Blethering Blonde

Storm Hannah tried to wreck the planned Craggy walk to Ben Lomond. Thankfully, she had moved off quickish to allow the walk to be rescheduled to Sunday.  For once wind was not going to be an issue, all the makings of a good hill day.  So off we trotted.  While there were only a few folk heading in the same direction as us, there seemed to be a constant stream coming down Ptarmigan.  I suspect this is a result of the route description in Walk Highlands.  My body was having issues at moving at anything more than snail pace, earning me the title of Pace Setter of the Day for keeping us at a steady 1.9km/hr.  I have to thank the gang for being super patient on what was a longer than anticipated ascent of Ptarmigan.  We had some Ptarmigan Ridge virgins in our midst, some requiring reassurance from Steve "trust me" Morley. Plus Quote of the Day 1 from Carol "so where's this ridge we're doing?" ( said at approx 700m on said ridge ) We eventua...

While the main focus of our Easter trip south to the East Riding was for Steve to get his football fix and catch up with family, we also decided to make the most of the glorious weather by venturing to the North York Moors. Route for the day was staring at Grosmont.  It wasn't deliberate, but we timed it perfectly to get a steam train on the North York Moors Railway back down the line to Goathland, aka Aidensfield in the TV drama Hearbeat. We filled up on nostalgia (and cream tea) before heading back down the Railway Trail back to Grosmont .  Needless to say we couldn't go past Beck Hole without stopping in at the wonderfully quaint Birch Hall Inn for a pint with a pork pie and pickle chaser for Steve.  It was great to see and hear the various trains as we made our way back to Grosmont in glorious sunshine. Next stop Whitby for fish and chips - we were making the most of being in the area.  We parked up at the Abbey which would ensure...

There is a definite common theme to the walks so far this year.......... buffeting winds.  As the weekend approached MWIS did forecast blustery conditions, windchill of up to -10C and beware sunburn!!!  Even the ferry was warning us the wind might cause disruption to services.  But that didn't stop Carol, Frank, John, Steve and Susan from wanting to get out. Rendezvous was the 7am ferry except John had underestimated his timings, so he'd be on the 820am. He'd catch us up somehow later.  As tradition dictates, breakfast on the ferry was consumed by some and discussion ensued on the route. Default route from Corrie is to go via the Corie Lan path, however......... we had been eyeing up going via Am Binnein.  Harvey's map suggested there is an intermittent path via an old quarry and forest from High Corrie.  It also looked like there was a good forest break from the usual path to follow to the base of the ridge onto Am Binnein.  As we got off th...

Winter weather has been very fickle this year.  This week had seen a dump of snow only for it to be mostly washed away.  So we weren't sure what we were going to be doing hill wise for Craggy's stay at the newly refurbished Glen Nevis Hostel . When the decision was taken to go for this date Alan had a cunning plan for doing the Ring of Steall with a few of us thinking of the Aonachs via the Gondola from Nevis Range. However........... Good old mother nature may have given a weather window of opportunity but not really of the kind that meant all the original targets were still in play. 50mph winds and a -5C windchill with snow showers were mentioned.  Backup plans B, C, D  were discussed with the Loch Lochy Munros in sight for Alan, Barry, Eleanor, Malcolm and Roddy.  Steve, Kathryn, Niamh, Susan and myself had the Corbett Beinn Bhan if the gondola was off. The morning arrived and the gondola was on.  Wind can't be that bad.......... or so we t...

So........ the plan was the "easy" group of hills to the west of Glenshee Ski Centre.  There are 3 Munros in the route given on Walk Highlands.  Carn Aosda ,  Carn a' Gheoidh  and  The Cairnwell   However.......... the jet stream is currently sitting over Scotland and didn't we know it. The weather when we arrived at Glenshee was better than expected. There was snow at the car pack at 650m but there was also blue sky. That was what lulled us into a false sense of security as we headed to the first target of Carn Aosda. With not enough snow to ski we had te hill to ourselves so just headed directly up one of the ski runs.  As we topped out we were soon getting the full hit of the 50 - 70 mph winds. Discussion quickly ensued on amending the plan. Going back down was the consensus. Even moving off the summit took a lot longer than anticipated as every time we went to move the wind got stronger!!!!!! Once onto the service track we...

There was an excellent turn out for today's Craggy adventure on the Merrick of 14 humans and 3 dugs.  It wasn't a day for our favoured route round the five lochs as rain was forecast to come in anytime between midday and 3pm.   As it was a big group the mountain goats of Gail and Barry went off first while the rest of us sauntered up from the starting point a Bruce's Stone.  There's been some tree felling of the lower section since our last visit which certainly had me a bit disorientated as we headed up.   Before long we were clear of the treeline and that was when the wind kicked in.  So much for the heatwave the weather bods were talking about.  No evidence of any heatwave here!! There was no messing about today as it was a bit of a battle to keep upright at the summit and not much in the way of views.  So with various speeds being taken on the descent some managed to make it back before the ra...