Last week I cycled into Glen Avon in the eastern Cairngorms with my new bike (a Giant Revel 1) from the east, starting at Corgarff Castle. The first part of the route was rougher than I expected, but the bike made it in one piece to Inchrory Lodge in Glen Avon, which is a large… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Mountains & hills
Big Black Mountains Challenge
Three weeks ago I travelled to South Wales to take part in the Big Black Mountains Challenge. This is an annual long-distance mountain walk organised by the Longtown Mountain Rescue Team. I had never been to South Wales before, so walking in this part of the Brecon Beacons National Park was a new experience for… Read more »
Wreck of a B-17 Flying Fortress on Skye
During my recent trip to Skye (see my previous blog posting, ‘Skye (2)‘), I looked for the site of a USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress bomber that crashed on Beinn Edra on the Trotternish Ridge during the Second World War. This wreck is well-known amongst locals on Skye and I have heard many discussions about it… Read more »
Skye (2)
Last week Lesley and I travelled to Skye to spend a week in a holiday cottage in Fiskavaig. The weather for the first 5 days of the trip was absolutely perfect, allowing us to have a couple of barbecues in the evening with the added bonus of there being no midgies this early in the… Read more »
The Abernethy Forest and Meall a’Bhuiridh; winter hike to Ben Macdui
Three weeks ago I spent a couple of days in Aviemore, and went for a couple of long walks. The first was a walk through the Scots Pines of Abernethy Forest, somewhere I’ve not been to before. I had hoped to see some wildlife (including Capercaillies, which I’ve never seen before), as this is the… Read more »
The Allt a’ Mharcaidh catchment, Sgòr Gaoith and the highest tree in the British Isles (possibly)
A month ago I travelled to the Cairngorms for a high-level walk around the Allt a’ Mharcaidh catchment. The Allt a’ Mharcaidh is a relatively small river in the north-western Cairngorm mountains and is a tributary of the Spey, joining it at Kincraig via the river Feshie. The catchment (or drainage basin, or watershed) of… Read more »
Cool Britannia
Iain Cameron (with whom I visited a long-lasting snowpatch on Aonach Mòr last October, see the blog posting ‘Autumn snowfields in Lochaber‘) and Adam Watson have just written a book together, called ‘Cool Britannia‘. This book is a welcome guide for anyone interested in the little-known area (although now coming to more public prominence after… Read more »
The Scottish mountains: on the glacial ‘knife-edge’
Something I’ve always been interested in are the environmental conditions that are required for glaciers to form. Glaciers are often associated with high mountains and polar areas, and the major environmental factors that influence their existence are long-term climate trends (e.g. precipitation, average air temperatures and prevailing wind direction), latitude and altitude, and local topography… Read more »
Wreck of a WWII Mosquito bomber in the Cheviot Hills
Last week I went walking in the Cheviot hills, just south of Kelso. I walked along the Pennine Way past some horseriders and up to the 564m summit of The Curr. There were great views northwards into the Scottish Borders and south to the summit of the Cheviot in England, just a few kilometres away.
Autumn snowfields in Lochaber
Three weeks ago I travelled to Lochaber to walk to the summit of Aonach Mòr. The purpose of the trip was to locate an area on the mountain which contains a long-lasting snowpatch from last winter. I’ve visited similar areas in the Cairngorm mountains many times (see several previous blog postings and my website page… Read more »
I am a software engineer / database administrator / web developer living in Edinburgh, Scotland. In my spare time I like to travel and take photographs (especially of mountains). See my main website here: Eddie's Photo Archive