A proper big trip

(My mate) Tom and I went up north at the weekend and climbed one of the most remote and highest mountains in Scotland. We counted the miles, met some nice people and endured typical Scottish weather. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.



I like this pic. It sums up the weekend – obsessed with gadgets, full of energy and largely incompetent.










The same shot after I worked out how to use the timer on the camera. Loch Ossian Youth Hostel - our overnight stay and starting point – is 10 miles behind us.

The man at C&A look didn’t last long.





One man and his GPS:

By lunchtime on the Saturday we had already been to the top of Ben Alder. Ben Alder is a huge hulk of a mountain and it must be difficult to find the top at the best of times – the cloud was thick enough that we had a genuine need to use the handheld (or ‘necklace’ as worn here) GPS.

We went on to climb Ben Bheoil in the afternoon. This Munro is less imposing but in a beautiful spot between Ben Alder and Loch Ericht. We had to walk the length of Loch Ericht to get to Dalwhinnie.

Deer were never far away.

Though we didn’t know it, by early on Saturday evening a torrential downpour wasn’t far away either…

No pictures of the perfect storm survived, but we did… just, and staggered on to Culra Bothy. Here a stylishly clad Tom can be seen thrusting his extremities into a burning stove to try to dry off. Despite smoking out the bothy with our fire, all our clothes (and phones, ipods, the lot) were soaked through for the rest of the trip.

As so often in Scotland, the worst predictor of the next day’s weather is the weather the day before. Ben Alder is the huge mass of peaks and colls in the centre-left of the frame. Incidentally, the early-morning light is perfect in this picture, possible only because I forgot to bring anything to sleep on and woke up at 6am on Sunday morning on a hard bunk with aches and pains all over.

The Culra Bothy. This saved us from having to camp and cook in sheet-rain and did wonders for our weary feet. Thank you bothy!

Tom – Navigator, Tent Carrier, Cook…

...but there’s nothing easy about being the expedition photographer, website manager and artistic director.

So that was our marathon weekend in the highlands. Starting from Corrour on the west coast rail line, we did a huge 26.5 miles on the Saturday, mostly up and down mountains. We walked another 18 miles on the Sunday to get across to Dalwhinnie and the A9 for the bus home. Anyway, that’s my excuse for looking like a complete girl in this photo.

End result: a mighty 44.5 miles walked over three days. I’d also done 6 miles through the botanic gardens and along Roseburn Path on Thursday night, taking my total to 189 miles.

Thanks Tom for a superb weekend. BTW, still haven’t been yet.

Flights and Walking Late Nights

Warning - extreme close-up alert... again.

You would think I would have my flights booked already. At least, you’d think that if you didn’t know how disorganised I am… generally, as a person. I’ve been phoning travel agents in the last few days. Apparently my preferred round-the-world route is ‘unconventional’. I think they mean that I’m going up and down a lot as well as round the way. Upshot of this is that I’ll be flying over 40,000 miles.

In the interests of sustainability I’ve worked out that my own personal contribution to global warming will be to raise global temperatures by 0.00000000000000000000000000001 degrees. For those of you living in low lying areas I apologise profusely.

That said, I've been making plenty use of Shanks' Pony - a much more environmentally friendly method of transport - in the last few days. Went walking with Stuart on Tuesday night - a 7.5 mile circular route from Stuart's house in West Linton.

Stuart’s palatial country residence is visible somewhere in the background of this photo. Seriously though Stuart, you are a lucky man to have such fantastic views just a few minutes from your house. (and apologies - couldn't resist using the picture with the giant sea-slug in the top left corner).

I had a meeting in Alloa on Wednesday afternoon. Used the opportunity to go up to Dollar and walk from there up over the hills to Burnfoot and back - 9 miles. Another fantastic night, great weather and reservoirs, but no-one around.

So up to 138.5 miles.

Don’t Make Me Laugh…

One of the worst things about sore ribs is that they take weeks to heal. In that time you have to be careful not to laugh, cough or worst of all sneeze. A bad sneeze could put your recovery time back by a week…

For anyone who not already in the know, the best way to stop yourself sneezing is to press the back of your tongue hard against the roof of your mouth and rub it back and forward until the tingling feeling goes away. The more vigorously you rub the better. In fact, if friends/passers-by think you’re having a seizure you’ve probably got it just right.

Back on the road, I did a long walk in a different part of the Pentlands on Sunday night, passing two of the Great Glen Reservoirs. Fabulous weather made for great views - if you look very closely, in the middle of the picture there’s a Grey Heron.
There’s a connection with one of my favourite films in this picture…

Apologies for the extreme close-ups - I look particularly terrible in this one. Would be easier on everyone if my arms were a couple of feet longer! Won’t be a problem for the next couple of weekends though – I’m off to Rannoch Moor this weekend with Tom and then down to London where I’ll be accompanied by about half a dozen folks at different stages – can’t wait, will be a change from these long solos walks.


Another 9 miles round the Pentlands and 6.5 miles through the New Town on Monday night took the total to 122 miles.

Farewell Linlithgow

I’ve got so much to do in such a short time before I head out to Belize. It all adds up to an exhausting few months. I’m not complaining at all though, most of it is a joy to do and it’s great that I’ve got the opportunity to do this. One of the most difficult things though has been selling up my house and moving back into Edinburgh.

Linlithgow palace and friend.

On Sunday I walked for 4 miles round the town and the loch. I’ve been round this route a hundred times in the last couple of years. It was strange to walk round it for the last time.

Had a great day out at Knockhill on Saturday. Gordon’s stag-weekend was a great excuse for a fiercely competitive go-karting session, which ended in bruised ribs for me (kept spinning and presenting an unavoidable obstacle for everyone else) and a superb win for Chris, who’s laptime of 35.86 would rival Jodie Kidd and Jimmy Carr.

From L-R: Bill (aka Dad), Chris, Me, Alastair, Johnny, Gordon, Gregor, Stephen.

With 4 miles round Holyrood Park last Thursday, I’m now up to 106.5 miles.

Back on the Road Again

Had a great weekend camping at Loch Lomond. Swimming in the loch was an absolute joy – I’ve never known water in Scotland to be that warm. The picture to the right shows John in the foreground and me in the water. (I have to admit I’ve seen pictures of the loch ness monster that would stand up better in court.) Found a really great place to camp, which was good as there were 10 off us and we had 9 tents between us – we are very clean living people.

I walked 9.5 miles (I’m counting the half mile for once as I’m well behind schedule!) on Tuesday night up in the Pentlands. This is one of my favourite places to walk – it is so close to Edinburgh but with fantastic views.

The paths were deserted - I walked for more than an hour without seeing a single soul. And on probably the warmest, best evening of the year for being out-and-about.














Edinburgh castle is visible in dead centre of this picture. Great views, and just a 15 minute drive from Princes Street.

Another rural scene for nature lovers. (Staying at home lovers may be interested to note that IKEA Edinburgh is visible as a thin blue line in the top right of this picture…)

Including the 5 miles I did by yon bonnie bonnie banks, that’s another 14.5 miles, which puts me in touching distance of the ton.

98.5 miles done

BTW Thanks again for all your donations. So far I've reached the satanic total off £666 online, which is creeping me out a bit! Graeme/Jill – I hope that wasn’t deliberate.

I've also got just over £200 off-line. Plenty of incentive to keep walking!