EAST, FOR A CHANGE

Today Anne, David, Andrew and Amanda were with me on Meall a' Bhuachaille in the Cairngorms. This was every ones first Scottish hill and everyone did well getting to the top of this wee gem. No views on the summit but the cloud did lift on the way down.

BACK TO THE BEN

Ben Nevis again for a chnage of scenery today. I had a group of five on the pony track. We had a wet, very low cloud morning but the clouds cleared on the descent. Some wonderful cloud formations on the way down and warming up nicely. The footpath work on the zig zags is progressing well, soon be a nice tarmachadam road to the summit.

BEN ASLAK

Last day on Skye, another fantastic day. Graham bagging on Ben Aslak which overlooks Kylerea and wonderful views to Knoydart. Great hill for a short day, definately not short on views.

CUILLIN FROM ELGOL

Kim and I had a lovely low level walk from Elgol today. We dodged the showers and had some sunny spells. This is yet another superb short walk with smacking views of the Cuillin with a great wee coffee shp at the end.

SGURR NAN GILLEAN

Martin and I were up on Sgurr nan Gillean today. Another fabulous day, looked a bit ominous earlier in the morning, feeling cold and some cloud with a spot of rain, but soon clearing and beautiful skies once more. Lounging around on the rocks before going over to Sgurr na h-Huamha, the final summit of the Cuillin ridge if you're doing the whole thing. Today we were content with sitting around and taking in the views. We spotted a male ptarmigan on h-Huamha, rare to see ptarmigan on the Cuillin.

QUIRANG

Kim and I went to the Quirang today. One of the best low level, short walks on the Isle of Skye. Striking rock formations around every corner! It was another beautiful sunny day. Ther North West coast of Scotland the best in the British Isles me thinks!

BLABHEINN

A beautiful clear, sunny day again. With a light Northerly airfow the clarity was superb. Martin and I were on Blabheinn, probably the best view point for the whole Cuillin ridge. We sat on the summit for over one and a half hours it was so good! And no midges!

SUNNY SKYE

Start of six glorious sunny days on the wonderful Isle of Skye. We were staying near Carbost, close to the magnificent Cuillin. Today was a nice 'warm up' scramble on Bruach na Frithe's NW ridge. This is a great little grade 2 scramble. The clouds broke and excellent sunny afternoon. Great views to be had as we carried on to Am Bastier (grade 2). Then a lovely decent down by the Bastier gorge which gives excellent views of Sgurr nan Gillean's pinnacle ridge.

TARMACHAN IN BLOOM,

It has been much cooler but still fine weather over the past couple of days, a welcome relief from the intense heat of the past week. I was wandering up the Southern crags of Tarmachan, Cam Chreag area. The hillside is full of beautiful plants and flowers at the moment. Today I saw Alpine mouse ear, common mouse ear, moss campion, starry saxifrage, Alpine ladies mantle, rose root, sorrel, scurvey grass, dog violet, milkwort, eyebrights, speedwells, stiff sedge and tormentil. I'll be away from home and technology for a couple of weeks, on Skye, Ben Nevis and The Cairngorms so will be a while before updates. Pictures to follow soon.

THE BEN 3- VERY HOT

Mini heatwave continues with another scorcher. Ben Nevis again today with Jane & David who were treated to more wonderful views. The snow buntings were having a good feed today on the summit. The snow on the lower plateau area is now dissapearing but still a lot on the summit area and quite a few footprints on the Gardyloo Gully cornice!!!