We're Going Down!

Well, May Day has come and gone, and nothing special happened here. In some places they tie loads of ribbons to a pole on the village green and dance around it like demented Morris dancers. Actually, perhaps they are Morris dancers, I'll have to check that one and get back to you. Locally, there's a holiday on Monday, which they're calling the May day holiday, even though it's four days too late. Nevermind, we'll take any time off regardless of whether or not it falls on a specific date loosely corresponding to pagan rituals celebrating Spring and symbolic re-birth.

Better than that, the weather forecast for Monday is looking good, in which case I'll be heading down to Glenshee in an attempt to quadruple my Munro tally in a single trip. I managed to get myself a pair of gaiters from Tesco for £7, thus perpetuating the myth that hill-walking can be done relatively cheaply. It also looks like my son might be going on a trip to climb Lochnagar in several weeks, and that adult helpers are required. I think I'm the ideal adult helper for that journey, yes indeed!

Increasingly Tight Contour Lines!

Yeah, so ask me how the shopping trip went. It went alright actually, although I do have a real stinker of a headache now. That could be because of the driving though, I think I have a mild form of travel sickness. Anything over an hour in a car, and I'm liable to receive a migraine for it! Of course you don't care, it's the way of the World. Obviously you have your own problems, everyone seems to have them nowadays. Funny how you never heard the soldiers in the trenches in WWI complaining, and they had something to shout about. Whatever happened to that bulldog British spirit? I actually hate it when I catch myself moaning, negativity is habitual, and it does you no good!

To be fair, I actually scored from our shopping trip, my wife was meant to be spending her birthday money, but I ended up with a few decent purchases myself. As you l know, I'm still trying to get myself properly kitted out for a spot of hillwalking. So, I got myself a jacket and a couple pairs of hiking trousers today. I'm still having difficulty acquiring gaiters though, can't seem to find exactly what I'm looking for. I also need a decent rucksack, I can't keep using my son's school bag (you believed that?)!

I picked up a few Ordnance Survey maps as well, looking ahead to the Summer. We're hoping to make a few forays into Munro territory then, and hopefully chalk off a few of those 284 Munros still waiting to be bagged. Nothing too strenuous or out of the way for a start. From what I can tell so far, there are quite a few that are what you migh refer to as inaccessible, then there are those which could be called vertigo-inducing. Those I will leave well alone!

Nothing But Scrap Metal!

I'm afraid it's lights out for my old car, the one I put off-road on Monday. The intention was to get it repaired and sell it, but it appears that it's too far gone even for that. Seems like I did exactly the right thing, not putting it through it's M.O.T. and buying another car instead. My instincts serve me right again, although I wasn't the one labouring under the delusion that it was repairable. Now everyone's in agreement, it's no good for anything but scrap. It never was a great car, it looked alright, but was dogged by niggling problems, design faults if you ask me. But you won't ask me will you Vauxhall? I won't have another of your cars though, so you've shot yourself in the foot there!

Looks like we're set for snow here again, my fledgling hill-walking career has been severely hampered by the weather, oh wait, this is Scotland isn't it? Regardless of whether it snows again or not, I'm going to bag another Corbett next week. I have my eyes set on the biggest Corbett in the Grampians; "Morven", and if it happens to be covered in snow, then so be it. At least I shpould get some nice photos out of it. Mind you, I also have to squeeze in a day's shopping in Aberdeen, which will be harder on the feet that any hill-walk. I'm sure I've covered some torturous shopping expeditions in this blog before. My wife has a stamina for shopping that beggars belief. I'll find some excuse to duck out of part of it though, perhaps I need to acquire some OS maps, yes, that's right, I won't be able to get those anywhere else.

Going back to the hill-walking, I'm still ill-prepared. I have acquired several necessities such as maps, compass, hiking boots, trekking poles etc. but I still need a decent jacket, gaiters and a rucksack. Crampons too if I'm going to go out in the white stuff. Mind you, I'm not one for extreme cold, or extreme heat either. I think average sort of days are best for hill-walking.