SCORCHER ON THE BEN

It was yet another scorching hot, windless day on The Ben again. I was marshalling/guiding for http://www.mountainandglen.com/ . Lots of charity events this weekend, a group for Marie Currie Cancer Care who got to the summit in wheelchairs! Unfortunately one of our group had heatstroke, not very pleasent. Keep drinking!!

HAT & GLOVES?

Kim and I were on Meall nan Tarmachan today. It was fine and sunny in the morning with some high cloud later on in the day. There was a cool, strong Easterly and it was hat and gloves weather on the tops. Not many folk about today. A welcome wet spell on Wed & Thurs thankfully as the burn that feeds my water supply to the house is looking a wee bit dry just now. Back to Sunny weather at the weekend.

KELTNEY BURN

It was another cracking weather day again in The Highlands with blue skies and very warm temperatures. Kim and I were looking for Orchids in the Keltney Burn Nature reserve near Aberfeldy. A lovely spot with 5 variety of Orchids although only noted the birds nest orchid in flower so far.

CLEAR & SUNNY ON THE BEN AGAIN

Another beautiful blue sky day in The Highlands again. Max and I were on The Ben enjoying the great views despite the amount of folk on the Pony Track. For Max it was the highest place he had walked up to and enjoyed all the views and fantastic weather.

We headed over tothe Western Carn Dearg summit for some solitude from the crowds and of course that wonderful view of Tower Ridge & North face.

NAVIGATION WEATHER!!!

Trudy and Lynne were on a Navigtion course today. We were on the Eastern side of Meall nan Tarmachan away from the crowds and paths. We descended into the Cam Chreag corrie. Both did excellently, navigation was so good they found Lynnes' camera which she lost!

Weather wasn't playing well today as it was blue skies and warm sunshine!

THE ROUGH BOUNDS

Just back from 4 wonderful days backpacking across the mountains in Morar-Glen Dessarry-Knoydart areas. This is probably the nearest The British Isles come to 'wild' land. Some of the remotest and roughest terrain to enjoy anywhere with many summits having that beautiful outllook to the Western Seabord and Inner Hebredes/Small Isles. Weather through out was very warm during the day with lots of sunshine and cool nights, perfect for keeping the midges at bay! The burns and rivers looking very dry, indeed lack of water was a problem at times in this the wettest part of Britain!

SAT 17 MAY

Meth Bheinn from Lochailort, late afternoon start and treated to a wonderful sunset looking out to Skye & Rum. On the summit I was also gifted with the closest I've been to a Golden Eagle, it flew past me on the summit cairn no more than 5 metres from me!

SUNDAY 18 MAY

An Stac & Sgurr na h-Aide. Up and back down to almost sealevel twice, views of Loch Morar and Loch Nevis constantly.

MONDAY 19 MAY

The superb Western ridge of Sgurr na Ciche, one of the remotest and most striking of Munros.

TUES 20 MAY

Walk out to Inverie over the Mam Meadall in Knoydart. Great route and lovely path thet winds its way over to the coast again to the biggest settlement in Knoydart and Britains most remote pub! Ferry to Mallaig after an obligortory pint.

SUNNY & COOL TO KEEP THE MIDGES AT BAY

It's been a wonderful spell of weather here at Killin with long spells of sunshine and very warm. Forecast is for a cooler airflow but still sunshine, perfect for views, photos and to keep the midges at bay, well at least for just a wee while longer! Great time for long days backpacking in the hills right now.

HIGHLAND HEATWAVE CONTINUES

The cloud soon burnt off by mid day and we had yet another cloudless very warm day here in the Central Highlands. I was on the Eastern slopes of Tarmachan from the Lochan na Lairige Dam. There is an profusion of flowers springing into life just now with carpets of Anemone from 500m to 900m. Also spotted a solitary Mountain Pansy, lots of Selandines, Marsh Marigold and Purple Saxifrage which is all over the summit block of Meall Garbh. I also saw Early Purple Orchid but not yet in flower, interesting to note it's a couple of weeks behind from last year because of our prolonged Winter I guess.

It was a day for lazing around on the summits, make the most of it as the High pressure slips awy with cooler temperatures and rain by Sunday.

3 PEAKS CHALLANGE

It was a very warm and at times very hot weekend. I was working for http://www.mountainandglen.com/ guiding on the 3 peaks challange. This involves ascending the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales in 24 hours. The groups did very well and my particular group acheived a great effort clocking in at 22 hours 50 minutes, well done everyone.

BEN LOMOND

The beautiful early Summer weather continued today. It was very warm and hazy in the Southerly winds as Kim and I went up Ben Lomond. On the lower slopes the flowers are in bloom with Wood Violet, Wood Anemone, Bearberry and Hyacinth all in flower. Well done Kim on her first Munro.

SUMMER ON BEN NEVIS

It was a glorious day on ben Nevis. Lois and John were training for their 3 peaks challange later in the year. They made excellent pace up to the summit in a superb wall to wall sunshine. I took them over to the spectacular view point on the Carn Dearg top which gives great views of the North face and especially Tower Ridge. We got down to the Ben Nevis Inn for a well earned pint. Well done Lois & John and good luck with the challange in June. Top zig zags in the Pony Track are still covered in snow and 3m of depth on summit plateau, so care still needed in bad visability. It was very warm lower down on the hill and at Fort William it was 19 degrees at 6pm!

THE BEN

It was quite a pleasent day today, forecast of drizzle, rain and low cloud was thankfully wrong and the top of Ben Nevis was clear at times. I had a group of seven guys out to conquer The Ben, in aid of Cancer Research. They all loved being out in the snow which was a surprise to them. The last 300m was soft snow and still 3m of snow on the summit area. There was a cold, strong wind on the tops but we had some late sunshine on the descent. Well done guys.