Seasons Greetings

Work has got in the way of being able to fully appreciate this lovely white stuff but that will hopefully soon be rectified.

What has been nice is catching up with family and friends as well as re-connecting with those that I've lost touch with. There was also the small matter of a 600 mile round trip to Hull so that Steve could take Craig to see the Tigers against Man U - boys and their football!

Salomon Mission GTX Boot

I've had these on a few times now and so far they are just what I've been after to get me through the winter for most of my days out. Salomon describe them as being perfect for "light hiking" - take that whatever way you want ;-) They come in at 1210g for the pair and feel fairly easy on the feet.

They've handled saturated grassy stuff without me applying the famous arse plant (so far!!). They even seemed to be OK on rocky stuff too. Where I have been really impressed with them is how they handled the snow on Na Gruagaichan. It was hard enough that we were kicking steps. This was easy enough for Steve in his Scarpa SL's and Iain in his La Sportiva Nepals. Initially I followed their steps then decided to give it a go myself. I occasionally had to kick a couple of times on some of the really hard stuff, probably more down to my poor technique than the boot, but they managed well on the cover we had for the ascent. As my balance is rubbish I decided to apply the Kahtoola Microspikes for the descent. This was a good combination. Depending on the snow conditions I suspect they will get used a lot.

I'd bought these to replace my Keen Targhee Mids which had sprung a major leak. As they were just a year old I contacted the shop where I had bought them from to see what the score was. They had been badly affected by the floods in the Lakes, and advised to contact Keen direct. Within 24hrs Keen had sorted out where I could pick up a replacement pair. Fantastic customer service from Keen.

Na Gruagaichan, the hill that had it all

We had been joined for the weekend by our friends Iain Gallagher of Kendal Mountaineering Services and his partner Kirsten. A sort of plan was made over drinks the night before to get Iain onto some of the Mamores that he hadn't yet managed to bag. Mamore Lodge was the start point where the resident dug was patiently waiting for us to throw stones for him. There has never been a visit to Mamore Lodge where the dug hasn't been there. The landrover track made easy work of the first few km and then it was onto the open hill up the SW ridge of Na Gruagaichain.

It was great, the sun was shining, there was no wind and we knew that there was snow on top :-D Iain and I had already been threatening each other about snowball fights. The views were stunning. Then we noticed some really interesting cloud formations going on over Buaichaille Etive Mor. Onwards and upwards we went only to start going into some cloud ourselves and spotting our first brocken spectre of the day. Oh the joy

Could this day get any better, oh yes it could. The clouds were teasing us with views over the rest of the Mamores and towards the Grey Corries where PTC was off having his adventure. By the time we were on the summit we were all grinning like Cheshire cats snapping loads of photies and drinking in the fantastic vista. This makes up for the days which aren't so perfect.

We had spent so much time messing about that it was getting a bit late for us to do what we had originally planned. Not to worry, we were going to get some great views of the sunset. We even spotted the Na G gnome in the shimmery light ;-)

What a day . Thankfully we didn't have too much rough terrain to negotiate in the dark and we were soon back on the landrover track back to Mamore Lodge where the dug was still waiting, though this time he'd found a ball for us to throw. If only all hill days were as good as this.................

Unprecedented

Who'd have thought it. For the first time in I don't know how long, we had three days in a row on the hill and the weather behaved :-D

The Pap

Na Gruagaichean

 

 Brocken spectre below Binnein Mor

 The Pap

 Buachaille Etive Beag

 Please can I have some more............................

Playtime

It was Steve's birthday during the week, I wont mention how hold ;-), so as part of his birthday present I'm taking him to Glencoe for a few days. We're never normally stuck for accommodation options round that area as we've managed to find some cracking B&B's that suit our needs very well. This time however, we are going to be trying out the newly re-opened Glencoe Hotel.

I'd always said if I won the lottery I'd buy this place and open it as a hill friendly establishment. It looks like the new owners have had the same idea as you can see from their website.

We shall report back....................

Beinn Dubh

I really haven't been out on the hills enough recently for one reason or another. Not a good situation when you need decent hill fitness for winter days. The weather people promised a break from the dirge for a few hours so kit assembled as it was going to be an early start to make the most of this weather window.

Luss 8am, still dark and raining!!! This wasn't what they had forecasted. Not to worry, it'll clear, the cloud will lift or at worst I'll climb above it. Oh how wrong I was. I was out, which was the main thing. I was assessing my fitness - not very, and I was getting in some much needed nav practice. I really must book a proper course sometime........

All the way round I kept thinking that these hills are so accessible from Glasgow, only 40 minutes for me on the bus that morning. They'd also be fantastic on a clear winter's day with snow. There's another three hills to add to this route that could turn it into quite an interesting horseshoe. Oh the possibilities.

As if by magic the cloud started to tease me, attempting to clear but it was stubbornly stuck around the 350m mark. I was just about down but kept hoping that it would clear enough for me to see Loch Lomond.

It looked like I was going to have a fair wait for my bus back to Weegieland. I had checked out all the various options and to be honest, most were very convoluted involving at least 2 changes and a lot of waiting about. The joys of public transport. I had a wander around Luss which I haven't done for well over a decade and it hasn't changed. There was time for coffee & cake before home, very nice.

Wee hills

The end of November weekend is usually a good hill weekend for us and this time round we were joining the Scottish Hills crowd at the Corran Bunkhouse. Steve and I have had our eye on doing Sgurr na h-Eanchainne for a long while and doing it on the Saturday suited me well as I quite fancied joining Seona to watch the rugby with Scotland kicking off at 230pm.

On the Friday night, Seona decided she would join us on our adventure even though she was well warned that the potential for this to turn into an epic was fairly high. The weather was not as blue sky as promised but that didn't bother us. I had already commented that this hill was perfect Steve terrain, rough ground and nae paths and we were not disappointed. So off we trotted leaving from just beside the old burial grounds, enjoying the views that were opening up before us.

When we got to the summit the views were playing hide and seek and there was teasing going on with a broken spectre which didn't follow through. Never mind we still had something nice to look at.

 

It was time to head down as we had a rugby match to watch - that's when the fun began. On the way up we'd sort of picked out our line off the SE ridge but some how that disappeared when we were on it. After much zig zagging, fighting with dead bracken and even some trees we made it down but not before I had to have some minor surgery performed to remove the 4cm  human eating bracken that got lodged in the skin between my right thumb and forefinger. Thank you Seona for being the surgeon :-)

 

 

In the end, our descent may have taken us considerably longer than anticipated but it did make perfect timing for opening time in the bar at The Inn at Ardgour which also had a TV. What more could a girl ask for.

Bunnets

I like bright colours and I like hats. So when a friend alerted me to Grannies, Inc I just couldn't resist the temptation of designing my own wee bunnet. Thank you Granny Helen for my colour explosion. I'm off to design another...................