It's alright this walking business!

Date: Saturday 27th June 2009 Location: Ben Starav, Glen Etive

"What you doin on Saturday?”
“Nothing, why?”
“We’re going up the hills, you fancy coming?”
“Aye!”

I was up at 5.45am!!... on a Saturday morning no less... I’ve not been up this early on a weekend for ages!! Out the door by 6.20 for a rendezvous in the Uni car park before heading up the road to Glen Etive. We stopped on the way to pick up Mark and he told us on the journey that this would be his last weekend as a free man before his wedding to Kirsty next weekend. Congrats to them both! It took us just under 2 hours to get to the parking spot and we waited on the others arriving. Walking today were me and Sharon then her mates, Mark, Graeme, Michael and her nephew Simon. The clouds were swirling all around the summits and were dark grey. Occasionally the sun would sneak a peek through them turning the green of the trees a really vivid shade. The others arrived about 20 minutes later but not before I’d eaten half my piece, Sharon had opened her Haribo Sours and Mark had half a breakfast bar. After waiting on Simon change his clothes we set off down a track and across the river. On the bridge we came across a wee toad that was thinking about whether or not he was going to jump off it. He did... eventually and then swam away.

We headed along the track, quite good walking and started up the shoulder of the hill. We somehow managed to take the wrong way and had to go back on ourselves or straight up a lush green grassy slope, as we did. There was a wee cairn up on the hill and we were struck by this bright blue bird – a kingfisher Sharon said. Everyone was about to get their cameras out at it was a great picture then Simon went across and picked it up. It was a fake plastic bird on a stick; some joker had stuck the stick down the cairn so you couldn’t see it. It was funny. We set off again and kept on going up the shoulder of the hill. It was quite windy but still hot. I was just in a t-shirt. My pack was lighter today than it had been on previous outings but looking at the photies it stills looks too big!! I had my walking poles out too and they are very handy for pulling me up the steep slopes. By now the sun was sneaking through the clouds every now and again and it had started to burn the clouds away. At one point I turned around and it was hitting a plateau so I just had to snap away with the camera. Lovely...

Heading onwards and upwards the path was pretty good if a bit rocky. That was fine though. I’ve trekked the Himalayas! Soon I turned around again and the sun was pretty much out in full now. This was good. Sharon had told us earlier that lightening was forecast, I hope not! Looking up this mountain was an imposing beast with an unrelenting climb. It rises up to 1060m almost from sea level and you could tell! We hit an area with huge boulders all over the place and headed up it, the path or route being a little bit more obvious once you were on it. The poles were now getting in my way and the wind was getting stronger occasionally blowing me over. Was still warm though. I couldn’t be bothered putting the poles away and we soon stopped for lunch at a flattish area before our push for the summit. It was a bit sheltered from the wind but when you stop you just get cold so it was on with my extra long sleeved base layer and my Marmot wind shirt. A good combo I think. Kept me warm in this wind but not roasting hot. The clouds were coming in thick and fast and visibility was down to about 20m. Lunch today was the rest of my honey roast pieces, a bag of salt and vinegar crisps and a couple of M&S chocolate covered peanuts - braw. I also had a mini Milky Bar, a porridge bar, my wee mini pack of Haribo jellies and water but had forgotten to lift some fruit. About 3o minutes later we headed up to the summit.

There were lots of boulders and rocks and the poles were a nuisance, I couldn’t be bothered to put them away so kept hold of them in one hand whilst I stepped precariously over these huge rocks. We could hardly see a thing by now and the wind was stronger but I loved it. We came to a cairn but after much map and GPS checking we were told this can’t be the summit and carried on. It was only a pile of rocks after all. We continued on and seemed to be dong down so we stopped and Graeme had a quick check on his blackberry for pics of the summit. Turns out that was indeed it!! A pretty disappointing summit if I’m honest cos we just seemed to have passed it, the cairn being a little on the small side. So we headed back just to make sure and to get some pictures.

Heading back down we came to a jagged ridge of honking boulders and made our way steadily along it. All the while the wind was still blowing. Down down down we went and by now my knees were starting to hurt, and the soles of my feet were burning. (“That’ll be them boots!”). I could feel a tiny blister I’d got last week when climbing Ben Lomond. I might have to try shoes instead at some point...

We reached a bealach at 767m and had a rest on this huge boulder. Bad move. It was a midge fest and we were covered as soon as we stopped. The sun was now out again or was it that we had just dropped below the cloud blanket. The scene opening up in front of us was magnificent. Blue skies a little breeze (essential to keep the pesky midges away) and sunshine – wonderful!

We stopped every now and again for a drink and this was annoying me now because although my Osprey pack is very good and light and I love it, I can’t reach for the water bottle that easily. A little flaw in an otherwise great piece of equipment. I was time to strip off wind shirt now but I decided to keep on the long sleeves for fear of getting bitten by the wildlife. When we reached the river it was tempting to take the boots off and paddle in the water to cool the feet down but we were on a time limit – one member of the group had to get back to Dunfermline to see his mum and dad in a Gilbert and Sullivan play!! It would have been an ideal spot to pitch a tent and play in the water – lovely.

Back along the track and up to the car it had taken us about 7 hours. Longer than the books say but I’m not keen on the book times or list ticking. In fact I utterly don’t like that kind of attitude. “Book say this.., book says that..” I prefer just to be out there doing it and walking and enjoying oneself not to feel like you have to beat a time. Jees I’d come last every time if I was working on that premise.

Anyway Saturday was a good day out, tough but good. The company was good and you know what I’m beginning to really enjoy this walking business again. I’ve said before that I was feeling a little bit disillusioned with it last year but I must have been keeping the wrong company then. The drive home was nice, I like being a passenger on those kinds of journeys. I got home about 7.45pm just in time to see Andy Murray win his game.

I was knackered, tired, sunburned but thoroughly satisfied with Saturdays jaunt up the hills. I'd been up since 5.45am and went to bed about 1am, tired? - aye!! I will be doing this again...

Ange xx

PS number 10.... ssshhhhh...

Kit: Osprey Talon 33l pack, Berghaus Statis pants, Berghaus t-shirt, First Ascent long-sleeve base layer hoodie, Marmot Ion winshirt, Bridgedale trekker socks, a Buff, Suunto Core Altimeter/watch, 2x Leki Carbonlite Anti-shock walking poles, Scarpa ZG10 GTX walking boots, first aid kit, a compass and map, camera and too many other things I'm ashamed to mention for fear of a lecture. I'm getting lighter though - honest! :o)

5th and 6th munros .... Are we human or are we dancer?

Hiya all
Hope this find you all fit and well and raring to go for countdown to Christmas! Sorry someone had to say it – it’s only about 6 weeks away after all...

It’s been a busy few weeks of late. I’ve hardly had enough time to do anything but it’s all good. I’ve now officially climbed 6 Munros – yay me! Done my 5th and 6th this past weekend. They were Gael Charn and A'Mharconaich up at Drumochter Pass. It started off with an 8am leaving time and rather pleasant drive up the A9 and getting to Balsporran Cottages at around 9.20am. We set off up the track and managed to get lost just a few hundred metres into it. We ended up on the wrong side of the river so backed up and found the proper one. It wasn’t the main track on the map we took but a one the veered off to the left and up the ridge of the hill. It was sooo boggy and I gave up trying to prevent my boots from being caked in mud halfway up. No point really.

It started off windy, then the light rain came along and just as we headed up to what I thought was the summit the heavier rain struck but worst of all was the really strong winds! Weren’t just strong winds but the sort of wind that you can push against and be almost horizontal it was so strong. Yes I did say what I thought was the summit as I’m finding that most hills have false summits – why? Who builds them? Stop it please, it’s quite annoying to find that you think you’ve reached your goal and then find it’s actually about another 15 minute walk further back. So we reached the first summit and sat in the cairn, wind howling round about us and then a figure appeared on the horizon like a mirage. He came all the way up circled the cairn and then headed back down to where he’d just come from. All a bit surreal really! So this was my 5th Munro – woohoo! (Gael Charn). I grabbed a quick bite of my sandwich and had to take off my big gloves – the guy in Tiso assured me I could do anything with these gloves!! That’s why I can’t even pull my jacket zip down with them on?.... I dunno, they say anything to sell you something eh. But other than that they are rare and warm. My fingers were frozen so the gloves went back on and we headed on to the next Munro.

It was down a few hundred metres and then to a track winding its way up the back of A'Mharconaich. All the while the wind I swear was getting stronger – the type that takes your breath away. Our faces were being battered by hail stones or strong rain, it was rather unpleasant and I was thinking why, why am I doing this?? We decided to head upwards and get onto the gentle ridge up to the summit as soon as possible. This was a hard slog and quite steep in places. Again another false top and then we got onto the gentle slope of the ridge. At this point I was pretty quiet as I was trying to get my mind on the job in hand and think good positive thoughts. Sounds weird but those of you out there who have this type of past time will know what I mean – I hope!! Time for a pit stop and another bite of a sandwich and a wee snack. Then the final push. It was pretty quick and we managed it in about 20 minutes. We couldn’t see a thing from here and decided it was best to take a few snapshots and head on down as the clouds were thick. Only about 10 minutes down and suddenly it was almost clear (still strong winds though) but the views were fantastic and that’s when you realise why indeed you do this type of thing on a weekend. Bliss...

My mood had gotten brighter and the banter flowed. If anyone could hear our conversations they’d think what??!!!! All great fun though. Finally we were nearly back at base camp (ha-ha) and this mound of mud was baffling us. We couldn’t figure out how to get around it as the ground was a total bog. Call Mountain Rescue I cried and we were only about 20 metres from the train track! Ha-ha – well it was funny at the time and we laughed. So that was 2 Munros on 5 hours – just like the book said. I must be better than I thought at this hill-walking malarkey. Ding ding – RESULT!

Ok you’ll notice I haven’t mentioned Munro-Bagging. When I’m on the hill and people are saying ok do you want to go for the second one? I’m like ‘No I’m not bothered about ticks on some list’. But afterwards I proudly get my list out and tick it off. I say yeah go ahead and bag some Munro’s but I think some people take it too seriously and perhaps they just get the book out, rush on ahead to bag the Munro and then tick it off the list. I’ve been told on several occasions now by various experienced people that you should go at your own pace, if you can’t talk to your mate when walking then you’re going too fast etc but when you’re out on the hill and people seem to be rushing off ahead and then start talking about times when they had to wait for slow people then it doesn’t make you feel that great. I’ll just say one thing – team work people! There’s no I in TEAM – as they say.....

Anyway we head on down to Pitlochry for our evening of mountain talk with Kenton Cool and Ian Parnell. We met up with a few friends there and had a good laugh beforehand. The talk was a very interesting and eye-opening talk. I especially enjoyed the section in Kenton’s talk about the trek into Base Camp. It made me so proud, nervous, fantastic and eager all at the same time about the journey I have ahead of me. Amazing! He spoke with great admiration about the Sherpa’s and Sirdar’s who do a wonderful job on all Everest Summit Expeditions. Much respect to them. He also mentioned the Base Camp cook who makes apple pie – which I have been told about before. And I liked when he commented on the trek into Base Camp being as much of an achievement as a summit. We all have an Everest inside us and this trek will be mine. Go on people, find your own Everest and do it!!

After a long and very enjoyable fun day we headed back down the road as we were knackered and my face was stinging with the wind. Next stop its Fort William next weekend with the Ochils Mountaineering Club. I’m now really psyched for that as it will be my first trip out 2 days in a row and I’m keen to find out how I’ll get on.

I’ll leave you with a few pics of our day .....

and more pics can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=68685&l=fd849&id=682653237

Thanks for reading,
Song of the week: Human – The Killers ~ Are we human or are we dancer?
Take care everyone,
Ange xxx

Munro 1, part 1 - the ascent...

As promised here's the story of my first official munro climbed. Settle in, this could a long one...

Won't bore you with the details but my first munro is to be featured in Trail magazine. Long story about how that came about, ask me for the details if you're interested.

Anyway yeah I'm ashamed to say I'd never been further north than....... well .... Pitlochry! I know, I know shameful living in our lovely country and not having ventured out in it. I'm making up for that now. So I started out on Tuesday afternoon, after a morning at work, for the drive north to Aviemore. I notice the rain coming in and the scenery getting lovelier the further north i drive. I'm hoping it's not raining for my big day tomorrow. I arrive at the guesthouse (Ravenscraig guest house http://www.aviemoreonline.com/index.htm ) and check in, then head out to see the bright lights of Aviemore!! (joke!) and take a drive along to Glenmore Lodge so i know where I'm going the next day (I've to be there by 9am). It's only about 15 minutes drive and the views are amazing so i stop off at a lay by and take some pictures of Loch Morlich and Cairngorm.

I'm undecided about what to have for dinner and settle on the Cairngorm Hotel (plus it's the only place i can find that showing the football ). So there i am settled in, ready and they put two different games on each tv. Sound goes up on the Italy V France game, I'm happy - Holland V Romania doesn't mean much after all, then in walks 4 Dutch people and they request the sound up for the boring Holland game! Rubbish. Oh well i can still see the Italy game so it's fine. So after the games have finished i make a quick exit as the Tuesday night pub quiz is about to begin!

Anyway my day starts with a hearty breakfast at the guesthouse and i have to admit I'm a bit nervous so i can't finish it all. Fruit juice, eggs, bacon, sausages, tea and lashings of toast. Too much for me on a week day but i force as much down as i can as i know I'll need it today. I say my goodbyes ('m not paying as it's all been paid for me!!) then i set off for my adventure. Oh no the butterflies are starting to happen now. At least it's not raining, it's a nice sunny morning in fact. I arrive at Glenmore Lodge and get my boots on, lock the car and head to reception. It all seems very friendly and I'm met by Alison who will be my mountain guide and Nigel (head of training). We head for a cup of tea and a chat then Claire and tom from Trail arrive. They all seem like really nice people.

We head off at about 9.30am along a long, easy smooth track that runs straight from the lodge through a forest of old scots pine trees and passes a beautiful lake with the greenest water you've ever seen - Lochan Uaine. We come to a fork in the track and go right - the left one takes you to Ryvoan Bothy. The track goes on for a bit more and becomes a bit more gravelly. We come to a small wooden bridge and decide this is good for our first break. It is here i get my first sight of Bynack More. It looks pretty high! I get some guidance from Alison on how to read the map and use the compass. I have done some a way long time ago at school but geography was one of my favourite subjects. (Yes, i am a geek!). So we head on again and in between time we stop for a few minutes while Tom takes some pictures (hope he gets my good side ha ha). I am not entirely comfortable with this picture taking malarkey but I do it. Alison confides she is not liking this part either - phew, thought it was only me. The chat ranges from tips and hints for a first time munro bagger (me!) to the use of the words 'munro-bagger' - apparently some people get a bit sensitive and do not like being referred to as a 'munro bagger' or deny that they actively use a tick list! Why?? Anyway we are now making a steady ascent and I'm starting to feel the burn in my legs. We decide to keep going and I'm told I'm a natural and am making good progress at a steady pace. I worry I'm going to be left at the back! I say this worries me a bit and am told that you should go at your own pace and if you are out with more experienced walkers they should be considerate and not rush way ahead of you. I'm told that you'll get there just the same at a slow and steady pace - the tortoise and the hare story!!

We're now about half way there and stop for a bite to eat and more water. We are on a fairly level plateau now, a vast gently rolling upthrust of pink granite and the wind is starting to become stronger. The views are fantastic and more photos are taken. I look up and see what i think is the summit but am told the summit is out of view (I'm finding a pattern to these summits!) A jet flies over in the distance and twists and turns from side to side and i wonder what it muse be like to do that!!! But no, i have to focus on my current task in hand. After about 20 minutes we head off again and up ahead i can see a much steeper part that doesn't appear to have an obvious track (uh oh!). Alison gets me to scramble over a fairly large flat rock, the camera clicks in the background, that was a fairly easy thing i think to myself. I'm not scared of heights or anything but never imagined I'd be climbing over rocks and stuff. High five Ange! So we head off and start our ascent to the summit.

The weather is kind of closing in so it's time for the waterproofs to go on. I already have my jacket on and then proceed to embarrass myself by struggling trying to get my trousers on. What an idiot. Now if you've been reading these blogs form the start you'll know that i have only recently taken up this hill walking business and am slowly buying kit. I realised as i struggled on a rock in the wind and rain, that this was the first time I'd tried getting my waterproof trousers on over my boots. Of course I've tried them on in the house - in my bare feet, but not with the boots. I tried to play it cool and pretended the zip was stuck, i don't think they noticed ha ha. So i got them on eventually and this was another to be another photo op on the rocks in the rain (well it was really on a small shower).

So onwards and upwards, I'm getting used to this rock climbing thing apart from a few hairy moments and slips but on the whole it's fine and a pretty good feeling when you look down and see what you've done. I look up and see what i think is the summit and I'm told, yes you guessed it, this is not the summit it's about another few metres away - of course it is! So then i catch sight of the summit cairn and reach it at just over 3 and a half hours, not bad going for a first timer i say. Woohoo! congratulations all around and few souvenir snapshots are taken, then we take shelter from the wind and have another food/drink break. The views are amazing and Alison is showing me different hills and river in the distance. Tom suggest it's Ben Nevis next for me as i seem to have found this one easy - eh I think not!! Claire has meanwhile not asked me many direct questions but has been busily jotting notes down in her tiny waterproof notepad with her broken pencil. Time for the gloves and hats to go on the wind is so strong. I realise now too that my face is starting to sting from the wind and maybe sun too. I have put sunscreen on but not since the morning so i put some more on. I hope i don't have a bright red face in the pictures - oh well if I do it'll match my jacket!

Ok i'm going to stop here as it's taken me an age to write this (and Italy V Spain is coming on too). I'll come back in a bit with 'the descent'...

Angela and Alison at the summit

Tom, Claire and Alison (team 'first munro') Huge thanks guys!

More pics can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ange77h/sets/72157605721766334/