown. Children and their parents creating these magical walkways whilst at home from school. They are really lovely.

To make sure I made it all the way to Balmaha, Kobi, Rhona and I took ourselves out into the mist again later in the day and walked into Penicuik town centre to visit the local food storehouse. Was glad to get back home and into the dry! But that was another 8 miles in the bag! 

Over all Running total - 20.19 miles - 5:09:69

So that was the end of  day 1 and day 2 and I have run slightly past Balmaha which was at 18.95 miles. Next stop Rowardennan. 

Don't worry, be happy 💖