I’ve started this blog in response to requests from my friends to write further about my cowardly exploits in the hills of Britain and elsewhere.
(When viewing photos in the blog posts, clicking on a photo will show it in its true definition and quality)
Wed 8 May 2013
Due to the weather forecast for the Wednesday predicting quite high winds (which then didn’t hit us until late in the day), the decision was made on Tuesday evening to make our Wednesday’s objective Sgurr Dubh Mor via Coire a’ Ghrunnda (instead of Am Basteir) – we also hoped to add the other Munro of Sgurr nan Eag if there was time and we felt able. After yesterday’s performance, I wasn’t sure whether we were able – we both seemed very unfit… I’d had a restful night though as I believed these Munros were very straightforward and was seeing it as virtually a day-off… how wrong I can be I was soon to find out! Read the rest of this entry »
Tue 7 May 2013
Due to the weather being pretty dire in Scotland for the first half of the year, with snow most days and very high winds, the week I’d booked with a guide to do more of the Cuillin Munros on Skye was my first Munroing of the year. In fact, due to my broken bones last year, it was exactly a year since my last Munro so starting with Sgurr nan Gillean was pretty ambitious really! I’d only managed to do hillwalking in either the Lakes or the Dales – both very easy walking and, as I said in my last post, my preparatory outdoor climb had fallen through at the last minute so, consequently, I was feeling very unprepared indeed…
Sat 27 Apr 2013
Of late, one snag I’m starting to find with my climbing ambitions, is that you need a partner to do it. All well and good but, having to rely on others to help you further your ambitions, often leads to being let down and wasted journeys. Part of my plan towards doing this year’s fearsome Cuillin Munros, was to try to attend the climbing wall every week and have one further outdoor climb. Twice in the last two weeks, I’ve been let down at the last minute – after I’ve made the journey! The first time was a 50 mile round trip to the climbing wall where my partner-to-be simply didn’t turn up. This weekend was a much longer trip all the way to Langdale in the Lake District for an outdoor evening climb where, on arrival after a slow 2.5 hour drive, I received a text which had been sent half an hour previously cancelling 
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Mon 15 & Tue 16 Apr 2013
This week I was supposed to re-start my Munroing quest and head back up to Scotland for the first time this year. It’s unusual for me to still not have had a Scotland trip by April to say the least! The few days before I was due to set off, I daily checked the ‘MWIS’ (mountain weather) forecast for the two areas of Scotland I was interested in. Although a thaw seemed to be setting in at long last, the winds were due to rise to hurricane-force – gusts of up to 100mph were being forecast 
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Feb 2013
The day after our Fairfield Photo Fest walk (see my earlier post), Richard said he didn’t want to do another walk but I wanted to get another mountain in. I suggested that I do Tarn Crag above Easedale and then he could have a gentle stroll up Easedale to see the tarn – a beautiful and popular walk which he’d never done. As he’d otherwise have had to hang around Grasmere for half a day while I did my hill, he agreed.
The Grasmere Hotel, where we’d stayed, suggested we leave the car in their carpark as otherwise it would cost us £7 to re-park in the village. We’d actually been going to ask them anyway but they got in first. We readily agreed, booted up and set off in yet more great sunny weather. It was positively scorching for February – at least mid 70s! It was another walk where we both went mad with our cameras…
A few years back, when my parents were still Youth Hostelling, they stayed at Arnside Hostel. My Mum was despatched off to a women’s dormitory and the warden gave my Dad instructions to his dormitory. My Dad went up to the floor he’d said but noticed that all the rooms seemed to be full of women. Coming from an age where ladies and gentlemen didn’t mix overnight unless they were married (unlike bunkhouses nowadays where you can be sharing a room with a stranger of either sex), he hurriedly averted his eyes and rushed back downstairs.
“They’re all women up there!” he exclaimed to the warden in a shocked and horrified voice.
The warden turned to his mate and said,
“I wonder how old you have to be to get like that?”
A quick shot of my Dad in his younger, male-model days! 
Thu 28 March 2013
I was out for my late-afternoon walk on Wednesday and was struck by the sheer beauty of the huge snowdrifts lining the walls along my route – unfortunately I didn’t have a camera with me – typical! I attempted to rectify the situation the next day by taking out two cameras – my proper (film) camera – you’ll have to wait for the photos from that one though – and my point-and-shoot cheap digital one. These are the instant photos from the digi-camera.
It’s a shame I didn’t have the cameras the day before as, due to the slightly warmer temperatures, the snow had started to melt and slump slightly – this one’s still quite sharp though…
