Glen Ey

On Sunday, after the clocks went back, the wife and I decided to head to Glen Ey near Braemar for a spot of cycling, hiking and steep uphill walking (not climbing, it was hardly that). It started off bright and we began with a 12km or so cycle in, mainly on a gentle uphill. After that it was largely cross-country to reach Beinn Iutharn Mhor. It was quite a steep pull up the flank of the hill and it took us a while to reach the top. It wasn't too cold except for when rounding the corrie, where our faces were numb with the updraft.

Beinn Iutharn Mhor

Beinn Iutharn Mhor up the Ey Burn and beyond Altanour Lodge ruins

Odd rock

Looking down Glen Ey to Morrone

Loch nan Eun and Gleann Taitneach

Approaching the summit of Beinn Iutharn Mhor

From the summit we made our way down into the corrie where it was easiest to descend and then faced a crossing over some very inhospitable terrain for a few kilometres; bog, peat haughs, mud etc. It was pretty bad.  Eventually we pulled up onto the ridge at the other side though and it wasn't far to the top of the second Munro of the day: Carn Bhac. There were great views of the Cairngorms from here, all browns and greys as the hills are now wearing their Winter plumage!

Beinn a'Ghlo

Carn Bhac

The Cairngorms

The walk back down to the bikes was again through wild country, no paths, plenty of mud and water though. It seemed like such a long trudge and the rain came on a bit before we even reached the bikes. The ride back was much easier, mostly downhill and took about half the time of the ride in. 15 minutes after getting back to the car, it was dark. It seemed to come on all of a sudden. What a difference putting the clocks back an hour makes!

Going Out!

Well it's pretty cold and windy here right now, but I've decided to take advantage of a possible window of opportunity and head out on the hills tomorrow. The wind is going to drop significantly the foreacst claims, although it will still be close to freezing higher up. I'm hoping to bag 2 Munros, which will take my tally for this year to 28. I made 29 last year and 31 the year before, which was my first year hill-walking. Depending on several factors, I may get another chance to go out before the year's end and make it 30 for this year. That would be nice!

Not that the annual amount is really that important. I just feel that I need to sustain a reasonable figure in order to be able to complete within 10 years. Yes, that's 10 years in total to climb all of the Munros in Scotland. That's my projected total time required to achieve such a feat. Well, there are 283 Munros spread all across the country and there is a lot of travelling involved. That's probably the worst part. I don't like having to drive for extended periods, especially not before a long walk. You do tend to stiffen up a bit enroute.

I've been thinking about which Munro I would like to be my 100th. It will probably be May/June next year before I reach that figure, but I'd like to tackle one of the scarier ones like An Teallach or Liathach for the event. Some people might suggest that those aren't scary hills, but I'm no climber, just an ordinary walker and I've seen pictures of them which have scared the hell out of me. Quite often though, in reality, they aren't nearly as bad as you tend to imagine. That said though, the Lancet Edge in the Ben Alder group gave me a couple of cheek-clenching moments and it's considered quite tame.

Fab Day at Glen Shiel

On Monday the wife and I drove down to Glen Shiel to climb the four Eastern most Munros on the South Glen Shiel ridge. Given a fantastic forecast, with sunshine and no wind predicted, we were hopeful of a good day out. On the drive down it was quite foggy and when we got there the cloud was very low. As soon as we started walking though, we saw an eagle. A good omen?

The cloud persisted for a long time. We had to walk most of the way around the first Munro to reach the stalkers path which would take us to the top. At about 600m we started to climb out of the cloud. Was a cloud inversion on the cards?

What an amazing feeling being up above the clouds. We were loving it. If you wonder why people go hill-walking, it's for days like this.

It took us three hours to reach the top of the first Munro: Creag a'Mhaim. From there it took about 45 minutes to reach the top of the next Munro: Druim Shionnach.

An hour later we reached the top of highest Munro of the day: Aonach Air Chrith.

We were doing quite well at this point. Just over another hour later we reached the top of Maol Chinn-dearg, our final Munro of the day. We then started our long descent to the road.

We had to walk about 4km back along the road to the Cluanie Inn where we had parked. We decided to go in for a meal which was very good!

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!

Let Me Through!

Why is it that whenever I have free time, the weather turns bad, and as soon as my free time is up, it becomes beautiful once again? And, it's not just the holiday times either, quite often it's beautiful here all week long, then come the weekend, wind and rain. I'm not usually one to moan about the weather, but all I want is a few days out on the hills over the next 3 weeks, and if the weather's rotten for that whole time, then both you and I will know that the big man's got it in for me!

I'm trying to join a forum for hillwalkers, not really because I want to feel as though I'm part of something, but mainly just to help me plan out routes up hills, because on more than one occasion recently, my navigational skills have been called into question, in fact 3 times if I'm going to be open about it. On all 3 occasions I was vindicated, by finding the correct path, but that's not the point. The point is, that many of the hills I intend to climb, don't really have what you might call paths, per se. What I need is information form the horse's mouth so to speak, as to the best route to take, in such circumsatances.

I actually would like to hit a couple of Corbetts this Easter break, gearing up to do some Munros, later in the year, probably at Summertime, because I'm a fair weather man to be honest, and Highland conditions can get really bad, particularly on high ground, and at any time of year, but in Winter and even Springtime people die out there. Ben Rinnes is my number one target this Easter, I don't know how many times I've seen that hill in the passing and never been up it. Well, all that's going to change!

Climbing Up A Bloody Great Hill!

Behold an image taken with my digital camera, hugely compressed, although since I'm in it, clearly I wasn't operating the camera at this particular point in time. This is me just this afternoon, at the summit of the Bin of Cullen (320m). It's not a difficult ascent. From the South road, we went up, and back to the car in an hour. The village I'm pointing towards is Cullen, although if my wife had been a more astute photographer, she would have ensured that the old railway viaduct was in the frame. You could see it as clear as day!

It wasn't cold on the walk up, but it was definitely "fresh" at the top, as it always is, even on a glorious Summer day. Bizarrely, everyone we met on the way up, and on the way back down, had Black Labradors. There must be a sale on somewhere. And, while the dogs couldn't care less about us, it seems that they didn't much care for each other, because every 10 minutes we heard ferocious barking from afar, as the mutts encountered each other in the passing.

Anyhow, this camera will be put to better use I promise. Pictures of me, up a hill looking like a demented Jimmy Tarbuck, aren't everyone's cup of tea. Besides, I did promise to get some exercise, and here's the proof. I have bigger ideas though, I want to get myself up some Munros. The only drawback being my lack of suitable attire and equipment, coupled with my lack of cash, as a result of having spent the last four years at College and University. This year I will start making some money, but unfortunately must also start paying back some of those student loans!