cuillin traverse

Aye, not a bad 2 days ...

the wee minister

?

Yup, our continental friends can keep their over engineering Madonnas.  Meet the 'wee minister' - all that is missing is the dram in his hand - who is said to bring good luck to climbers and walkers.  Priceless ...

time to head west again

For 3 days I have been on my best behaviour.

I pulled on my Scot Peak hat for the first time and helped John out with the guys and gals from Elgin Academy.

I will now be requiring eye ball reconstruction having spent 2 days at Cummingston.

Looks like the sun is out on the west - better make the most of it ...

big price to pay ...

... for ultimate bike trailer action.

I really don't think that the majority of people have any idea about the Beauly to Denny power line being erected in Scotland at present.

Today, it was hard to miss :(

How many Corbetts do I need to do before I am officially a bagger of Corbetts?

Note: check out new ponytail hole in thermal top and funny wrist things to pull over hands when it gets cold!  Outdoor Research - bloody brilliant :)  I wonder if they do them in thermal bottoms for feet?

For the next 3 days I am going to have to be on my best behaviour - no taking the p*ss, no sarcastic comments and definitely no swearing ...  might have to have some vino tinto to calm the nerves.

never happy

There is only one thing worse than forgetting the camera and that is forgetting the memory card that fits in the camera.

To summarise:

Friday:  I done nothing but complain that it was too hot as I grunted my way up some routes at Dunkeld.

Saturday:  I done nothing but complain that it was the wettest I have ever been in May - don't get me started about the wind.

Sunday:  I done nothing but complain that the relative humidity must have been at least 100% and that I can't remember ever sweating so much.

Girls ... what can I say?

let the training commence

Derek has started training again.

This by default, means that Di has started training again.

One third of training normally means searching out big long mountain bikes with long uphill climbs.  There's not many places where you can bike to 850m but today we put the mountain back into mountain biking.

Not quiet sure what I'm training for .... suggestions?

the ciste

Yesterday, Ross & Di headed to the hills for a ML refresher day.

Will admit to getting slightly distracted occasionally by the boarders coming down the Ciste.  

Looks promising for the mid summer ski :)

summer cragging has finally arrived

Whoop ...

hello summer

Having spent the past 6 months in either rigid mountaineering boots, stiff climbing boots or ski boots, my ankles feel as if they have been in plaster casts.

Therefore it always comes as a bit of a shock when the summer season starts and I put on summer hill walking boots for the first time.

Today, I decided that I would combine the faithful mountain bike and the running shoes - just as well give the ankles a proper wake up call.

With a diddy rucksack I succeeded in the mountain bike bit but only managed to run about 500m (distance not vertical) of the hill climb due to pathetic hill running legs and deep, tussocky heather terrain.  Instead of wiping myself out completely I adopted the walking-with-a-sense-of-urgency approach.

Once the plateau was reaching, an excellent carpet of running friendly terrain lay ahead.  It feels good to move around the hills without a fleecy hat and gloves on :)

Never saw a sole all day and the only company I had was the birds and the newts.

trying not to get lost in the ochils

One of the best hill walking resources in Scotland is the website Walk Highlands.

© Andy Fair

Joining forces with the Mountaineering Council of Scotland this weekend the 2 bodies ran 2 x one day Navigation courses for it's members.

© Andy Fair

For a mere £35.00 they not only got a day on the hill with yours faithful or the MCofS Safety Advisor, Heather Morning, but also annual membership to the MCofS!

© Andy Fair

More dates have been arranged for 6th and 7th July.  I think I might book on one since I really am not good at navigating in anything less that a featureless plateau with zero visibility :)

© Andy Fair

A huge thank you to everyone who made these 2 days very pleasurable, especially to Andy for providing all the photos.

not all change is good ...

Dear Forestry Commission,

You can keep your over engineered land rover tracks and over constructed paths.

You can also keep your posh fancy loos.

And you can definitely keep your pay and display machines.

Some people just don't get it ...