eBothy Blog

Pure dead brilliant!

I don’t normally review the books I read but I felt I really had to say a few words about Tristan Gooley‘s The Natural Explorer. Perhaps because I’m immersed in the emerging topic of mindfulness or the fact I’m off to exotic climes in a while and becoming an environmental sponge, I seemed to be receptive to inspiration by other than the usual diet of purple prose from the outdoors glossies. The book comes hot on the heels of my reading of Rebecca Solnit’s Wanderlust and Winnifred Gallagher’s Rapt so it was with eager anticpation I booked the couch for the day and settled down with The Natural Explorer. (more…)

It was with dismay yet again that I watched my Earl Grey and toast hit the floor as I stood and stared aghast at reports that the Loch Lomond National Park authorities want to ban camping on the Loch Lonond islands. According to the authorities, “…the four islands are considered special protection areas and are home to many rare species…”. I’d say wallabies are pretty damn rare in Scotland too but it didn’t stop them trying to massacre them. The authority are on record stating “Our role is to promote, conserve and enhance Scotland’s native species” with the emphasis being on native. But lots of people think this way. Prominent outdoors writers are all for bringing back wolves as they still consider them native when not a single wolf exists in Scotland outside a zoo. Since they were wiped out the environment has changed irreversibly and can no longer sustain them in the wild. In the meantime other species have found a foothold in their absence, such as wallabies and reindeer. Reindeer aren’t native. But where one species provokes oohs and aahs, another provokes the gun. So there is no consistency to the authorities argument in a common sense world. (more…)

With the apparent arrival of spring and a superb forecast of sun and light winds I jumped in the car and headed for the Cuillin on pre-season empty roads on Saturday. I hadn’t been up Sgurr na Banachdich in ages so I pulled up at the BMC hut, pulled on the shoes and headed straight up the hill. I knew there was a path somewhere that leads up into Coire na Banachdich and scuttles round the base of the Sgurr Dearg wall before secretly threading a way up the side of the cliffs that form the coire headwall but I wanted a new route and so, with the words of Nan Shepherd whispering from that wonderful book The Living Mountain, I ignored the path and just headed straight up towards the apex of the cone of grass that abuts the foot of Sgurr nan Gobhar.

“The mountain gives itself most completely when I have no destination, when I reach nowhere in particular, but have gone out merely to be with the mountain as one visits a friend with no intention but to be with him.” (more…)

My Earl Grey and toast nearly ended up on the floor this morning when my reader alighted on Alan Sloman’s blog only to find it encased in a pyroclastic flow from a blogosphere eruption. Normally these continental shifts go mostly unnoticed as I don’t use twiter in a personal capacity but it illustrates nicely the Wikipedia effect, or Crapipedia as I like to call it. I trust nothing on Wikipedia as it’s written by anonymous internet users. If something is worth writing then it’s worth putting your name to your opinions, otherwise it’s not worth reading and even less so, not to be trusted. (more…)

Recently I got an email from Anquet telling me about Outdoor Map Navigator Pro (OMN) and the ‘cloud’, which came as a bit of a shock as I had no idea what was happening to my digital maps. I use Anquet v06 but apparently it’s on the way out, although they say it will be supported but for how long I don’t know. I already have maps in the ‘cloud’ bought from their map store so I don’t know why they’re saying the new maps will move to the cloud. As far as I’m concerned they’re already there as they’re not on my computer. Apart from a couple of ‘local’ maps on DVD, the UK 1:50K and Cairngorms National Park 1:25K. However, apparently these DVD format maps are not compatible with OMN ‘cloud’ format and I’ll have to download the updated versions from the ‘cloud’. On a 1Mb connection? I don’t think so. But apparently the 1:50K is in ten sections so I can download them as and when required, so I don’t go completely over my bandwidth limit for the month and have to pay extra to my ISP. (more…)

The Garbh Choire refuge in the wild and remote country below Braeriach in the northern Cairngorms is in need of some TLC, which was kindly applied to the Fords of Avon refuge last year. Neil over at Cairngorm Wanderer has put together a proposal to rebuild it and preserve a vital piece of mountaineering history. A worthy cause indeed and well worth supporting.

Had a wonderful walk over the local hills yesterday. Despite being soaked by a hail storm the minute I hit the hill it turned out to be a beautiful day of spring sunshine.

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Lying in a Patagonia or North Face goose down sleeping bag? Turns out your freedom could be courtesy of force fed geese with no freedom whatsoever. I’ve always detested foie gras and the ponces that eat it. I won’t let anyone I’m at table with, eat veal. In fact I’m a pretty grump dinner guest if I find out something’s had to suffer unduly to provide a few scraps of high cost grub. Food provides energy to move oneself around. It’s not a fashion accessory. I hope those two companies sort themselves out. Wonder how many more are keeping quiet?

Heard the first skylark yesterday at Inverness airport. Flew in from a pleasant Stornoway to a pleasant Inverness and from then on it became progressively worse weather to the west coast. Glen Shiel was most impressive with the lower reaches completely flooded under a new loch and the mountainsides white from top to bottom. Not with snow but with foaming torrents. Looks like there’s a full scale thaw in progress with Loch Cluanie the highest I’ve seen it in years. The bus stopped in Kyle of Lochalsh for 10mins and I enjoyed the blasts of wind from the sea rocking the bus and sending sheets of water up the road. But the cuckoos are on the way so spring must be on the horizon.