Alpine bliss...

Jeez louise what weather we are having! Abi and I decided to have a hill day and wanted to stay fairly local so went to the Achnashellach area. The weather was hot even at 9am when we arrived at the lay-by. 

slog but sunny

the angle eases at last

The start of the walk up Moruisg was a fairly unpleasant steep slog in the relentless heat but as we got higher (well almost the top) there was a slight breeze and it became bearable. We passed various snow patches in vague gully's that we passed.

The top of Moruisg

On top the slog was rewarded with amazing 360 degree views. The Torridon hills to the North looked great, particularly the unusual grey bulk of Beinn Eighe. From this point the walk improved dramatically and we headed SW across a beautiful broad ridge before stopping for lunch looking into the valley's to the SE. 

onward....

looking back to Moruisg

With the heat, being on the high ground and having the odd snow patch to cross it felt very alpine in nature, in fact it made me think that basically I don't really need to go to the alps anymore! I probably don't mean that, as the alps clearly are also amazing, but honestly when the weather is good in Scotland its as beautiful as anywhere in the world.

Our whole route in view from the second top

After lunch we dropped to a adjoining bealach and then climbed to the second peak - Sgurr nan Ceannaichean, a Munro in my book, but now down graded to a Corbet! 

both hills squeezed into shot

From the summit there were even better views of the next group of hills, in fact I think the experience was enhanced because of its 'downgrade' as the other folk we saw all day trailing us didn't 'bother' with this hill, I'm guessing because its not a Munro anymore. So we lingered up here and pretty much had it to ourselves.

An interesting descent led to a river where we stopped and paddled... before the final walk out which trails a river in newly planted native forest (lush). A very varied and interesting walk. 

Handa Island and the Puffins

Here are some facts from Wikipedia! Handa is an island off the west coast of Sutherland, Scotland. It is 309 hectares (1.19 sq mi) and 123 metres (404 ft) at its highest point. You access it by a lovely small ferry that sails from Tarbet on the main land. 

That sky... that sea.. amazing

Razorbills

It was run by the RSPB for 25 years (lease), but when this ended the family who own it wanted it to be run by a Scottish Charity so its now a Scottish Wildlife Trust nature reserve.

The island is composed of Torridonian red sandstone and surrounded by cliffs that many species of bird love to nest on.  

first puffin - lovely!

The island's name is of mixed Gaelic and Norse origin and means "island at the sandy river".

Anciently the island was used as a burial place, because wolfs would dig up grave sites on the main land so burial here was safe from this threat. There are still the remains of a chapel in the south east, commemorated in the name Tràigh an Teampaill (Beach of the Temple).

skylark

It had a population of 65 in 1841, but in 1848 potato famine forced the inhabitants to emigrate (Nova Scotia). In some ways this is surprising, since it is recorded that the islanders had a fairly varied diet including oats, fish and seabirds, rather than depending heavily on a potato crop. The islanders had a parliament, similar to that of St Kilda, which met daily, and the oldest widow on the island was considered its "Queen".

wheatear

The Great Stack of Handa was first climbed from the sea on 1 August 1969 by Graeme Hunter, Hamish MacInnes & Douglas Lang.

Island finds in the bothy

All I'll add to this is - wow, what a great place to visit. The boat ride across the sound is atmospheric, and then you land on a golden sandy beach.... The signed walk around the island is nice and varied and you see so much bird life. Its hard to imagine a population of 65 on here, in fact I'm not sure how they even had sufficient water.

swim time

The puffins were amazing to watch, the first time I've seen them I think, and because it was such a great weather I had a lovely swim in my pants at the end of the day whilst waiting for the rib to come and take us back. A highly recommended day trip. 

time to leave

Mount Keen

With a week off in the Highlands there were many possible options but the weather dictated that we head as far East into Aberdeenshire as possible to get good weather while the rest of Scotland had rain.

Captain Ball reporting in

thar she blows (Mount Keen)

After a little research we settled on Mount Keen near Aboyne/Ballater. The drive over is long but scenic and we arrived in good time and glorious sunshine at Glen Tanar. The Glen is beautiful and we mt biked up the long scenic glen, initially through native Caledonian pine forest by the river before it breaks out into more open country.

Time to walk

busy with walking groups!

Using the bikes made the long approach a breeze and we soon zipped past the 'half way house' wooden shelter. At the end of the glen past the flowering gorse we nearly cycled over a basking adder on the trail before leaving the bikes at a bridge over the river. We then lunched before setting off on foot up Mount Keen, Scotland's most easterly munro.

The final 2-3 mile walk is pretty easy on good but sadly heavily eroded paths. The views from the top to the caringorms and Lochnagar are great. The breeze chilled the body so we didn't hang around and headed back to the bikes and valley heat where we cooled off our feet in the river.

Mount Doom (keen)

Abi zipping along

The ride back to the van was a joy, all down hill :-) ... We passed a big walking group who were pretty hot and bothered and I was so glad of the bike.

Glen Tanar

Classic Rock Pilgrimage

I'm a bit behind with the blog so this may be a quick entry! Jack and I both had a free day and decided to head to Binnein Shuas to climb the classic Ardverikie Wall. The plan seemed simple, get up early and head South. I think we opted to meet at work (carpark) at 7am assuming that this was early enough to get to the crag.

Jack on his steed

Not many gears on the old bike

Firstly I was surprised that when we arrived at the parking (just South of Craig Meagaidh) at maybe 8.30am the lay-by was nearly full and there were lots of climbers milling around (drat)! Secondly I was surprised when Jack pulled out a very old 'city' bike complete with dynamo lights for the 1 hour bike to the crag - I'd not payed attention when he stuffed it into the van!

Bikes stop here!

The bike in was great on good estate tracks. Surprise number 3, there were approx 8-10 bike stashed at the loch were you ditch the bike and continue the walk (30 mins) to the crag - whats going on, this is meant to be a semi remote mt crag!

A little stroll to the crag...

Maybe it shouldn't have been, but surprise number 4.... as we approached Ardverikie Wall we noticed teams strung along its whole length (people on each belay/pitch) and we were politely informed by a odd person at the base 'you are number 4 in line, we are number 2!'. Idiot....

Wow lots of rock!

We hung around for a short time weighing up options, but there were a few parties of 3 waiting and quite frankly they exuded incompetence and inexperience. We both agreed that we didn't want to join this 'show' so looked at other options..

And boy were we glad that we did! We did 3 x amazing routes, Kubla Khan, Cube Wall and Blaeberry Grooves, 250m of climbing combined in this magnificent setting. Occasionally we looked if Ardverikie Wall was free, but people kept arriving all day long (until 3pm!).

The top pitch of Kubla Khan

The rest of the prime rock was free of people and sublime. When we left around 4pm there were still people queuing on the whole route. So I was very surprised by the number of people here, but I was also blown away by the quality of climbs here, so I will be back for the HVS and E1's, and maybe Ardverikie Wall, but I'm now not that worried.

No time for adventure

Well thats how I felt, but it was all self induced and created after buying a second van! But more on that at a slightly later date. I have been working flat out converting the new van, and really enjoyed the process, but because that project is going well I thought I would allow myself to get out and have some fun.

And boy was it fun! So I tagged on with the family Monckton and met them in Aviemore. I'd brought the bike and harness, and as it looked grey and windy in the morning we went to the Laggan Wolftrax trail centre which I'd always wanted to look at but not got around to.

The first adventure was surviving these trails... Loz wearing his climbing helmet to bike, and not having much use of his gears, and poor Gemma on her trusty (old) heavy penny farthing. It was fun, and we ripped up the red and green trails in the sunshine.

flowing trails at Laggan

We had lunch after this and weren't sure what to do next.... so we went swimming at Pattack Falls nearby. Now those who know me well know that although I'm a reasonable swimmer I'm scared of swimming in the sea, lakes, streams, basically any water were you can't see the monsters below. I genuinely think my fear comes from watching Jaws as a young kid, but basically I'm not good in open water....

and strange folk!

But I was determined to start to overcome this fear so I said I was game! The air temp was probably 15 degree's, but the water was baltic. But I was 'very brave' and swam 3 times, including jumping in! It was fun but very cold...

checking it out...

We all felt very strange after it, particularly me and Loz, walking strangely, feeling high and spaced out and not being able to talk properly, feeling our toes, and me thinking I was a stereotypical 'red indian' from the American West (I'm not joking). In retrospect I think I had mild hypothermia for sure!

splash... I'm in!

So we were nearly recovered from this and we thought 'what shall we do now?'.....

Well being spaced out and on a natural post hypothermic high it made total sense to rock climb of course as we would be passing Craig Dubh on our drive back to Aviemore.

here comes trouble

So we climbed Tree Hee, a great 2 pitch HS in our slightly unusual trance like states. It was a nice climb, but with very spaced gear for the grade. I think it did us some good as we all felt back to normal after it!

What a fantastic Highland adventure day, mt biking, swimming and climbing! Never done all of that together on the same day before!