Not been out in the hills for a while and this weekend’s weather isn’t looking great especially tomorrow so it might have to be the climbing wall.   At least we’ve got an OM meet in Langdale to look forward to in two weeks time.

I haven’t mentioned the (not so!) mighty Tigers for a while.   It would seem that the finances of the club aren’t what they should be (hmmm, feeling of deja vu here!) and as a consequence the Chairman Paul Duffen has resigned which was a bit of a surprise as normally it’s the manager who carries the can!  However popular opinion seems to be that Phil Brown only has a match or two to turn things around or he’ll be on his way too.   I have to say some folk have very short memories, for all their faults Brown and Duffen have taken us to the promised land of the Premiership which I honestly never thought we’d do in my lifetime.   There again the fans who are shouting for their heads probably don’t remember because they were supporting Man United or Liverpool or even Leeds at the time!   Funny old game eh!

Anyway, back to the subject of todays blog…I decided it was time to change my car.  Mainly due to the fact that my Honda Jazz has done 76,000 miles (mostly done on the A82 I suspect!) in four years and was coming up to a major service which would have included a new timing belt and also it’s MoT was due at the end of November.  So the search was on and after looking at the usual suspect (Jazz, Fiesta etc) my research found me looking at the Hyundai i20.  I’d really made my mind up but when I went to the dealer they were doing the i30 at such a discount it was going only going to be £300 more than the i20.  So after much umming and aaahing I decided to go for the the bigger i30.  It is still a very sensibly priced car though!

Sensibly Priced Hyundai i30!

Petesy and a few pals were planning a West Highland Way endurance test with an overnight at Tyndrum so we had arranged to meet up with them in the Real Food Cafe on Saturday evening.

Jamie also had a few days off and decided to fly up from Manchester to join us on Saturday before heading off for a Corrour wild camp.  So we picked up Jamie at Glasgow Airport and headed off to Arrochar to do the Cobbler.  Absolutely glorious day as we headed up to the Narnain Boulders.

Elaina and Jamie heading towards the Cobbler

Jamie couldn’t resist climbing on to one of the boulders with almost disastrous consequences…!

Jamie trying to fall off one of the Narnain Boulders!

The Cobbler

Elaina's balancing act!

We were on the summit by 2pm but not before we met a young lad Kieran who proudly told us that he was “conquering the mountain” on his own as none of his pals were into hillwalking. Further enquiries found out that he was 14 years old and that while he had juice he had no food! So Elaina offered him a Snickers bar and we gave him advice on the easiest way down. We were well impressed that a young lad should be out in the hills on his own but something just wasn’t quite right…more on this later…!

Of course Jamie had not done the Cobbler before so had to “thread the needle”. I’d done it before so offered to take the role of photographer…well that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Elaina and Jamie threading the Needle

Time was getting on and as we had a rendezvous in Tyndrum we decided to take the easy way down round the back. At the Narnain Boulders we met up with Sandy who had spent last night wild camping on Ben Lomond and had decided to join us for a fish supper!

As we wound our way down the track we came across young Kieran again who was now walking with a group with another young lad.  That’s nice we thought, he’s met up with a family and he’s made a pal!  But then it became obvious from a comment made by one of the adults that Kieran was part of the family!  Ah well, so he wasn’t actually on his own, he’d obviously just gone on ahead from his family when we met him earlier, still we could forgive him for having his own little adventure and good luck to him in his future hillwalking career.  Still not sure about the Snicker bar though!

So onto Tyndrum to meet up with ptc and co.  We waited…and waited…Jamie had to leave to get his train to Corrour…we had our fish suppers…and hot chocolates…we were getting worried by this point as it was 8.45pm by this time but the lads staggered in for well deserved suppers of various descriptions and copious amounts of coffee!

All in all a cracking day, made even better by getting free fish suppers following a misunderstanding with our order…10 out of 10 for customer service to the Real Food Cafe…although I suspect the fact they know we are regular customers may have had something to do with it!

Well at last the Tigers managed a second win of the season but still managed to make hard work of it by letting a goal in four minutes from time.  And then there were five minutes of injury time!  Much nail biting took place in that last nine minutes!  It brought back memories of the good (bad?!) old days at Boothferry Park when I could never really relax unless we had a three goal lead (not that that happened very often!).

Today we planned to do Ben Lui but a combination of setting off a bit later than planned and a problematic  river crossing saw us turn back at the foot of the mountain.  Still got a couple of decent photos…

Looking towards Ben Lui

Another view of Ben Lui

Probably for the best as the weather took a turn for the worse.   So regular readers will know where we finished up…

Fish Supper at the Real Food Cafe!

No walking this weekend but had a very enjoyable day today at the Glasgow Climbing Centre with Elaina, Sandy, Louise and Craig (Tiger Cub!).  It’s been a while since I’ve done any climbing but I didn’t do too badly.  However the Tiger Cub put us all to shame by scooting up everything in sight!

Tiger Cub looking down from the wall

Tiger Cub negotiating a chimney

And then on to a spot of bouldering…

Tiger Cub bouldering

Tiger Cub smiling after a soft landing!

One happy boy!

Had a great weekend up in Glencoe meeting up with old and new faces from OutdoorsMagic.com.  We had Friday off so decided to head up and do Meall a’ Bhuiridh and Criese, two Munros that Elaina hadn’t done.  In the event we only did Meall a’ Bhuiridh as we spent so much time chatting to a couple of other walkers.  Not a particularly exciting hill  what with all the skiing infrastructure about but there were some interesting bits…

Elaina attempts a bridge crossing!

We arrived at Signal Rock Cottage just after 4pm.  We’ve stayed here before and after a chat with Slawek and Luiza we had a quick shower before heading for the Clachaig Inn for dinner.  Eventually the rest of the crowd arrived although we did have to bring Polly the Parrot out to attract some of the OM folk who were on their first meet!  Highlight of the night had to be the arrival of Sir Jimmy Savile!  Have to say he’s looking well for someone who’s going to be 83 in a few weeks time!

Saturday morning saw reasonable weather to start with as some of us met at Mamore Lodge.

OMers meet at Mamore Lodge

We set off along the landrover track with the aim of doing Binnein Beag.  It’s a long walk in to the remotest of the Mamore Munros and it wasn’t long until we realised as we approached Loch Eilde Mor that we had walked past the turn off that takes you around the shoulder of Sgurr Eilde Beag.  A quick re-assessment saw us take the path up the east side of the Allt Coire nan Laogh (a route we had taken in reverse last winter when the stream was in spate!).  We eventually got back on the planned route and carried on towards Coire an Lochain below Sgurr Eilde Mor.  The weather had deteriorated by this time and Sandy and Louise decided to make Louise’s first Munro Sgurr Eilde Mor rather than Binnein Beag.

Sgurr Eilde Mor

The rest of us carried on hoping for the weather to clear and with immaculate timing it did as we approached Binnein Beag.

The summit party contemplate the final ascent!

Looking towards Buachaille Etive Mor

We did have discussions about going on to do Binnein Mor but the weather was still being temperamental and the realisation that it would probably add a good couple of hours to the day made it an easy decision to take the long path back to Kinlochleven for Haggis Fritters and Steak and Chips at the MacDonald Hotel!

Loch Leven Sunset from MacDonald Hotel

It was late by the time we got back to Glencoe and the campers decided to stay at the camp site.  Elaina and I headed for the Clachaig planning to meet Ian Gallagher of Kendall Mountaineering Services who had taken three OMers scrambling on Ben Nevis.  Unfortunately the pub was mobbed and we didn’t realise that they had decided to go through to the Lounge Bar.  So we just had the one pint before heading back to the B&B.

Sunday saw ourselves, Sandy and Louise heading for Glen Nevis and a walk up to Steall Falls and a play on the wire bridge!

Elaina crossing Steall wire bridge

On the way back we were interviewed by someone from the John Muir Trust who were doing a survey to find out if people thought the path to Steall was appropriate.  There have been several accidents, some fatal, and the Trust are looking to be able to justify not making changes to the path.  Hopefully our response will assist in that aim as it would be crazy if health and safety concerns led to “improvements” being imposed!

Sunday night saw us back in the Clachaig for a really excellent night with a dozen of us staying on to the bitter end of a cracking weekend.  It’s a good sign when you are having to be chucked out of the Clachaig at closing time on Sunday night!

On Monday we all headed home but not before we introduced Iain to the joys of the Real Food Cafe!  Two egg and bacon rolls, a very large coffee and a large hot chocolate later (and that was just for Iain!) we parted company with plans already in hand for the next OM meet in Great Langdale in the Lakes.

Got home and watched a recording of Sunday night’s “Munro – Mountain Man” programme in which I made a fleeting out of focus appearance in the background of the Clachaig Inn as Nick Crane was interviewing folk for the programme – you’d think I was never out of the place!

Heading north shortly for a weekend in Glencoe with friends from outdoorsmagic.com.  Hopefully will have tales to tell on Monday of great adventures…assuming we survive the weather/navigational challenges/Clachaig Inn*  of course

*delete as appropriate!

A weekend with the kids and for once the sun is shining so we decided to have a day at Loudon Castle.  Not the biggest theme park in the world, or Scotland for that matter but it really was a lovely day.  Some photos…

Jennifer and Craig on the Rollercoaster...again!

Rollercoaster

Rollercoaster

Rollercoaster

Upside down Pirate Boat!

Kids went on the rollercoaster 15 times!  Think I managed 5.  Think I’ll stick to sensible things like the Aonach Eagach!  Talking of which hopefully this fine weather will last until next weekend for the OutdoorsMagic Glencoe meet.

The last time we stayed at Bob and Chris’s B&B they told us that they were going to visit friends in San Francisco in September and very kindly said we could “house sit” for a few days if we wanted to.  We jumped at the chance!

We didn’t get away from Glasgow until about 6.30pm on Friday but we made good progress up the A82 and of course we had a break at The Real Food Cafe for the customary fish supper.  We eventually arrived at Kinlochleven just after 10pm.  Kate was also joining us and arrived not much later.

We knew the forecast for Saturday was bad so didn’t even attempt to do anything so just had a lazy day watching the rain pour off the hills!  And watching Scotland maintain their slim chances of World Cup qualification by beating Macedonia 2-0.  We did eventually leave the house…to go to the Clachaig Inn for dinner!  In there we met up with Seona who was celebrating compleating her round of the Munros with friends from the Jacobites Mountaineering Club and scottishhills.com.  Given the weather conditions that day that really was an impressive effort!  We also won 2nd and 3rd prizes in a raffle the prizes being 4 and then 2 bottle of AnTeallach ale!

Sunday saw much better conditions so we decided to do Mullach nan Coirean and Stob Ban at the western end of the Mamores.   We parked at the lower falls car park in Glen Nevis and took the forest track before eventually hitting the open hillside via a very dodgy stile.

Stile on way to Mullach nan Coiean

We were soon on the summit which was Elaina’s 100th Munro so a celebratory drink of last night’s winnings was enjoyed!

Elaina celebrating 100 Munros!

Elaina celebrates 100 Munros

As can be seen from the photos it was a bit clagged in so we sensibly took a bearing and headed on towards Stob Ban.

Towards Stob Ban

We then wandered off Stob Ban on a good path but it was only when we were half way down the ridge and saw a very well defined path below us that we realised it was the West Highland Way!  Oops!  We could have gone back up to Stob Ban but we decided that we might as well walk back to Kinlochleven then take Kate’s car back round to Glen Nevis to pick up mine.  So off we went down a bit further until Kate asked where the house key was as her car keys were in the house.  Oops again!  It was in my car (in Glen Nevis)!  We really were too far down now to go back up especially as the weather wasn’t great back on the summit.  So we resigned ourselves to somehow getting back to Fort William.  We did consider walking back along the West Highland Way but realised it was a bit too far so just headed back to the MacDonald Hotel in Kinlochleven which we arrived at at 6.30pm.  Daft question time…is there a bus to Fort William on a Sunday night?  Yes there was…at 6.05pm!  So there was only one thing for it, a taxi!  So thanks to Ali’s Taxis from Ballachulish we eventually got back to the car at 7.45pm.  Thankfully the MacDonald Hotel do meals until 9.30pm so at just before 9pm we sat down to steak and chips times 3!  Lesson of the day…take a bearing on every summit!

We decided to have an easier day on Sunday and headed up Glenoce to the Lost Valley with the aim of possibly doing Stob Coire Sgreamhach.  We made good progress up the narrowing gorge until we got to the point where you have to cross the Allt Coire Gabhail.  We decided to avoid this crossing and take an alternative route by heading up hill on the southern slopes of Gearr Aonach.  I took a route through some large solid rocks while Elaina and Kate took a more tortuous route up a scree slope.  Now there was a path of sorts and others had definitely used the route before us but I don’t think any of us realised just how high we had climbed until we found ourselves looking down on the Lost Valley from a height of about 450m.  Still, it made a lovely high perch for lunch!

Lunch above the Lost Valley

Having spent so much time we decided to call it a day and leave Stob Coire Sgreamhach for another day.  We took the normal route out and of course had to cross the burn that we had avoided on the way up!

Elaina crossing the Allt Coire Gabhail

That night we enjoyed an excellent meal at the Loch Leven Seafood Cafe before waking to anther very wet day.  Kate and Elaina were staying for another couple of days but I had to head back so left at about 12 for a very wet drive home.  I don’t think I have ever seen as much water coming off the hills especially in Glencoe!  I just hope it has subsided a bit for Elaina and Kate tomorrow!

After I left school I spent a couple of years working at the Onich Hotel and spent a lot of time doing low level walks around Glencoe and Glen Nevis. Although I did do Ben Nevis by the ” so called tourist” path I didn’t really have the confidence or experience to do other hills such as those in Glencoe or the Mamores – most of my walking had been done on the North York Moors.   I remember visiting Kinlochleven many times and looking up at what I now know to be Na Gruagaichean and thinking that they were well beyond my capability.

However since I got back into hillwalking some seven years ago I’ve really got to know the Lochaber hills quite well and in particular the Mamores which are probably now my favourite hills.

Anyway I’ve had a notion of doing all the Munros in the Mamores in a day.  I did plan to attempt this a few years ago on an OM meet but was distracted by friends who wanted to do the Aonach Eagach in a nun’s outfit (more of that another day!).

I know it’s not the same as Tranters Round or Ramsay Round but still enough of a test for a nearly fifty year old!  So that’s the challenge I’ve set myself for next summer.  Better keep up the gym membership!

Fellow blogger Bigbananafeet (Sandy) has just posted this about a charity walk he did on the Lawers Group a few years ago.  Turns out I was there too!  Must have been either 2003 or 2004 long before we both met through outdoorsmagic.com.  This must be what getting caught on Google Street View must be like!