Posts Tagged ‘Walking’
The Drumochter Hills – 12th Sept 2010
Munro 1 Sgairneach Mhor
The plan had been to try and do Ben Nevis, but with miserable and misty sounding long range weather forecasts, that plan was put on hold !
12 of us instead opted to meet at Lay By 81 on the A9 , the plan being to take on the Munros of Sgairneach Mhor (Big Stony Hillside) 3251 Ft and Bein Udlamain (Gloomy Mountain) – 3317.
The start out was wee bit wet and waterproofs, gloves and hats needed. As usual an hour or so in it was time to remove layers as the sun was out.
Really nice walk, beautiful scenery . Despite it’s Gaelic translation Bein Udlamain wasn’t that Gloomy at all (although the Cairn was a bit messy with rusty bits of fence) and the group decision was that since we could see the Cairn of A’Mharconaich (The Horse Place)- 3199Ft that we might as well do that too !
3 Munros in 6 hours wasn’t bad going , and despite the frequent clothing layer adjustments, it was mainly dry and warm.
There were 12 other walkers (and a Collie Dog) that we saw / passed on our day out - guess that on a sunday Ben Nevis would have been far, far busier – so over all we had made the correct call !
Burn Crossing
Blue Skies and first clothes change stop
Munro 3 - A'Mharconaich
Where we had been
Early Start to Killin
Meall Ghaordaidh (Pronounced myowl jirdee)
3409 Ft . Sunday 15th August
With plans for the afternoon the best option for this walk was to set out early (rather than postpone).
Kathy and I got up 4.10am, DC arrived at Powmill 5.10am, roadworks on the Glendevon meant that we had to detour to get to Crieff to meet Robert and Elaine at 6.10am.
Got to Killin for around 7.00am and were ready to hit the hill by 7.10am.
The (almost) hourly photos below show our progress.
The benefit of starting early was that we had the hill to ourselves and it is a great feeling when walkers just starting out as you return comment how impressed they are that you have already bagged the Munro and it’s not even lunchtime.
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There are no post walk photos – but the rest of Sunday involved, beer, lawnmowers, beer, lunch, snooze, beer and in DC’s case a BBQ (where there possibly was beer)!
7.10am. Ready to set out
8.10 am
9.10am and still a bit to go
10.00 - Top of Meall Ghaiordaidh
11.10am Easier on the way down
12 Noon and back to where it all started. Calvin's face says it all !!
New Team Member – Introducing Robert Lynn
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).
Ben Lomond – Not all routes are equal
Twenty two of the Kilimanjaro (and support families!) expedition met up on a sunny Sunday morning at Loch Lomond to be greeted by Graham from Cameron House with ample bacon and sausage butties washed down with a juice or two.
We then started off, forgetting to look at the signpost and ended up doing the much more strenuous West route up to the top, firstly the top of Ptarmigan and then traversing onto the peak of Ben Lomond.
The last few metres were scary, scrambling up a steep rock face with the wind blowing all around! The views from the top were spectacular and as there were so many of us, some other climbers thought a bus party had arrived! A quicker descent followed down the route we should have taken, and I think all agreed, we had done the climb the right way as going down the steep side would have been pretty tricky!
After a quick look, back at base camp, at the Catering in Scotland magazine with its excellent article, some people headed off, and others went to the Boathouse at Cameron House for a fantastic informal bite to eat. Everyone had a story or two about their thoughts on Kilimanjaro….all very positive!
I bet everyone slept well on the Sunday night….ready to take on Ben Nevis next month!
Ben Vorlich – Training in Perthshire
On Sunday 9th, Alan, Robert, Cathy, Val, Susan, Calvin the pooch and myself all climbed Ben Vorlich near Comrie.
This is a beautiful Munro with views all over Perthshire up to Glencoe, Ben Nevis, Ben Lomond and over to Fife. On a sunny Sunday morning the intrepid explorers made a good start and were the only ones on the mountain. Practising with base layers, power aid drinks, polo’s and my new boots, we all made good progress to the top. It started snowing briefly at the top but then cleared up quickly to return to fantastic Scottish weather. The telescopic poles were a godsend and we’ll be using them on every journey from now on!
We stopped off for an ale on return to make sure we were hydrated properly!!
Top walk and one step closer…….!
Plenty of Hills to Roll Eggs Down
Sunday 4th April – Easter Sunday – Glen Sherup, Glendevon
This was the second of our training walks out of Gleneagles and whilst DC, Jenny and the family were sunning it up in Florida we set out over the (partly) snowy Ochil Hills for a Sunday stroll.
We met at the Glen Sherup car park at 9.30. We being Kathy, my long suffering wife, Susan Wishart, my long suffering PA, Elaine Watson (F&B Trainer and pretend photographer), Robert Lynn (The man with the GPS and the routes), and Calvin the Spaniel.
The trail was just short of 9 miles but took us 6 hours to do the circular route. Although we were making good time and the gradients not really that bad there were still stretches of the route that had snow drifts to be crossed – which was hard work for the ladies (all under 5ft 4”).
Stopped half way and had our Easter Eggs, which doubled as a Birthday Cake for Susan. Not much rolling required though with a Galaxy Caramel egg!
Luckily the weather held and the dark and grey skies stayed behind us on the final straight (which wasn’t really that straight and as well as the twists in the path involved a burn to jump and then an even bigger burn to try and get over only using a former gate).
All in all a great day!
