Stuc a' Chroin and Ben Vorich

Stuc a' Chroin and Ben Vorich

Friday 28 June 2013

Wedding anniversary





Wedding anniversary celebrations then a quick turnaround and off to the Lake District.

Unfortunately, the MRI scan of my knee showed a small tear in the posterior horn of the medial meniscus so it looks like the knife later in the year. I had hoped I wouldn't need surgery but the cartilage injury is causing hamstring tendon issues so no such luck. Hopefully I'll manage to enjoy the forthcoming holiday and then September in the Braemar area before I get fixed.

Blogging has taken a back seat of late - to be honest I've lost the habit with all this knee trouble.

Do hope you are all enjoying the 'summer'.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Tuesday 18 June 2013

Oh Joy!!

'Sleat Lady', a Beneteau Oceanis 393 belonging to Isle of Skye Yachts has just moored in Loch Dunvegan. What a sight. Gorgeous. I look forward to seeing her every year.

You can't see her in this miserable photo, but she is out there!
Sent from my BlackBerry®

Monday 17 June 2013

Sunday 16 June - Red Cuillin


An atmospheric morning. Clouds breaking over the hills, the smell of the western sea. Midges out in full force.

We parked at Sligachan, Sgurr nan Gillean, Am Basteir and The Tooth peeping at us through the mist. Memories of days on the Cuillin. Incomparable days; gabbro-worn finger tips; worrying times in mist trying to ensure our descent was not of the airborne variety; a storm on the In Pinn with non-climbing friends on their second round of the Munros and one of them filming it; balmy days just watching the world go by; camps at Glenbrittle imagining the scene in the days of Steeple, Barlow and other early pioneers. We will be back. But I digress, as the say.

Today we were heading for the granite of the Red Cuillin. Specifically for Beinn Dearg Mheadhonach, one of three tops forming the two and a half mile ridge of Beinn Dearg Mhor.
'Hang on', shouted Lynne. Not for the first time, I'd missed the path and was heading down Glen Sligachan. Path junctions are my nemesis.

Across the myrtle-scented moor we went, avoiding the boggy bits, losing the path and finding another, into some boggy bits, back onto the path. Cuckoos were about somewhere.

The ascent to Druim na Ruaige is steep, but a steady rhythm brought us to the cairn quite quickly it seemed. Little or no wind meant midges began to feast when we stopped for tea and cake so the halt was brief.

The dark clouds engulfing the Cuillin and Marsco began to lift but it was not to last and, by the time we had crossed the pleasant, grassy, Druim na Ruaige and started up the final slopes, light mist was skimming even our lowly hill. A few feet away a ptarmigan and chicks hurried away over the granite scree.

Having previously traversed the ridge in fine weather we opted for a descent to 'break out the food and the drink' as a friend said after the epic on the In Pinn mentioned earlier.
Then back to Sligachan.

Alan S - yes Gleann an Fhiodh was pretty dry. The area had ten days of great weather just before our arrival! I imagine you had it at its worst. Trying to get connected to Highland Wi-Fi here on Skye is hopeless which is ironic since the guy who founded it is local! If you substitute the words 'Highland Wi-Fi' in your review of the Rab pull-on, you'll get an accurate description of my opinion of it.
Take care.



Sent from my BlackBerry®









Saturday 15 June 2013

Friday 14 June - Gleann an Fhiodh

The weather this morning was a bit iffy so we listened to Conrad Anker on Desert Island Discs (and very interesting he was too) before making up our minds what to do. We have no specific hill objectives in mind which makes for a relaxing feel to the holiday but I do need some longish days out to get hill toughness back. Fitness, on the other hand, seems little affected by the enforced layoff. Fortunately I see no reason why 'the knee' can't be challenged after success on Am Bodach on Thursday.

Anyway,eventually we decided to walk from the site to Ballachulish and take the ROW up Gleann an Fhiodh although we'd left it too late to seriously consider climbing Sgorr a' Choise, the steep Marilyn which towers above the glen. It would have been climbed today (Saturday) had we not decided to come further north, and tonight we are on a site only three miles from the Skye Bridge so I suspect we'll be on the Island tomorrow.

The site has Highland Wi-Fi but it's £3 an hour, £6 a day, £20 a week. This appears to be the price everywhere for Highland Wi-Fi but once logged in you can use it anywhere there is a HWF hotspot. That said I could buy two hours Wi-Fi at Invercoe for £2.

Now, what will we do tomorrow on Skye?

Thanks to D+D for looking after the house.









Sent from my BlackBerry®

Thursday 13 June 2013

Am Bodach

We are now at the cairn on Am Bodach and the Mamores are deserted. It only remains to be seen if my dodgy knee (which has been fine on the way up) will get me down again!

Lynne beside me and a summit cairn. What more could I ask?

Sent from my BlackBerry®

Wednesday 12 June 2013

Tuesday 11 June - Loch Eilde Mor

I hardly noticed the steep ascent from the small car park in Kinlochleven such was my focus on where I was putting my feet. My nine month old knee injury has made me hyper-vigilant! However, the beauty of the woodland scene didn't escape
me: bird song, the scent and colour of wild hyacinths, honeysuckle and rhododendron, the freshness of new birch leaves, the sound of running water.

As we left the woods it started to rain, heavily enough to need waterpoofs, but not even a Scottish blizzard could have suppressed my delight at being back among the hills. Tea and cake in the rain never tasted so good.

The path skirts Meall an Doire Dharaich while to the north Na Gruagaichain's steep slopes fall to meet the LRT from Mamore Lodge. At the cairn where our path and the LRT meet, a large group had gathered.

They were a Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award party on their way back from a three day backpacking trip in the Loch Treig area. They'd been lucky with the weather and the midges had not been too bad apparently. Most looked happy and each gave us a cheery greeting as they filed past.

We continued to the boat house at the loch which, I felt, might be far enough to test the knee so, after a brief stop, we returned by our outward route.

The knee survived the admittedly short walk over easy ground so now it needs a real day out on a big hill. Hope the weather improves!
































Sent from my BlackBerry®

Sunday 9 June 2013

Away at last


After an abortive attempt to book in at the CCC site in Glencoe (fully booked the Site Manager said in an unfriendly manner). She was standing at the barrier when we arrived but waited until Lynne went into the office before telling us. A letter to the Club I think.

Anyway we are now at Invercoe and, with the motorcaravan facing down lovely Loch Leven, we have a wonderful view of Garbh Bheinn (photo). We were last on this site in 1991 when we left the caravan here and went off backpacking into Knoydart with our young Border Collie, Mist.. Another life.

What we'll do on this holiday will depend on how my knee holds up, but I won't bore you with the details.




Sent from my BlackBerry®