OK, I know I’ve not really kept up my New Year resolution to post more often despite good intentions on the first two days! However this weekend we are heading to the Lakes to meet up with friends from outdoorsmagic.com so will hopefully have adventures to report on when we return!
In the meantime hopefully the Tigers can get a result at fellow play-off contenders Reading. Hesitate to say it but we might just have an outside chance of going back up to the Premiership…
I know I’ve said this before but I really must get back into posting more often so come the New Year I will endeavour to post something at least once a week, even if it isn’t particularly exciting!
At least I’ve got a few hillwalking trips planned…Glenridding in January and (another!) return to Knoydart in March folloowed by a first visit to Black Sail Youth Hostel. And I’ve promised Craig a first wild camp at some point!
As for the Tigers, things are looking pretty good despite the disruption following Nigel Pearson’s return to Leicester. But I’ve been a City fan for far too long to get too excited, it is only December after all!
And I’m trying to organise a school reunion to celebrate our 50th birthdays – mine was earlier this month and I had a fantastic time with family, old school friends and hillwalking pals.
So hopefully I’ll have enough stuff to talk about. Until then have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
As Jennifer was away this weekend doing a Duke of Edinburgh Gold expedition practice it was just myself and Craig. The forecast looked good so I suggested that we do the Cobbler in the Arrochar Alps.
We arrived at the car park at about 12.30 and were soon on our way. Craig kept asking when we would get to the Narnain boulders and soon he got his chance to do a bit of scrambling.
Craig with the Cobbler in background
On top of a Narnain Boulder!
We were soon heading up the front of the Cobbler and then made our way to the south top to watch some folk thread the needle.
Dad showing Craig how to thread the needle!
We were going to have lunch but midges put paid to that! Not sure why but there were none lower down but hundreds on the summit. We headed back to the beallach where there was a bit of a breeze to keep them away. We then headed for the north summit then took the well made path down the north side back to the path down to the Narnain boulders this time for a joint clamber up one!
On top of the north summit
Dad and Craig on the Narnain Boulders
The only disappointment of the day was the football result in which the Tigers were mauled by the Lions 4-0. To make up for that we made a slight detour to the Real Food Cafe for some well earned fish and chips! And on the way home we popped in to the Drovers Inn to show Craig the infamous stuffed bear!
The Drovers Inn Bear!
While we are not mathematically relegated it would need some bizarre results for us to stay up so it’s the Championship next year for the Tigers. At least I don’t need to worry about finding out the score of this weekend’s match against Wigan as I wander around the Wester Ross mountains!
We are going up to Gairloch and will hopefully climb Slioch if the weather is kind. I’ve been keeping an eye on the forecast and it looks like a cold northerly is on the cards. Might even be a dusting of snow so will be packing the ice axe and crampons just in case!
Will also be good to meet up again with Jamie, Nicky and Kate although I doubt we’ll be doing a re-make of last year’s Gruinard Baywatch…!
So we got a well earned draw away to Birmingham. We just needed Arsenal and Liverpool to do the business against Wigan and West Ham respectively. Things were going well as we drove to Pitlochry on Sunday listening to the commentary of the Wigan game on Radio Five Live. Arsenal 2-0 up as we left the car to have look around Escape Route (cracking wee shop by the way!). Imagine my shock when going back to the car an hour later to find out Wigan had scored three times in the last ten minutes! So that’s Wigan probably safe from relegation. Last night West Ham, probably the only other team we are likely to be able to finish up above, played Liverpool and thankfully lost 3-0.
So we’re three points behind West Ham but have still got our game in hand tomorrow night at home to Aston Villa. However our goal difference is far worse than West Ham’s so we effectively need to get four points more from our four remaining games than West Ham get from their three games.
Fixtures are:
Tigers
Aston Villa H
Sunderland H
Wigan A
Liverpool H
West Ham
Wigan H
Fulham A
Man City H
Wish us luck!
Sorry folks, for various reasons I’ve just not got round to updating the blog recently but hopefully I’ll make amends for that soon.
It’s not been for want of having stuff to write about as we’ve had trips to Ardgour (Ben Hiant, Beinn Resipol), Ben Lomond, Loch Lochy (Meall na Teanga), Lakes (Fairfield), Newtonmore (Drumochter Munros) and Kinlochleven (Am Bodach).
Heading somewhere (probably Arrochar) tomorrow as the forecast is looking good and hopefully we’ll make the most of the never ending snow of this fantastic winter! And I promise to post a report in the next couple of days!
As for the football it looks like it’s going to go to the last day of the season again for the Tigers. Fingers crossed!
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!
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
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!
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!
