Squalls on the West

Shaw headed up to Scotland for the weekend and Loz entertained our VIP on Saturday going climbing in the Cairngorms whilst I was in charge of Sunday's entertainment.

Sunrise at the commando memorial

Basket case

With more snow on the West I railroaded Shaw slightly into skiing! Options were limited and he agreed to meet at Nevis range. The forecast was pretty good but with a strong wind strengthening through the day.

relative calm

I think skiing is the only activity I do that when you first strap on the ski's I have to think really hard 'what do I do again'! But by a miracle the concept, or vague ability to ski does come back to me.

sorting skins in a hole behind a shed!

It was a great day! Unfortunately some of the lifts that they hoped to open (the Goose) didn't due to the wind but we went back down the gondola to get our skins so that we could get to some of the runs that weren't accessible with the lifts.

The good times

Admittedly it was fairly breezy and occasionally you had to stop whether going up or down hill and await the gusts to clear but we found some lovely snow to ski (just couldn't always see it!).

Where are we going (on the button lift)

the breezy times

They shut down the whole mountain early (maybe 3.30pm) as the weather deteriorated, but I think its fair to say that we both enjoyed the very 'Scottish' days skiing. I'm hoping the snow stick around!

Sunset at the Commando memorial on the way home

Shedtastic

An email from Kev asked if I would be out and about this weekend on any adventures and I explained that it could go either way, a biking trip or planting a holly bush... He then hinted that the holly should make the blog (well that's my reading of it!)..

You can't even see the building.. it's behind the shed

the lean to kitchen side

the shed is here somewhere

inside before we got it (they did empty it)

fireplace

So we went with the holly plan, clearing further border space and planting a holly bush! I was going to just post a picture of this but I have been meaning to document some stuff around the garden building so here goes.

we found this behind the building

In our garden is an old homestead. It has one brick gable end with chimney and hearth, the rest of it is wood construction with a combination of sheet metal and wood cladding. We have been told that it was built after WW1 to house returning servicemen or the expanding need for housing after the great war. They were kit houses and are in a lot of peoples gardens here in North Kessock - all different in design.

sink!

where does this go!? lead water supply, cast iron drain

Electric!

We have spent lots of time clearing around the building as when we first moved in it was very difficult to get round it at either side. It also had a large sycamore growing near the door. Unfortunately we had to have this taken out as it is lifting this corner of the building up quite considerably!

Abi at work

He have unearthed endless treasure whilst clearing around the area, everything from broken glass, a buried kayak, metal, an iron, a gas lamp, plates, plastic (everywhere), a toilet seat, and on the left of the shed we even found an old belfast sink still connected to a drain.

sycamore seasoning for next winter. Nice patina shed side

This area is particularly interesting because I found an old concrete slab under all of the rubbish. This area was a lean to kitchen complete with sink etc. There is a door through into the main space and also an electric meter on this side of the building from when it had it's own power supply. When I cleared this area it was almost as though the whole lean-to had been abandoned and then collapsed at some point. I even found a squashed washing up bowl full of dirty pots - unfortunately all broken!

Now space to service my ski's!

The holly!

Christmas Day jaunt

Work patterns meant that I had to be close to Inverness over the festive period. Although it meant that I missed festive parties back home I did get to go on a nice bike ride on Christmas Day.

The weather dictated that the Cairngorms had the best weather so I headed South to Glen Feshie and some festive trails. Obviously the roads were quiet and shops were shut in Aviemore, but surprisingly the garage was open and had 5 staff working! It was busy and I grabbed a coffee and pastry on my way past - well it was Christmas.

River crossings are easy on this bike

I parked at Feshie Bridge and headed South on deserted trails. To be honest I've never met another biker or walker on these specific trails! 

The only company I had were chickens, a Highland cow and Eagle for the first hour or two. At the far end of Glen Feshie I crossed the river to take in another favourite trail. I love this end of the glen with the braided river system. I must take Kev back here again (minus the river crossing) to appreciate this area as I'm not sure how much he took it in last time on our 80km ride!

The road to...

To find the path of least resistance across the river I had to look around and ended up initially walking along a dried up stream bed. On my old bike I would of had no choice but to push on the cobbled river bed, but then it (slowly) dawned on me that I wasn't on the old bike and thought I'd try and ride it. I was astounded by how easily the new bike was able to glide over this terrain and then the river! Amazing!

Back in the forest - the bike blends in!

After exchanging festive chat with a holidaying Dutch family I headed West to pick up the Badenoch Way which would lead me back North. Again such quiet trails.

Admittedly my feet were numb at the end after the river crossing, but this is such a great 50km loop (40km without the detour at the far end!) and I must take Abi and Kev on it sometime as I'm sure that they would love it. 

Winter Solstice

I admit that the dark does get to me a little at this time of the year.. You get up in the dark, it's dark when you get to work, and dark when you leave, in fact you see no daylight, apart from through the work windows.

Heading that way!

an teallach

At weekends when you experience day light it seems like another world...! So to mark the shortest day and because it was a good forecast I headed out in to the Fannies, oops I mean Fannich's.

Little pathside howf

Sgurr Mor

The fannies are great hills, more rugged than the East coast massive such as the Cairngorms and pretty quiet as most folk drive past them to Torridon or basically anywhere on the West.

Loch a' Mhadaidh

nearly at the col. Sgurr Mor beyond

I had a couple of hills to tidy up in this area so headed out at dawn. Initially I followed the old hydro tracks from Loch Droma. After this path quickly  deteriorated to Loch a' Mhadaidh. Surprisingly after the loch there was no path, or at least I couldn't see one, which surprised me.

climbing opportunities... 

Follow the ridge to the second hill

The earlier snow dump had greatly thawed, but patches remained and these were quite hard neve today. Heading up from the loch to the col (Eag nam Fear-bogha) I had a couple of interesting moments trying to stick with the micro spikes on the bullet hard snow because I was too lazy to put on my crampons.

jump for joy on Sgurr Mor

The day, weather, views were all fantastic and from the col I quickly got to the top of Sgurr Mor and then allowed myself a break for a snack and to take some pictures. The views were astounding, with Ullapool to the North, Ben Wyvis to the East and lots of interesting winter climbing in the surrounding hills.

looking back to Sgurr Mor. Here comes the cloud

The forecast suggested the cloud coming in around lunchtime from the West and just after leaving Sgurr Mor and dropping some height the cloud capped it's top as predicted.

Looking back up the pipe line!

From here I quickly nipped up Beinn Liath Mhor Fannaich on my way back. From here I headed North and back to the van over easy but pathless terrain. I great way to spend 6 hours on the shortest day of the year.