Walking

Finally went out and walked the WHW last week. Proper post to come.

Hope I'll walk the West Highland Way this month.

Last weekend was my final 20-mile run before the marathon. Now a little over two weeks to go, and I'm tapering (cutting back on running for the three weeks before).

Currently I'm considering doing a good bit of hill-walking this summer. I've some "big days" in mind, which I would have to actually prepare for, building up my hill fitness. Depends how I feel in the post-marathon month really. Maybe if I do I'll have something to write about...

May try to get in some cycling too. I wonder if I could work up to a 100km ride, seems feasible.

We've had a warm few days recently, and they're longer too... So I've been out a few times recently. The other evening I took a trip to the Pentlands on my bike, reminding me of my lack of mountain-bike prowess. Anyway, nice weather out riding in a t-shirt...

The ride must have sparked my imagination, as I went out yesterday for another ride, this time in a more flat but long way. From the flat, I rode out to Balerno partly along the Water of Leith path, and then spent a while riding around being lost near Balerno. When I found the NCN cycle route signs I proceeded to follow them to Broxburn to meet the Union canal there. Nice cycling on very quiet roads in the sunshine.

At Broxburn I continued along the Union canal towpath, which happened to be from the furthest point I have previously reached cycling out along the canal. From Broxburn the canal meanders around to keep on level ground, eventually arriving at Linlithgow. At this point I was already tiring, so I went into town for a coffee and slice of gingerbread, and had a wander around the ruins of Linlithgow Palace. The picture is of St Michael's church, beside the Palace.

From Linlithgow I continued along the canal to Falkirk, managing to arrive at the Falkirk Wheel as a boat was being raised. I stayed around to snap some pictures, then returned into the actual town centre a couple of miles away to take a train home. A good afternoon of supposedly 70km in t-shirt weather.

Today I went for a walk with dearg, from South Queensferry by the near end of the Forth Rail Bridge to Cramond for a nice pub lunch. The aim was a relaxed walk along the shore with photo opportunities, making the most of the continued decent weather, and that was certainly accomplished. We spent a while taking photos of the rail bridge, then wandered around the coast (mostly on beaches) with a few photo stops along the way.

This is a really nice walk (following the first part of a run described in this entry), mostly quiet and with the possibility of staying right on the coast. It passes through the grounds of Dalmeny House, and eventually arrives in Cramond Brig, for an anticipated pub lunch.

A wander up to the waterfront and back along the shore of the River Almond helped our lunch go down, and soon I was falling asleep on the bus back home...

This was my first "official" week training for my first marathon, Edinburgh at the end of May. I hope not to go on too much of this, it's easy to become a bore when you spend so much time+effort on something, but I'll keep you updated. I've also been all motivated, and doing lots of other stuff too, so I've had a few runs at night with a head torch. An interesting experience... The start of this week was suddenly wintry, clear and crisp cold air, so I had a couple of excellent experiences there.

Yesterday I went off to climb a hill, for the first time this year (and in about three months too). When I changed trains at Perth, I met a couple of guys who were doing the same thing I was—cycling from Blair Atholl to walk up Beinn Dearg. We got talking, and subsequently spent the day together. Strangely, they were PhD students from Glasgow, one even knowing a couple of people from my department.

The weather turned out better than expected, and it was sunny for the cycle in. After fairly hard going up the start of the track, we soon reached snow, which proves difficult but fun to (attempt to) cycle in. After ditching bikes, a short walk leads to the bothy, and up the hill. Beinn Dearg is a flat rounded hill like most of those nearby, so as we neared the top the wind was consistently bracing.

The cycle back down was fast and fun, as you might expect. I do need to adjust my brakes...

Last weekend was rather busy.

On Friday morning, I surprisingly managed to get up at 7, to go for a 2 hour run to Balerno and back, breakfast, shower, make sandwiches for the weekend, cycle to pick up some packages which couldn't be delivered and then back into uni (1.x hours). A few hours of quite intense and useful work, meeting with my supervisor, back home to grab bags and off to catch the EUMC bus to Glencoe...

On Saturday it was to be a "led" walk along the Aonach Eagach. Now there had been some nasty weather hanging out in the atlantic, and early on it had looked like it might be a wet and windy weekend, but nearer the time the forcast was rather good. So rain in the night was worrying but not necessarily indicative of bad weather over the weekend; the morning turned out cloudy, but not raining, and we set off.

It's very odd to see 30-odd people snaking up the path to Am Bodach... On the ridge, the party split up into three groups of about 10, which made for a decent social outing without too much confusion.

As we started scrambling down from Am Bodach, cloud atmospherically hung on the North side of the hill, while to the South it was clearer and sunny. The Aonach Eagach is a well-known scrambley ridge, so I wondered beforehand how hard I was going to find it. Fortunately conditions were very good, the cloud cleared off, and I was not at all affected by a sense of exposure. There are big chunky solid holds wherever they are required, and I was able to keep to the best line along the crest of the ridge and get the most of it.

However, the ridge is a serious place, and this was emphasised when a guy who had been walking behind the last of our party fell off the ridge from a path traversing below the last pinnacle. Some club members gave first aid, and very quickly a Royal Navy helicopter arrived with mountain rescue, and airlifted him to hospital.

As the group got to the end of the ridge, I split off to go up the Pap of Glencoe, which mostly seemed to achieve a photo and apparently a slightly better descent route.

Sunday was wet, so I slogged up some steep grass to Sgor na h-Ulaidh, which only seems really interesting for the big gully just by the summit, briefly chatted to a guy I met on top, and then trudged down to arrive back at the campsite in wet boots with about an hour before the bus was to leave. Off back home, grabbed a take-away curry on the way home (mmm!), and that was that.

I arrived at Corrour station at 9.20pm on Saturday night. In case you don't know, Corrour is in the middle of nowhere, a station not accessible by road. Well, okay, I suppose it is, because there were a bunch of diggers lying around as I walked past.

Anyway, I had a pleasant walk in the setting sun, and the twilight, and the light just enough to walk but not very well in the hour before moonrise, until I arrived by a particular ruin by the foot of a particular hill. Nearby, I lay down and slept intermittently; there were stars to look at, and the moonrise was quite pretty.

I felt lazier than expected, but finally dragged myself out of bed at about 4.30 when it was quite clearly and undeniably rather light. I proceeded to walk up a hill. There was a long a long day ahead of me—about 40km, 3800m ascent, 10 Munros. This was a walk I'd had in mind for quite some time (I mentioned it before), so my anticipation was considerable. It's just such a natural expedition, taking in a whole range of hills, from one end to the other.

By about 8am it was hot. It had in fact been hot for some time. It then continued to be hot. However, I couldn't have asked for better weather for the experience. Magnificent views, with the hills of Glencoe to the South and Ben Nevis and the Grey Corries across the Glen Nevis to the north.

It's nice to start out early. It gave this rather long day some variety. As I climbed the first few hills, the only sign of other people was a couple of tents pitched in a rather nice spot by a lochan. Later on, it was a more conventional time of day, and I was following a popular horseshoe-ridge walk, so many people. Later on, on the last two hills, I was alone again, with just a silhouette on the next hilltop.

I descended to pick up the West Highland Way, which I followed into Fort William for my train. I surprised myself after over 12 hours walking by walking sufficiently briskly for about 2 hours back to Fort William to catch the 7pm sleeper with 15 minutes to spare. It makes a change to think I can make a given train and succeed...

Unfortunately there were engineering works preventing the train going through Edinburgh as per the timetable, so I ended up being sent in a taxi from Motherwell...

As usual it has taken me a little time after the fact to get this post up. However, not a month like the last big walk, and in fact that has been true of my recovery also. My thighs have needed a couple of days to recover, but my feet did not suffer at all, dry as it was.

I went to the Pentlands with dearg last weekend. Nice walk, as the weather turned out to be decent. Met people I knew there again, Ben from my office who I haven't seen in some time, somebody else from my department, and my uncle George. I don't know how often I should expect to see somebody I know in the Pentlands; it is close by, and I suppose I know quite a few people in Edinburgh, so even if I'm only there every few months (and always on a passable-weather weekend-day afternoon) perhaps I should not be surprised to bump into somebody every other time, say.

I am curious how pastimes are correlated with profession etc. For example, it seems that computer scientists are more likely to be into hillwalking than J. Random Officeworker, but perhaps my one-sided and anecdotal evidence is entirely misleading. I have no idea what the true figures are.

I've returned to running again. Just a couple of weeks so far, but I'm enjoying it. For motivation and something to work towards, I've signed up for the Glasgow half-marathon (the Great Scottish Run) at the start of September. Hopefully I will be able to gradually build up my weekly mileage between now and then to be able to put in a good first effort.

Before that, I will be going to Seattle in August for FLoC (Federated Logic Conference). My (joint) paper was accepted for the GaLoP workshop (Games for Logic and Programming Languages); I shall also be attending LICS (IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science).

I popped up to Auchterarder to my mum's this weekend on the train with my bike. First time I've taken a bike on a train; it was nice and hassle-free. I still wonder what happens if there's already a full complement of cyclists though.

I went up on Friday night, on Saturday morning I headed off through Crieff and up past Loch Turret to climb Ben Chonzie. Loch Turret is a reservior for power generation, so there is a road from Crieff up to the dam at the end (bit of a climb on a bike). There is also a rough track along the dam up to a Lochan right under Ben Chonzie, which I cycled up. That was fun, but illustrated how useful suspension is on a mountain bike, as it really was a rough, rocky track.

Not much of a walk after that, the day was mostly a cycle. I took a wander up anyway, in shorts and T-Shirt in the slight rain, had a chat with the folk I met at the top, and wandered back down to cycle back. The great thing about a bike is, of course, that the energy which goes into slogging up a hill is returned when you go down again. The road down from the dam was fun!

I took a few pictures I like from under a bridge, just before the road up to the dam.

Finally, the story.

I may have walked as far as 75km on the weekend of the previous entry, with a little under 6000m of ascent... I started at Tyndrum, walked over to Killin and back to Crianlarich (the rail stop before Tyndrum going North, not very far away). About 50 hours, Saturday afternoon until Monday afternoon. For future trips, it's useful for me to note that the limiting factor seems to be my feet, not my legs. At a slow, steady pace, my thighs can crank out plenty of ascent long after I first think they feel tired, but my feet need care.

Behind all this was my recent purchase of a bivvy bag. Such an item comes free with a light-weight easy-going philosophy (I found The Book of the Bivvy inspiring). Pack bivvy-bag and sleeping bag in a small (25L) backpack, chuck in some dried food and a little water, and because it's Scotland and the weather looks particularly changeable, a full set of waterprooofs; pick out a route on the map, sling bag on back and hop on the train.

I started out on Saturday afternoon, heading off over a couple of Munros, with nobody to be seen. Having never bivvied out before, I was worried about the weather, whether I would comfortably sleep, and so on; rain heavy enough to get the waterproof top and trousers on for made me a little nervous. Being as good a place to get wet as any, I headed up a Corbett in the late evening. Before I reached the top, the rain had stopped, and I was able to sleep out on the very summit without so much as a drop of rain.

There's a lot of daylight in a Scottish summer's day, and when you sleep out on the top of a hill, you can make the most of it... I woke up when it got light (4am), and headed off. The first hill was a little cloudy, but the sun was out by the time I climbed the second. Then I crossed over onto the Tarmachan ridge, where I saw the first people since I started up the hill the day before. And what a different experience! From wandering alone over the hillsides to following a big well-maintained path, greeting fellow walkers every few steps. The sun was by now beating down, and many were out making the most of it on a very popular hill.

I left the beaten path at the end of the ridge, and descended directly to Killin. And found it a fairly depressing place. I bought a little fruit from the co-op, and headed back up the hill. With a couple of hours of daylight left and protesting feet, I wandered along a flat boggy area (these hills are all quite peaty) to an acceptable place to lie down just before the climb.

Amusingly, after such a hot sunny day (my skin has only just lost the colour from that day), it rained overnight. Surprisingly, a full night of light rain is not particularly unpleasent in a non-waterproof bag; I was tired enough to have a good night's sleep, and my sleeping bag was wet on the outside, but not inside. I was so tired I woke later this time; slept in until almost 4.30!

When it gets light, there's no point lying around looking at the sky when you could start off, so I did. I was very surprised to sit up and see white—it had snowed overnight! That morning I followed a pleasent and complex twisting ridge mostly above the snowline (which was at most 100m above where I slept). An icy wind is uncomfortable if you're slightly sunburnt... At points there was low visibility, but otherwise it was very satisfying to look out over the valley to the North, and see the long line of hills I walked over the previous two days...

The last few hours were somewhat painful, and I suspect if I wrote this entry earlier this would play a much bigger part than it does now. Memory is so biased! Anyway, I had the problem of walking a long distance with wet feet, which is damaging and eventually painful. Carrying spare socks is nice, but eventually the problem of wet boots catches up with you, and there was no shortage of wet, boggy ground on these hills. Descent from the last hill, over a vast boggy area and down along the road into Crianlarich was painful and pitifully slow. Keep going to get it over with... I crossed under the railway line in time to see both halves of the train I intended to catch go by, whereas if I could just walk at a normal pace I could have caught it easily.

Eventually I got there, had a coffee and cake at the station tearoom, and the long wait for a train I referred to earlier. I've not been out on the hills yet since then, but my blisters have finally healed and I've forgotton there's any hard work involved, so it's about time to do so again.

Wonder if it'll be too hot this weekend.

Sitting in Crianlarich station. I have just walked the best part of 70 (hilly) km, over the last three days, and have the blisters to show for it.

Did not arrive in time for the train I was aiming for, so I think I have invented a new form of 'bagging': wait at a train station for at least 4 hours (unintentionally). I already have 3 on the West Highland line alone.

Will have pictures and further tales tomorrow.

Update: Okay, I lie.

I started writing something and then lost it. About a week ago.

Further to the last post, I'm holding off running for a couple of weeks to get rid of shin splints, which I could probably feel coming on when I posted that... This is the second week off, and I've been cycling instead. Mostly around town, I went out along the Union Canal past Ratho last week, which was nice. I shall have to go right along to Falkirk at some point. Also, have the idea of cycling to Auchterarder some time, it's not that far.

Had a nice wander in the Pentlands on Sunday, along the ridge. Lovely day. And see the ickle lambykins!

I should learn to post less more often, as I used to. Now back to work, lots to do...

Okay, so more than a week. Making a commitment is scary. Doing so here means I'm serious about it; I don't want to change my mind or break my word. I shall be specific, as that is more useful, easier to motivate and stick to.

I shall run three times per week. At a minimum two of these will be 4km (as I often do on the way to the gym), and one shall be ~6km; ideally the shorter two would be about that, and longer run of over 10km.

Now the excuses. Doing something active at the weekend is not a get-out. A day's hillwalking should not interfere, but two or more days or a mammoth outing can. In that case a couple of runs (even on a treadmill) should suffice. On the other hand, I don't want to injure myself... sore or tired muscles can just suffer, but knees, ankles and shins cannot.

I've kept it up for the last few weeks, so we'll see how it goes. I ran 11k rather quicker than I expected last week, so it will be interesting to see how I go with longer distances once I'm used to running regularly. I have a disturbing ambition to run a marathon one day... It's probably not that crazy an idea (other than the inherent craziness)—if I run regularly and do some shorter events, and trained for it, that is. Okay, crazy.

Okay, some other commitments and crazy goals lest I forget other things I enjoy.

• A proper hillwalk at least once a month this year. A couple of the big hill days I have in mind (Bridge of Orchy hills, the Mamores, some 2-day insanity around Ben Starav, to name but three).
• Get to the climbing wall regularly.
• Actually get out climbing locally, be solidly leading easy stuff by the end of the summer
• Get out on the bike, to the Pentlands and so forth. Go somewhere on the train at some point.
• Finish PhD!

Incidentally, Spring is here. Pleasently sunny, t-shirt weather again today.

Last weekend I went off on my lonesome for a bit of a walk. Train up to Fort William on Friday night, stayed in a hostel, in order to get the first train down again to Spean Bridge in the morning. So at a quarter to eight on Saturday morning, I set off walking, doing the Grey Corries ridge and "wee Stob Ban", dropping down to bothy for the night. A good day all in all, with some views to be had in the morning from the first tops I traversed, and then a whiteout by the end of the ridge. It feels ridiculous to stumble along because you can't make out how far down you're about to put your foot...

Uneventfully made it to the bothy, which I shared with a few guys, a chat and the heat of their fire, and then got a good enough night's rest.

On Sunday morning I woke up in the dark, to the sound of wind still gusting outside, and gave up the idea of an early start to aim for the noontime train. It wasn't too hard to persuade myself to stay in a relatively warm sleeping bag, it being a cold enough night. At a more reasonable time I headed off over the Easains to Tulloch station, again a day without spectacular views but only briefly walking in the clouds. A reasonable and easy enough walk, to arrive at the station a couple of hours before my train home.

I did have a notion to catch an earlier train to Fort William, eat my tea and then get the train back down to Edinburgh, and fortunately I was on time for that. Unfortunately looking at the timetable in the bothy the night before I had failed to notice that the train in question, as well as the earlier train home, did not exist at that time, and indeed only ran twice in the entire duration of the timetable. Needless to say I was a little disappointed (although glad I had not bothered to get up early), and I spent the next couple of hours trying to stay warm on the open platform. I probably walked a few miles pacing up and down...

Anyway, I'm now home, rested and fed, and have finally found time to get this down... All in all a good weekend, and satisfying to have a couple of days walking on a satisfying route. Afraid no decent photos though.

Taken me a while to get around to putting this up, but last weekend I was in Glencoe again. Was another EUMC trip, this time redirected to Glencoe because avalanche conditions made Creag Meagaidh a poor choice.

Yes, this weekend the issue was too much (fresh) snow.

Saturday was a splendid day; I went on a walk with Tom and Guy along the Bidean nam Bian ridge, starting at the far (West) end, and coming down via Beinn Fhada. The weather was most excellent; clear blue skies with good visibility, and a good covering of snow. We had an early start (on the hill before dawn), so we managed to be the first along most of the ridges since the snowfall the day before. Clear skies and miles of virgin snow along well-defined ridges... lovely.

We were camping opposite the Kings House Hotel, which was chilly at times but not too bad; but the ground was frozen and the tents white and crackling with frost. After a few in the pub in the evening, and a cold feeling night, I wasn't up to more than a snow plod on Sunday, so went off up beside the Ski Centre and around to Creise, mostly for the exercise and something to do.

Sunday evening and it's off back home in time to not write this entry.

I'm a bad bad boy. Not updating for a month...

And things have happened, indeed. There was a fire in this block last week, one of the ground floor flats. We woke up at 6.40 on Monday morning to the smell of smoke. Firefighters were already there by that point, I think, and we sat in the front room with the windows open while they did their thing. Lots of smoke. We left a little later once the smoke had died down, and smelled very strongly of smoke all day... Still smelling it about the flat, and the stairs. The little old lady in the flat in question is apparently okay by the way, nobody hurt.

Other than that... I've been away for a couple of weekends recently. Supposedly for winter walking/climbing trips with the EUMC, but there's not been much winter... Two weekends ago, we went to Glencoe. Since it was far too warm, I went for a walk rather than attempting to climb something, and had a nice walk up Buchaille Etive Beag. On the Sunday I worked up to visiting a tearoom...

This weekend just past was meant to be Lochnagar, but since conditions are poor the club went to An Teallach instead. Left Edinburgh after 6 on Friday night, about 5 hours driving and we were there. Quite a few of us walked into the bothy in the dark, about two and a half hours on a landrover track then a path, on not-flat ground. Rather bizarre and strangely pleasent walking in the dark at one in the morning in February wearing a t-shirt...

Saturday was the day for the great An Teallach ridge traverse. And excellent it was. A big bunch of us went up with winter boots and walking axes just in case... In the event there was barely a patch of snow to be seen, and we scrambled along the ridge in summer-like conditions. Lovely climbing on nice sandstone pinnacles... Unfortunately for the general 'experience', there was sod all visibility on the ridge, but perhaps I would be less confident looking down a couple of thousand feet below. Luckily the cloud cleared as we reached the end of the main ridge, for some views and a bit of a walk in the sun.

Sunday had not much of a plan, apart from not doing much; in the end I walked out to the road the long way around, which was rather satisfying in the end. And off back to Edinburgh. A couple of days later, here I am writing this.

Pictures are in Glencoe and An Teallach galleries.

As promised I went off walking this week. I booked Tuesday and Wednesday nights at the Tulloch Station Lodge, a hostel on the platform of Tulloch station on the West Highland railway line. On Tuesday morning, however, I sat on the sleeper train from Edinburgh to Corrour, the station before Tulloch, by Loch Ossian, which I have previously visited. The plan, you see, was to walk over the two Munros on the East side of Loch Treig to Tulloch. So I did that.

Tuesday was a beautiful day. There wasn't a great deal of wind, and I was mostly rather warm considering; I had my arms bared at one point. The ground was icy from the station onwards after a frosty night, making for much prettiness, and there was a little snow on the tops. The hills were uneventful (although I did meet 11 people, in a group of 3, 7 (!!) and 1 dog walker). The journey to Tulloch was not, on the other hand. The path marked on the map was either not much of a path at all, or not where I was—quite possibly both—and I pushed through forest to find myself crossing the River Spean at a non-ideal point. Even that was some distance upstream from where I hit it (and the crossing was only possible with just wet feet via use of ice axe)...

The station lodge, when I eventually reached it some short time after dark, was a great little hostel, and I hope to visit again. The usual facilities, kitchen, drying room, etc, and a common room with a roaring fire.

Dragging myself out the next morning, I went up a couple of hills to the North of the place, Beinn a' Chaorainn and Beinn Teallach. Another good day, without the unpleasent forestry experiences. A good track through forest, yes, but that was pleasant. The hills were uncomplicated; after a hard frost everything wet was frozen, leading to some mucking about with crampons on walking up streams of ice, and making the boggy approach so much more enjoyable for its lack of boot-eating.

An icy wind up the top made me thankful for good gear, but the views were absolutely spectacular as they so often are in winter (that is, if you can see anything at all). More hills to see than it seems possible to count.

On the third day, I wasn't feeling up to much of an expedition, so I got the first train down to Corrour and made a dash up Beinn na Lap. A quicker dash than I was counting on, for I had to spend a chilly hour or two on the station platform waiting for my train home, instead of being at all pressed for time. Good job I didn't do anything big—the wind up the top was not only icy but of the hard to stand in variety, never mind walk. A day for a ridge walk it was not.

After 3 days of walking it feels strange to do nothing. I just want to eat lots for all the exercise I must be just about to do...

Oh, more photos here.

As last weekend approached, I was obsessively checking views on webcams, and weather reports. The met office had been forecasting severe weather for Thursday to maybe Saturday, with blizzards and strong winds. Even Edinburgh had snowfall on Friday, and it was lying (for a while, at least). The plan was a EUMC trip to Knoydart; but with the possibility of roads closed, who knows where we might end up? I set off for the minibus with a bag stuffed with tent, food and gear to find out.

As it turned out the roads didn't seem very bad at all, with not much snow left, but by the time we got to the Knoydart turning I think the decision was long made anyway; it's still possible that the long single-track road leading to our start point wouldn't have been easily passable. Instead, we were headed for the club bothy, located below the Five Sisters of Kintail. We duly arrived and went off to bed, around midnight perhaps.

On Saturday I was up around 8. I could see snow on the hills, and waited impatiently to be joined in wakefulness, hoping to find some company to climb a hill or two with. In the end the entire party of 10 set off up Beinn Fhada, since an attempt on some of the sisters was (at least to my mind) likely to end in benightment by this point.

In spite of the poor weather forecast, it was a tremendous day. I set off expecting to be battling wind and perhaps snow/sleet/rain, but in fact it was mostly calm, and the battle was with the vast quantity of snow higher up the hill. I thoroughly enjoyed myself breaking trail through deep powder, although there was one tricky spot involving swimming a few metres up to reach a short rocky section. I obviously need to work on my technique for such spots; since I can't exactly lose weight, the best way to avoid sinking may be to learn levitation?

After reaching the summit ridge, and a pleasent stroll along that, we reached the top. Replenishments were briefly had, and then we were off back down the hill. Descent was relatively rapid, by bumslide.

Back at the bothy, food was duly eaten, drink drunk, and silly stuff done. Another night's kip, and in the morning I got up to find a couple of people about. I followed a couple of folk up into a corrie of one of the Sisters, which made for a very pleasent walk in the end, with nice views, and refrozen snow making for easy walking.

Subsequently we retraced our steps back to the bothy, gathered stuff up, and it was off back down to Edinburgh. A weekend as enjoyable as it was unforseen. More pictures here.

Saturday

With a bag on our backs and a carrier bag of additional food each, we headed to Waverly to renew our YP railcards and catch a train to Inverness and hence to Kyle of Lochalsh. This was my first trip on the Inverness to Kyle line; I found the scenery rather pleasent. From Kyle we took a bus over the bridge to Skye, in fact right along to Sligachan to stay at the campsite there.

Sunday

Staying a second night at the campsite, we took a day walk up the "Beinn Deargs". A marshy splodge took us to a ridge up which we walked, to Beinn Dearg Mheadhonach and on to Beinn Dearg Mhor, with only brief glimpses of views through the cloud. We descended probably steeper scree than required to the bealach, before more pleasently following the burn down, and finally splodging back to the start.

Monday

The firmest objective of our trip was to take a visit to Loch Coruisk. We would find that this indeed defined the week.

The walk out through Glen Sligachan over Druim Hain follows a well worn path through a small number of boggy patches, a couple of stream beds, a sloping slab or two and a generous surrounding of impressive scenery, to arrive above Loch Coruisk, at the heart of the mighty Cuillin ridge. We easily crossed stepping stones over the river (outflow from the loch) to camp looking over the bay opposite the loch.

Tuesday

After a night of continual rain and unceasing wind came a day of continual rain and unceasing wind. Andrew wished to escape from the remote location, and since the river was uncrossable (no sign of the precious stepping stones) we mad e an ill-advised attempt to go around the loch, and hence back the way we came.

Persevering in difficult conditions, we made it almost to the end of the near side of the loch before turning back due to uncrossable waters coming down off the hills. The net effect of the day was, in addition to our utter bedragglement, a short move to a better (but not sheltered) camping spot beside another pair of tents, and in view of the tent of a pair of sea-kayakers.

Tuesday night

After erecting our tent with difficulty in the endless rain and increasingly gusty wind, we endured a somewhat sleepless night in what one might term testing conditions. I am pleased to say that our Tadpole stood up to the test, and was stood all night with no repegging or rejigging required (but some support during the strongest winds). We later learned that water facilities were taken out at the campsite, and caravans were threatening to topple in the strong winds...

Wednesday

Mostly good weather greeted us on Wednesday, with the storm having blown itself out during the night. I spent much of the day reading Sir Ernest Shackleton's South, the story of the Endurance expedition, trapped in the Antarctic ice; we wandered over to the stepping stones throughout the day, but the river was still in spate, and would require a wet and possibly tricky crossing. We hoped for a sight of the boat from Elgol taking tourists for a day trip now that the waters were calm, and an easy lift back, but it did not show, and so we were to spend another night by the loch.

Thursday

With little rain overnight, we were able to make our escape, and walked back the way we came in brilliant sunshine. We were rewarded with spectacular views of the impressive geography which had kept us huddled in a tent for days, and I enjoyed the walk back (including detour up Sgurr Hain for a nice view), not needing the additional motivation of the few pints to come in the pub later to spur me onward.

Photos

There are many more photos in this gallery, and that is just a small sample of the many I snapped.

A little delay...

Saturday was just excellent. The weather was absolutely stunning, big blue skies with the odd fluffy cloud, and no wind to speak of. In fact, baking hot all day on the top of the hills, making one thankful for the occasional light breeze, and wishful for a pair of shorts to walk in instead.

After getting the car dropped to the end of the ridge, we started at the East (Cluanie Inn) end, ascending an excellent stalker's path off up to the first summit. From then on it was an easy walk along the ridge over all 7 Munros (and a Top); it felt like if the ridge could keep going on, we could follow it indefinitely.

The ridge is never challenging, but the hills are rocky and interesting, with impressive Northern cliffs and corries, and the ridge was sometimes pleasently narrow, with the odd rocky section to scramble over if desired.

Our descent was a little... interesting, as we found it hard to find a good route, ending up clambering down wet slimy rocks and splodging in bog. Apparently we are not alone in that regard.

On Friday, I packed my bag. On Saturday morning, at 5am, I rose, got ready, and eventually set off for the 6.40 train to Dalwhinnie. After reading The Grapes of Wrath for a couple of hours on the train (of which more later), I arrived at about 9.20, and proceeded to walk in to where I'd be staying and basing my walks from for a couple of days. About three hours of walking with a big pack full of weekend stuff (largely sleeping and cooking gear and food) later, I arrived at Culra bothy, which was a decent place to spend a couple of nights.

After lunch, it was off up Ben Alder via the Long Leachas, a grassy and then rocky ridge which involves a bit of mild scrambling. As on most Munros there's a path one can follow up the ridge, but it was in fact the narrow level sections which had my attention most fully; the ridge seems to catch what wind there is, and I didn't want to be blown off my feet (and the ridge) by a gust of wind. Anyway, I wandered up to the end of the ridge, and eventually to the top of the hill, by this point in cloud. Heading off for the day's second (and final) hill was a navigational experience, as for the first time I didn't really realise when I'd hit the bealach (it being ill-defined and still in cloud). Then it's up to the top, and back down to the bothy for a night's kip.

I was sharing the room of the bothy with a guy and his two sons (maybe 18 and 16, give or take a couple of years?), who had come over the hills from Corrour Halt, and would be heading back down and across to Rannoch Station. Seemed like a nice route.

I woke on Sunday to a sort of miserable gray outlook; there was a light misty drizzle, and the cloud base was very low (the bottom of the hills rather than the tops). After having swithered beforehand, I set off up the Lancet Edge of Sgor Iutharn. After getting a little bit wet on the approach and lower sections (my collection of blisters can testify to a long day's walking with wet feet), I gradually made my way upwards. The ridge goes from craggy interspersed with grass and semi-vertical bog to a pleasent path leading up along the rocky crest to a final flattish section.

This last seemed to be of reasonable length, and is really the interesting part of the whole thing. At times it seemed very interesting, hands gripping the rock in the wind and rain. Fortunately it was not as windy as I'd expected, much milder than the previous day/ridge, and while I felt the need to hang on to something in case my feet slipped on the wet rock, there was always plenty to hold onto with both hands. It really is amazing to see a big ridge on a huge hunk of a hill come down to a knife-edge, and walk along with feet on one side and hands curled over the top.

Unfortunately I have no photos of the interesting bit, make of that what you will.

After having gone on at length about that, I shall be brief on the less brief part of the walk. I went up to Geal Charn, and continued along to Aonach Beag, and over to Beinn Eibhinn, the last of which I had visited before from the other direction. On the top of that hill I met up with a group of three who had set off at the same time as me, going around behind the ridge I had just walked along and up the col before that hill, so that I arrived at my third top just before they arrived at their first.

After a chat I set off back along the ridge which was also to be their route. Backtracking over the pleasant well-defined ridge to Aonoch Beag and then Geal Charn, still in the clouds as I had been almost all day, I slowly worked back towards my temporary home. After refilling with water at a lovely tasting stream running off Geal Charn, I headed along to Beinn Dearg, down and up, down and up, and then finally down the steep hillside to arrive directly at the bothy.

It turned out that my first bothy experience was to be fairly interesting. The guy who (volunteers to) maintain the place arrived; I automatically offered my assistence, and found myself rummaging around in the loft, and cutting wood. Eventually everybody seemed to be doing something, always nice when people just pitch in. Another stereotype was also confirmed, as a couple of the guys who were supervising a bunch doing their Duke of Edinburgh's award left them in their tents in the rain, to retreat to the cosy log fire of the bothy and avoid putting their tent up/down in the wet. Of course they had to be told about the roaring fire :)

You'd think I'd sleep well from that, but apparently not. Anyway, on Monday morning I set back off up the track for my train. About 2 1/2 hours into the 3-hour walk a bloke in a landrover stopped by me, and offered a lift up to the station, which I gladly accepted. I feel the fact that I had to walk home from Waverly due to lack of bus service more than makes up for the extra distance not walked...

So, to sum up, about 65km unevenly split over three days, 5 new Munros and a pair of sore feet.

Well, I just had a lovely weekend walking.

On Saturday I took the train up to Bridge of Orchy, to meet my dad and go up to Glencoe. That day we went up Bidean nam Bian, going up via Gearr Aonoch and coming back over Beinn Fhada, the middle and leftmost of the Three Sisters of Glencoe.

Wow. Stunning weather, very sunny, and yet not too hot all the time. Great views. The way down to Beinn Fhada is a bit of a scramble (see below left), which I enjoyed (and my father endured), so it's nice that it was a dry day.

On Saturday night we stayed at Bridge of Orchy, at the bunkhouse on the station platform. Was a decent enough place, with the usual cooking, common room and drying facilities (and the most fearsome stove), although I found the bunk beds rather poor. Triple bunks without much room (I gave my head a good thunk a couple of times, without any kind of anti falling-to-the-floor device, and with a light on the platform precisely aligned to shine past the corner of the curtains into my eyes. Probably my headache and sore neck made this seem worse than it was; I shall no doubt be back at some point when walking in that area.

On Sunday we were off to Buchaille Etive Mor.

Another excellent day in the end. A little unexpected, as I woke up to a horrible drizzly day, and it seemed like it would be a wet walk with few views. In the end, the sun came out and it was a decent day; there were a few light showers, but not really until we came down from the hill.

We went up the big corrie (see below), and towards the top picked a route which I called—and my dad seems to delight in repeating—a bit dubious. Lots of loose stuff. Anyway, we reached the ridge with a sigh of relief, and made it to the top for stunning views of Rannoch moor and the hills all around. The ridge walk to Stob na Broige was very pleasent, narrow enough to seem like a ridge but not feel at all serious.

Hello from Glencoe. Posting from the hill... Lovely weather, not too hot but in t-shirt. Great views all around. Brilliant.

Ow.

Last weekend was my first outing with my 1-man tent; my first time going up over hills with a big pack on; my first wild camp. So I knew I would be forgetting something. I wouldn't have guessed it would be suncream.

We had some stunning weather last weekend. The sun can be very hot on the top of a hill with no shelter, and seem hotter still going uphill with a big pack on. So I'm a bit knacked (even though I've been back a day!), but it was quite a weekend.

On Saturday it was over the three Munros of Beinn a' Ghlo. When I got off the train in Blair Atholl at 9am one of my fellow passengers asked where I was headed; since he was also going up the same route as I, along with a friend (waiting in a car in the station car park), I was kindly offered a lift. We all ended up walking the hills together, and good company, stunning weather and a nice route made for a great day.

After lazing around on the summit for a couple of hours, I descended to the sides of the amusingly named Loch Loch, and made camp within view of the loch. You will notice the loch's odd shape. After a decent hot dinner I went out for an evening stroll around the loch. Since I didn't want to be out too long, I turned back half way, and thus I had the bizarre experience of crossing the loch in the middle in order to return on the other side (there was a couple of inches of water, and not that wide a channel). Perhaps "Loch Loch" is merely two lochs side by side.

The (cheapo) tent seems to work, although I need to figure out how one makes the outer shell taut. In any case I had a good night's sleep nestled in my secluded glen.

On Sunday, the plan was to walk back through Glen Tilt, with a detour to bag Carn a' Chlamain. Glen Tilt is rather pleasent, and the sun was illuminating it to its full. I delighted in stopping to brew a cup of tea by the boulder shown, where a stream coming off the hill joins the River Tilt, this being the first time I've walked carrying a stove. A flask of tea can be nice, but it doesn't quite cut it.

The rest of the day was rather a slog, being rather too hot and tired carrying a big pack to appreciate the glorious surroundings. Sometimes the path seems to last forever. But it all seemed most satisfying sitting outside with my pint, waiting for the train home.

Today I spoke to my Dad. Apparently he was also off on a two-day walk starting from Blair Atholl on Saturday. Life is odd.

I had had the traverse of this ridge of 7 hills in mind for a while, so when my dad offered to accompany me for the first 3, which he had not climbed, and then pick me up at the end, I jumped at the chance. And not just to avoid the long walk back I might otherwise have been stuck with.

Starting walking at 06.15, we made good time up Meall Greigh, plunging into a freezing cloud which made for pretty ice-sculptures of grass and fences, as well as pleasent walking. We continued along to Meall Garbh, and then had what I found a pleasent short scramble up An Stuc (some loose stones underfoot, but mostly path-like with lots of stuff to grab on to, some of which were quite nice thin flakes of rock).

At the bealach we parted company, and I continued on slogging up a pleasant ridge to Ben Lawers itself. After meeting the day's first groups of other walkers, I went on in enduring cloud to Beinn Ghlas. The sun continued to make its presence felt, and by the time I made my 'interesting' way up Meall Corranaich (glad to not be in the visible pack of 12 walkers going up the Lawers path) there were some hints of blue through the swirling whiteness. As I left a family behind on the summit and wandered along the long ridge connecting the hill to Meall a'Choire Leith, the sun was increasingly hot, and the cloud cleared away to reward me with some views, including the top of Ben Lawers from which I had earlier seen nothing.

I arrived back at the road after 7.5 hours of walking (18.8km, 2055m), rather chuffed at a satisfying day.

(Some pictures are my father's).

I went with dearg to The Cobbler on Saturday. We also went up Beinn Luibhean, although it seems that was a little bit too far. Fortunately the weather wasn't as bad as it threatened to be (only a tiny little spot of rain). Busy busy hill, the cobbler.

In which the author continues the attempt to lose his remaining readership by writing again about hills, between the feeble treatment of consumed fiction and the energetic but ultimately incomprehensible accounts of matters tangentially related to his area of study.

I took the opportunity of Easter weekend to go away for a couple of days of hillwalking. Of course this is an opportunity which is not so easy to take, being that finding somewhere to stay on this particular weekend is relatively difficult. However, I persevered, and booked myself a bed at Loch Ossian youth hostel for the Friday night. The plan was to go up on the train on Friday, get some walking in, stay the night, and walk some more on Saturday before getting the train home. The plan succeeded.

An excellent weekend was had. Perhaps the only thing that I would have changed would be to walk the length of the loch fewer times. The hostel is at the railway-end of the loch; on Friday I went from the station up the side of the loch, and back over Sgor Gaibhre and Carn Dearg. Nice walk, bit cloudy but the summits were often clear. Was chased along the ridge by a cloud though.

The hostel's in a lovely location by the way, would recommend it to anyone. On Saturday morning I left the hostel, up the loch again, and up Beinn Eibhinn. It was a beautiful sunny morning, I spent a while sitting around a lochan near the top, and sunning myself on rocks! Unfortunately my elated mood meant I did not realise that I had not in fact gone to the top of Aonach Beag as planned until I was back down by the lochside, but this did not ruin a lovely long walk. In any case, I shall hopefully visit that hill from the other side sometime this summer.

It's nice to have the time to not rush, to muck about rock-hopping down the stream down the hill, and stop to take lots of photos. The massive number of photos snapped means I actually got some decent ones:

Had an excellent walk by Glen Shee yesterday. Off with my dad for a spot of Munro bagging! The land around here is all fairly high up, but relatively flat in places. We went for a walk taking in six hills (Craig Leacach, Glas Maol, Cairn of Claise, Tom Buidhe, Tolmount and Cairn an Tuirc), but relatively speaking there wasn't much height gain (significantly less than my two last week, or our two the week before). So it was an enjoyable walk, never really a slog, although my dad might disagree since he was the one cycling back to the starting point to pick up the car!

Most of the hills were fairly uninteresting, depending which side you're coming from, but when the clouds were up there were some nice views to the North and West.

The weather has turned this week. We were out yesterday in shirt-sleeves much of the time, as it was pleasently warm. Not much snow surviving, although the remaining cornices look quite nice.

Oh yes, lots of wildlife out there. Saw my first ptarmigan (in flight), millions of mountain hares, lots of grouse, and a few deer. Of course it's hard to photograph these things, but here are some pictures:

At five in the morning, when I've been lacking in energy recently, I wasn't convinced that getting up and getting a train North for a big day of walking was a great idea. Fortunately, something or other prevailed. The weather turned out fine, nay it was a gorgeous day. I mean I was actually too hot all day (well, until waiting around on a station platform after sunset). Sun hot on my face, great views; effort is rewarded.

I took a train up the west highland line to Ardlui, and walked over Ben Vorlich and Ben Vane to the next station down, Arrochar & Tarbet. Quite a long day, in terms of distance and ascent, since between the two hills is a glen with a (dammed) loch. 8.5 hours it took me, station to station; there were just over 10 hours between my trains.

There wasn't much snow around. Which meant it was the first time I actually needed to use my crampons; the top of the hills were basically a sheet of ice. Nice to be able to just walk up it.

Just had quite a full weekend. On saturday my dad picked me up for a walk around Loch an Daimh. The weather didn't seem too good; it was snowing while we were driving up Glen Lyon, overcast and it would clearly be windy. However we persevered, and we were rewarded with a beautiful day.

Our circular walk went over the shapely Stuchd an Lochain, down to the far end of the loch, then back over Meall Buidhe. Nice to do a circular walk around the natural route, and the surroundings were suitably stunning. While we seemed in danger of being blown clean off the first top, the clouds lifted and stayed away, giving spectacular views of the snowy mountains all around. Wonderful. Some of my dad's pictures:

Unfortunately I didn't feel so great towards the end of the walk. Completely knackered. Anyway, afterwards we popped in on my grandma, and then my dad dropped my at mum's, where I stayed the night before returning to Edinburgh on the train. Climbing at the wall with dearg on Sunday, again completely knackered. Don't seem to be quite in full health at the moment. Pretty knacked again last night too, but then I did play badminton, and didn't sleep so well on Sunday night.

I hope Matthew doesn't mind me posting a copy of his picture taken when we were on the Cobbler before christmas:

It's snowing! In Edinburgh. Pretty.

(Apologies for length.)

So, snow. Wind the clock back a few weeks, and I was sitting here wondering if there'd be a decent amount of snow for my Winter Mountaineering course, since there wasn't much around, even in the Cairngorms. Turns out that wasn't a problem. It went cold the week before I went, followed by a windy weekend with big snow dumps, road closures on the Sunday, and so on.

So, I arrived in Aviemore on Friday night, and checked into my accommodation, the Carn Mhor, a B&B which is to be recommended. Saturday, a huge fried breakfast (which fortunately was a constant throughout the week, keep the energy up), then picked up and off to the hill. The Car park for the Cairngorm ski area provides handy access for the hill, so we were off there, got our stuff together (ice axe and crampons, which I purchased), and off up the hill. The rest of the day was mainly taken up by ice axe arrests, sliding down a slope in various positions and then stopping yourself with your axe. And finding out how difficult it is to put crampons on with numb fingers; the weather was quite cold and windy, even off the top.

Sunday the road up to the high car park was closed, although it was perfectly possible to drive up it seems they shut it for the saftey of all the midterm-weekenders. So after a bit of a walk we went off to dig snow shelters. Which was interesting. After this, we went up the hill a bit more, partly for some step-cutting practice. Also went over a small ridge and found a very interesting snow formation (see this page, which has a photo of this as well as our group on various days). And found out how tricky it is to climb up through a cornice of unconsolidated snow—it just sort of falls away, an inch upwards and two foot forwards. And here's another tip—sometimes it's easier and quicker to crawl on deep fresh snow than to wade through it.

Okay, Saturday and Sunday were with some other people who were just there for the weekend. Although a few people did come out to dinner during the week as well, which was nice. Never had to eat alone. Anyway, Monday was basically ropework practice, practically in Ron's (the instructor's) back garden, including digging snow belays.

On Tuesday we were off to the hill again, this time to Coire an t'Sneachda. This was a stunning day, the weather was absolutely beautiful. The walk in was pleasent with a relatively small amount of clothing in the blazing sunshine, could have been in the alps. And the views, with ice and snow-plastered rocks, and distant hills...

Some valuable practice holding falls, good for confidence, and then up a short gully, with Ron taking us up on the rope. Really enjoyed this, particularly the harder rocky step. Then unroped and went down an easier slope, to walk off with the last light of the day.

Wednesday was "put it all together day". Unfortunately one person didn't feel up to the climb, but two of us went up Jacob's Ladder, an easy grade I gully. Was good fun; we were basically doing this on our own steam, belaying each other up, with the instructor climbing up alongside telling us how to set up anchors and so on. Slightly more realistic weather, the wind really does funnel into a gully, suddenly blasting your face with icy pellets and then dying down to nothing.

All in all a great week, and I'm sure I've forgotton lots. Glad I did it. On thursday I went off on my own to do Ben MacDui rather than getting an earlier train home, which given the conditions was a test of navigational skills (I passed). Completely alien landscape when all you can see, up or down, is white. Also tricky to walk in a straight line.

Anyway, good week, learnt lots, and will be out in the snow as soon as I can. Have a look at the winternet page for some pictures, my camera gave up the ghost in the cold.

I have an internet connection! BT man fixed my phone line. Much rejoicing.

Active weekend. Went with dearg up Arthur's Seat on the way to climbing wall on saturday (much playing with overhangs), and to the Pentlands yesterday. Was a nice walk, if a bit nippy. Half of Edinburgh seemed to be walking in the Pentlands yesterday, and we met people I knew (one of whom I share an office with...). Dinner and a pint at the Flotterstone inn... mmm...

Tutorials have started again. I get to have fun with Algorithms!

Also, I'm doing a winter skills course in the Cairngorms in a few weeks. Hope the weather is good to me... And my feet recover/don't blister...

I think that's it for the week. Should hopefully have a working phone/net line on Monday, the BT person is visiting. Fingers crossed.

Merry Christmas everyone, since I won't be posting tomorrow!

Before I forget, last Saturday I was away again. Went with Matthew to The Cobbler, just beside where I was the previous week. And it was magnificent!

I think anybody who's seen it will agree that the Cobbler is an impressive hill, but the weather... It was a stunningly clear day, there was a good deep covering of new snow on the hills, with this and and the contrasting rocky protrusions being illuminated by the warm light of the winter morning—beautiful.

As I've been told, I'm a big kid. I just loved wading around in the deep snow, here and there sinking past the waist into a drift... I feel like I could go forever on these kinds of days, the relative difficulty of making progress being completely overwhelmed by the sheer joyous energy it fills me with. Big kid and proud of it!

Time passes. Oops.

So, last weekend nothing really happened. I don't remember doing much, but at some point (Sunday) we must have went to the market in Princes St gardens, had a pakora while glancing at people ice skating, and then ended up shopping. The results of this were two cookbooks, some clothes, and a teapot.

The upshot of this is drinking loose leaf tea, and a muffin quest. Before buying the cookbooks, dearg had tried to make chocolate chip muffins, and not quite got it. Then there were more chocolate muffins (better) from The Big Book of Bread, and I did some banananana muffins from The Classic 1000 Cakes and Bakes (a surprisingly good volume). I still think the chocolate muffins might be better with a recipe without yoghurt.

That really takes us through the week. In contrast, I had a busy and tiring weekend... On Friday night, I decided to head for the hills the next day, so rising well before the crack of dawn on Saturday I went up on the train to the Arrochar Alps. In about 5 hours I managed to go up Beinn Ime then Beinn Narnain, and arrive by the track back to the station just in time to miss the train by 10 or 20 minutes (if I ran).

So a little wander around the village, a couple of phone calls, and then time for about 4 hours sitting around waiting for a train in an unmanned station. I need a longer book next time.

No photographs, I didn't bring a camera, which was fairly sensible given the weather—not wet until the evening, but much low-lying. The impression from the top of Beinn Ime was rather spectacular though, as I emerged above the clouds at the summit, and found myself standing above a sea of cloud, with one or two of the higher surrounding peaks just poking through into visibility.

Oh, and Sunday was the climbing wall, for the first time in about a month, just to make sure that I feel excercised today.

Not a great deal happening at the moment.

Had a good day on Saturday though. I went to the Pentlands with dearg, and it was an enjoyable mostly-dry walk. It's a bit colder now, leading to the usual amusement of me trying to put layers on in a sudden strong freezing wind at the first peak. Must get some warmer clothing.

Either we finished at just the right time, or it's a lot more pleasurable walking up a hill in the rain than standing at a bus stop.

In cosier news, I recently borrowed and read Going Postal, the latest Terry Pratchett. As engrossing as expected, if perhaps a little too believable. Must pick something else to read tonight.

Um. That's it.

Okay, so I came back last week, after not walking very far or climbing hills. Took a train north, the world was of the wet, misty, boggy variety, and after spending a few hours getting soaked trudging through boggy moorland with an increasingly heavy feeling pack I decided not to bother. Walked to the now "usual" youth hostel over a decent enough section of the west highland way (would like to do that some time, if it wasn't too busy), and in due course came home. Some time remind me to go away when the weather's nice...

Seem to be getting a bit better at the climbing wall; unfortunately dearg's not been having such luck there. Wanna get outside sometime.

In common with about everyone else, I shall mutter about the weather. Mutter.

Been overcast and muggy recently. Then at the weekend it got even warmer, and the sun came out. On Saturday dearg and I went walking in the Pentlands (Northern end, from Caerketton Hill down to Black Hill). Quite pleasent, often too hot, and a nice view of Edinburgh (though could barely see as far as East and West Lomond).

Not much on Sunday.

Now it's a bit wet. Was going to go for a walk this coming weekend; a swim may be on the cards instead.

I was going stir-crazy when last weekend came to be. The weekend i'd promised myself away... to the hills! So, a trip to Dalmally via Crianlarich was altered, due to some kind of weird kid-camp event in Dalmally involving all the accommodation being booked to a weekend in Crianlarich. The hostel there is decent enough, so this was okay, and off I went, Friday to Sunday.

Friday rolls round. Not getting to bed overly early, I take the 11.30 train to Glasgow, to catch the afternoon train, getting in at Crianlarich at about half 2. As before, I am impatient to take to the hills, and hence I do. Destination: Cruach Ardrain. And the connected hill, Beinn Tulaichean.

Off I toddle up the road, up the track and up the hillside. The spirit of the weekend makes itself known as expected; when I reach the start of the ridge—always, it seems, the hardest part of the climb, through the squelchy lower ground—the rain falls from the sky, and the wind caresses me gently. So, time to test my stuff, and on goes the waterproof jacket and trousers. I was to be impressed by my so-far unused trousers, which got an outing all 3 days and seemed to do what it says on the tin.

Anyway, walked up a pleasent ridge towards the nicely shaped summit of Cruach Ardrain. As I was nearing it, the sun came out with some rain still in play, and there was the beautiful scene of the shapely top alongside a rainbow. First rainbow I've seen which doesn't seem it is above me. In any case, judging I had enough time to get back at a decent hour to check in, I skirted the top and headed for Beinn Tulaichean, in reality just the far end of a fairly gentle connecting ridge.

Not long after I was back, heading for the top. Up to the top. Very nice. Down the other side, and towards my bed. Back via the other arm of this little armchair formation (they seem to be all over the place, in this area at least), the arm nearest Crianlarich. Over a Top, and down the side of the hill, squelch squelch squelch. This was a familiar sensation by the end of the weekend, and I think I broke myself in lightly. Down beside a stream, caught the road through the forest and back to town, off a little path that comes out just beside the hostel. Great.

The next morning, duly fed and watered, I was up for the big day. The objective was to go up Ben Lui, Beinn a'Chleibh, Ben Oss and Beinn Dubhchraig. An hour's walk up the road (the worst part of getting around by foot) takes me to the start of the Cononish glen, and there is a long and pleasent walk up through and to the hills. I finally end up at a stream/river at the foot of Ben Lui (where does the transition lie?), with Ben Lui's imposing mass towering above me. The bugger looks steep. An impressively shaped steep-walled corrie is the main visible feature, and also forms this route up.

So, to cross a stream. With it being wet, I was never going to be walking across the stones, but I thought I could cross at this point. Oops. It was quite reasonable, water only going up to a safe point on my boots, when there is the fateful wrong step, the water just a little too deep, and I'm over with a soaking right foot. Before the day's walking. Bah.

So, up a path to the corrie, and then up some rocky slopes. The imposing walls tower above you; I ended up going up the south-western one. After meeting up with a couple of amiable guys (although everyone seems amiable in the hills) I wander up the direct path up the ridge. It seems to be a nice path, a little exposed, but the rocks were dry and the weather seemed to be holding, so off I went. Unfortunately I paused at the wrong moment, unsure of what lay ahead and whether I could confidently reverse the next bit if I didn't like that, and my nerves went. Off back down this path to follow the more gentle path that curves around the hillside.

This path peters off in a boggy watery area, beside the wreckage of an old plane. Seeming to be at the end of the path, I went up towards the ridge. After clambering up the grassy slope I eventually met up with the path along the ridge to the summit, but in the meantime the mist descended, and I was rather unsure as to quite what I'd meet on this ridge at the limit of my vision. Anyway, there was a path, and up to the top I went, a shorter walk than I was expecting at this point in these distorting surrounds. I could see the cairn at the top, and the 3 or 4 connecting paths; that was about all.

Back down it was, and I came to one of those instinct-disagrees-with-compass moments; of course as always the compass is right, and I followed it. I chose not to go up Beinn a'Chleibh, what with taking a long time over Ben Lui and the weather not being so great, so I headed off to Ben Oss. Big long connecting ridge/plain/thing, and up the long slow slope of Ben Oss. Fortunately the clouds lifted, and I could actually see where I was; the shape of Ben Lui I found rather impressive.

Up to the top of Ben Oss, nice walk, and down and over to Beinn Dubhcraig. Up the steep but short path there, a little walk and up to the summit. Nice views from there and Ben Oss, you can see a ridiculous number of peaks all around you. Hope to climb many of them in the future. So back down a bit, and I descend beside a stream to the head of the glen. This is one of these paths beside a stream which is sometimes nice and rocky and gives lovely views of waterfalls and so on, and sometimes is an elongated stretch of mud and water surrounded by forest. Squelch squelch squelch, I make my way down by the stream. Squelch squelch, after an eternity make it to the bottom, across a bridge and squelch squelch squelch over to a track under the railway and off to the road. Now the worst part of these days, an hour squelching up the road back to the hostel. After 10 hours walking in the hills, this is decidedly unpleasent, and just must be endured.

Good atmosphere in the couple of nights I stayed at the hostel, chatting with folk. Went out for a couple of pints with the folk in my room on Saturday night, escaping the loud interactions of a bunch of kids, about to do some duke-of-edinburgh expedition or some such. Good. And to bed with the certain knowledge that tomorrow entails a slow morning followed by a train home.

Get up, not in a hurry to do anything. Slowly amble along until I check out. Wonder what to do. There are two trains home, this being a Sunday. The first is at about 2, the other about 7.30. So, I have about 5 hours to waste. Wander about for a while. Boring. A gander at my map. I noticed some points of interest on the far side of the river and railway, the route to which coincides with the route to a Munro I hadn't considered. So, off that path, let's see where it takes us.

I'm exhausted. Feet ache, etc. Twinge in my left leg. Wander up this path. Got to waste X hours. Ah soddit, let's see if I can drag myself up to Ben Challum. I can always turn back, eh. So, to the end of the path along the hillside, gaining some height thereby. Then up, squelch squelch, I reach a stream and go up roughly alongside it. Nice stream. Upon hitting the fence, a path appears—and suddenly the hillside seems to be rather busy, too busy maybe—and I squelch up that. Argh, tired, drag myself up, squelch squelch. Splat squelch. Gets a bit muddy, eh. I think it's well over half way up, height-wise, when a hill actually appears. Not very impressive, after just going up such a long gentle slope.

Still, a hill begs to be gone up, and go up it I do. Funnily enough there's a lot more strength in my legs when I can see something that looks like the top, or near enough. In this case, not the real top. Up the path we go. Misty again at the top. I can see a cairn or three, but turns out there's a little ridge, a little dip and up to the real top, where there were some views to be garnered. Only realised this when I took out my second map, as the other one ran out.

So, up and down, squelch squelch. Tried to hit the track along the hillside, but missed. Skirted past the end of it it seems, and made my own way back through the ferny slopes. Hard going, seems like an eternity, finally made it to the railway bridge, and back over the water onto the road. A short walk back to the town, and off to the station. To wait 4 or 5 hours on the second train, the first being passed. An annoying lack of money for food/drink at the station cafe resolved itself via a very handy cashback from the village shop, and some much appreciated (but pretty crappy (but not too expensive)) food, steak+kidley pie and such, and a much welcome coffee.

Quite some time of waiting with my weary limbs and sore feet. This, however, passsed quite pleasently, the station does have views of a few hills, some green stuff, and I proceeded to sit and finish reading On The Road, a book I have finally got around to reading. Not exactly life-changing, I perhaps expected it to mean more, but on the other hand I also think I should have read it earlier.

Home, zonk. Chippie round the corner seems to do edible chips. My bed is as welcome as always after even a short trip away. Bye bye.

PS: Pictures will follow in due course. Didn't get many good shots, but I'll put up something ASAP.

Aka Ben More and more.

As of last weekend this flat was no longer open for viewing, and I decided to go away walking. After flicking through my books and train timetables, I decided to do what I've meant to do for a month or so now, and take a day trip to the so-called "Arrochar Alps". This involved getting the 7.00 train to Glasgow, in order to catch the first Fort William train. Really didn't require my Sunday to be free, but should be fun.

I woke up late due to failing to set my alarm. I'd changed the time of the alarm, but not activated it. D'oh! I believe this is the first time I have woken up late at 6.45.

Anyway, no harm done. Since I was looking forward to getting away, I persuaded myself not to go back to my warm bed for some more kip, knowing I'd regret it later. After checking a few times, I decided to go to Crianlarich for the night, staying at the youth hostel there. Got my stuff together, remembered to make a flask of coffee and put my book in my bag, stopped by Thins^WBlackwells on the way to the train station to get a map, and I was off.

A very nice train journey it was too, from a bit out of Glasgow to Crianlarich at least, going up the side of Loch Long and Loch Lomond, sun streaming through the windows, open to let in a gentle breeze. The book was The Winter Queen, which describes itself as "Tolstoy writing James Bond with the logical rigour of Sherlock Holmes". Quite amusing, a little farcical, and I'm not entirely sure whether I enjoyed the plot; the style of writing, however, was a pleasure to read.

The second train gets into Crianlarich at about 2.30, and everything was running very promptly. When I finally got my bearings, I headed off out on the road East, towards the imposing form of Ben More. Feels a little dangerous walking along the road actually, while the cars were all very considerate and left a wide margin, even though I walked off the road when cars were coming, they still go at quite a speed and I find it quite intimidating, particularly when tired.

Anyway, got to the farm at the foot of Ben More, and proceeded to climb by the direct route. This is, as I had been lead to believe, a right slog. It got a bit chilly, and the visibility was closing in, so I was glad to meet the path to the top. Naturally it's always a bit further than you think, even when you second guess yourself. Some patches of snow in the lee... Got to the top, could see bugger all; the trig point was visible from the other end of the summit plateau, but that's it. I like the formation of rock below the trig point, lovely shelter to stop in for a bite to eat.

Anyway, yeah, went along the ridge to the bealach, and up to Stob Binnean. The climb was rather more pleasent, and not merely by virtue of having already gained much of the height already. From Stob Binnean, I had to head back up the valley to the road, not wanting to get caught out after dark.

Got back to the hostel, checked in (I am now a member...), dumped my stuff and headed for the pub. Unfortunate that I hadn't got around to picking up some pasta or something to cook for dinner, but I wasn't as hungry as I could have been after my sandwiches, so I settled for a couple of pints at the "local". I say that, rather a touristy place it was at the time. Live music from a bunch of jokers; nothing special, and in times cringeworthy, but an okay end to a day.

I was up early as possible the next morning - this turns out to be just after 7.00 - and out of the hostel by 7.30. This provided plenty of time to sleepily wander off the wrong road out of Crianlarich. Took me a while to realise, so by the time I wandered over to where I meant to be (via a short stretch of the West Highland Way) I'd lost quite a bit of time.

Anyway, to cut a long story short—or, at least, to preview it—I climbed An Caistel, Beinn Chabhair and Beinn a' Chroin that day, bringing the total to 5 Munros for the weekend. I've a funny feeling I'm becoming a bagger...

Was hard going after the previous day's walking, but I struggled up the ridge leading to An Caistel, and very glad I was of it too. My path to the top was a long walk along the ridge of Twistin Hill, and