I never thought I’d see the day I’d be scanning the long range forecasts looking for rain. Not to plan a dry trip into the hills but to actually look for rain! It hasn’t rained on Skye for 2 months now, more or less. A couple of heavy bursts about a month ago but apart from that, it’s been high pressure and easterly winds. That means the entire landmass of Scotland is hogging our rain! (more…)
I grew up reading about that north face. I wish I was good enough to climb it…
Sitting in warm sunshine beside the burn that comes down from Coir ‘an Eich in the Cuillin, myself and Corncircles were musing over hill wandering and the subject turned to being guided, in particular the Innaccessible Pinnacle. The big C postulated that being guided up anything excluded the peak from the day’s tally of bags, the hills these days seemingly populated by day trippers notching up their tally of Munros/Corbetts/Other Weird and Wonderful Collective Noun. Naturally, a heated discussion ensued as we lazed in the globally warmed coire, plucking derring do, near misses and other hair raising episodes from our not inconsiderable mountaineering exploits of old.
Sunday, after our epic traverse of the Cuillin ridge between Sgurr na Banachdich and and Sgurr a’Ghreadaidh, Graeme and myself had an easier day bimbling up Glamaig from Sligachan.
Just had the most amazing couple of days in the Cuillin, giving my old friend Corncircles a hand round the Banachdich to Ghreadaidh ridge and Glamaig, which I’ll write up later, once I’ve sorted the 190 pics I took! Had to take the car to the garage at Armadale today though and the weather is just out of this world. Normally it’s severe gales and torrential rain with sun in the south of the UK but it’s a complete reversal and we haven’t seen much rain in two months on the island. It’s been wall to wall sunshine for more or less the whole of April and May.
Not sure how to take this request for the public to come and clean up Cairngom. On the one hand, it’s an admirable call to arms for members of the public to come and spend the day cleaning up the litter on the slopes of Cairngorm. (more…)
I was reading the latest issue of An Gaidheal Ùr and came across an article by Joy Dunlop titled, “S truagh am meas a th’againn air ar dualchas fhèin”, which means “It’s sad the estimation we have of our own heritage”.
The article concerns Joy’s evening singing in the hall in Oban, a place I know well, being the hub for the southern islands, which I cycle toured for years in my early teens. It’s also a place I associate quite strongly with Gaelic. I know of three giants of the Gaelic world with Oban connections. Iain Mac a’Ghobhainn (Ian Cricthton Smith), Aonghas Phàdraig Caimbeul (Angus Peter Campbell) and Anna Latharna Nicgillìosa (Anne Lorne Gillies). Also, Argyll has very ancient Gaelic roots, with the Gaelic of Islay being the closest to the original language of the highlands, with the dialects becoming more diluted by Norse the further north you travel. (more…)
Is this the first “real” use of the SPOT tracker used in the highlands? Seems a Danish walker, walking coast to coast across Scotland used it on Monday to summon help from Glen Etive.
As it was Dawn’s birthday coming up, we decided to make day of it on Friday and book on the Aquaxplore boat for the trip from Elgol to Canna, taking in the Cuillin and Rum. It’s the same company that runs the Bella Jane boat to Coruisk, which is a handy way to start the Skye Ridge. The weather over the last week had been fantastic, with warm sunshine and light winds so we were hoping for more of the same on the Friday. However, the weather forecast showed a front coming in from the south west and sure enough, as we sat in blazing sunshine at the tea room in Elgol, high level altostratus started creeping across the sky although the vast expanse of Minch visible from the tea room remained flat calm. (more…)
I met up with my old pal Allan last weekend for a couple of days in the hills, heading for Carn Dearg in the Monadhliath and Beinn a’Chaorainn above the Laggan dam. After weeks of sunshine over April and continuing into May, we were hoping for fine weather but the forecast for the Sunday was pretty dire, with 60mph winds and heavy rain. In the end it wasn’t too bad, with Beinn a’Chaorainn on the edge of the weather system, although it was windy and we were caught in some heavy rain for a bit on the way down. (more…)
