LEDGE ROUTE &CMD ARETE BEN NEVIS

Another beautiful summers day in Lochaber, after some early morning cloud. David had never been up Ben Nevis and wanted to see and scramble in spectacular scenery and he wasn't disappointed today. We had an early start, seeing no one up the Allt a' Mhuillin and had Ledge Route to ourselves, this most spectacular of easy scrambles on The Ben. We were quickly on the summit of Carn Dearg at 11am. After a quick 'mingle' with the summit ravers on top of The Ben we quickly departed the noise and were soon on the CMD arete with peace and quiet again just in time for the sun to shine and warm up. As well as the scrambling there is always time to find other interesting things such as Alpine Mouse Ear and Golden Ringed Dragonflies to add to the day. A long day for David, up from Dundee and back in a day!

That's me off to The Alps till 15th August. I am leading a couple of treks, Tour Mont Blanc and Tour Matterhorn. Will update blog when I can - I'm not into iphone thingies yet!

BIRTHDAY ON BEN NEVIS

It was a glorious wall to wall sunshine day today. After over a week or so of poor wet and windy conditions we were blessed with a fantastic day for Gillean's Birthday walk up Ben Nevis. Linda, her mum, also carried the cake up for the summit and just by pure chance there was a piper piping away on the summit when we arrived, a Birthday  treat Gillean will remember for a long time, (video on Facebook). Looks like another cracking day again tomorrow.

DRYING UP ON BEN NEVIS

Another rainy morning in Lochaber again today with low cloud and windy but improving conditions for Yamya and I. The not so good weather did mean less folk on the hill which was very welcome. We got a whole 20 minutes of warm sun near the end. More flowers spotted than litter today, yellow saxifrage in abundance.

BEN NEVIS - HIGHEST RUBBISH DUMP IN THE UK?

Back up the hills again today after a week of low level walking. Ben Nevis of course! Today I was with Alison, Norman and James in  what was probably the worst weather on The Ben this year. Rain most of the day, breezy and low cloud to 700m in the morning. Onnly ggod points was the absence of the midge. Still busy despite the horrible weather and good to see most folk were well kitted out for the rain. The Red Burn was looking spectacular with all this rain recently. Shocking to see the litter on the summit area (see last picture), what filthy folk would leave beer and champagne bottles?  I also brought down three separate charity events t-shirts which were adourning the trig point. I picked up so much litter in the space of a few metres around the summit that I had no room left in my rucksac, disgusting.

LOCH SHIEL

Today was the final walk for my group on their 'Highland train and walking holiday'. The family from the USA 'bailed' out when they saw the rain and low cloud this morning. Australians Marita and Adam persevered and we had a lovely day over at Glenfinnan and Loch Shiel. Most of the day was dry and we got good views along the south shore of the loch.  We spotted a few black throated divers on the loch. Ended the day in luxurious comfort with coffee's and beers at the Glenfinnan House Hotel, in front of a roaring log fire-is this really July?

SKYE WITHOUT THE MIDGES

A wet, breezy and cool morning on Skye. Today we did the lovely low level walk from Elgol to Camasunary then over to Kilmarie. After a few hours of light rain the cloud lifted, it went dry and the sun even appeared for a spell in the afternoon. Enough to enjoy the splendour of the black Cuillin from an easy walk. Not a single midge to be seen or felt this last couple of days on Skye due to the wind! This ranks as one of the best low level walks in The Highlands (and Islands!)

CAIRNGORMS BY STEAM

Some low level walking this week, thankful for it too as we are in an unsettled spell of weather. Today Marianne, Marita, Adam, Oliver, Nathan, Neil and I took the Strathspey steam train from Aviemore to Broomhill to start our walk through the Abernethy and Rothiemurchus forests and down to Glenmore. We got a few showers in the afternoon after a dry start. This week I am leading  a 'Railways and walking' trip for Walkabout Scotland

WET BIKE DAY ON THE ALTERNATIVE A82

Got a good soaking on the alternative A82 from Fort William to Onich today. Poored down all afternoon on route via the Lundavra road from The Fort to Lochan Lunn Da Bhra, here it's a 'push the bike job' through soaked and waterlogged ground with several burn crossing (which aren't normally there) then a great run down through the Glenrigh Forest. Well the draught certainley isn't  happening here in The Highlands and no high temperatures. Away from Technology for a few days again, The Cairngorms 2 days then Skye for a day.

A WILD DAY TO KEEP THE MIDGE AT BAY

A stiff wind today so Teresa and I had a modest height hill day instead of a higher mountain route. We went up onto Meall a' Cumhainn from the upper falls carpark at Glen Nevis to Steall falls. Although it's a modest height of around 700m the views and varied scenery are fantastic. We escaped with only a shower or two toward the end of the walk and most of the day was spent in sunshine and not a single midge or clegg to bother us.

HOT AND WET IN THE LAKES

Just back from a 3 day stint of  D of E silver training in The Lake District. We had a glorious day on Saturday with beautiful blue skies and warm sun. A complete contrast on day two of the boys expedition with gales on the summits and rain most of the day, quite Highland like with paths flooded and streams in spate. Conditions improved on their final day back to dry conditions. We were walking in the Coniston area and lots of navigation training  for the boys as well as first aid, working as a group and general instruction for a multi day walk in the hills.