Thursday Night Hills: Moel Eilio

I had skipped one Thursday Night Hill training for reasons of my IT bands. The week after I wanted to join again. I wasn't quite sure if that was going to be okay, but if it wasn't, I could just turn back. A message had gone out we would be going up Moel Eilio. That sounded fab! And the message said headtorches were recommended.

We set off. Light was already a bit low. But we plodded on in the gorgeous landscape, and we reached the top under amazing orange skies. People were quite happily admiring the view and taking pictures. And there even was a lady who had brought cake, which she was dishing out. Perfect! 

Great skies (not yet at the top)

Summit selfie

I thought that from there we would just run back down. But no! We went on. It turned out we would run a loop; also over Foel Gron and Foel Goch, down into Maesgwm. That worried me a little bit! It was getting really dark, and there is a lot of downhill in there. Even in bright daylight I am rubbish downhill. If you do it in the dark, the risk of spraining something is a lot bigger still! So by the time we reached the pass between the first two hills I was at the back. Luckily we had two more hills to climb, and during the ascents I could overtake some people again. For the descent into Maesgwm I set off ahead of the others as I didn’t want to keep anyone. I also wished I had brought a brighter head torch; I hadn't expected to run more than half of the route in the dark.

The torches coming out

Advantage of being the laggard: good view on the others

Moon rising from behind the mountains

Once in Maesgwm the path was very even, and we could speed up. I ran the first bit next to a colleague I knew from Welsh, and who happened to have with him a charming dog and a bright head torch. Three wins! 

In spite of my not-too-bright torch I got back into the village, where there are streetlights, without incident. Once there I didn't linger. I waited for a lady who had ran in from Deiniolen but figured she had done enough running for the day, and who wanted a ride back home, and then I left. It has been absolutely beautiful! But I had also been quite happy when it was over!