eBothy Blog

A couple of weeks ago I had a wild day on Blaven, turning back at the bealach in the face of severe gales and whiteouts, so on Saturday I took advantage of the stunning weather to nip up again, this time for a traverse of the two summits. I try to avoid going up the first east ridge you come to as it’s pretty loose and covered in scree and instead I always head for the big boulder in Coire Uaigneich and head up to the bealach below the second east ridge, where I have bite to eat at the big boulder, a favourite spot of mine, where I can shelter behind the big rock and gaze out at Rum and the small isles. (more…)

This image came into my head when I heard “You know I’m no good” by Amy Winehouse. It was on a train from Southampton to Gatwick. I played the song over and over on the player and just fell into this dream… (more…)

After a day of North East gales and heavy rain, a giant Cumulus forms over Beinn Sgritheall and breaks off to drift west towards Skye.

At last, a day on the hill and with the forecast for gusting 60mph and blizzards, it was going to be interesting to say the least. So I decided to head up Blaven via the south summit. I know the route well and was hoping I could experience some wild winter weather without having to worry too much about the navigation. We’ve been having some very unseasonal weather lately, with lots of snow on the hills and strong winds. Normally winter is over by now on the west coast but an Arctic blast has just hit us, with gale force northerlies and huge dumps of snow on the tops. (more…)

I’ve just started reading Dacha mo ghaoil by Tormod MacGill-eain, a cracking writer indeed and it’s really good to pick up idiomatic speech from native speakers. Here Tormod is describing a character hitting a bend and the expression on his face as the van takes the turn:

“…bha na fiaclan ris…”

This translates literally as “the teeth were with him” and it conjures up the look on his face. Determination, terror, concentration. Such a rich idiomatic language is Gaelic. I’ve the CDs and reading the book while listening is really good for attuning your ear to the “cainnt”.