Sieze the day!!

on your bike....

2008-09-25T07:01:00.006+01:00

Just back from a trip to the Alps, it ended being far more social than active but it was great to catch up with everyone.
As I'm off to do this cycle trip through Jordan I really needed to get on my bike and do a bit of training. Sunday I was off on the Burma Road, this is a track from Carrbridge to Aviemore. We did it anti clockwise, which as I was delighted about. The slog up from Aviemore more would have been very hard work, it is 5oom vertical height gain but it was great to come down... woosh. The Burma Road is apparently names after the one in Asia for it's pink colour. Nice trip and not too hard from the Carrbridge direction. The climb is the same but the gradient is gentler. There is some wonderful wild country out to the west there and some wonderful views of the Monadliath hills.
Monday I was back out on the bike, this time just south of Nairn. We decided to go exploring and just follow the trails on the map, shame the map was not much use. A couple of the tracks just disappeared after you had got gone a fair distance along them. They just fizzled out leaving you in boggy ground. The bikes then had to be carried up a hill, through gorse bushes, ouch. Anyone watching must have thought we were just mad. FINALLY we got back to the road, what a luxury after the bog I had just been through.

Puddling about...

2008-09-05T07:28:00.002+01:00

I'd love to tell yuo that I had a really active weekend but it just didn't quite turn out like that.

Saturday was a bit of biking, we cycled 24 miles as a warm up for Jordan but unlike the Jordan trip we managed 2 pub stops in the trip, can't say it was a hard cylce as half was on road. What wa amazing was the amount of fungi which are about at the moment, the woods are thick with them, great to see Fly Agaric, Sickner, Puffball, Inkcap, Boletus, Birch.......and loads more.. just amazing.

Sunday was a bit of a desk day for me as I really had to get stuff done at home (included blitzing the garden with weed killer as the weeds were waist height) and plan the Syria leg of my next trip... (more later ) Mark did offer to take me white water kayaking, but it really doen't appeal to me, bouncing bown a river on my head.

Monday I was off west to catch up with 'long lost' cousin Bob. Timing was perfect on the trip, we went for coffee on arrival and spent an hour in the cafe reading magazines and supping coffee whilst heavy rain passed through. Off for a paddle round Gairloch bay, loads of fish shoals jumping, I love it when they all jump at the same time. We arrived in at Badcharo just as it started to rain, so headed for shelter in the pub, the boys had a couple of pints and we headed back out across the bay, arriving back in Gairloch just as it started to get dark. We got the boats loaded and had just got into the hotel for a bar supper when it started to rain again..... perfect day!

Having too much fun to keep this up to date...

2008-08-30T10:13:00.003+01:00

I've just realised that I haven't updated this for 6 weeks... wow

Well I've not been sitting about, except when I had to do some day job to pay for the lifestyle.

SO....

I've been paddling, great trip with Bob, my long lost cousin, we headed off round Lismore for 2 days, just fab, good weather, no midgies, amazing. The only downside was when my phone went for a swim, it still hasn't recovered

I then headed off to join Inverness Kayak Club for a weekend, doing some tidal stuff down south of Oban. A great weekend, you can read the report on
http://www.invernesscc.org.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=67

Off to France for a week with Mark, a very relaxed week, a bit of Via Ferratta and a lot of Scrabble

In between mountain and road biking, though I might not do another trip with the Cairngorm Road Club, I'll have to work on my fitness a lot to keep up with them

Despite some terrible weather I've been having a great time, just making the most of the dry spells

Hectic ...

2008-07-13T09:55:00.002+01:00

No fun out there at the moment, though off to have adventures next week. Off to the west paddling

Great Paddling

2008-06-17T23:13:00.002+01:00

A really quick post as I am in Shetland. Wonderful place, far more interesting and colourful than I had expected.

Arrived on Sunday and went over to Noss, what amazing cliffs and bird life. The Gannet colony was huge and lots of lovely Puffins. I am a sucker for Puffins. Yesterday it was off to the west and a late start to paddle Muckle Roe. This meant that the tide was out for the westerly section of the island so we could get into ALL of the caves. Just the most amazing caves, it is a bit strange weaving about inside the island... WOW

Today it was a bit farther north to Eshaness, along passed the Drongs, what an amazing coastline. The blowholes to the north of the lighthouse are just incredible.

Shetland is amazing not just from a kayak but from the land as well. Well worth a visit.

Off paddling tomorrow before heading on the 5pm ferry to Orkney for a couple of days

bwaaa....

2008-06-04T23:07:00.002+01:00

I've got a horrid cold, sneezing, coughing and spluttering.... doubt if there will be much action this weekend. What amazing weather we are having. Yet another lovely day today .... long may it continue

Blazing Bank holiday

2008-05-28T21:05:00.003+01:00

Whilst the south had a wet and miserable weekend, the west coast was amazing. Dave was suffering from withdrawal symptoms from Scotland having beeen back in Cornwall for a whole weekand, so he came back up for some great paddling.

Saturday we paddled into Knoydart from Mallaig, dodged up the coast to Tarbet, accross to the Kyles and down to Inverie. We camped on the Bivy site at Inverie and headed to the Pierhouse for an excellent meal, pints in the pub afterwards. The wind got up a bit in the morning making us regret the second round in pub as we bobbed about in an interesting sea! We headed for home in a nice lumpy sea with a following wind. I was much comfier in the new boat in these conditions than I had been in the Quest LV, Dave did find the LV a little challenging but that may have been the Jack Daniels coming back to haunt him.

I dropped Dave back at the airport on Monday morning, having had time to change my kit as I passed through home and headed off to Mountain Bike. It was a lovely afternoon, great weather though a bit windy. I joined up with Mark for the afternoon and we headed out of Inverness. 32 miles later and after far to many hills we got back, leaving Mark enough time for a shower before he headed out to work and I went home to collapse on the sofa, glad I was getting a rest tomorrow..... well I was going to work, which is much more relaxing than all this excertion.

Back again... wow, what a trip

2008-05-17T09:08:00.003+01:00

Well I am back on dry land, though it was swaying a bit yesterday.

What an amazing trip, Scotland at it's best, great weather, no midgies, long white sandy beaches and a calm sea.

We started out on the worst day of the trip ... it rained, thankfully not someting we were going to see again... We launched from Kylesku and headed up Loch Glencoul. We headed up into Loch Beag and took in the waterfall ( longest drop un the UK) before heading Glen Coul bothy. Seems that we just missed Sam Weir and his group from Kayak Scotland. We headed back down the Loch under Kylesku bridge and back into the harbour. A lovely afternoon paddle even in the rain.

After camping at Achmelvich, we set off from the campsite the next morning. Despite the beautiful beach, Mark decided we should launch from the rocky cove on the campsite.... !!!!. We had a great trip, Point of Stoer was wonderful and relatively calm, thankfully. We landed in at Clashnessie bay, a lot nicer than the launch, on a beautiful sandy beach. Supper was in Ullapool, fish and chips, probably the best I've had in years... the one next to the CalMac ferry office on the front.

I popped back to Inverness for 2 days whilst Dave and Jen went to the Summer Isles. Mark and Johnathan had to go back to work. Two days later and I was back in the chipper in Ullapool and ready to start the next part of the trip.

Jen, Dave and I got the ferry out to Stornoway, the weather was amazing, the Minch was like a mirror. There were loads of dolphins who provided an wonderful show for us. From Stornoway we went to Valtos and on to the campsite at Cnip. It is the most stunning beach and the pitch I got was great, a fabulous view.

We paddled out to Campaigh, through caves and arches. We were incredibly lucky with the conditions, which were really calm, they allowed us to go through the cave which goes right through Campaigh. The conditions perked up a bit so we headed back in. The bird life was great with loads of Puffins, Black Guillemot, Shags, and Eider. The next day we headed round Bernera, exploring the coastline, not nearly as interessting as the trip out to Campaigh but a lovely trip.

After 3 nights on the campsite at Cnip it was time to pack up and head to Harris via a visit to Callanish Stones. It was an interesting day... firstly we went to the aid of a chap in a camper who had reversed off the road, despite our best efforts we couldn't get all his wheels back on the solid ground, that seemed to set the theme for the day. After unloading on the beach we managed to get Jen's car stuck in the sand, it took a lot of digging and a passing large chap to get us out. I then managed to put the van in a hole at a very jaunty angle, just to round things off day. We finally got on the water from Horgabost and headed over to Taransay. We went round the island to Loch na Uidhe bay, where we camped up. A great view back to Harris. We explored a bit of the island on foot and found a great arch and some amazing coves. The camp site was lovely but is did get a bit breezy catching the onshore breeze ....

Having finally got organised we reluctantly left the stunning bay and headed on round the island and headed out to Toe Head. A great crossing with a gentle swell though a bit lumpy at Toe Head and we were round into the Sound of Harris. There were quite a few Scua down the coast here and they were determined to come as close as possible, I adpoted a nice high paddle stroke! Lunch was on Rubh an Teampaill, on a lovely little beach. From here went out round Ensay and on to Killegray. Having camped on an bit of an exposed site last night we opted fror a nice sheltered beach. Pitching on the sand was a bit interesting and my little titanium pegs were not much use, I had a very saggy looking tent. We spent the evening in shorts on the beach, watching the sun set and porpoises feeing in the channel between us and Berneray. This has to be one of the most amazing views I have ever seen, so tranquil and beautiful. I recommend the beach as a campsite (grid ref 969840)

We explored the Sound of Harris next day. The conditions were a bit more interesting and the crossing from Glisaigh to the skerries south of Killegray a bit lumpy with a following sea, that was soon forgotten as we spotted an otter with her cubs on the way up the east of Killegray. The crossing over to Ensay was fun with loads of eddies and bubbling sea as the the water tried to funnel through the channel between Ensay and Killegray. After a late lunch on Ensay it was back to Leverburgh, where we had left the car round in the sheltered waters of An t-Ob. After collecting my van from Horgabost we went to the campsite at Minch View at Drinishader.... it was awful, don't go there. The site at Horgabost is far better though at the moment it has no showers they are planning to up grade it further. We decided it should be Minch Inch View as all you could see from the site was an inch of the Minch!! Watch out for the Great Scua, who thinks it is his domain!!!

We caught the 7.30am ferry from Tarbet to Uig, drove over Skye and got the 11.35 ferry from Armadale to Mallaig and were on the water Silver Sands north of Arisaig at 1pm. We meandered down to Arisaig exploring the coast and had a leisurely late lunch on a little coral beach on one of the islands in the bay. Whilst we had been in the shelter of the bay the wind had got up and as we headed back up the caost it all got a bit lumpy bumpy.... a good reminder never to take the sea for granted and a fun way to round off the trip.

Dave and Jen have now arrived back in Cornwall, and are planning the next trip north already. It really was Scotland at it's very, very best ....WOW....

Having spent all those days in my kayak and before my legs atrophied completely, I headed off mountain biking today. Just a little trip round the Spey Valley but again just beautiful conditions. This is turning into one of the best May's for years....

Paddling about....

2008-05-01T20:26:00.003+01:00

First days out of the year, what a lovely day. I went out out with my long lost cousin... Bob, what a great day.

Started out on the beach on the south end of of Loch Gruinard, as the tide was in it was an easy put in .... that always means a long walk on the way back and it was. We followed the coast up to Laide and then across to Gruinard island. The wind was behind us and it was a bit of a quick trip across. The western coast of Gruinard was beautiful, lovely arches and caves, the eastern coast is a bit less dramatic but lovely. The southern end is a pebble spit where there is the remains of steading. From the south of the island we headed round the 'Large heathery island' and back into the bay, it was a long carry out... but after such a great day it was a small price to pay.

Despite a promise of a nice day, the rain started as I had breakfast and was still falling as I ate lunch. Popped down to Gairloch to the Mountain Cafe, coffee was good but the scone was a definate 'rock cake'. Bob decided he might shrink if he got wet so he headed south, leaving Mark and I to get wet.... so off we went. We left from my favourite beach on Loch Ewe and headed round the headland to Eilean Furadh Mor, finally the rain stopped. Meandered back and headed for home, another lovely day, rain what rain...

ski, ski, ski

2008-04-17T17:28:00.005+01:00

Yesterday was blue skies and sun for a fab tour of the Berard Valley from Chamonix. Started above the Index Chair and climbed the Col du Crochue. Loads of fresh snow at the top of the Berard, in fact a bit too much, as I struggles slightly in thigh deep snow, not easy making a turn in that. Lower it was fab loads of lovely turns to look back on. There is so much snow out here, though it is pretty variable. Today skied at Vallorcine, to quote Mark, '1 run 7 types of snow'. Stewart's new skis didn't seem to hold him back too much, even in the mixture we were skiing. Clag set in so .... had to ajourn to the pub

Amazing amount of snow for this time of year, seems that everywhere is closing down just as there is the best snow of the season. Snow is wet lower down but great above about 1800m. For those doing high level walks in June unless the weather heats up a lot there is going to be masses of snow to get through. Spring flowers this year are at least a couple of weeks later than usual.

Forecast is for more snow and very mixed cloud over the next few days.

Edinburgh....

2008-04-11T22:22:00.002+01:00

Have just had 2 domestic days in Edinburgh. Caught up with loads of folk, sorted out my world, well a little bit.... best of all caught up with Elspeth, this has to have a special mention as we have been ships in the night for ages.

Off to the Alps early for some fun

Namche Dental Fundraising

2008-04-06T19:46:00.003+01:00

Check out the blog site for the fundraising events I am organising for Namche Dental Clinic in Namche Bazar, Nepal. Any help would be appreciated, so if you want to come along to dinner at Wok and Wine or do the 9 4000ft Munros, just get in touch

http://namchedental.blogspot.com/

A lull in the action

2008-04-06T13:39:00.003+01:00

It has been a bit of a busy time... doing nothing really. Well not nothing just lots of things. I have been based at home in Scotland for a couple of weeks and am trying to just get lots of stuff up to date. I am also in the process of house hunting and that is not proving easy as there are very few houses to hunt, most I have seen in Aviemore are the size of shoeboxes.

Today there is a beautiful blanket of snow, a cloudy blue sky and the Cairngorms are white in the distance, what an amazing view from my study.

Off to the Alps on Thursday for some ski touring

Freezing in Stockholm ...

2008-03-22T21:44:00.003Z

Having a quiet family Easter weekend, well not actually that quiet. My niece and nephew both have excellent lungs which they seem to like to air regularly. Really cold here in Sweden.

If you are visiting in winter it is a great time to visit some of the Museums. Top of the List has to be the Vasa Museum and the National Museum has an amazing display of orthodox icons (tripychs).

Today I visited the Ethnological Museum in the morning (excellent chilled out Cafe Restuarant), there was a really interesting temporary exhibition on the persecution of the Gypsy people in World War II. Opposite is the Technical Museum, this is a great place to visit for all age groups, my 2 year old nephew was in his element, as was my 42 year old brother. Excellent interactive displays and activity area.

The last Museum of the day was definately one for my nephew but if you are visiting with kids it is excellent. Junibacken is a story house on the island of Djurgadenin the heart of Stockholm. It is next to the Vasa Museum and close to the piers from where the cruise boats to the islands leave. Junibacken explores the world of the characters from the books of Astrid Lindgren's children's books, the most famous of which has to be Pippi Longstocking.

Check it out on www.junibacken.se

Stockholm is a great city summer or winter, well worth a few days to visit

White out..

2008-03-17T22:31:00.003Z

Snow all the way down to Bourg this morning, I woke up to a winter wonderland. A bit wet and soggy so not sure it will last long but at least it will improve things up top. It was very cloudy and damp as I drove down the valley... drat, I had to go back to the uk and there was all this fresh snow... no luck

Hot Stuff

2008-03-15T20:01:00.000Z

It has been so warm out here, the last 2 days late afternoon temperature at the flat has been around 15oC, at 11am it was 20oC on in the shade on the balcony. All this is having a terrible effect on the snow, which is going rapidly.

Yesterday was like skiing in setting cement lower down so today I headed high and went to Fornet at Val d’Isere for a cruisy afternoon. The high winds this season mean that it is pretty sparse high up and the wind since the last snowfall has meant loads of wind slab. There are avalanches everywhere, all plaques, particularly on north facing slopes…. And still I watched 2 boarders, traverse from Cugnai through avalanche debris and on to a slope of about the same angle and aspect as the one which had gone!!!! Suffice to say there were very few folk in the off piste today. Two massive avalanches on my side of the Aiguille Rouge yesterday, unfortunately produced a fatality. Thankfully the temperature is due to drop, either that or I may have to get my wet suit out, it is definitely water skiing in places.

Hug a tree

2008-03-09T16:48:00.000Z

The pistes went from icy moguls up top to ankle deep slush at lower levels, so it was time to head for the trees. Had a great time with fresh track in loads of bits. Paid for all the fun when I got lower down, a tad icy and scraped by boarders, not to worry, hugged a couple of trees and checked out a badger hole with a head plant!

Encore belle journee

2008-03-08T19:23:00.000Z

And for the non french speakers, another beautiful day here in Villaroger..... blue skies, bright sun unfortunately the snow is a bit skied out and icy in places. It needs a good dump of snow here if there is any hope of the snow lasting until mid April. The run down to the village is broken so we are having to download the last lift. ... It was however another great day, a few fresh tracks in the wood and some nice bumps

Shock horror!!!!

2008-03-01T23:15:00.000Z

The wind blew, the rain fell and I stayed in!!! Realised that for most of the next 2 months I am adventuring (with a bit of work inbetween) so seemed like a good day to catch up on paperwork.