I have waited a very long time before making an attempt on the Old Man of Hoy, but as they say, "all good things come to those who wait".
Normally, Catrin and Di would head off to the Alps around this time of year to get scared on some mega death route (in our eyes anyway) but Catrin required absolutely no persuasion what so ever to head North.
The opportunity to sail up doesn't come up very often and despite the complete last minute approach of it all (some things will never change), we were rewarded with near perfect conditions.
I have heard lots of reports about climbing the Old Man and was completely blown away about the quality of the rock (much better than expected if you were prepared to wiggle around), the lack of Fulmars - you could count them on one hand - the lack of vomit and cr*p from Fulmars and the acceptance of the puffins to get photographed.
Catrin stamping our mark on the summit:
The local residents:
Ticking off the Allison was alway an essential detour:
The stack in all her beauty:
The magnificent Crazy Jane, home for the past 7 days. A massive thank you to Willie for enabling us to have such a fantastic adventure. Plans already being hatched for next year.
