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After the trip to Lawers group on Sunday 17th we had hoped to go back and tick off another three Munro’s in the group.  The thinking was to get this done before the clocks change next weekend and the days gets shorter.

At the planning stage we hadn’t factored in the first real fall of snow to Southern Perthshire.  Since we could see the snow on Ben Chonzie (3054ft) from Auchterarder and Crieff we knew that An Stuc  and Meall Garbh (both 3368 Ft) would be out of bounds.

So we set off instead to the Glenturret Estate to take in the now familiar 10 mile route up and round by Kenneths Cairn.

Blue skies and snow drifts

Elaine & Robert at Kenneths Cairn

As the trip went on,  the views of Lawers Range became clearer,  so we added a bit to the planned walk and headed on to the Cairn at Achnafree Hill and spectacular views of Ben Lawers , Beinn Ghlas , Meall Corranaich (all bagged on previous visits)  Meall Garbh and An Stuc (two of the three that got away today ).

Lawers Group from Achnafree

Glenturret Dam - not a snow drift in sight

Dropping back down to the dam was like walking from a winter scene into spring or summer !  Day well spent, bit of training and lots of fantastic scenery and wildlife (the mountain hares are , like last weeks Ptarmigan, also going white ) to photograph.

24th October 2010

Monday 11th October

After a hearty breakfast we set out for Ben Nevis and were ready to set out by 9.00am.  Seemed fairly quiet , but we had no doubt that given the beautiful weather that there would be plenty of other walkers out.

We had considered going up the North   face but settled for the “Tourist Route”, and glad that we did as it was plenty to be dealing with – still a climb and a half .

There wasn’t a breath of wind on the top, so we pottered about taking photos, chatting to other walkers , having lunch and general lazing in the sunshine for an hour or so.

Back off the mountain by 3.30pm.   The sense of achievement at reaching the top , and the thought of the reward at The Inn at the bottom put a spring in the step on the way down.

Coral Beach near Dunvegan

Sunday 10th October – rest day to enjoy the beach and travel  to Fort William

Saturday 8th October 2010

My Friends Graham and Annie are a month away from giving up living in Perthshire and heading to Skye.  Graham making his passion into a business (www.skyehi.co.uk) and setting up as a guide for the Cullins , Glencoe and Nevis Range.

So when they  offered to take us up a Skye Munro, we couldn’t refuse.

Elaine is not great with heights , well more the drops at the side,  but with Graham and Annie’s guiding , coaching and general persuasion we made it up Sgurr Dearg (3235 Ft).  The weather couldn’t have been better with low winds at the top, which was just as well as doubt Elaine would have gone the distance.

Once at the Summit the offer was there , along with the abseiling ropes, to climb the Inacessible Pinnacle, but on this occasion we politely declined (who knows ?  Maybe another day) .

This walk saw us out on the mountains for 9 hours, but great weather, great views and great company.

Corrie on way up

Closest we got to the Inaccessible Pinnacle

Graham and Annie did climb it !

Wee break on the way down

Friday 8th October

On returning from the team walk at the Drumochter Hills we were a bit disappointed to see that there was a 4th Munro so near.

So on the way North to Skye we made a stop off to take in Gael Charn (3008Ft) .  Despite the BBC forecasters promising wall to wall sunshine it didn’t seem to include the Dalwhinnie Area . Very muddy and slippy terrain once we crossed the rail tracks at Balsporran Cottages, and the visibility poor.

Didn’t seem that long until we got to a very convincing Cairn and stopped for cup of tea thinking we had reached the top.  Luckily checked the Sat Map and reaslised that there was a fair bit to go to the top.  Never on any of the walks that we have done so far have there been such high winds.

Wet and windy three and half hours up a marshy Hill , but another Munro ticked off

Convincing "Reached the Top Cairn" - but it wasn't !!

Battling into the winds

View from the Top

Iffy weather all the way to almost Balmacarra and then by Kyle of Lochalsh the sun was splitting the sky and the temperature reading of outside temperature in the car (at 17.00) was 21 degrees !

Sunday 26th September

Given the weather that we have braved bagging Munro’s over “The Summer” , it was great to have an Autumn hit of sunshine earlier today.  We had seen Ben Lawers when we did Meall Ghaordiadh, as well as in the distance on other walks,  and knew it was high on the To Do Wish  List.

Beinn Ghlas on the way to Lawers gave us a double Munro bag, but had we planned it  better or been able to predict the weather we may have done more.  There were a few other walkers up there doing 7 in the one outing !

Today has taken us to 16 Munro’s – a figure that was put into perspective by a guy from Brechin that we met near the top of Ben Lawers – he was at Munro 83 – having done all of them twice before !!

Ben Lawers is 10th Highest of the Munros, but has a good path all the way to the top and there were lots of other walkers out and about .  Well worth a visit for bagging a Munro, or 2 , or indeed 7 !

Beinn Ghlas - 3619 Ft

Ben Lawers - 3983 Ft

Glen Clova

As part of the ongoing Munro quest, Thursday 19^th saw Elaine and I “Bag” Mayar and then Dreish in Glen Clova.

The weather was good to us and the views fantastic. Easy accessible Munros with well trodden paths.

Glen Esk

The Sat Map Stats for the trip round Loch Lee on the Friday were:

17.4k, 5 hours, Elevation 262m, Max Climb 684m.

For those not up to speed on Sat Map Lingo – it was a long trek, up steep slopes over a heather grouse moor in the lashing wind and rain .  And Not even a Munro

With Kilimanjaro expedition getting ever closer I opted this year for a Highland Walking trip (rather than a Portuguese Golfing break).

Beauly for 3 days was the initial plan, but set off a day early so that Elaine could do the Stob Dearg Buachaille Etive Mor that we had done as a group in June.

The cloud cover was even lower than when we were all there – so we only did the one this time round. We knew all would be fine even if the weather closed right in – car park with 6 RAF Mountain rescue vehicles (training exercise) was reassuring.

Tuesday saw us in Glen Affric. Early start and beautiful scenery. 30 minutes in and trousers converted to shorts and the sunglasses on.

Double Munro Bag on a fairly well established route – first stage up Tom a Choinich (3648 Ft) –, which still had pockets of snow in sheltered areas. It seemed miles looking from the Cairn at Tom a Choinich to the Cairn at Toll Creagach (3458 Ft), but didn’t take that long once we got going. 8 hours from starting in sunshine to getting back to sunshine at the end. Great route

Despite seeing the BBC weather on the Wednesday morning news and the forecast of rain, rain and more rain – set out anyway – a 12 mile flat route round Loch Affric was always planned, so the low cloud not an issue. A few swollen burns coming down off the mountains (the ones that we had climbed the day before) that had to be waded through , but other than that it was a fine jaunt out. It was one of the good old Scottish weather days of “Wet Rain”, not “Cold Rain”!

There are 17 Munroes in the Affric and Strathglass area, so am sure that I will be back another time to Bag a few more and would recommend it, even in the rain!

Although have to say the midgies there are a hardy breed and had no fear at all of Skin So Soft. Worse than the midgies though for me were the clegs – a few bites resulted in a visit to the pharmacist in Beauly to get antihistamine and cream to reduce the swelling on bitten finger, hand & throat.

Hello,

Having been involved in the training walks that Alan Hill and David Cochrane were doing it was a privilege and total surprise to be asked to join the team going to climb Kilimanjaro for HIT Scotland.  An opportunity not to be missed.

I missed the deadline for the Catering In Scotland Magazine article, but thought it best to stick to the same format to tell you more about me.

Occupation: MD of Stag Shopfitting Ltd, specialists joinery manufacturing company in Stirling .  Have fitted many Hotels and Restaurants throughout the UK

Reason for taking part in the climb: I have recently started some serious hill walking and found it really exhilarating, so when the chance of going on this exciting challenge was presented to me I couldn’t resist.  The fact that I was helping towards a very worthy cause made it all the more worthwhile.

Likes: Golf, walking and spending time with my family, but also very fond of gourmet food and wine! Hence the need for the exercise to keep me in shape!

Dislikes: Late starts and missing the best part of the day, have to admit that I am an early bird.

Training to date: Spent quite a few Sundays recently bagging Munros with fellow sufferers, but, although tough and freezing, thoroughly enjoyed myself!  Perfect too for getting to know the GPS better  (boys and their toys!)

A lesser known fact about me: In 1993 I was responsible for surveying and manufacturing the shopfittings and transporting them to  Russia to then furnish  the first Scottish shop in St.Petersburg.  .This shop was then opened on St Andrews day (appropriate since St.Andrew is the Patron Saint of both nations).