Eddie’s Blog

Derwentwater and Borrowdale from Skiddaw

Last weekend I travelled to the Lake District in England and walked up to the 931m summit of Skiddaw.

This was the first time I’d been hillwaking in the Lake District, so I thought I’d do a straightforward walk, and indeed the summit of Skiddaw, despite being one of the highest in the area, is not difficult to reach, with a clear and well-surfaced path almost all the way up. Above about 600m there was significant snow-cover although crampons and ice-axe were never required. Above about 700m thick cloud meant no views and some navigation with a compass to find the right way, but it was never difficult.

I started the walk at 9am which was a good idea, as the mountain became very busy with walkers as the day went on. Below the cloudbase the views were magnificent, particularly towards Helvellyn, Derwentwater, Borrowdale and Grasmoor.

You can see the photos I took on the walk on my website here.

Meall an t-Seallaidh from Cam Chreag

Last week I went walking in the Balquhidder area of the southern Highlands. I walked up Kirkton Glen through fir plantations and to the col at the head of the glen where there is an impressively large rock called Rob Roy’s Putting Stone below the crags of Leum an Eireannaich. From there I walked along the tops of Meall an Fhiodhain, Cam Chreag and Meall an t-Seallaidh, which form a high ridge about 4km long that nowhere goes below 700m in altitude, but also never goes above 900m, so there are no Munro summits on it. This means that it is not a well-visited area of the Highlands, but it still offers a proper mountain hike.

There was also snow cover above about 700m on the walk, and intermittent showers of snow that reduced visibility so although not a high elevation walk it was a proper winter mountain route requiring careful navigation and the use of crampons and ice axe.

There wasn’t much in the way of views on the walk due to the snow showers and cloud but at the end of the route descending down the steep grassy southern slopes of Meall an t-Seallaidh there was an impressive view westwards along Balquhidder Glen.

Kirkton Glen was also on the route of the first wild camping expedition I ever went on, way back in 1984 whilst at school.

You can see the photos I took on the walk on my website here.

Last Friday evening I went on a hillwalking night navigation course run by C-N-Do. I was doing this to get some practice for the ML Award assessment I hope to do at some point this year. The course mostly consisted of a lot of micro-navigation at night across featureless terrain in the western Ochil Hills.

However, the effectiveness of the evening’s activities was reduced somewhat by the moon, which by an unlucky coincidence was at 100% full phase that evening, high in a cloudless sky and was the brightest full moon of the entire year! The night was so bright that sometimes the use of a head-torch was not required, so it wasn’t perhaps as challenging as it could have been. Temperatures were below freezing though, so it was still a fairly tough 3 hours.

Yesterday I went on a one-day winter skills course organised by C-N-Do. This was a short introductory course and was a review of the basic skills needed to walk in the Scottish mountains in winter. The content of the course was not new to me although it was good to get some formal instruction and practice in some of the techniques, particularly the use of ice-axes and arresting slides on steep snow slopes.

Getting some supervised practice in this was the most useful part of the day for me, as you don’t get many chances to throw yourself down a snow-covered slope to prepare for when it might happen for real! I didn’t quite get the hang of the most difficult self-arrest technique (sliding on your back, head first), although hopefully I’ll get a chance to try again on a future course.

Other things that were covered were using crampons, avalanche awareness, recognising different wind, snow and ice conditions, and constructing an emergency snow-shelter.

The course was carried out in Coire Dhomhain, near the pass of Drumochter on the A9. It was not necessary to go very far up into the hills, as there are currently good snow and ice conditions down to quite a low level, and falling snow, low clouds and strong wind yesterday meant that challenging conditions were encountered right from the start on the A9!

Hawker Hurricane Merline engine in Galloway Forest Park

On Monday last week I travelled to Galloway Forest Park to walk near Loch Doon. The weather was pretty bad, with freezing rain, mist and frozen ground underfoot.

I walked in a plantation of fir trees to the southeast of the Loch, west of the Rhinns of Kells ridge, to the site of a Hawker Hurricane that crashed in the Second World War. There is still some wreckage at the site, hidden away in a firebreak in the forest. The wreckage is in danger of disappearing into the new forest growth but the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine from the Hurricane is still visible sitting on the ground underneath the canopy of trees.

You can see my page about this wreck site on my website here.

Last Friday, Lesley and I travelled through to Glasgow to see Porcupine Tree at the O2 ABC venue (previously known as just ‘the ABC’). This is the fourth time I’ve seen Porcupine Tree live (see my two previous blog postings, ‘Porcupine Tree - again‘ and ‘Porcupine Tree‘).

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Fairey Firefly remains on Meikle Bin

Last Sunday I went for a walk in the Campsie Fells, starting just north of Queenzieburn and walking directly up the escarpment of the Kilsyth Hiils, going via the Birkenburn Reservoir towards the 570m summit of Meikle Bin. It was a gloomy day and the moorland of the Campsie Fells is a pretty desolate and featureless place, even though there are views towards the centre of Glasgow from the high ground.

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On the summit of Ben Chonzie

Last weekend I climbed Ben Chonzie with a work colleague. It was a the first proper winter hillwalk of this year, with ice on the route and a good covering of snow on the broad summit ridge above about 800m. We saw plenty of all-white mountain hares, they are very widespread in this area.

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Camusdarach Beach, Morar

A couple of weekends ago Lesley and I travelled to Arisaig, on the west coast. On the way there we stopped at a couple of places associated with Bonnie Prince Charlie - Glenfinnan and the site on the Sound of Arisaig where he embarked from mainland Scotland after the battle of Culloden.

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Wellington wreckage on Carn Aosda

A couple of weekends ago I went for a short hike over the summit of Carn Aosda near the Glenshee Ski Centre. I walked up to the summit along one of the main paths underneath the ski tows but I descended off the summit into the little-frequented northern corrie of Carn Aosda, Dubh-choire. The conditions were perfect, with frozen ground underfoot and excellent visibility. I had an amazing view of the Cairngorm summits to the north with a covering of fresh snow. You can see a couple of photos I took on the trip on my website here.

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