Beinn Dearg - A very dry North West

The cold, clear, calm conditions continue and what snow that has survived the thaw is bullet hard. Up in the North West there is very little left and even the gullies in north faces are generally not complete. Despite the lack of snow, the traverse of Beinn Dearg (of the recent re-measurement fame) in Torridon was good fun. The rock was warm, in complete contrast to the baltic conditions in the glens, and the easy enjoyable scrambling added a bit of spice to the day. Less fun were the steep grass and heather slopes up to and back down from the ridge.

Sgur Mor - Fanniachs

We went over to the Fanniachs today for a Boxing Day run. I haven't been back for a while as I have already bagged all the Munros, but I have realised the error of my list-ticking ways. The running was superb, helped by excellent weather. Snow cover was extremely patchy and varied between soft and bullet-hard depending on the aspect. A temperature inversion was forecast and it did seem warmer on the summit. Sitting around in a thermal in December just isn't normal behaviour for me.

The main face had plenty of snow in the gullies, but unfortunately I have no idea if any of the routes were in nick.

Beinn Fhada - West Ridge

A bad weather forecast in the east and heaps of snow in the west lead me to the conclusion that a walk or a scramble in the west would meet with the best chance of success. Seen from the bottom of Glen Shiel, the west ridge of Beinn Fhada is enticingly jagged and it is something I have wanted to do for a while now. According to the books there is one section of the ridge that can be problematic in poor conditions. So I decided to be prudent and packed a 20m rope just in case.

From the car we headed up steep grass slopes of Beinn Bhuidhe before we hit the snowline at 450m. Beyond this the snow rapidly became deeper and once up on the crest it was proper winter conditions. The ridge was fantastic. Long, surprisingly narrow, sinuous and with superb views both to the north and south. With about 4 inches of fresh snow covering everything, the slabby 'bad step' lived up to it's reputation. However, using the rope as a backup, the difficulties (about a 10m section of steep slab) were soon down-climbed and the remainder of the ridge was uneventful, although spectacular.


The way back was via a very well constructed stalkers path down into Coire an Sgairne, and then Gleann Choinneachain, continuing all the way back to the car. The glen was surprisingly steep-sided, much more like the kind of glen you see in Glen Coe with deeply carved ravines. The crags backing the coires were well plastered with snow and looked like they could offer up some good routes - once the snow has consolidated.

Streap - an Alpine day out

Looking back from Streap along the ridge.

The settled weather conditions have continued pretty much all week, with most areas enjoying consistently cold weather and clear skies. On Wednesday I headed over to Streap to take advantage of a day off. The true summit of Streap is hidden at the far end of a long ridge bristling with knobs and knolls. Several summits have to be climbed over before the final ridge of Streap is reached.

There was ice on the path from the start and it seemed to take a long time, and only after a hard slog up a very rough hillside and corrie, before I reached the ridge proper having followed the route indicated in the SMC Corbetts book. The bright sun had softened the snow on the lower reaches of the mountain, but higher up some freeze-thaw had been going on. For the most part the snow was ice hard, yet soft enough on the surface to make crampons un-necessary. The ridge was complex, with much to-ing and fro-ing to find the best line.

The summit of Streap is on the left-hand side of the picture.

I was stripped down to my thermal top and enjoyed the sensation on being on a mountain in the middle of a sea of sharp ridges and soaring peaks. After a couple of hours I reached the final ridge up to the summit which was steep but not hard. The trickest section in fact was dropping down off the top, but soon enough the continuation ridge eased and walking along the edge of the hard-frozen corniced ridge was spectacular, but secure.

Back down in the glen it felt colder than on the tops and the frost on the trees hadn't melted all day. Even though it sounds melodramatic, today felt pretty alpine to me. Sun, blue skies, frozen snow and a long ridge... Who needs the Alps?

Glas Bheinn - gully climbing - Loch Arkaig

Another great day out in the northern highlands! I headed out with Dave to the start of Loch Arkaig to do a walk over Glas Bheinn, Geal Charn and Meall na h-Eilde. Glas Bheinn has a steep east face and is more craggy than indicated on the 1:25 000 map. We headed up the forest trails up Gleann Cia-aig until we could cross over roughly in line with the summit of Glas Bheinn. Just to the left of the highest point a gully cut through a broken buttress and from a distance looked like a easy romp. Getting closer, there seemed to be a steep icy step leading into a fairly well defined gully. The upper slopes of the gully had avalanced previously so the snow was hard packed and although water was still running behind the ice, there was enough to get over the 70 degree section. The gully continued with a few easier angled steps with a mixture of ice and frozen turf, before the final sopes were reached. From my experience about Grade I would be fair under the conditions, and with heavy snow fall could easily bank out. The buttresses to either side could offer up some fun, short routes in the lower grades.

The rest of the day was spent wading through snow around the two Corbetts. The views were some compensation to the hard work, but I certainly haven't felt that tired for a long time.

Glen Roy - Beinn Iaruinn

Last Sunday I headed out with Dave to Glen Roy to get in some winter walking and take advantage of the recent dump of snow. Surprisingly this coincided with a spell of cold, clear weather. The freezing level was very low and the drive past Loch Lagan in bright sunshine and azure skies was fantastic. We stopped in a layby to enjoy the weather and listened to the ice of the loch cracking and snapping in the morning sun.

The last time I tried to get up Glen Roy was in similarly cold weather and the twisting road was difficult to drive and I gave up. Today the conditions were worse, but we eventually reached the start of the walk despite a couple of near misses on the iced over road.

Glen Roy is noted primarily for the parallel 'roads' which scar the hill sides as though someone had forgotten to rub out the contour lines when building them. They mark the level of by-gone lochs caused by ice blocking outflows. On the way up the first hill, Beinn Iaruinn, we crossed a few 'roads'. They really were very level and uniform. Altogether much more impressive than any photos I had seen.

The snow was lying ankle deep almost from the road and was very deep in the rare places it had drifted. I was absolutely shattered and the climb up was hard work with powder snow disguising the extremely slippery rocks under foot. It was cold enough that the ground was completely frozen and my boots stayed dry despite the constant wading through snow.

Once we got up on to the plateau the going seemed much more straight forward although the slight wind was bitterly cold. Unfortunately high level cloud hid the Grey Corries from view, but the panorma over to Creag Meggy and the Window were superb. The low temperature made sure we didn't linger for long and we headed south to another summit (a Graham) before dropping back down to the road. All day I had been nervous about getting back out, but a few more cars had used the road so the drive back was a bit of an anti-climax.

After another fall in Inverness on Tuesday morning I headed out with Dave to get in some night ski-ing at Abriachen. Conditions were variable but as a whole very good and all good fun.

More Baggin'

I am so looking forward to Christmas. Over the past weeks we have been rushing about desperately getting all our visits in to friends and relations before Emily sprogs in the New Year. Fortunately the conditions for climbing or ski-ing haven't been THAT good. By that I mean perfect, and I have been able to enjoy trips down to London and the Peaks without an over-riding sense of missing out.

It hasn't been all travelling though and I have still managed my aim of a Marilyn a week. The forested Bin of Cullen was made slightly more interesting as darkness set in just after I reached the trig point during my torchless ascent. My other hill runs have taken me over Beinn Mhor near Grantown which is a great viewpoint for the 'Gorms...

... and Dungavel Hill convienently within striking distance of the M74 near Abington. At last I am getting to run in a place I have always wanted to and it certainly helps break up the long trog to and from Englandshire.

On the same day I was running in the sun in the Borders, we stopped earlier at Slochd to play in the snow.

Training has been difficult. With everything concentrating on speed I have been doing intervals and short, but hard, runs up to about an hour. I thought I had cracked the XC thing when I reduced by time from 125% at Dornoch to 116% of the winners time at Elgin. Unfortunately a slight runny nose, exacerbated by very frosty temperatures, made todays course at Forres (despite being very hilly which should suit me) very tough. It was really demoralising to feel so bad and not be able to hold a decent pace. Ah well, I have a month until the next race so I will be resting a wee bit to get some enthusiasim back.

A perfect Cairngorms day - Andromeda

I really wasn't that convinced by all the positive reports on the web going on about the fantastic winter conditions. So, I wasn't that fussed to be running a XC race on Saturday, which can only be counted at best as training as it was more a trail run. The weather didn't follow the forecast and it remained cold, grey and overcast. I was even less convinced when Steve called me about his and Kenny's climbing plans for Sunday. Going to the extreme of packing a book just in case the trip to the 'gorms degenerated into session in the cafe drinking coffee. We didn't even leave Inverness until 8.30. Sometimes it pays not to be so negative and when we arrived at the Corrie Cas carpark, it became rapidly apparent that the bloggers hadn't just being trying to justify their actions and drum up undue excitement. The only problem was there was too much snow for easy walking. I can never be happy!

After a brief route discussion in Corrie Nan Lochan we headed up to Andromeda (IV,4), hoping that previous climbers had cleaned off much of the loose snow. I was a bit apprehensive as I haven't really done that much climbing this year at all. The first pitch was scrappy and not well protected, but as soon as we headed to steeper ground the climbing and the protection improved. We took the very leftmost groove and the main pitch was probably the steepest climbing I have done in winter and I was over-joyed not to have taken any tension on the rope. There is something just so fun about mixed climbing and the weather, the company together with the sheer unexpectedness of getting some climbing done all made this into one of my most enjoyable days out.

The plateau was sun-drenched and still and for once there was no mad rush to pack all the kit away and get down. We ambled down Fiacaill Ridge just to stay in the sun. The easy climbing adding to what had already been a fantastic day.

(Very) Early Season Ski-ing

Well, I really wasn't expecting to get my cross country skis out already. A day of heavy snow showers with the snow sticking even in Inverness meant that I just had to chance it up at Abriachen. Although the forest tracks are only about 250m-300m in altitude the place seems to be a real snow trap. It is only 15min from the middle of Inverness and has been a favourite place of mine for ski-ing, running and biking for a while now. It seems to be more often ski-able compared to other places like Farr or Daviot Woods.



So yesterday morning (Wednesday) I got up early and skied for over an hour on perfect snow (well for Scotland that is) and I felt very satisfied, although pretty sore, sitting back at my desk watching the snow melt.

Making waves on the XC scene

It has been nearly a month since I last blogged and what a wet and windy month its been. After having got long 'challenges' out of my system for the time being, my focus has been on the cross country season and the training for that has been short. That, together with having a fairly hectic work schedule in Shetland and Orkney, have made sure that weekends at home have been spent recuperating rather than being out for hours in the hills.

One great day out recently was a circuit of Binnein Shuas and Binnein Shios. These two peaks sandwiched between Creag Meaggaidh and Beinn a'Chlachair are very rocky and are well placed for panoramic views of the surrounding higher hills. The weather was cool but dry and stags could be heard in the high corries of the Munros opposite. Small slabby crags gave some interesting scrambling on the broad ridge. After descending very steep slopes and gullies from Shuas we slogged up wet ground up the next hill at an easy gradient. From the summit of Shios, we dropped down north to the wooded shores of Loch Laggan for the journey back to the car. Rather than the dreary plantation we feared, it was a fantastic contrast to the rocky hillsides of the peaks above. Some of the trees were huge and for much of the way deer tracks could be followed.

Changing from long steady runs to the faster paced efforts of cross country (hence the awful pun in the title!) has been pretty tough. My track sessions have not been made easier by the almost constant wind and rain. Still, I managed to support the Highland Hillrunners senior males to the clubs first ever District Relay Championship. Running 4km flat out nearly killed me (at an average of 183 beats per minute), but I did enjoy myself a lot more than I expected to. The Inverness Harriers (local rivals) were a bit upset at how things panned out and the local press decided to ignore the results as best they could. So with a win in my first ever XC race things can only go downhill from here!

So since then it has been blustery runs in the Northern Isles. Trying to train whilst watching waves crash against the cliffs a couple of meters away is a bit distracting. I shouldn't complain about going to places like North Ronaldsay and Foula for work, but I will be glad when I can get back into a regular training regime.

Glencoe - Allt na Muidhe watershed

With a fine mid week forecast and a left-over bank holiday a mid-week bagging trip seemed a good idea. At the north end of Glencoe is the hidden Munro of Sgor na h'Ulaidh. Not content with such a small bag we decided to make a round of the watershed, so 2 Corbetts of Beinn Maol Chaluim and Meall Lighiche together with the Graham of Meall Mor were added to the route.

A small parking space off the A82 near Achnacon just opposite a stile made an ideal start point for the run up Fionn Ghleann to the first hill. It was surprisingly chilly and the first run for a while where I was glad of hat and gloves. We picked up sheep trods high up on the sides of the glen and made rapid progress to the summit. From Beinn Maol Chalium we backtracked and then traversed back south on a fantastic trod to the bealach beneath Creag Dubh. A couple of steeper rock bands interspersed with grass on a ridge led first to the Munro Top and finally to the Munro of Sgor na h'Ulaidh. The route coming off, following the fence in a north-westerly direction, had a sting in the tail when a wet, slabby area required some delicate scrambling before we got back to less steep ground again. Down in the bealach we came across an old gate leading from nowhere to nowhere. Along much of the route we followed old fence lines, marked now with the bare iron stanchions, the wire having long since rusted away. The effort and cost of erecting such a fence must have been huge.

The rest of the route up and over the broad summits of Meall Lighiche and Meall Mor was nicely runnable and even the final drop straight back down to the A82 was pleasant. Although only 10 miles, much of the ground was rough and steep almost completely lacking in paths with fantastic views both of Glencoe and the surrounding hills.

As always the weather was not to last and a very mixed day weather-wise on Sunday lead to the last of my Munros on Skye (Sgurr Dubh Mor and Sgurr nan Eag) bagged. The scrambling on the ridge was easier than anticipated and this time round we made it into the Corrie with ease. Just follow the highest path (not well-cairned despite what the SMC book says) on your left and scramble up left of the left-most of the three streams. Easy really ; o) Only 14 Munros left for my boss who was really happy to have finally got the ridged completed. Rum looked impressive under the leaden skies and despite the heavy showers it was another long, enjoyable day out.

Trying to get fit again

It seems ages since I last posted and it is probably because the weather has been so bad. There really isn't much to write about when all one has done is another run in the wind and rain. And the photos don't exactly inspire either! Saying that I have finally been getting the motivation to get going and start beasting myself again. No more long runs needed now so I have been concentrating on doing relatively fast paced efforts of up the 3hs maximum. As a result I have rediscovered muscles I had forgotten about and I am getting used to the effort required to run up hills properly.

Even with the weather I have had some fantastic runs all over the place including a trip to the Breacons in Wales and a chance encounter with the famously smelly feral goats of White Comb in the Borders.

The race I was training for, the Lake District Mountain Trial, was cancelled due to bad weather, but it looks like I might be racing the OMM Elite instead. Last year I didn't train at a hard enough pace and I paid for it, so this year I am going to keep the runs short, but go at them hard. I know I can plod for hours at a time so with a bit more strength and speed we might do a bit better than the 25th-ish place last year. My partner has learnt to navigate too so that should be a bonus. The only problem is that it is in the Lakes and apart from my Bob runs and the odd uni climbing trip I don't know the area at all well.

So my schedule at the moment is Monday and Fridays swimming or core work, Tuesday undulating trail aiming to do 10kmish in under 1hr, Wednesday steady bike with hills 1-1.5hs, Thursday hard intervals or hills. Weekends are for hill runs over round ground keeping them to a max of 3hs and trying quite hard.

In Defence of Marylin Bagging - Breac-Bheinn

'There are no boring hills, just boring people' is a saying I love trotting out when my more Munro-obsessed friends and acquaintances mock me during the obligatory 'How many Munros did you bag?' questions on Monday mornings. This is in response to the withering looks I get when I admit to having run up esoteric delights such as the Hill of the Whangie. Often the views from the 'connoisseurs' hill are just as, if not more, spectacular and interesting than those enjoyed by their bigger neighbours. Breac-Bheinn at in Strathcarron is one such hill.

Strathcarron is probably one of the most unfortunate glens in Scotland, being owned by some of the most dubious characters that have ever had pretensions to be lairds. Those responsible for the brutal clearances, poignantly remembered in the etched graffiti in Croick Church, have been followed by numerous other unfriendly absentee owners of which the latest incarnation is Mr Lister. His 'Wilderness' was once the home of hundreds of people and his plans to exclude access, with a 30 mile 3m high electric fence, goes against centuries of access rights. The development of a Safari park is not a 're-wilding' and surely if Mr Lister was so concerned about returning the Highlands to a previous state, he would encourage people to move back into 'his' reserve. Thousands of years of human interference and interaction make the idea of creating a true Wilderness in the Highlands idiotic. The constant flux in the environment was brought home to me on another recent hill run I came across an area of deeply eroded peat. Exposed stumps and trunks of ancient trees a testament to the changing climatic conditions.

Breac-Bheinn is a suitable distance away from the Alladale Estate and the steady plod up heather made the views from the flat summit even more surprising. The views north and west were breathtaking. The Inselberge of the North-West coast rose prominently in the distance, made even more stark by the miles of conifer-planted wide strath that stretched out far to the horizon.

Admittedly the second hill of the day, Meall Dheirgidh, wasn't blessed with such views, but the short 2h jog was still comparable to any number of 'proper' hill days.

Another advantage of the lower hills is the lack of paths, cairns and, although it is elitist to say it, lack of people. All this makes the Marylin day much more of an adventure and a challenge. Of all the days out this year on the smaller hills I can count the number of other walkers or runners on both hands.

Worryingly those who I have met on these hills have more of the train-spotter about them than your 'normal' hill-goer. Sometimes, I suppose, the truth hurts and I can take solace in is the fact that with only two trains lines, Inverness Station has so little to tick that I can't think that I am in danger of changing sport, yet...

A wet Cullin weekend

I am still not running as my foot is still quite sore. It is probably time to get it sorted out now that I don't have any key runs to do this year. Flat walks are fine but as soon as it gets rocky it tends to hurt even with walking boots. So going across to the Cullin to help my boss bag his Munros wasn't the best of ideas, but I felt it wouldn't be too bad for my foot.

Saturday was spent watching the rain in the car park in Glen Brittle until lunchtime when we decided to chance an attempt on Sgurr Na Eag. It didn't go well. Cloud was down to 100m and the burns were so high that we had to try and traverse round from higher up Corrie Laggan at the 400m contour, rather than follow the well made path. All the crossing points I have used in the past were several feet under water. The velocity of the water tumbling over the rocks was spectacularly violent. A doubt remained in my mind that even if we did cross would we be able to cross back if the rain continued?

There was a constant noise of water rising out of the mist. The weather was so thick that we couldn't see much more than 50m and we followed a bearing through rocks and deep grass around flanks of Sron na Ciche. Finally, we hit the path again which climbed steeply up Coir ' a Ghrunnda.

Following intermittent cairns over blocks of gabbro we reached an impasse. Above, polished slabs streamed water and the route seemed to zig-zag up next to a burn which cascaded over a rocky lip. I tried the slabs, but I was uncertain of whether we were on the right route and our ability to down climb on the smooth holds. The thick clouds clung to the rocks, withholding any views and distorting any sense of scale. Intimidated by the atmosphere and demoralised by the weather I suggested that we turn tail and head for the pub.

As soon as we began to drop down the path, the rain eased and the mists began to part. The doubts that always come on after having made a decision to retreat lingered. At the car, changed into dry clothes, it all seemed so easy when looking at the map for the umpteenth time.

Sunday, with an early start helped by the voracious midges in the Sligachan campsite, we headed up to An Dorus from the Youth Hostel to bag Sgurr a Mhadaidh and Sgurr a Ghreadaidh. I packed the rope just in case in deference to the guidebook description. For the first hour the showers came and went, but we had views into the Corrie so at least we knew where to go this time. Steadily the mists rose up from Glen Brittle obliterating the views and the showers turned torrential. We dragged ourselves up to the ridge over blocks and scree slopes with rain drumming so hard on our waterproofs that we couldn't hear each other talk. There was water everywhere and every runnel scoring the black cliffs above streamed white foam.

Out of An Dorus, a deep notch in the ridge, there are a couple of steep, polished moves out of the gap to either Munro. Both walls didn't really require protection and the holds were good. The rocks were tricky in the wet and thankfully for the most part well defined paths could be followed above. Small cairns decorated the tops which we reached more with relief than jubilation. Showers gave way, but the clag was omnipresent and as result it was not the most enjoyable day on the hills. Finally we descended out of the showers and the mist back to the glen. Just as wet but slightly more satisfied than the day before.

Both days were about 4.5hs which is about the time I am trying to limit any exercise to in an attempt to make sure I don't over do it.

Morning Glory

I took this picture this morning from Beinn na Feusaige after spending the night camped up by Lochan Meallan Mhic Iamhair. Moments like this make all those days in the clag worthwhile.

Off to work now in cloudy Inverness, but somehow after being privileged enough to see a sky like that I don't mind at all.

Are you alright? - Ramsay's Round July 2008

"Are you alright" asked Neil. I answered him the only way I could and began to projectile vomit. We were half way up Sgurr Eilde Mor and about 12hs into the attempt. Apart for a slight feeling of nausea, I had been feeling alright, but now it was looking grim.

60 miles and over 8000m of ascent over 23 Munros in under 24 hours was never going to be easy. A major coup was to find someone who was interested in doing it too. Talking to another Highland Hillrunner, Neil Speight, after a race in 2007 we both mentioned a faint desire to try Ramsay's Round. Somehow this all snowballed into a proper attempt this summer. Training schedules were worked out and warm up races planned. The only slight issue was a lack of people able to support as I had found the support crucial during my successful Bob Graham Round.

After much faffing we finally got some runs done in the Glen Nevis area and a date was set. Expecting no support we dropped off kit and food at strategic locations (Fersit, Loch Eilde Mor and Lairig Leacach) to be ready for the Saturday.

The forecast was not great; cloud at first followed by clearing skies and a fantastic Sunday was promised by Heather 'the weather' and MWIS. Predictably we set off up the Ben tourist track towards the clouds together with Dave who had come along for support and to bag Carn Mor Dearg. The pony track was heaving with '3 Peak Challengers'. Some of whom decided to inform us that we shouldn't be taking the short-cut to Red Burn.

Up in the clag we made good time, which we promptly lost by missing the line off to Carn Mor Dearg. Eventually we found the path much further to the right. Once on the ridge, the rocks were lethal and I went flat on my back. Not too much damage done, just a very sore backside and a sense of relief about avoiding a potentially disastrous slip.

The cloud level hovered around 800m but down in the bealachs we could look across to the Mamores which were clear of cloud. On Sgurr Choinnich Beag Dave dropped behind and myself and Neil carried on, enjoying the running. The springs were full and I was eating every half-hour. All we needed was better visibility as the constant greyness was monotonous.

After 6 hours we dropped down to our first food cache and had a quick clothes swap before the second major climb of the Round, Stob Coire nan Easian. The slope seemed to go on forever and I needed my MP3 player to distract me before we finally crested the cairn.


Dropping off the tops,the cloud had dropped lower and we ate our food at Fersit in drizzly rain. The presence of a potential lift back home from here was a strong distraction to continuing. However, Neil said nothing so I just resigned myself to the second leg although it did feel as though we were getting somewhere with this attempt. Brighter skies appeared everywhere we weren't and we headed into the cloud again, up into the hills. Chno Dearg was tricky to find and was the first hill where we were slower than schedule. A very demoralizing moment and I was worried as Neil seemed to have slowed dramatically.

Slightly lost, a fantastic scree run down lead us on a different line to Beinn na Lap. Although much further left we were able to gain the east ridge of the Beinn earlier and despite a slow pace we were up gain on time. The top was a huge milestone. Every step, every minute was going in the right direction.

Running down the rough ground from the summit to the railway with the buds of cotton grass glowing astonishingly brightly in the dark will be one of enduring memories. For once running on the track and path for the next couple of hours were fun in the dark stillness of the night. The skies began at last to clear.

The Mamores were silhouetted in the distance and acted as a clear beacon showing us our direction. We didn't push the pace, but it made no difference to the splits which we were beating again. Unbeknown to me Neil was seriously thinking about quitting, in fact doing anything that meant he didn't have to run any further.

Another quick food stop at Loch Eilde Mor and we were off again. I was wary of the last leg as I had heard plenty of stories about attempts going awry late in the day.

After being sick I did actually feel better, briefly. Strangely being violently ill had no effect on my moral and I was still optimistic. One look at Binnein Beag, however was enough to swing my mood back round to abject depression. The urge just to stop and sleep was intense. I was struggling to eat properly and all of the climbs hurt. It was now time to take the hills one at a time. We knew we were significantly up on schedule and we fought to keep the loses at each peak to a minimum. I was desperately trying to keep ahead of the game, whilst Neil encouraged me along, buoying me up with unbounded enthusiasm. Finally we were on the main Mamores ridge. No more huge climbs and the skies really had cleared. Faith was restored in Heather.

We followed every short-cut we had read about from Yiannis' article and other reports to minimise height gain. I was keeping on just counting down the Munros left to go. Every hour we were still moving meant one less hour of suffering. The pain in my left knee which had started as a niggle on Binnein Mor was now becoming more evident. It got worse with every climb. At least, despite the cloud reappearing in whisps, the route finding was straight-forward following well-defined, but rocky tracks. The twists and turns of the sinuous ridge and the annoying outliers frustrated me. I just couldn't see the point any more. To cap it all a chill wind picked up, whisking in wet blanket of cloud that quickly drapped itself over the peaks and corries.

Sgurr a Mhaim was my nemesis. I wanted to beg Neil to allow me to skip it out. I had been running for 20 hours so what difference would one peak make? Who would know? Anything to avoid the pain in my knees. Silently cursing I tagged the cairn, surprised to hear that we had only lost 3 min on the 23h schedule, and went straight back the way we had come. Only 2 more hills to go. Even in my addled state I was coming round to the idea of finishing this self-inflicted hell.

By Stob Ban (the second to last Munro) the pain in both knees was intense. Even walking on the flat was agony. No dull ache this, just sharp stabbing pains at every step. The only thought driving me on was the fear of having to go through all this pain again if we failed to finish within 24 hours.

I could see that we were shipping time by about 5 mins a peak so with a final effort we topped out on Mullach with about 1.5h to spare. Now we just had to get down! The final descent was awful. A desperate waddle down steep grass before meeting a path leading through the forest. At least this path was soft and muddy, meandering alongside a river bank and through plantation woodland. After a few ups and downs we finally dropped to a well graded forest track. The verge was grassy and soft, and with a time cushion of 45 mins we wandered down. Both of us in an extremely exhausted spaced-out state of mind.

There was no-one there to see us at the finish. Finally it hit home. We had finished with 45 min to spare. Together we had made it. For a moment it was all too much emotionally. After all that pain, effort, training, preparation and stress I could finally relax. My whole body ached, and I was tired, so tired. No elation, just relief.

Whether it was worth it or not is still something I haven't answered for myself yet. Mentally I am still drained and empty. Physically I am in pretty good state so I must be getting used to these kind of distances. A scary thought!

Successful Ramsay 12th/13th July

Just back from Glen Nevis after several pints of coke and some REAL food. Myself and Neil Speight, supported solely by Dave Raffe from the hostel to Sgurr Choinnich Beag, got round in 23:15. Exploding knees over the last 5 Munros lost us a heap of time, but after all that pain and effort there was no way I was going to miss the 24 hours.

The weather was mostly cloudy and although the food drops went well it would have been nice to have had some more tea at the breaks.

Highlights include running at dusk through swathes of cotton grass and the scree run off Chno Dearg. Also, exchanging abuse with a '3 Peaks Challenger' on the Ben.

Low lights include projectile vomiting on Sgurr Eilde Mor, extremely sore plus swollen knees on the Mamores and the descent off Mullach nan Coirean.

I will probably do a longer write up later after another nap.

Would I do it again? An emphatic NO! I will help pace though ; )

The Highland bl@@dy midge!

We don't have heat haze up here in the Highlands when it is still and warm. Instead we have the midge. Cycling down the track from Loch Eilde Mor, after my food drop for the Ramsay, clouds of midges swirled over the track at head height. I hit swarms of them and they pattered off my coat mimicking rain, turning my legs black as the wee beasties struggled to escape the jellyfish-like tentacles of my leg hairs. Some poor folk had decided to camp at the end of the loch and I can only imagine the torment they went through that evening.

If the midge wasn't such an irritating bugger, the shimmering clouds could have been one of the wonders of nature. Perhaps allowing comparison with the other great marvels such as salmon migrating up mighty rivers or the huge flamingo flocks on the lakes in Africa. Instead all I was left wondering was where on Earth all the predators were which surely must feed on the midge. Dark thoughts only turned lighter by conjuring up ideas of staking naked to a post, either here or on Skye, those ecologists who insist the midge does have a role to play in nature.

At least everything is now in place for the attempt at the weekend. Looks like we wont be having too much company. Then again I am not a big fan of the huge groups of pacers/supporters/hangers-on which some runners deem necessary to have around on attempts of these kind of hill-running 'challenges'.

Ramsay - The Final Preparation

Another successful reccy last Thursday evening (26th June) on the eastern-most Mamores has pretty much confirmed that myself and Neil are as ready as we are going to be this year. So next Saturday 12th July will be the day/night for the attempt starting at about 10:30am in a clockwise direction. I am off up the hills tomorrow to organise the food drops and hopefully we will also have some minimal support for the day itself. My mood sways between confident optimisim and spectacular pessimisim as to the actual outcome, but I am prepared to give it a decent shot. Having almost no running support will make it harder, but all the more pleasing should we get round.

I have been down to the Lake District for the past week running and climbing and I felt pretty strong on the hills. The ache on the side of my foot is still there from after the Highlander, but hopefully nothing a bit of pig-headedness won't get me through. I have added some photos from the week so enjoy.

Running High Stile.
Blencathra smoking.
Sunlight above Buttermere.
Mine beneath Grisedale.

Ramsay Reccy - Eastern Section

Last week myself and Neil decided to reschedule our attempt on the Ramsay to allow us more time to recover from races we had done and also get some more reccies in. Now it looks like we will attempt in mid July starting at 11:am in a clockwise direction. We had thought about a night time start as the first section will be slow anyway. What goes against that theory is that you start already tired so we have decided on a more conventional time. It has also been decided to use the 'Alec Keith' variation. This basically has you starting from higher up Glen Nevis and so you get a warm up on the road before the Ben, which is, unsurprisingly, the highest climb of the round. As this means doing the Loch Treig to Mamore section in the dark we headed out yesterday to check this section out.

Typically I didn't have my camera as the weather was perfect and the views even better. It was a pretty tough run, but checking the splits later that evening I was pleased to see that we were knocking a huge amount of time off the schedule on the climbs. Next time we can afford to take it much easier! I have been struggling with a cold too so I am even more excited that the day out didn't make it any worse. A couple of route choices got sorted as well as we found a couple of decent traverse lines that allow some of the more rocky sections to be avoided. We also got the descent off the Easians sorted for the first time which is excellent news. All in all the hills looked and felt a lot more manageable than I had built them up to be. Still it looks a long way, however I am pretty confident in getting round even if not in under 24h.

I think I will do another short run over part of the Mamores to check out the eastern most three. It is all looking up and hopefully the attempt itself will go as smoothly as the run did yesterday.

Dist 20 miles Time 5h 38min

Pabbay and Mingulay - Easy climbing routes exist too!

Mingulay and Pabbay, which lie off the southern end of the chain of islands making up the Outer Hebridies, are well known for the quality of the rock climbing and it was for that reason I have always wanted to visit. However, when the chance finally came I was aprehensive in the extreme as I hadn't been climbing well for years and sea cliffs have always been a particular nemisis of mine. I flicked through the guidebook and could find very littel under E1 and this was reinforced whilst trawling for tinformation on the internet. With this in mind I packed the kayaks together with the absolute minimum of climbing gear and thought that my climbing would be limited to some bouldering. Still the lure of a bagging a couple of Marilyns would mean that even if I got no climbing done it wouldn't have been a 'wasted' trip.

Even with the efforts to keep kit to the smallest amount possible we had a mountain of kit which was a real effort to get on and off the ferry from Oban and subsequently on to the small boat charted to get us out from Barra to the islands. Donald and his boat Boy James did a sterling job of delievering everything and everyone on to Pabbay. The beach and campsite were idylic. The island was much greener than expected and the beach would make the pages of any tourist brochure to the Carribean. The only slight downer was the relative lack of water, but the weather has been exceptionally dry for the past month.

Whilst the others set off to the Allanish Pensiular on the west coast I decided to check out a couple of crags opposite the campsite. To my surprise and delight I found a couple of very decent walls and spent a good few hours bouldering and soloing on rock that was never more than VDiff in grade. It is no exagaration that I didn't hold or step on a single loose hold. Testiment to the ferocity of the winter gales that help to keep the crags clean. In fact the holds were so good that even steep looking lines succumbed realtively easily. The topo below gives some idea of the routes which were about 10m long. Okay, not the most spectacular crag but only 10min walk from the beach.

The next day was spent checking out the boulders that were situated high up near the highest point of the island which has a trig point. Basically drop south east from the summit and in 5 min there are loads of 4-5m high walls of perfect rock with scores of problems at about the V0 (easy) level with superb grassy landings.

The 'Sugarloaf' boulder located in the col just before the final rise to the trig point i.e. north of the summit, probably had the best bit of bouldering on the island with a couple of harder problems which I had to get a rope on to do in comfort.

Not everyone is as happy to boulder as I am, but the other members of the group were well contented with the routes that they climbed and not all in the top-end grades either. Quality routes at VDiff and Severe were in enough abundance to keep most happy. Of course there are much longer and harder routes, but they are all documented so I don't need to mention them here.

After a further day on my 'Crag X' and fishing for Pollack we decamped to Mingulay. Mingulay seemed a lot more lush than Pabbay and the water supply was much better and the campsite even better. Evenings were spent soaking up the evening rays and watching seals play in the surf or sun themselves on the beach.



Here again with a bit of a sense of adventure you could quite happily climb at the lower grades without running out of things to do. On MacPhee's hill there is even a short inland crag covered in routes not much harder than VDiff. I am sure that the dedicated rock jocks will say that by not climbing in the high E grades on the massive cliffs you are missing the point. In a certain respect they are right, but climbing on perfect rock is relatively rare in Scotland so the chance to do amidst the puffins and seals isn't a bad substitute.


One day myself and Emly took a walk down the coast and chanced upon a rocky prominatory, primarily to watch the puffins from. I scared myself on a steep boulder problem and then put on the rope and discovered a perfect Diff. A great mix of steep steps and delicate slabs and would be worth a least one star on any other crag in the country. Whilst belaying Emily up the climb a seal came to watch and played for a while in the swell.

The next day was still so we headed out in the kayaks to photograph the climbing crags. On the way we looked over to Bernary and it looked so close and as the conditions for paddling couldn't have been any better we decided to chance it. After all the anticipation when we thought that the crossing would be too hard it was an easy 10min paddle. We walked up to the lighthouse to check out the cliffs. The cliffs on the south side were awe inspiring, 200m of steep rock with a multitude of seabirds of all different species constantly whirring about the ledges.

A last day was spent seconding slightly harder routes near the campsite which did involve abseiling and hanging belays. Again the rock was magnificant and plenty of new, or at least unrecorded, lines to climb. All the islands were idyllic and I definetly will be back and even find some new crags or routes that have escaped notice so far! There is no need for climbers of a moderate standard to be put off from going by stories of mamoth abseils and everything going at E5 or above. Saying that I really shouldn't be encouraging people to go just for the selfish freason of wanting the place to myself!

Bob Graham Round - Tips

Selective memory is an amazing thing. After my successful Round in May 2006 I had almost convinced myself that the BGR was a pretty straight forward affair. After pacing an unsuccessful attempt this Saturday, Some of the forgotten painful memories were dug back up.

Rob had decided that 2am morning start for a clockwise round was for him. For me, that meant a very early start after only arriving in the Lakes at midnight from Inverness. Unsurprisingly I was not feeling wonderful at Moot Hall and after trying for a while to make Rob slow his pace up, I let him go up ahead on the climb to Skiddaw. At the top the wind was bitterly cold and I regretted leaving my gloves at home whist navigating through thick cloud in the dark. Route-wise everything went pretty much to plan and after srambling down Hall's Fell in the early morning light we reached Threkeld about 30 minutes up. I was glad to get rid of my fell shoes and changed to trail shoes (dumped along with food and water previously at the village green) which were much more suited to the dry conditions. Much of the Round is on hard stoney tracks where fell shoes are a major disadvantage and it is only Leg 1 and the start of Leg 3 which has any real off-track sections.

In comparison to 2006, I felt absolutely fine. Taking on about 1.5l of water and a load of food for the next leg made the bag uncomfortably heavy. The Dodds did not flow past as easily ashoped and despite the cloud clearing, the strong wind put a downer on motivation. After 4 hs of running I could feel my last race was still in my legs and decided then and there that two legs of support would have to do me.

The downhills were agony and I let Rob go off up Fairfield and Seat Sandal so as not to slow him down and put his attempt at risk. Perhaps it was that I had already completed the round that I had no compulsion to push myself any further and glady took the option of a lift back to the campsite which was offered to me at Dunmail.

The last I saw of Rob was as he plodded up Steel Fell still on schedule and after food and a rest, myself and the rest of the support crew headed over to Wasdale. Being a Bank Holiday every idiot was out on the roads. I have never seen so many examples of incompetent driving in such a short space of time. So it was a pretty stressed support crew that arrived in Wasdale where we settled down to wait for Rob to appear down Scafell. We waited and waited. No-one had seen Rob and when he was over an hour overdue, Steffi drove back up the road to get a signal on her phone. Rob was back at Langdale. Barely an hour after leaving us at Dunmail Raise he had taken a wrong turning and headed up to Ullscarf and beyond to Low Saddle. About an 4km trip in the wrong direction. Heat, exhaustion and lack of food intake seemed to have all played a part. Understandably he had decided to call it a day. A big dissappointment for not only himself but for the rest of us too.

I know it is very easy to be critical, but to be successful with minimal support does mean that you have to know the route well. However harsh it may sound a mistake like this under the prevailing conditions was almost comic. But in no way am I saying that I am myself immune from such mishaps!

My tips for normal would-be BGRers are:

• Know the route off by heart. You never know if a pacer may drop out or get lost.
• Start when you feel good - 2am I think is a bad time for anyone's body clock. 10pm worked for me and even 8pm could be good as you are on an easy section in the dark.
• Get the feed and drink strategy right. I always eat and drink at least every 30mins on the dot even if I feel sick. More often if I feel thirsty or hungry.
• Be kind to your support team by splitting road support between drivers.
• Have a good base camp i.e. Threkeld / Keswick area.
• If you lack sufficient pacers, save them for the later legs when you are more tired.
• Don't pick a Bank Holiday weekend!
• Be organised and make sure you have a detailed schedule for everyone. I know this may be a pain in the backside, but it does really help.

The rest of the weekend was great and I am sure Rob will have learnt from this attempt and will cruise it sometime later this year.

The Fellsman 2008 - the recovery continues

I think my feet were worse after the Fellsman than they were after my Bob Graham Round in 2006. It wasabout 4 days before I could see the veins in my feet again and the blisters underneath my big toes were huge. It took some, okay all, my courage to drain them which didn't hurt at all and massively relieved the pressure. Both nails will still be lost but at least they aren't throbbing any more. In fact they look a lot better now. The nigle from the Highlander is still there, but no worse so I am hoping that in time it will get better.

Walking is now possible in trainers, but Emily still made me buy some lightweight 'walking' boots. The shame! This embarrassing shopping trip is perhaps only surpassed by the time I had to go into a climbing shop and buy a map case and compass ;o). I have managed to avoid the red socks and bobble hat but who knows where this Marilyn bagging will lead ...

Anyway, the results were posted on the Fellsman site on Friday and I came 9th in 14h 12 mins. Fantastic. Just the kind of motivation I need for Ramsay's, although after a few weeks rest I will actually be able to train!

I went up to the Cullins over the weekend to help my boss up over some of the trickier Munros of Bruach na Frith, Am Bastier and Sgurr nan Gilliean. It was hard work and the uphills were murder on my thighs. Still, a perfect day scrambling on Skye isn't something you get every day with sunshine and low winds. Sports massage on Sunday hurt, however it has really helped loosen things up, to the extent that I was doing intervals on the bike on the way home from work today.

It looks like I will be supporting a low key Bob Graham attempt on Saturday night. My aim will be to get the contender around at least Leg 1 safely. Depending on my feet I will take it from there. So another easy week ahead. The forecast looks okay so more ice cream is on the cards.

On a slightly worring note I had a health check at work and my blood pressure was 127/72 and my cholesterol at 4.8mg. Less pork pies for me!

Fellsman 2008

Every now and then you just have one of those races when it all comes together. After a two week taper I felt alright, but I constantly worried that a cold or some unforeseen injury would strike. In other words I was getting to be a bit of a hypochondric. Every 2 minute jog to the corner shop was analysed minutely afterwards for signs of a lack of form. Doubts lingered about the fact that my long runs were only about 20-25 miles and if that was really enough.

After a fairly chaotic morning in Threshfield we got bussed to the start in Ingleton. I was advised that my trail shoes would not be allowed (wrongly as it turned out as a couple of people got away with what seemed like road shoes) so I wore my Mudclaw 330s. Finally under blue skies and steadily creeping temperatures around about 300 'hikers' were set off at 9am. My rough gameplan involved getting up Ingleborough in about 45mins and taking it steady from there. It was easy to settle into a comfortable pace in the middle of the pack, but the sun was giving a taster of what was to come. The drop down from Ingleborough was steady but as soon as we hit the paving slabs, my thighs turned to jelly. The further into the valley the route went, the less wind there was and it was oppressive. I staggered along the road from Hill Inn and although only about 26C I wilted fast. Periodic streams allowed me to pour water on my head and I guzzled water, desperately trying to stay hydrated whilst struggling up Whernside. To add insult to injury a stream of runners steadily passed by. I was having a bad time and my ambition withered to just to getting to Dent before calling it a day. The misery continued into Kingdale as even on the flat bits I had no energy and pace. Still I was roughly on a 13-14h schedule and on the next climb I resolved to at least get to 40 miles before quitting.

After another refreshment stop, where I took on another litre of fluid, I decided enough was enough and I switched on my MP3 player. I was too miserable to enjoy the views anyway so I wasn't missing much. A bit of Bruce Springsteen and Die Toten Hosen and the hills didn't seem so bad. Where before I was struggling now I was even gaining on the runners in front. After Gragareth I began to enjoy the steady grassy running and after a horrible steep descent on a cobbled track I reached Dent in relatively good shape. The skies clouded over to provide some respite. Other runners about me looked as though they were struggling which gave me extra impertus to push on. Perhaps everyone was struggling?

Maybe it was the lukewam milky tea or the ibuprofen, but I felt so much better and enjoyed the next short section of road. In fact all the way to Fleet Moss past Stonehouses was steady and even enjoyable although the very hazy weather spoilt the views. The climbs felt never too bad and the music kept me jogging on. I was still keeping on a 14 -15h target and was happy that I could still drop some time and still finish before midnight.

I had heard much about Fleet Moss and the various ways around it. It looked grim from the roadside checkpoint, but I just took a direct line and plugged through. I hadn't banked on there being so much bog, but fairly easy navigation lead over Middle Tongue at last to Hell Gap and the track to Cray. The steadily dropping distance left to cover after every checkpoint was tagged was a superb motivator. Twenty miles to go sounds so much better than forty miles run.

Leaving Cray I had caught up with a couple of guys and I was keen to push a bit on the hills before the grouping up time, which is a safety requirement when it gets dark. I managed to pull away on the climb to Buckden Pike and opened up a gap so I had some 'waiting time' to recover. It also meant that I had some more experienced runners to help navigate the last bit to Yarnbury from Park Rash! Yarnbury took ages to reach and was a painful experience, staggering in the dark (in both meanings of the word) along hard tracks following an endless succesion of beacons. Once at the road we de-grouped and legged it down, through Grassington, past hordes of drunks in the local pubs and finally up the last cruel hill to the finish at the school. At last there was nowhere else to run to and I could stop!

Due to my mental state I can't recollect what time I got, but it was around 14hs and I placed in the top 10. An absolutely superb result for me and quite unexpected. So it looks as though my training and the length of taper did help. As soon as I stopped my legs locked up and I realised how sore my feet were. I was hot all over and my big toes were black and I was naseaus (in fact I couldn't eat until late the next day). Although my technique of training by running shorter runs at a harder pace got me the fitness, longer runs may help toughen up my legs and feet. I have no idea yet if I would do The Fellsman again, but I would recommend it whole-heartedly. Just don't expect an easy run.

Brin bouldering

The 'Mecca' of Scottish bouldering according to some is located in Strathnairn near the village of Farr. Following the easy to use topo available on the web, myself and Kenny headed out on another glorious evening after work. Due to me being a wuss I didn't climb above V0, but still had a great time and still worth going to (especially the Bog Jungle area) even if you don't climb that hard. Some of the routes were a bit dirty (mostly the easier ones) and there seemed to be loads more problems lurking under the moss and lichen.

Taper time - The Fellsman

It has taken me ages to recover from the 3 Peaks, physically and mentally. My training has been exceptionaly light for the past 7 days with only about 1h running in total and only easy cycling on the other days. After finding the 3 Peaks so hard I just hope The Fellsman won't be a complete disaster. The route is plotted out on my 1:25 000 and it looks like it should suit me with plenty of navigation and rough bits. I really haven't done enough mileage at all (my longest run being about 7hs), probably due to the great climbing conditions we had up here. However, my MP3 player is stuffed full of Die Toten Hosen (a sad hangover from my impressionable days as a teenager living in Munich) for the flat bits just to keep my motivation up. Also hopefully I will get teamed up (as it is in the rules of the 'race' that you have to group together at dusk) with some people who know the route when it gets dark! I hope to get a time of under 16hours so I just have to keep my head down and remember that good bits always follow the bad bits sooner or later.

Anyway to keep me away from running and worrying I found some old climbing clips on BBC Scotland (go to the 'watch' icon on the right hand side and then look in the 'Outdoors' and 'Sports' tabs). There are about 8 clips worth watching, just the thing for avoiding training and the washing up. Very entertaining.

3 Peaks Hill Race

My first proper race of the season and a reccy for the Fellsman rolled into one. 24 miles and 5000ft going over the three biggest hills in the Yorkshire Dales sounded like fun. It wasn't. Having spent much of the winter up here either hill running or climbing I haven't had much oportunity for running on the hard and stoney tracks that make up much of the race route.

The race was certainly well organised with route flags every 10 or so meters and water stations. Crowds of spectators on all the ascents and 750 runners did make the event stand out from what I usually associate with fell running. However, sections of the route were really quite tedious and I quickly discovered that I lack pace on the flat. As soon as we hit hills I began to drop people whilst not even going too hard. Every level section was in contrast torture and I could barely hang on.

I dropped 3min from my intended 3h50 schedule on the first hill (Pen-Y-Ghent) due to the sheer number of people. A further 6 minutes driffted away of the long track section to Ribblehead and another 3 minutes on the last flat 'descent' of Ingleborough. So all in I came in after 4h1.27 in about 245 place. Cramp was a serious problem which came on about the 20km mark. Bad eating and drinking?

At I learnt a few things for the Fellsman. An MP3 player will be invaluable for maintaining motivation and pace on the flat bits, I am feeling strong on the hills, I need to eat and drink more regularly and I now have 24 miles of hard track in my legs. Looking at my heart rate with an average of 166 and a max of 188 I think I may need to train at a higher level to be able to cope with the stress of racing.

My recovery is going alright (I couldn't walk that well on Sunday) and a two week taper should just about see me right. Fingers crossed for the 10th May.

Kishorn Bouldering

With only about four weeks until my first, and only, big race of the season I am seriously over-trained. During the speed sessions this past week my heart rate has stayed persistantly low and any attempt at increase in pace is impossible due to tired legs. It got so bad this weekend that all motivation to go running went out of the window. Instead I went over to Applecross for a pub lunch, followed by tea and cake before I finally got motivation to check out the bouldering in Kishorn. Well actually the boulders are just down off the Bealach na Ba. The largest, the Kishorn Stone, is obvious on the drive up from the loch, sitting as it does on a grassy ridge about 5-10 minutes easy walk south of the road. There is space for one car at NG811 408 which is about 500m up from the large car-park by the bend. Other than that parking is fairly limited, unless of course you want to park in a passing space. The rock is a hard, smooth sandstone and the boulders generally seem to have a reasonable clean side on the west and a steeper and dirtier east side with mostly flat (and dry) landings. Someone seems to have drilled a steel spike into the top of the boulder closest to the road. All boulders are accessed by a network of deer tracks and it wasn't even that wet underfoot. Lower down the hill, about 5mins further from the Kishorn Stone, there is a cluster of further boulders with varied problems ranging from very straight forward slab scrambling to overhanging desperates. Enough here to keep someone of my medicore talents happy for a couple of hours.

Sunday was worse as I felt so tired and ill on Saturday evening that I called off the planned climbing trip to the Ben and did some gardening instead. Perhaps a couple of days complete rest will sort me out. I certainly hope it does anyway.

Life isn't all bad though. On an evening run (about 28km in 4.5hs) over in Kishorn on Tuesday I chanced upon a great little crag up high on Beinn a'chait. Torridon's answer to Burbage North so watch this space for a photo-topo soon ; 0)

Loch Sheildaig - kayaking

An Austrian sea kayaking? What ever next!

Too much climbing and running had depleted my Brownie Point cache to such an extent that a sea kayaking trip with Emily was the order of the day. We put in at Sheildaig and paddled round Loch Sheildaig on, mostly, calm waters surrounded by sea cliffs and snow-capped mountains. Apart from nearly capsizing after hitting some fish farming junk it was a great trip. Only two seals were spotted, but a skirmish between some sea gulls and some sort of eagle made up for the poor seal quota.

My shoulders and core muscles really felt it and I will have to get out more if I want to paddle around Raasay in the Summer!