Frozen Steall Falls

The cold spell has been great for hillwalking and the temptation is of course to go on to the high tops.  However there are other options and on Sunday rather than do our original plan of Ben Oss near Tyndrum we decided to drive up to Glen Nevis as we had read reports that the Steall waterfall was frozen, something that very rarely happens.  I know it seems like a mad idea for a day trip but the drive up was superb especially the view of Buachaille Etive Mor…

Buachaille Etive Mor, Glencoe

We arrived at the Lower Falls car park at about 12.30.  Any thoughts about getting as far as the higher car park were quickly dispelled…

Ungritted Road Ahead!

It took us about an hour and a half to walk up the sometimes very icy path up Steall Falls, once again the Kahtoola Microspikes were invaluable!  Eventually we reached the falls and the following sight…

Frozen Steall Falls

For comparison this is a photo of the falls taken in September…

Steall Falls September 2009

We wandered over to the infamous wire bridge but for once we didn’t have to use it, instead treading carefully across the frozen River Nevis…

Frozen River Nevis

From there we walked up the foot of the waterfall where several climbers were having fun…

Climbers at Steall Falls

Climbers at Steall Falls

Climbers at Steall Falls

And of course no day would be complete without a pie for lunch (with a view of course, this time the Aonachs!)

The Ultimate Game Pie with the Aonachs in background!

Absolutely fantastic day and one that will probably not be repeated for a while!

A snowy day on the Luss Hills

Well Monday was the last day of the holidays so before returning to work we decided to have another day on the hills.  Ben Lomond was considered but we weren’t sure what the road to Rowardennan would be like.  So we decided to play safe and stick to the main roads and head for Luss  to do Beinn Dubh and Mid Hill.

It didn’t look to promising first thing but we were soon above the cloud that was shrouding Loch Lomond.

Looking down on clouds above Ben Lomond

Eventually we got great views of the Arrochar Alps, particularly the Cobbler where I’d been on Christmas Day.

View over to the Arrochar Alps

Quite a steep descent and another good test of the Kahtoola Mocrospikes especially on this mini ice rink…

Luss Ice Rink!

Finished up getting back to Luss for a shot of Ben Lomond from the pier.  Hmm, the sign says no swimming eh!  Now that would be a brave man!

Ben Lomond from Luss

Just like the good old days…

The recent wintry weather has brought back memories of those proper winters we used to get in the seventies. Of course 1947 and 1963 were really bad winters but even I am not old enough to remember them! The really memorable one for me was 1979 when I was on a Geography A Level field trip to Newtondale on the North York Moors with about a dozen sixth formers from Hornsea School along with our teachers Mr LeVine and Mr Elmes.

Now my recollection is a little hazy now thirty years on but it was mid February and we were staying at Raper’s Farm (Grid Ref SE 823938) which at that time was run as an outdoor centre. I was up there last year and it now looks like it has been converted back to a residential property.

Raper's Farm, Newtondale as it is now

Anyway, we were there for a week and did various things that A Level Geography students were meant to do. However towards the end of the week it started to snow as we were doing a shopping survey in Pickering. Fortunately we made it back to the field centre and then finished up being unable to get the minibus back out on the forestry roads that were the only access. So we just sat it out and finished up staying there for an extra three or four days during which time we had to get supplies brought out to us via the North York Moors Steam Railway (except it was a diesel they used!).

Picking up supplies

We also spent time wandering over to the Hole of Horcum which was a fair hike down into the bottom of Newtondale and back up the other side.

Doing fieldwork in the Hole of Horcum

And before anyone comments on the photos being in black and white I was doing O Level Photography at the time and doing my own developing and printing!

We also improvised with large empty plastic coke (the fuel, not the drink!) bags to slide down the forestry tracks before we got a bollocking from a local farmer for making the road into a version of the Cresta Run! After that we used the slopes of Levisham Moor.

When I look back I do wonder what the procedure would be if the same thing happened today – for starters I suspect the trip would not be run in February in the first place but if it was we would probably have been confined to the field centre for fear of coming to any harm in the snow!

A weather chart leading up to that snow event and some more photos can be found at:

The Weather Outlook 1979 Part 1
The Weather Outlook 1979 Part 2
The Weather Outlook 1979 Part 3

I know I’m going to regret this but for your amusement I’m also publishing a photo of our sixth form group when we left school in 1980. Now that’s when I had hair! Happy days!

Hornsea School Upper 6th 1980

Nearly Stob Binnein…

With good intentions we planned to do Stob Binnein today. However we didn’t get up to Crianlarich until after 10 o’clock so didn’t set off walking until about 10.10am. It was also also hard going as the snow was fairly deep in places and had a hard crust on top, not really thick enough to support your weight, so we kept having to extract ourselves from the holes we were creating. It was even worse when there were hidden streams below!

Anyway we made it about half way up the hill before realising there was no way we would get to the summit and back before dark. Not really a problem as the weather forecast was good, we had headtorches and there is a full moon but it really was energy sapping work! So we turned back and stopped for a well earned lunch…

Ben Tualaichean from the slopes of Stob Binnein

Made it back to the car at about 3.40pm so not a bad day out.

In between Christmas and New Year I took the Tiger Cub back to Yorkshire to watch the Tigers against Man United. Had a cracking day despite losing 3-1 and at least we made a fight of it by equalising in the second half before our defensive frailties let us down again. And at least we’ve now seen them in the Premiership, seems a long time ago since I used to go to Boothferry Park back in the 70s and 80s! Just hope we can do enough to stay up for a third season in the top flight!

KC Stadium

Christmas Day

As usual on Christmas Day I popped over to see the kids open their Christmas presents first thing this morning. Then I decided to head for the hills! I’d thought about the Luss Hills but as I drove towards them there didn’t seem to be that much snow on them so decided to carry on for an extra few miles to Arrochar to do the Cobbler.

Set off from the car park at 12.15 after meeting this cheeky robin…

Cheeky Robin!

Got some excellent views over to Ben Lomond…

Looking back to Ben Lomond

The path was quite icy but eventually got on to the flat bit and a view of the Cobbler…

The Cobbler

Also tried out my Kahtoola Microspikes on the way down. Absolutely brilliant! Not a replacement for “proper” crampons but really useful for those icy paths you so often get at this time of the year.

Kahtoola Microspikes

Hope everyone is having a good break…heading south to God’s Own County tomorrow with the Tiger Cub to watch the mighty Tigers against Man United…couldn’t get tickets for any games last season but finally managed to get tickets this year…after all those years watching them struggling in the 70s and 80s this will make up for it!

“Ayrshire Tiger I Presume…”

Well what a fantastic weekend! As promised the weather was superb and we finished up having three consecutive dry days on the hills! On Friday we had a relatively easy day doing the Pap of Glencoe…

Pap of Glencoe

View towards Kinlochleven and Saturday's hill Na Gruagaichean

Iain and Kirsten joined us on Friday and after a good evening in the newly refurbished Glencoe Hotel Saturday saw us heading for the Mamores to do Na Gruagaichean. At one point the clouds started rolling in particularly over Buachaille Etive Mor to the south…

Clouds over Buachaille Etive Mor

However the clouds cleared by the time we got to the summit. Words cannot really describe the scene…

Looking south to Glencoe

Looking towards Ben Nevis

Looking towards Na Gruagaichean's north top and Ben Nevis

Silhouettes on Na Gruagaichean

Near the summit we met a group of three folk coming down and as they passed one of them paused and asked if I was Ayrshire Tiger. Now I’ve joked for a while that one day this would happen but I was still somewhat surprised – it turned to be a chap Peter who had come along to an OM meet a couple of years ago at Killin – all I can say is that he has a better memory than I do!

We had originally planned to go on and do Binnein Mor but as we had spent so long on the summit of Na Gruagaichean we decided to be sensible and retrace our route. A spectacular day was completed with a brocken spectre…

Brocken Spectre

and an interesting descent in the dark…

Sunset over Loch Leven

Sunset over Loch Leven

So onto Sunday and yet another dry day and a wander up Stob Coire Raineach on Buachaille Etive Beag. We did the whole ridge back in the summer at which point the National Trust for Scotland were carrying out footpath work. Great views again including this one of yesterday’s hill…

View towards Na Gruagaichean

Another interesting descent as the path was very icy in places meaning we tended to by-pass it and use the grassy slopes instead culminating in a spectacular triple somersault by yours truly! At least it proved that old saying about cats always landing on their feet, well almost!

As ever we finished the weekend at the Real Food Cafe where we met up with ptc and Sandy who had been wild camping in the Grey Corries and Beinn a Creachain respectively.

At last, the weather gods deliver…

It’s been a long time coming but finally the weather gods have got their act together and are going to deliver a fantastic weekend of high pressure just in time for a weekend in Glencoe…

MWIS
Met Office
snowforecast.com
(note: the above links are “live” links so will change over time!)

They can’t all be wrong, can they?!

Sgurr na h-Eanchainne

We’d always fancied doing Sgurr na h-Eanchainne but somehow other hills always seem more convenient. So staying at Corran Bunkhouse for the November Scottish Hills meet seemed an ideal opportunity to finally attempt it especially as Elaina and Seona were keen to have an easy day in order to get back in time to see the Scotland v Argentina rugby international.

We got the 9.20 ferry and popped into the Ardgour Inn to find out whether they had a TV for the rugby later. The good news was yes they did but the bad news was that they didn’t open until 4pm, not much good for a 2.30 kick off! So off we set thinking we might have to drive to Kinlochleven to maybe catch the second half…ever the optimists…if only!

Steve and Seona discuss where we definitely won’t be descending…hmmm, see photo at end of report!

We walked 2km along the A861 to NN014657 then headed on to the open hillside. Not much in the way of a path but no real difficulties either as we headed for Beinn na Cille.

Steve and Seona head off through the bracken, not for the first time…

We were rewarded with some fantastic views of the Ben, the Ballachulish horseshoe and eventually the Mamores as the cloud lifted. However as we approached Sgurr na h-Eanchainne the mist came in and we only got limited views from the summit.

Seona and Elaina approach the summit

Happy trio at the summit!

Looking across to Ben Nevis

The usual route is to skirt around Coire Dubh via Druim na Sgriodain but mindful of the 2.30 rugby kick off we decided on a direct descent off the south-east ridge which proved to be an “entertaining” choice! Let’s just say there was some interesting route finding involving crags, clambering through trees and man (and woman!) eating bracken which at one point involved minor surgery, unfortunately the nurse in the party was the patient!

Elaina tries to stay upright on a steep section!

Steve and Seona negotiating another steep grassy slope

Hmmm, this is what happened to the last creature on this route!

Elaina versus bushes and bracken! Almost as entertaining as the rugby!

Looking back to where we descended, err doesn’t that look familiar?

Anyway we eventually got back to the road and by the time we got back to the Ardgour Inn it was 3.58pm, how convenient, just in time for the pub opening and the last twenty minutes of the rugby! We had been keeping up to date with the score through texts being sent to Seona and knew that Scotland were leading 6-3. Unfortunately as soon as we started watching Argentina drew level and shortly afterwards went into a 9-6 went on to win 9-6. Maybe we should have stayed on the hill a bit longer!

At this point Elaina and Seona announced that they also wanted to watch the Wales v Australia match so after a quick chat with the barman we determined that we could get the 4.30pm ferry back to Corran for a quick shower then return to Ardgour to the 5.15pm kick off. Unfortunately the girls had misheard and thought we were getting the ferry at 4.45pm so when I hinted at 4.27pm that they might want to finish their pints they had to ask the barman to keep their drinks for their return! On our return NeillyDunn (Des) had joined us and was most impressed when the barman produced two drinks for Elaina and Seona without them even speaking!

We enjoyed (or should that be suffered!) the rugby and we then returned back to the Corran Inn as that was where everyone else was eating. Our appetites had already been whetted by the food being served in the Ardgour. However we were not inspired by the Corran menu so we decided to hop back on the ferry to eat at the Ardgour Inn! We had an excellent meal including the intriguingly named “Hanky Panky” pudding!

Thankfully we managed to get the last ferry back to the “mainland”! What the ferryman thought of our antics I’m not sure! By this time the rest of the crowd had moved on to the Four Seasons pub at Inchree so we joined them for more beers and chat.

Brilliant day and another excellent meet in great company. Thanks to Kinley for organising the meet – just hope he forgives us for not eating at the Corran Inn – I’m afraid the offer of hanky panky was just too much to resist!

It’s never dull in Hull!

Well no-one can complain that they aren’t getting value for money at the KC Stadium these days! After Saturday’s comeback from 2-0 down to draw 3-3 with West Ham tonight we went 3-0 up in 30 minutes but then had to battle to hold on for a 3-2 win. I’ve always said that you can never relax unless City have at least a 3 goal lead and even then it’s still not a certainty as tonight almost proved!

And of course before that we came from 1-0 down to beat Stoke 2-1. So that’s three games undefeated, the first time that’s happened since we got promoted to the Premier League. Let’s hope we can keep it up and regain the form from this time last year!

Snow on the way…?

Yes, it’s that time of year again when hopefully we might get a dusting of snow on the hills. There has already been a dusting on the Cairngorms and the forecast is looking quite promising for the west this weekend. Which would be very well timed as we are heading north to stay at the Corran Bunkhouse with a crowd from scottishhills.com!

Of course that’s if I survive watching the Tigers play Everton on Wednesday night…I’m not sure my heart can cope with another game like Saturday’s 3-3 draw with West Ham! Still that’s us up the fifth from bottom!