Diary of a middle aged runner

[Bierzo Baggie]

That’s really terrible MLCM. And amazing determination to be competing again.
 
Don’t know the circumstances of the event you refer to in Australia but I can assure you that the last thing on anybody’s mind was a race. The flames tore up the Aquilianos mountains, destroying its most beautiful area and putting the lives at risk of everybody in the affected villages as well those responsible for putting it out. The “chimney effect” of a fire in the mountains makes it especially dangerous and unpredictable but what made this one different was the incessant wind which hardly stopped for 4 days. Nobody in their right minds would have entered the zone from Wednesday onwards. The army were brought in eventually.

This  photo was taken by the girl from the "Cantina" in Montes de Valdueza, a village bar where we end many of our routes.  They were quite literally surrounded by fire! 
Miraculously nobody was hurt.