October 2022 Scotland expedition report

250 Grahams/Donalds left out of 364 after 16 summits visited this month.  No frost at night.  Damp throughout but two good clear days for great views.  The day with the wind turbine on a Donald summit, Bowbeat Hill 626 m, in the Moorfoot Hills SE of Penicuik.  And the day I walked up Windlestraw Law 659 m and Whitehope Law 623 m.

7 to 9 hour days when I was attempting summits left me exhausted.  I was well pleased with the 16 total (out of a possible 22) and the lower walks on rest days.

Walking poles were a great help in fording swollen burns.  One took the water right over both hubs of the bike!

3 nights were like sleeping in a drum; rainbows and goldfinches at Aultbea, Wester Ross; and full wet weather gear just to get from the car park to the old but transformed Loch Ewe Church in Aultbea in a southerly gale that was blasting straight off the sea into the south facing front door of the church.  You had to quickly shut it behind you to keep the torrential rain and gale out!  Inside was an amazingly fine, modern, packed church at their 11 am service in a six or seven-year-old restored, updated and made energy-efficient building.  What a pleasure to see.  Three men led the three sung psalms, instead of musical instruments and hymns, from the Scottish Psalter.

Lots of showers to begin the 3 weeks, followed by cloud and still more rain.  Two complete rainbows seen in the period of sun and showers.  My last day - a big circuit to take in four Donalds - was in cloud and murk and was the only day of low cloud throughout the 9 hours bike and walk.

I achieved two out of the four Grahams I wanted in NW Scotland and those two were the most remote that needed 8/8.30 am starts.  The 29" wheels bike was a great help and made all the difference to get within striking difference of the two remote summits.  But still long walk-ins even then!

The most almighty very heavy rain bucketed down on me just ten minutes after I had safely got back to the car from the first long day of 8 hours.

Four nights in three different hotels.  Left on Monday 3 October and returned on Sunday 23 October.  The last full day was to complete the last four Manor Hills summits north of St Mary's Loch but after an exhausting 9 hrs to do the first four, I was easily diverted to do a little guerrilla gardening.  I came upon native hardwood planting at 450 metres on the rough track I was cycling up, straightened one sapling and collected lots of tree guards that were lying around having been pushed off the growing trees.

Last Friday's long circuit round the Peebles horseshoe was satisfyingly accomplished throughout in cloud and murk.  I was overtaken by a fast young man with map and compass held out to guide him.  He was doing the long circuit by starting and finishing in Peebles, like me but without the help of a bike.  I had stopped in tiredness after a long ride, sat on the grass and took a long hard look at the steep valley side on the other side of the burn that I had to get up.  I realised I had stopped just in time.  There was, I thought a way to avoid much of the bracken and then heather to get up onto the ridge to find the Cross Borders Drove Road to my first summit, Birkscairn Hill 661 m.  I started the big walk 300m short of Glensax after abandoning the bike by the track.

Above Gairloch Harbour were two 300 metre rocky hills that looked daunting to climb but I did one from round the back in deteriorating weather.

I came away from one Graham when I soon met a stalking party that had spotted me when I was getting ready at the car.  They walked down to meet me just after I walked up from the road.  A truly lovely estate manager in charge of the stalking.  The first time that I had relented when similarly spoken to.  The other two men, in previous years, let me continue.  Very decent of them.  This was the day, for plan B, I returned to Gairloch Harbour to find a way to climb one of the 300 m hills mentioned above.

A fabulous day photographing on the shores of Loch Maree and then a late four-hour Beinn Eighe mountain trail that was well worth doing but I came down in the dark for the last few hundred metres.  Highlights were a Caledonian pine forest, a deep vertical gorge alongside a well-cairned trail and lochans passed in the higher reaches to the summit cairn at 550m.

Best meal was a simple pea and mint soup, followed by a cheese and cranberry toastie at Traquair House.  A delicious meal and lovely staff, too.  Interesting house of three floors to explore and, the priest steps to escape from the top of the house at the approach of a search party in the 17th and 18th centuries.

So damp this expedition I actually had condensation dripping on me twice as I slept with head and shoulders under the rear windscreen - just as I normally do.  Dampness was discovered on both my black cycling bumbag and bivy tent when I came to unpack back home.

At Peebles, my night stays were noted for rain drops from trees sounding like I was in a drum, so loud was the split splatter on the steel roof!

Left 3 October; returned 23 October 2022. 

How to be a good ancestor in 2022

Tip for January 2022.  And, for me, to reduce my hypocrisy quotient by driving less:

2019: 14,000 miles driven in the car for nearly all medium to long journeys with six hillwalking trips to Scotland.

Climate emergency declared by national and regional governments.  In Nov 2019, I declared a 50% cut on my 2019 total in my car mileage for 2020 and thereafter.  Summer: over 80 mpg.  Winter: over 70 mpg.

2020:  6,300 miles with two trips to Scotland

2021:  5,500 miles with two trips to Scotland

Tip for February

Insulate front, back, sides and, top and bottom of your home.  External insulation, internal insulation with warmer, specially designed, thicker wallpaper and more, much more loft insulation.

Tip for March

Layer up, aka lagging yourself.  Wear more clothing.  No more going round in T-shirt or short sleeves in the depths of winter.  Wear 5 or 6 layers like me.  And, then you go out for a brisk walk or bike ride with less clothing on so you don't get too hot!

Tip for April

Warmer weather now, so dust off the cobwebs and get that self-powered, fossil fuel-free bike out (ebikes if you must) and take a spin along residential side roads and on Brum's all-weather, mud free, free draining towpaths and cycle-walkways.

Tip for May

My 3 petitions for the UK's only mothballed, existing, principal, mainline railway to be finished with the rather vital stations and trains.  If you've signed one, could you sign a second, please?

Tip for June

Have you got PV solar panels on every roof - even north-facing, as I have seen in Scotland?!  I've yet to do the low roof on the room at the back of the house.  REASON: the urgency of getting out of reliance on fossil fuels.  And, you get some electricity, enough for LED lighting, from PV solar panels without the sun.  Store the electricity in batteries for evening use.

Tip for July

Move towards a plant-based diet of fruit, vegetables, bread, pulses and beans.  Meat, even white meat is poisoning the River Wye with so many chicken farms in its catchment area.  Be a flexitarian if you can't go the whole hog.  But cut back on all meat.

Tip for August

Stop being a frequent flyer and minimise this damaging practice as much as possible.  Even condensation trails from jet planes is bad news.  HS too fast to stop flying through the air gives another choice for flyers to choose plane or train but, at a horrific cost.

Tip for September

DO NOT COMMUTE if you don't need the car for the job.  I did need the car but still gave it up in the early 1990s and resorted to the self-powered bike even for my social work visits.  I went down from over 40p/mile on official council business by car to 15p/mile when cycling.

Tip for October

Support my regional Fare-Free Public Transport for all and not just the OAPs like me who are well past it, aka being over the hill.  Vote Left Unity who want it to end this blatant discrimination against the young and middle-aged.

Tip for November

I have stopped buying clothes or being given them by Linda.  I even turned my back on a lovely studded (button-free) overshirt from M&S last December!

Tip for December

Throw away as little as possible.  Burning up and turning our precious finite resources into very greenhouse gas intensifying methane and carbon dioxide is the height of folly.

Popular HS2, Metro, Sprint extensions all worsen climate emergency and hasten disaster

Dear friends - photos to bring a smile at the very bottom of this email for light relief!

ALL WE HAVE IS WRITING, SPEAKING AND MAKING POSITIVE, CONSTRUCTIVE SUGGESTIONS!

Chris wants us to read, comment and promote the excellent FoE document on green jobs that says:

"There are over 500,000 young people aged 16-24 out of work, and numbers are expected to grow substantially with the end of the furlough scheme. This is a youth unemployment emergency."

TfWM/WMCA WANTS IT TOO

The FoE report is 94 pages long and I can only skim read parts.  It is wanting green apprenticeships.  This is exactly what Andy Street wants.  However, he sees building back better as building HS2 for £106 BILLION, Metro "bus on rails" trams over 150 miles, 8 lines and 380 tram stops for £15 BILLION to 2040 and a two class bus provision with Sprint as 1st Class for half a billion pounds and, if necessary, 2nd class regular buses after trams and Sprint.  For Andy, all this means green jobs for young and middle aged people.  I think he is wrong!

WHAT THEY WANT HAS MADE THINGS WORSE!

We have seen that for west Brum, Metro at £75 m/Km in 2020 (Scotland's new railway was £7 m/Km in 2015), has made public transport worse with a much slower and longer journey because of the permanent closure of the Five Ways underpass and "bus on rails" tram priority in Broad St.

This is ecocidal behaviour by us humans that is killing the planet and its life support systems that enable all life on earth as we know it, as of the year 2000.  Simply using finite fossil fuels is killing us all!  David Attenborough, Greta Thunberg and scientists from around the world in the major IPCC reports from its foundation in 1988 has been tellng us this ever since 1988.  In fact, Eunice Foote and John Tyndall since the 1850s!

YET, FOE, GREENPEACE, GREEN PARTY, CAMPAIGN FOR BETTER TRANSPORT, Transport for Quality of Life, Greener Transport Solutions - ALL WANT HS2,TRAMS, SPRINT TOO!

We have seen that for the Black Country, the 40 year old obsession with Metro "bus on rails" trams has led to the destruction or, part destruction, of five commuter railway lines and, one and a quarter mainline stations!  This is scandalous!  Yet, national green/environmental organisations - supposedly promoting more sustainable, less ecocidal behaviour by us humans - have tacitly agreed and often actively promoted HS2, light rail rapid transit ("bus on rails" trams) and Sprint two class bus provision.

Therefore, not surprisingly, in 25 years of writing in opposition to the destruction of our railway network for Metro "bus on rails" trams and for built development, I have had very, very little support even from the green movement!

Every £1 spent = fossil fuels burnt = greenhouse gases emitted = runaway greenhouse effect = same uninhabitable conditions as planet venus (look venus up on Wikipedia).  THIS IS DEADLY SERIOUS.

All we can do, now is limit our expenditure to projects that cut greenhouse gas emissions in the medium to long term with the green jobs that we all know are more sustainable than the jobs at any price idiocy that leads to HS2, road building, Metro and Sprint.

I began my adult life as a full-time volunteer in 1967, for 13 months, on £1 per week plus board and lodging.  I am ending my adult life on a perfectly adequate pension doing voluntary practical work on restoring Nature in my local green belt and in writing, texting, phoning - as here - to try and discourage the all pervasive concrete, brick and tarmac from destroying nature completely and, thus, ourselves and all life along with it.

Universal Basic Income is similar to the Furlough scheme.  Both are better than the jobs at any price ecocide.  I think, we want true green, right jobs built on a basic income for all to ensure sufficient, decent food, clothing and shelter paid for by the greedy wealthy (the top lot help out the bottom lot).  That discourages the HS2/Metro/Sprint type of jobs.  My basic income from 1967 to 1968 was £1 a week (by the end, raised to £1.50/week) plus board and lodging.  I used a bike, some parental help with transport getting to and from distant destinations on three occasions and, I had no savings but I survived!

A few email addresses to write to are here - never ever give up!:

 September 2019 A5 flyer

Aristotle on Brexit!

Author: Sotirios Frantzanas

"To make this clearer, joining the EU made it obligatory for the UK to accept and enact on EU laws and regulations. This means that the UK parliament’s supremacy over making laws has been arguably reduced, even though the UK participated actively in the EU’s decision-making processes. This is also despite that it enjoyed possibly the most privileged membership that enabled it to be selective, and opting out from EU legislation on various occasions; the European Monetary Union, the Schengen Agreement and so on.6 

"It seems that the fact that the UK, much like Denmark, Poland and Ireland, had the opportunity to negotiate and opt-out from EU legislations is evidence that sovereignty, at least in terms of the power to negotiate, remains with the member-state; it is not exchanged for membership. That could be the case, if the UK parliament had lost its authority to withdraw the UK from the EU.7 That would be the case in which it could be said that the supremacy of the UK government has been lost.

"However, Brexit is the best example that the UK has remained a sovereign country throughout and there is no reason to believe that this would not be the case for an independent Scotland joining the EU as an equal member. In other words, the necessary sharing of sovereignty, in terms of having to accept EU legislation, is inevitable in the same way it is inevitable for everyone that decides to be a member of a democratic society to follow its laws and norms as well as to participate actively in their making. This is actually something that arguably enhances rather than reduces sovereignty.

"Being part of a community of nations requires putting the whole above the individual parts and thus voluntarily sharing individual sovereignty, to gain access to a larger pool of opportunities for development alongside other member-states. As Aristotle said, thousands of years ago: ‘those that live in isolation and not in political communities are either beasts or gods.’8 Similarly, any country in the modern political world that chooses isolation over participation in the global political community is either not rational or is suffering from delusions of grandeur. Without saying that the EU, or any other political community for that matter, is perfect, Scotland should be wise and choose participation over isolation."

West is best at overthrowing governments it calls regimes

Why should a government NOT be ruthless in putting down a rebellion?  Any UK government would be.  Even the good people of Scotland in 2014 had the fear of God put up them, if they dared to be so stroppy as to vote for independence from big brother England.  Our problem, in our so well meaning, we know what is best for you fortress, is supporting the rebels to overthrow their governments in Afghanistan, Iraq and now Syria.  And look where it gets us.

Scotland's independence might just cut England down to size - but I doubt it!!

Scotland: Stop subsidising England's excesses.  Get your independence, Scotland!

I know that, from the opinion polls, Scotland distancing itself further from England seems a hopeless cause.  However, for what it's worth, these are my:  interesting/alternative/tendentious/horrifying/warped (delete as you wish)
thoughts on why I think Scotland would be sensible to separate from England and be its own sovereign nation within the EU and UN instead of the UK.

The big-hearted Scots* are subsidising London as the hub of the UK with continuing plans for Heathrow expansion, the very expensive Cross Rail and Thames Link project that opens in 2019 and, last year's London Olympics.

After more than one hundred years of an "essentially a Victorian rail network" (Chief Executive of Network Rail, Sir David Higgins on 8 January 2013 on the 'Today' programme), England has decided, rather late in the day, to modernise it, with the Scottish taxpayer helping to foot the bill.  Does Scotland have even one Victorian signal box?  England has 500 dating back to Queen Victoria and 300 are 1960s vintage! (same interview)

The Scots subsidised HS1 and, now, they generously help us out with HS2 that, again, gets nowhere near Scotland, even when fully completed.

Scotland should be most upset at subsidising England's armed conflicts on 23 nations since 1945 (Radio 4's 'Thought for the Day' slot in the 'Today' programme.  Repeated, on another occasion, without disagreement from the other team members, by the Green Party panellist on Radio 4's 'Any Questions').**

No doubt, there are some in the English Defence League calling for pre-emptive, unmanned drone attacks of self defence on the Muslim militant extremists before they kill another of our brave soldier heroes.  Heroes home in barracks, on leave from protecting the people of Afghanistan from the real killers.  Scotland should disassociate itself from this barbarity by no longer funding England's unappreciated occupation of, and drone attacks on, foreign lands (a total of thirteen years, in punishment for 9/11, when we finally leave Afghanistan in 2014).

Scotland provides a most convenient haven for England's submarines carrying its independent nuclear deterrent. The Clyde Trident workers might be redeployed in future proofing your nation from the accelerating, enhanced greenhouse effect and the exhaustion of the planet's oil and gas reserves. The subs and nuclear missiles might be sent off to Barrow to give employment to the English, who will be left with digging a little deeper into their pockets with the Scottish taxpayer no longer bailing them out.

With independence, Scotland would no longer be contributing to the very many billions of pounds for the replacement for the Trident subs. Preliminary work on the replacement began when either Tony Blair or Gordon Brown was PM.

Scotland's power from water, wind and sun could be used just for themselves or sold to the English at great expense! A golden chance for you Scots to become Great Scot - instead of the phrase being used simply as an exclamation! Great Britain, minus Scotland, would be just a little less 'Great' and a little less able to act, in tandem with the US, as the continuing great power and policeman around the world to get its way.

We English, have such an over-inflated view of our importance to the nations of the world, that we cannot possibly do without Scotland to enhance our prestige and weight! Without Scotland, how can we possibly continue to punch above our weight in the world?  Even more crucially, the US might not regard us quite so highly with only little Wales and littler N Ireland in tow.  Our special relationship might be that little less special without Scotland.

For us English, all this independence malarkey is diminishing our size and greatness. Great Scot, it might even threaten our place as a permanent member of the Security Council. We certainly can't have that!

Let Scotland raise its own taxation for its own spending - that is all independence is - like the fifty other countries that have gained their independence from London since 1945 "and not one has expressed an interest in coming back under London's control." Alex Salmond on 21 May 2013 on 'Today'.

I think, Scotland's taxation is essential for England to continue to fund her excesses; it also makes her also responsible for the UK's most unfortunate, aggressive, domineering and provocative foreign policy in Muslim lands.  That certainly is an excess, to put it mildly!

Tim Weller

* "Over the last thirty years, in every single one of these last thirty years, Scotland per head contributed more in taxation than the UK average.  So that does indicate the financial and the potential financial strength goes over a long period of time."  Alex Salmond interview on the 'Today' programme, 21 May 2013.

** "Since 1946, the UK has engaged in more armed conflict than any other country with a total of 23 if you include Libya.  Do we conclude from this that we are a nation of warmongers or, a country that values peace and justice?"  Rhiddian Brook on Thought for the Day on 25 March 2011.

Rainbow N Scotland and Robinson Crusoe!

I returned on Sunday evening from Scotland having visited 13 summits in 8 consecutive and very full days. My longest day was being out for 11 hours that included two food/rest stops and two Corbetts. Only one of those days was in the rain. I had cloudy and cool weather with some low cloud that made walking ideal. One day was sunny with light winds. Two Corbetts out of the 13 were visited in the evening, when the darkness caught up with me. By the end of my last long day I had swollen ankles that were biting into my boots!

So I've now climbed 29 Corbetts out of 220. Of those, 19 were this season's batch in April and May. I had a slow start having been diverted onto lower hills by one blizzard and gale force N winds that made for mesmerising, mountainous seas to shock and awe! I just got away with rounding a headland as the tide and waves came sweeping in over my mountain boots. Then, I enjoyed pretending I was shipwrecked as I waded ashore out of the white surf on one remote and deserted sandy beach - apart from one otter surprised at man Friday - on Scotland's stunning N coast. There was a mix of white and red sandy beaches of sea and loch; blue, green and grey seas and lots of white, red and black rock - quite apart from the purple-headed mountain of the hymn!

My exploration of the one Munro, in April, that I thought I had not properly completed, proved that I was wrong. There was only the one obvious summit and the concrete base, only of the trig point/pillar. I must have found that summit cairn on my first, ridiculously long diversion from Beinn a' Chleibh to Ben Lui via this Munro outlier, Beinn Bhuidhe, miles away! That was on the 26 March 1991 when I was wearing fell running shoes, no crampons and when I saw, as I descended Ben Lui, that my tent had blown down, with my sleeping bag in the process of being sucked out from under the nylon! Therefore, my round of Munros was completed with Ben More on Mull on 4 August 2007.

A Tale of Two Hotels

The first was one of the few buildings in Kylesku, in Sutherland in the remote NW of Scotland. Its stunning location - overlooking a sea loch, old ferry slipway and jetty - made it unforgettable and even the steady rain detracted nothing from its beauty. A fishing vessel was unloading its cargo just metres from the bar window where I was sitting.
Never before have I seen such a presentation of a £15 main course of fish - all dangling from a spike that was sitting on a plate of delicious delicacies, like a chandelier. Its name begins with 'l' and it was a new name for me, I remember or rather fail to remember! But, I do remember that it wasn't my meal!
The village is bypassed by an impressive, soaring, curving road bridge that was opened in 1984. Photos of the five different ferries, previously used over the decades, are posted above the bar in this old coaching inn.

Inchnadamph Hotel, in Assynt, is almost on the same fold of the Landranger map as the Kylesku Hotel but, is 8 miles south. Its claim to fame is the photos and text about the Scottish geologists who discovered the 'all back to front' rocks of the area - much older rocks on top of newer and featured in the nearby crags. A second claim to fame, for me, was a quite delightful, 20 year old looking hotel assistant who, on a quiet Wednesday evening, sat on the other side of the blazing log fire from me. Her complexion was so perfect that it was her pure skin that I noticed first! She was happy enough to chat for a time, even about the politics of the 1960s after she mentioned that the book on the floor by my chair was hers. It was a biography of the newspaper tycoon, Cecil King, who owned the Daily Mirror at that time. I lived up to my stereotype and talked about green politics - and, the charming, affable, humorous Alex Salmond who I like. She came from Sedgefield in the County of Durham. I never did ask her name.

Scotland's N coast in storm, snow and white water!

I woke up - in the car at Ceannabeinne Bay, near Durness - to gale force N winds on Sat 5 April 2008. There were a few snow showers and impressive seas - the like of which I had never seen before! Numerous rock pillars, stacks and headlands whipped the angry sea into even greater fury. Waves, already white topped would smash into them and explode upwards in a fury of white water. One great cleft in a sea cliff gave an initial explosion of wave disintegrating into a white mass like a fire burst. A second later, the same wave, had funneled into another shock of white water much higher up the cleft! This second water burst had spray coming off the top, like smoke and disappeared far over the grassy headland.

In the morning, I had views as if I was in a plane from Beinn Ceannabeinne (383m) and, in the afternoon, views as if I was at sea as I got up close to the heaving sea. I paddled through it round a small headland just getting round as the tide was flooding in. A few minutes later I had a good view of an otter that I surprised. Sometimes, the sea was blue and white; at other times green and grey but always dominated by perfect white surf, spray and foam.

Walking across the virgin white sands in the shadow of towering rock pinnacles, I had the whole place to myself. As I waded through the water, round the headland towards land, I could have been Robinson Crusoe shipwrecked on what I pretended was this sandy, idyllic desert island - apart from the very cold temperature and snow on the distant hills!

Later, I had views from the cliff top towards Cape Wrath. Far away, I saw what looked like a mini nuclear explosion as a particularly heavy sea would smash into a rocky islet. It completely disappeared in a cloud of white water and spray that reminded me of the mushroom cloud from an H bomb explosion.

Ups and Downs in Walking Scotland's skyline!

I started hill walking, regularly in October 1974 when I sent myself off to Birmingham's Outdoor Pursuits Centre, Ogwen Cottage in Snowdonia. It was for the Mountain Leadership Certificate Introductory course, for one week in my half term holiday. I still use my favourite rucsac from that time, that I bought immediately afterwards. It's a rock climbers' sac (Berghaus 272) used by my instructor, whose name I can still remember - Isobel Rennie! Howard Jones was the Principal Instructor.

Later, out on some hill, I met Geoff Wood of Bolton who talked of the thrill of nearing a summit when the immediate skyline finally falls away all around you! He was using the only available list of hills over 2,000 feet at that time, in 1980, by George Bridge, 'The Mountains of England and Wales'. I, too, bought the book. Those hills I completed in 1990 and I returned to Scotland to work through all the Munros and Tops in earnest. In total, they make for well over 900 summits over 2,000 feet in England and Wales and over 3,000 feet in Scotland. I have three left at the time of writing. (Now, all completed as of 8 June 2008, when I am updating this.)

I have done them singly in less than a day, as well as in great groups taking anything from two to four days of glorious times away from it all - both backpacking and bivying out, even on snow. It is a wonderful undertaking for people like me who love walking, the outdoors, wilderness, exploring and, going to places I would never have thought of visiting. AND, a very generous, obliging wife when we had two young children to care for. For me, it's not a challenge so much as an excuse, an excellent reason, to use up some of that annual leave, to get away from family, home and civilisation - but for only a relatively short time! Visiting all the 3,000 feet summits is a way to plan and organise and to make it easier to decide which hill to climb next. I was doing them from north to south, reckoning that as the years went by, diesel would become more expensive (and, indeed it has, too) and, therefore, it made sense to do the ones furthest away, first.

FINAL SUMMIT 527 IS A VERY CLOSE SHAVE!
or, Knight's Peak - on our way to our very last summit - bowled a boulder down on us and Becky dodged death by a hair's breadth!

I was with my daughter, Becky and her boyfriend, Tim on 2 June 2008, having just soloed Bhasteir Tooth via the Lotta Corrie route. We were in the gully between Sgurr nan Gillean and my final Top, Knight's Peak, on Pinnacle Ridge. Tim was leading and stepped off a huge boulder wedged in the gully. That extra little push-off sent the boulder but not Tim, thankfully, hurtling down. It missed me on my left side but Becky, who was bringing up the rear, had to step smartly to the left as the thing went thundering down in a cloud of dust down her right side. It missed her by millimetres. It was like something out of an Indiana Jones adventure film. The one with the boulder hurtling down, or rather chasing, Harrison Ford! (Becky's account went, "Tim tried to kill me ... I leapt dramatically out of the way!") From then on, we were rather more zealous in checking for loose rock before using it for a handhold or foothold - for the whole of the rest of the week!

THE BOTHY WITH THE TENT INSIDE!
In March 1992, I had two nights at the Hutchison Memorial Hut in the Cairngorms. Except, such was the filth of the place I actually put the tent up inside the bothy when I was ready to sleep in it! On the second night, I didn't bother and simply slept in the tent outside the bothy, on its lee side.

MOST INCOMPETENTLY TACKLED HILL

I lost my bearings in the cloud, went off course too far left and started to panic on the descent! My excuse: there are lots more ways to come down than to go up, of course!

HILL THAT HAD THE MOST ATTEMPTS TO ACHIEVE THE SUMMIT CAIRN

Beinn Dearg 1084m (Ullapool) in winter. Now superseded by Basteir Tooth (see earlier blog)! Dearg took a second visit, in April 1995 when there was even more snow. On the third day, the weather cleared and, with an early start, a huge round of hills was achieved. By the late evening of that day, I was so tired, I fell off the bike as I approached a gate!

MOST FEEBLE EXCUSE FOR NOT SLEEPING OUT IN MY OWN DUG SNOW HOLE!

I forgot the small wooden spoon that was vital to eat my evening food and breakfast! That was in March 1995 on Beinn Dearg (Ullapool). I had parked the car at Loch Glascarnoch at over 1,000 feet. I remember wearing my 1970s, Point Five Glenmore Jacket that I still have and, occasionally, still use too! The snow was thick but not falling, although visibility was poor. Rather than pressing upward any higher when navigation was going to get increasingly uncertain, I decided to try out the £50 snow shovel. It worked brilliantly. Light, too, from the aluminium shaft and plastic scoop but my snow hole was nothing as ambitious as the one Griff Rhys Jones helped to carve out in this year's TV series!

DESTRUCTION DONE
A shower booth door in Aviemore was completely smashed when I slipped and fell through it. I also hit a deer driving to the next hill but, no pheasants!

WORST ACCIDENT

I was disappearing down the N face of Ben Nevis when I managed to hang on to the rock from which I had just left. I was following the very bad example of two men from the RAF Staffordshire Mountain Rescue Team. They had taken their crampons off after coming out of a snow gully and were stubbing the front of their boots into the hard-packed snow and pulling up on their ice axes. I tried it once too often and it nearly led to my early demise! It was the year (1985) when Linda was carrying Becky. I suffered broken specs and a badly cut nose when I landed on the adze part of the ice axe.

SCENE MOST LIKE ANTARCTICA

On Easter Monday (17.4.06) on the summit plateau of A' Bhuidheanach (936m), just E of the A9 above the Pass of Drumochter. Strong, very cold W wind brought snow showers and sun. Much soft snow. Two other walkers on skis, emerged out of the spin drift all wrapped up with snow goggles who looked like Scott of the Antarctic! A further summit, 2K further on took me to beautiful wind carved snow cliffs and drifts.

SABOTAGE!

SE of Poolewe in Wester Ross, I took the bike and the road that takes the traveller to two of the most remote Munros that, for me, needed a night out to take them both in. I came across a notice that did clearly forbade bikes. However, walkers and cars were allowed and it was so easy to carry on cycling - so, I did. If estate cars were allowed, there was no good reason for bikes, carrying walkers, should not, too. Or, so I thought! I left the bike locked to a tree above the now deteriorated track. On my return, the next day, I found the front wheel had been taken out of their forks but my cable lock had prevented it from being taken! Was it the act of the local laird, upset at my ignoring his notice?

MOST UNUSUAL, FINAL APPROACH TO THE SUMMIT

One winter, I was confronted with a wind created low snow cliff that barred my way. It was great fun to pull up on my ice axe to get up and over it.

MOST BIZARRE ITEM, UNINTENTIONALLY CARRIED IN MY RUCSAC
This was a pillow that was in my bivy/sleeping bag when I hurriedly rolled it up from sleeping in the car the previous night. A quick, and late, decision to go led to an inadequate lunch. Later, I felt really weak and unwell until I realised I needed more food and finally stopped! Then, that evening, in the dark, at the summit of some 3,000 footer I couldn't get the tent pole through the sleeve. I finally managed it when I put my back to the wind that had been keeping the sleeve so tightly shut the pole could not be pushed through.

NEAREST I CAME TO CALAMITY AT THE END OF A VERY LONG, HARD DAY IN THE HILLS!

I failed to zip up the inner door, that gave rigidity to the pole, of my Phoenix Phreerunner single skin, Goretex tent. Constant flexing in the moderate to strong E wind, on a ridge at 2,000 feet, eventually broke the pole. The wind had already sucked out my bivy bag cover and Karrimat and the sleeping bag was half out from under the outer door when, in the distance, I saw that the tent had collapsed. I charged down the slope and rescued it! The hill was Ben Lui (1130m), above Tyndrum. This was on a quite crazy day when I was wearing fell running shoes even when there was snow on the tops. I was full of more stamina than sense and took off on an enormous diversion to take in Beinn Bhuidhe miles away to the S that should have been left for another day. Then, arriving on the summit ridge, I was so cold after my exertions on the steep slope out of the wind, that I only went to the first of the triple summit cairns instead of all three. On looking back, I could see that there was another but I had so little on and time was so short that I never went back! Now, that one will be my very last Munro before the last two Tops! On this same crazy day, I reached the summit of Ben Lui after the long return run from Beinn Bhuidhe and saw two more summits (Ben Oss was one) in the distance that looked so close and I was so revved up, I thought I still had time to take them in, too! If I had, I would have lost the sleeping bag, for sure and then I would have been really up against it - even if I had been able to get back to the tent.

WETTEST INTERRUPTION TO MY PROGRESS

18 hours cosy and comfortable in my blue coffin tent as the rain descended; only to find, on my re-appearance in the outside world, that the swollen stream had come perilously close to the tent!

THE MOST COMFORTABLE LUNCH STOP EVER!

This was above Bridge of Orchy high on a steep slope where I found rocks and soft grass that beautifully cradled me as I lay back munching my lunch - and there was a view, too!

QUICKEST SUMMIT EVER

Ben Lomond, after I had given my son Jonathan my rucsac that slowed him down sufficiently and speeded me up, to make a lightening ascent in 1 hr 38 mins on a very good stone path in good weather. It was also a pleasure to have the company of Joseph Clayton. We were running at times and overtook almost all the other walkers out earlier than us!

MOST EXTRAORDINARY RANGE OF MOUNTAINS

I was taken by surprise, as I walked in to the Black Cuillin on a glorious May day in 1992, by the sharp, prickly, pointy peaks. I wrote, in May 1994:

"Walking in on the path from Sligachan to Loch Coruisk, more of this prickly and peculiar looking ridge appeared in close up on my right. The mountains looked just like those you see illustrated in a children's fairy story. It was as though they were the haunt of foul fiends and hobgoblins. Impressive but, certainly, very strange looking things. As usual, I hadn't thought to read up anything at all about these hills beforehand and quite expected to find that there would be a walkers' route round any difficulty. Roger Haworth, at Sligachan, had told me of some of the problems I could expect and how to avoid them but, my whole attitude was, I think, too laid back. He told me that he thought that I hadn't sufficiently taken on board the seriousness of the undertaking. I had blithely talked of soloing the whole ridge - of what Roger called the Greater Cuillin Traverse! In the end, he was quite right, of course but, I had an exhilarating, satisfying and quite unforgettable 3 nights bivying and 4 days walking in these remote and prickly peaks in quite perfect weather."

WITHOUT A DOUBT, THE MOST STUNNING, EXHILARATING DAY OF MY LIFE!

This was on the 26 March 1994 on Ben More Assynt and Conival, E of Inchnadamph. My entry in my copy of Munro's Tables records:

"An exhilarating day in the hills with the ridge in Alpine condition demanding crampons rather than ice axe for progress to be made. I've never before had a day like it for the clear weather and stunning, snow plastered rocky ridges and steep snow slopes. Camped on Conival. Narrow gorge widened out, weather improved and it turned out to be a magical day of true mountain top experiences. Unfortunately, ran out of film and took only one or two shots."

What made it such an unusual day was the sheer volume of snow and its perfect condition for crampons to be needed for most of the whole, long day. Ice axe was superfluous, although I carried it. I neither met nor saw a single other person and I was climbing on my own. Near the end, I noticed that the small, self-fitted, piece of metal coat hanger at the heel of one of my boots had come loose. By then, it was not critical. Crampons don't need the customer to fit a piece of metal today!

THE EXPEDITION WITH A STING IN ITS TAIL

Day One was the Five Sisters of Kintail from west to east after a midge bitten bivy on a warm summer’s night on the side of a hill above where I had parked the car. The next two days were straight-forward ridge walking, including the first two thirds of day four, too. Then, bump! Just as I was expecting a quick return and a plane ride out, came one difficulty after another as I had to get to grip with rock and, work out the least steep route. It was a challenging climax to a great four days out in the big hills.

THE EXPEDITION THAT ENDED WITH A PURR (of a car's engine)!
In Knoydart, I kept on meeting up with the same four guys but, I always got to the first summit of the day before them! Thereafter, they soon pulled ahead and were always far ahead of me for the rest of the day. For three mornings that happened. The reason was that although we were all going in the same direction, they had to peel off from the ridge to get to their bothy for the night. I put the tent up exactly where I had reached by the end of the day, with no diversion! On the final morning, I followed them back to their bothy where one of them took pity on my diet of sandwiches and cereal with dried milk and gave me my first hot food (of soup) for four days. Far better, they kindly gave me a lift back to where I had left my car by the dam and where they had left their second car. Otherwise, I would have been out for a fifth day and night just to do the long road walk back. A coincidence was that all four men came from either my home town or near abouts and I met two of them again at a quarterly meeting of the Halesowen Wildlife Group! On this expedition, I lost my rucsac for a few minutes as I hunted round rocks to find it on returning from doing the Munro that looks like a stuck up thumb and far too steep to climb.

DRIVING NAKED THROUGH THE SCOTTISH NIGHT!
Off the A74 in the Southern Uplands, my night's sleep was disturbed by a whirring sound just as I was getting back into my sleeping bag. I thought it was some engine that had started up in the nearby compound. I got into the driving seat and found a quieter spot to park up and sleep. Except, when I switched the engine off, I still had the whirring. I discovered that it was my electric toothbrush that I had put my hand on squeezing back into the sleeping bag! (I no longer bother with such excesses - the elecy toothbrush; not the sleeping bag!)

SAVED BY AN ICE AXE
This was on the NE ridge ascending Ben Hope, many winters ago. There was a steep section in the way. Realising that I might slip, I had the ice axe ready to arrest my fall. Just as well I did because I did slip and the ice axe definitely saved me. I was shocked and shaken but soon recovered sufficiently to climb away onto safer ground where I thankfully collapsed into the snow to eat my lunch. I then retreated back to the car that was my base camp. The next day, I climbed Ben Hope successfully from the south in cloud and snow.

emails from 10 January 2008:-

Hi Tim,

I was reading your blog and noticed the name of my sister Isobel Rennie who took you for your Mountain Leadership Certificate Introductory Course. I'm glad that she was so memorable as it is now 30 years since she was killed on a mountain in Wales by falling on her ice axe. She died 26/11/77. But she inspired me to go hill walking and took me up my first rock climb on Idwal slabs when I was 18 in about 1973. I followed her example and went snow and ice climbing in the alps.

Nowadays my husband and I do some mountain climbing in the lake district and I do some volunteering for the BTCV  (British Trust for Conservation volunteering. It looks like she did a good job of teaching you.

Hilary Salkeld      hilary.salkeld@btinternet.com

Dear Hilary

It was so very good of you to write to me and to tell me of Isobel's tragic death.

I was shocked and saddened that such a young and energetic and lovely life should have been so cruelly cut short.  I was so impressed with her (and attracted to her) that I returned to Brum and bought the gear she

recommended in October and November 1974 (not just her rucsac!) - and, I never forgot her name.  Yet, I never saw her again after that one week.  If you would like to tell me more about how she died and how old she was, I would like to read it.  But, only if you wish to tell me more.  I slipped and fell on my ice axe on the north face of the Ben in 1985 when my wife was pregnant with our daughter.  I nearly never met her; I was very lucky to survive!  Isobel must have been very unlucky.  Now, my daughter with her boyfriend go rock climbing and hill walking and, even ice climbing on a wall outside Symphony Hall in the centre of Brum at Christmas just gone!

I am glad to hear of your outdoor activities, too.  I also know and did

much practical nature conservation work through the Halesowen Wildlife

Group when we were more active ten to twenty years ago.

With every good wish

Tim

----- Original Message -----

From: Hilary Salkeld

To: 'Tim Weller'

Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2008 8:27 PM

Subject: RE: Isobel Rennie

Dear Tim,

Thanks for your reply. It was just so odd to see Isobel’s name on the web after all those years.

Isobel had been married for nearly 2 years. She was in the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue and she used to go out on Rescues with her husband John Lyndsay.

 That weekend there was snow on the hills. In fact my husband Geoff and I were out walking on Lancashire hills that day and it was a lovely crisp sunny day. Isobel and John had a Shetland sheepdog that they took walking with them. But that day John wanted to go rock climbing with other members of the team so Isobel took the dog and went for a walk with others up a mountain.

The mountainside was so steep that the dog slipped on the snow and landed on Isobel who fell and subsequently landed on her ice axe which went into the aorta.

John Lyndsay got a call for a mountain rescue for his own wife. She was 26 years old when she died.

I got married that summer so our wedding was the last time I saw her.

Geoff and I continued rock climbing and mountain climbing and when the kids were born Hazel (1986) and Adam (1988) they went as well. We took them up Ben Nevis when Adam was 5 years old. Hazel has just finished a degree in Geography and Geology and still likes hill walking especially if it is up volcanoes.

I know that you didn’t know her very well but it is a nice way for me to

remember her after 30 years. Now that I’ve found your blogs I will keep

reading them.

Thanks for your interest.

Best wishes

Hilary

Final two Tops on Skye are 'buggers'!

'Buggers' was used by a guy who, with his companion, had just completed the traverse of the Black Cuillins, to describe the SMC for making Knights Peak a Top in their last revision! They had left their heavy rucsacs at Bealach a' Bhasteir while they more easily did the E ridge of Am Basteir and the W ridge of Sgurr nan Gillean. I met them as they returned for the sacs. I sat by them eating my lunch on Monday 30 July 2007 having still not found the route to Bhasteir Tooth! One of the guys showed me 'Skye Scrambles' and I saw that I had, in fact, found the start of the gully/ledge route earlier in the morning and even started up it before traversing round the base of Am Basteir to the bealach.

On Mon 30 July, I climbed Sgurr a Bhasteir (898), stumbled across the start of the scramble up to the Tooth and looked down on the bad step that bars the way, on the E ridge to the summit of Am Basteir. Although I recorded, at the time, this Munro as having being climbed on the 25 May 1994, I cannot remember anything about the climb and find it difficult to believe that I did it then! I can remember I was getting help from other climbers, at times, but I don't remember anything about this Munro from May 1994. I can recall that, with this last Top (Tooth) I was not wanting to push my luck and I did not ask the two guys that I was with to take me up this Top. And they did not offer! So it was left until my first attempt in May of this year. I've now had 3.5 days getting nearer, on each visit, to the summit of Bhasteir Tooth - and, by now, I'm pretty familiar with the area!

I also discovered that Knight's Peak is the 4th on Pinnacle Ridge looking from the W, from Coire a' Bhasteir. The 4K march in from Sligachan takes two hours from sea level to 450m.

On Tuesday, 31 July 2007 I got within about 15m or 50 feet of the summit, I guess but did not drop down to the nick that I later read is what I had to do. The weather was worsening with more rain and the thick cloud made route finding without the guide - human or book - uncertain! I was satisfied with what I had achieved in getting so far up the gullies, ramp and chimneys in those conditions. By the evening, I heard that at least one tent had blown down at the camp site and when I drove past in the morning, there were a good fewer tents! My short walk back from Sligachan Inn to the car was the windiest I have ever had at sea level and the battering the car took was the worst! Such was the wind rocketing through the ventilation ducts that the inside of the windscreen did not get steamed up!