A great run on excellent trails and regularly varying terrain. Kudos to Jon for planning an excellent route.
I set off early from Pillars of Hercules in the dark before the hoards arrived and made the Falkland estate trails more difficult to pass.
The early sections are fast with some tricky navigation decisions wending through the woods. The pace slows onto East Lomond for a short climb before a rapid descent to the reservoirs. The path widens after East Lomond and there are long runnable sections all around the reservoirs and until you begin ascending Munduff Hill from 'behind'. Running across the tops to Bishop is easy going and easy navigation as long as the wind is still (it wasn't today, which slowed me up).
From Bishop the descent past John Knox's Pulpit is fantastic, just remember to cross to the other side before descending. A boring drag along the road from the bottom to the Bunnet Stane path is worth is for re-entry to the hills and more exciting trails. From (not quite) Bunnet Stane follow the horribly cambered trail back onto the Falkland Estate for a long, but gentle incline which seems to take forever, even with easily runnable sections. The approach to West Lomond was new to me and is a very narrow path. Very muddy today so not particularly fast going with a battering wind as well. The final ascent of West Lomond follows a very steep ascent through the crags at Craigen Gaw. Set off in the wrong direction at the top of this and had to turn back. The descent off of West Lomond is also an unusual route, taking you off and then bringing you back round instead of dropping off the main slope.
From there onwards is a long descent all the way back to Maspie Den and then some wiggles through the estate. Final section along a road around a field seems slightly out of place in relation to the rest of the route, but I guess it rounds up to a neat 50km.
Supplies were all taken with me 1.3l of water, flap jacks, sweets and a sausage sandwich before I set off at 6.15am. There are opportunities to collect water on the route, but it wouldn't be necessary unless it was roasting and all safe sources require some deviation from the route.
Thanks for setting the challenge, Jon. That was a lot of fun and opened up some unknown trail links for me.
Stupidly resumed my garmin instead of saving after a sit down at pillars. Recorded time 05:28:42