A running holiday may sound as grim as a coal-mining break or a weight-lifting vacation, but take a look at what I’m eating and think again.
I quote from the menu of the Green Inn at Ballater, near Aberdeen, a fine restaurant where I have been encouraged to stop off for post-exercise nosh: “Seared hand-dived Loch Fyne scallops . . . roast fillet of Scottish lamb with turnip tatin . . . passion fruit souffle.”
Puritanism is so yesterday, you see. I’m here to run, but I don’t have to suffer, and tomorrow it will start again: rising late at my comfortable hotel, the Balgonie in Ballater, along the road from Balmoral in the eastern Cairngorms; breakfast of black pudding, sausage, bacon, egg, the whole fried shemozzle. Then, after strolling the grounds to let that lot settle, I shall be whisked into the countryside for a heart-thumping run through some of the loveliest mountain scenery I have ever encountered, led by a charming guide who, it turns out, used to be an oil industry executive.
This active break with a new company, Running The Highlands, attacks every antiexercise prejudice you ever considered. The ethos is: run, but avoid self-denial. Run, but stay in decent hotels. Run, but have a nice meal. Run, but above all enjoy the wider experience. It’s a sensational message, though the story behind it is simple.
Neil Stewart, 49, left his job as a human resources executive in Aberdeen’s oil industry to set up a company that touched his Highland heart. He’s a runner who spent his formative years tracing the beautiful trails that cut the Cairngorms like endless wickerwork for mile upon lonely mile, and one day it struck him that there was space for others in this landscape.
Gathering local athletes to act as guides — many with national running credentials — he now puts together events and running holiday packages along the Dee Valley (hotels, transport, guided runs, excursions), aimed largely at athletes with a bob or two jangling in their shorts. He does cheap as well, but most demand a comfortable background experience to counterbalance the pain of daily running. Agony versus ecstasy.
“I thought this area would appeal to other people as it has to me,” Neil explains in a quiet voice, picking me up from Aberdeen airport (part of the service). “It’s an aesthetic experience. People are doing hectic jobs and when they come here you see them easing down. Our whole mantra is to remove hassle. Let them run.”
Visits are tailored to expectations, most clients choosing running distances of less than ten miles a day, some as little as three or four and just walking if they feel droopy. Neil and I take two six-mile excursions into the wonderful hilly terrain around Balmoral itself, past sweet-scented Caledonian pines, plunging waterfalls, and gorgeous valley views of the castle, the Dee, Lochnagar mountain and tinfoil lakes.
To be guided means that you don’t have to consider the path, the distance, or even the way back. Your guide does the work, praises you when the going gets hard; and on you go. We run past mossy bridges, stoic fly-fishermen, bleak Victorian monuments. Albert’s vast memorial pyramid, incongruously perched high above Balmoral itself, is our heart-thumping goal on one run, the air so sweet up there it’s reason enough for the grind.
My heart booms horribly, of course. Beautiful landscape is as demanding as it is rewarding. But I also gasp at the views. I listen to local history emerging in snatched breaths. I love this. It’s wonderful.
And later, I select from a menu of local distractions that can be arranged to brighten the more subdued part of each running day. I go mountain biking with another new local company, Cycle Highlands (013397 55864, www.cyclehighlands.com), and fall off. It’s very exciting. I receive a sports massage from a woman with hands like wrenches; attend a Pilates session to improve my running stance; swim at the genteel Hilton Craigendarroch Hotel in the pool where the Princess of Wales once bathed.
Running The Highlands is popular with women, drawn partly by the landscape, but also, Neil Stewart thinks, by the security of having a guide in the wilderness. You could do it all yourself, of course, arrange your hotel, plot your routes with maps and guesswork, strike out alone. But, personally, I found it liberating to be guided. Finding the way, getting back, choosing a path — all someone else’s problem. I just ran.
