You take the Munro and I'll take the Low Ro
⬅ previous ⬆intro2024 And All That.
As I said, Rob is bowing out and consequently a lot of the old lags want to sing his swan song with him. Amanda and several of our friends will be participating. Again, there's nothing particularly new I can add to what I've previously written, so we'll just have some pictures with brief captions to relive the spirit of the day
Off they go!
Ah, now this is Jon Philips of Claire's club, Dulwich Runners. He's second or third here, at the bottom of the initial descent, but will soon suffer a fall and quite a nasty injury. We only learn this at the end.
Pete's having to manage on his own this time!
And here's Merilyn, who was humming and hawing for a bit about entering, but saw reason in the end. Sorry, I mean she didn't see reason in the end, hence she's running this race.
Phil, straggling hard!
And Claire. See all these people we know now that we didn't when we (well Amanda) first started.
Amanda is carrying her trekking pole, and she's far from the only one.
When the back markers are through here, I jump back on my bike and head for the stepping stones.
And blimey! The first guy is still ahead of me despite running twice the distance uphill when I'm on my bike.
As I said, Amanda's not the only one with poles. She thinks two would be a bit counterproductive, but obviously opinions differ.
Merilyn is channeling her inner fairy, despite not wearing her fairyclogs shirt.
And Claire, somewhat to my surprise, is intensively chanting a mantra to herself, concentrating far too hard to look up.
Amanda too is concentrating.
Ah, now this guy was in the lead, but somehow missed the turnaround cone up the hill behind him and managed to add several km to his route. I haven't myself been up to that point this time, so I don't know for a fact how visible it was, but based on past events, it seems very bad luck on his part not to see it.
There are always some who put posing for the camera above getting a PB. Not that anybody has ever got a PB on the Midsummer Munro, but hey.
Merilyn's flying at the halfway point.
Young people doing Duke of Edinburgh seem to be struggling far more than the old folks!
TADA!
Mustn't forget the marshals.
Or even the man himself.
Near the top of those
"My son gave me these sweets. Can you take a picture of me with them for him?" Sure, no problem. I do worry that anyone looking so cheerful at this point in the Picnic (which is two Munros back-to-back, remember) has been taking something stronger than Skittles.
Merilyn's definitely on form: she's done long before I get back to the finish point.
Then Pete. Still on his own. 2023 was obviously a flash in the pan.
Amanda's next.
And Claire.
So a Straggler's team photo.
And a Stevie's Harem team photo.
But remember, we may be done but the Picnickers are still hard at it.
While we're having a more literal picnic.
So that's it; the final Munro, the final final Picnic... but Rob has passed on the baton and it seems that this is maybe not the end. How things will turn out is a mystery for now...
To the unknown future, then!
Love to all,
Steve.
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