Ben Wyvis pictures...

well; it was a couple of days ago and now and after today it feels like a different world but....if you are sitting comfortably then let us begin.

Those (deluded few) who read this blog may recall that Claire and I had turned round at about 875m during an attempt on Wyvis on our christmas trip - a howling crosswind and very poor snow conditions making it not advisable for Claire to carry on (I could have got to the top but the experience would have been distinctly underwhelming as the visibility was not great for what is an excellent viewpoint)..

 So, round two was on Monday and, fresh from a nice big brekkie from the Aultguish Inn, and armed with 4 large sandwiches, we parked up at the car-park. The route climbs the right hand hill (An Carbar) before traversing to the actual summit which is in the middle - we then intended to add another top which is out of picture. One advantage of this walk is that there is a good path all the way to the top of An Carbar; although it is steep at the top. The first section through the forest was lovely and we crossed the forest road in good order (god I sound like W.H.Murray!) The next section had been profoundly tricky in the winter with icy sections; however this time it led upwards nice and rapidly and with a gentle breeze keeping the midges away as well, which are the bane of most people's lives in Scotland at this time of year....

We made the top in good time, much better than in the winter and were rewarded with views like this....right across the whole of the western highlands and also south towards the Cairngorms.

After a quick break for food and water we set off towards the summit of Ben Wyvis. A steady pull took us to the top and we dropped over the other side before having lunch. Several rather tasty sarnies later the two of us waddled rather slowly up Tom a' Choinnich, the third top of Ben Wyvis and the third one that counted that day [being very sad, I am trying to do the tops as well as the Munro's]. There is a fourth top; however that is a good 2 miles away and whilst it would have been easyish (if long) to take in; it was left for another time - on ski's the whole mountain would be very quick and straightforward.

The descent was a bit trying at first. Unbeknownst to us, the new editions of the Munro guide suggest veering towards the stream quickly and a trod has developed along it. Not knowing that, we descended for several hundred feet on heathery ground - quite hard going. We were angling towards the stream and we did eventually pick up the trod. The going was still quite rough and not a little wet as we headed towards the forest. After scrambling through a deer fence we descended a forest ride and picked up a very clever little path that descended above a river and back towards the forest road. However, with about 100 yards to go, Claire slipped off the path and pulled a muscle in her leg - leaving her with a very painful hobble back to the car as there was no way I could get the vehicle any closer to render any assistance.....Ibruprofen and some raising of the leg later has hopefully helped....

All in all though a very good day indeed; not as long as Sunday but with about 1100m of climbing it was still a sizeable contribution.

Ben Wyvis pictures...

https://picasaweb.google.com/102361192587557786751/SummerOnBenWyvis

blog to follow later on...

Beinn Liath Mhor Fannaich...

so, school has finished and Claire and I headed north on saturday up to the North West of Scotland. It is our first real break away since the xmas trip (which also ended up in the NW of Scotland). Now, just as then, we picked a b & b we found on the internet...'forestway' www.forestway.co.uk north of Braemore Junction and at the heart of the hills....now; just as then; we seem to have made a very good choice.

The weather is pretty good as we arrive and lots of familiar, yet unfamiliar, hills are around. I have never walked on the Fannich Hills or the Inverlael hills, pictured below, (centered on Beinn Dearg), yet I know of them from the guidebooks. However spectacular they look in the books; is nothing to how they look in reality...

Sunday morning; after a lovely breakfast, we elected to do Beinn Liath Mhor Fannaich, an outlier of the main Fannich ridge. Parking up and setting off; probably not paying as much attention to the guidebook as we should have and set off up the river following a lovely narrow path, which had earlier been taken by some FSP (fit scottish people). Well we assumed they were fit as they zonked off at high speed up a hill that we waddled up later!!

The scale of the highlands is always a bit of a shock at first - the scale of the NW is bigger still.
When we got back to the car  - a few hours later - we were both rather chagrined at being tired at having only done 1 hill...we had hoped to get onto the main Fannich ridge and do some more hills....the strong NW wind didn't help in that regard as we were climbing into it. Upon cursory glance of the guide book later; we discovered we had done around 11 miles!!! which is:
a) good to explain why were so knackered and
b) made two pints of An Tellach very excusable - we were staying at The Altguish Inn so no driving issues either!!

What about the walk.....well it was hard; as paths are also at a premium up here  - certainly compared to Cumbria. The weather was not as good as today - with a strong wind and some cloud; however the views were still pretty good indeed.....pix are here btw....https://picasaweb.google.com/102361192587557786751/BeinnLiathMhorFannaich


A good start to the week however, as well as opening our eyes to some of the potential of the Fannich hils.

2 great days...

in the North West of Scotland. Claire and I did 3 tops of Ben Wyvis today followed by a day on Beinn Liath Mhor Fannaich yesterday....

the weather has been a little windy but otherwise amazing.....and the views have been awesome - I will upload onto Picasa later on tonight.

Only down sides - a slight strain for Claire today when she slipped at the very end of todays walk -  which hopefully will be ok....and the fact that we are still getting used to the scale of these hills....yesterday the one munro of Beinn Liath Mhor Fannacih entailed an 11 mile walk and 720m of climbing; whilst today we climbed around 1100m.....and these are the shorter walks...


Much more to follow....

One week to go..

until change of job; pretty major change of career....oh yeah and a nice holiday of 6 weeks!

The aim will be to get out every single day even for an hour or so....lets just hope the weather plays ball - suffice to say today it hasn't.

1000 views....

well 1002 actually.....hopefully not including mine as I have disabled the 'include my views counter' ad nauseum...

Just a big thank you to all those who do look at this now and then.....

An amazing day......27m of paradise....

https://picasaweb.google.com/102361192587557786751/GreyCragButtermere  are the rest of the photo's btw...please go and have a look at them....


Ben Sharp and I had discussed where to go on Sunday on Saturday night...it turned out we were both correct...Ben was right that it was a great place to go and we would have a good time....I was correct in that the walk would be a nightmare....this is just down to my lack of fitness however.

Today was a MUCH better day than last sunday...although I failed on one climb (which is probably undergraded at HS+ to be honest) and had a bit of fun following Ben up it. The paradise mentioned was Oxford and Cambridge Direct...a quite marvellous MS. I had done this before many years but had no recall of how good this route is...just enough gear to stop too much seriousness being apparent; very exposed and requiring some trust in footwork....quite simply an amazing route.

We also did a couple of others.......I climbed much better; however I still need to get lots of mileage in I think....looking forward to summer hols a lot more though..