SLIOCH

The last Slioch Horseshoe hill race was held in June 2017. Just 33 ran, including Clayton-le-Moors’ Andrew Laycock who finished 8th in 2:31:07. I had hoped to run the race the following year, but it was not to be.

On a fine spring day, with Slioch still in full winter condition, I ran the race route with a few deviations, enjoying perfect hard névé on the ridge which made for fast running – faster perhaps than in summer, though the climb from the loch was as laborious as ever.

Slioch remains one of those mountains which I think of first, when I think of the Highlands, wrapped in childhood memories – the hill where I found my first antler at the age of seven. I have it still. And more recent adventures including near disaster kayaking across the loch in some of the strongest winds I have ever experienced. There had been little warning, a steady breeze lifting to full gale in minutes. Vast sheets of spray were lifted from the water, driven in a swirling vortex along the loch and there was little to be done but turn and run with the wind. We sheltered on the shore beneath Slioch, waiting for a lull which came eventually before crossing once again.

The classic view of Slioch is from across Loch Maree, rising as a fortress above the pines, but seen from among the Fisherfield hills, it becomes The Spear, its name derived from the Gaelic ‘Sleaghach’.

One of the great mountains of Scotland and one of the great hill races in the Highlands, sadly no more.