Bla Bheinn (Blaven) and the Kintail Ridges

On wednesday Nick and Jack joined us for a walk up the lone Munro on Skye. Bla Bheinn- or Blaven as it is often anglicised. It stands alone from all of the other 11 Munros on Skye which are all on the Cuillin Ridge. It is often regarded as one of the finest mountain in Britain that towers magnificently over Loch Slapin with some pretty unimaginable views. Unfortunately thoses view had to remain unimaginable because of the dense low cloud that has engulfed the west of Scotland for the lat few days.

Eager for some more walking, Jack and Nick were excited about joining us for another day of walking in the cloud. On Thursday they joined us on the south Kintail ridge of 9 Munros finishing on The Saddle

(The 4 of us on The Saddle)This picture just about sums up the weather we have endure recently, no inspiring photos recently, unless you are inspired by clouds!

Today (Friday) we were back to  a team of 2, we walked through the cloud to the summits of the first 6 summits of the North Kintail ridge, tomorrow we will walk the remaining 6 summits finishing on the 5 sisters of Kintail. 

We are now over the 200 mark! We are still enjoying the experience however, at times, the monotony of the ups and downs can be a little frustrating. We are still motivated by the fact the 'best' is yet to come, (Cullin Ridge, Fisherfields, Torridon,)

Knoydart

2 days ago we set from Kinloch Hourn with the intention of walking up the 8 Munros in the remote area of Knoydart, with an overnight stay in Sourlies bothy.
 We started with a long slog to Beinn Ladhar (pronounced Larven)then worked our way over 2 Munros down to the Bothy.
 Today we woke at 4am for an early start to the day starting up Sgurr na Ciche, but not before collecting some mussels from the beach.
 After two 12 hour days we made it back to the dam on Loch Quioch with only about 10 miles left to cycle back to the van. (luckily for me (pete) Joe lost at Rock, Paper, Scissors and had to do the the cycle while I slept on the side of the road) We are now on the Isle of Skye with some friends from University of Cumbria (Nick Michel and Jack Loftus).
We were planning on doing the Cullin traverse tomorrow, however, today is the first time it has rained on the Isle for a month. We plan to reurn in the better weather. Sgurr na Ciche

Away from the mainland.

Over the last few days Joe and I have been working our way through the southern Munros, which a times have felt like were 'bagging' hills for that sake. I guess that is the down side of walking a continuous round, there can be times where it is difficult to take it all in because you have to stick to a schedule................................. We are still having loads of fun going to so many new place and meeting so many great people..................................... On our return from walking over 5 Munros in Mamlorn hills; we had another chance encounter with our new friend 'Andy Johnston'. He invited us in to his nice Mercedes Sprinter Camper van (not as nice as our rusty orange transit) for a drink and a sandwich, he then agreed to join us for a hill the next day.(Ben Chonzie) having someone join us from a day is a great motivational boost, that day we then went on to walk up Ben Vorlich, Stuc a' Chroin and Ben Lomond, finally getting to sleep around 1.30am................................................................................. We are now relaxing on the coast on the Isle of Mull, after walking up the impressive Ben Cruachan, where we plan to walk up Ben More and spend the rest of the day enjoying this great little isle...................................................... Over the next week we are excited about walking and climbing the hills of Knoydart and Skye.

Half Way!! woop woop (and a big tree)

Over the last few days it has been very difficult to find internet, so to prove ware continuing our endeavor to keep in touch with the outside world we drove 20 miles to Pitlochry in search of internet signal............................................... So what has happened?... Tuesday: Ben More day, Keith (Peters dad) joined us for Ben More to climb his first Scottish mountain, which coincidentally was Peters first ever hill too! Wethen left Keith to find his own way back while we continued over 6 more Munros (SW of Ben More and Stob Binnen)........................................................ Wednesday: 4 Munros near Arochar with great views of the Cobbler from Beinn Narnain.................................. Thursday:In the morning we walked up the isolated Beinn Bhuidhe then drove to do Carn Gorm, Meall Garbh, Carn Mairg & Creag Mhor............................... Friday: Just Schiehallion today!.............................. we walked up a few hills, climbed a few Munros et cetera, but that's not particularly interesting!... what is interesting is that we saw Britain largest tree! :-) Yep, As we were driving through a small village named 'Cairnhow', we noticced signs for Britains largest tree,... We definitely had to stop to see it................................................................. Here it is... it is a 64.3m Grand Fir. We are now on day 30 of our wee adventure, exactly half way of our 60 day schedule, and we have walked up 144 out of 283 Munros meaning we are slightly ahead of target, which is nice, but we also want to use the full 60days so we can have more fun exploring Scotland. Highlights of the last few days were, -Enjoying the Company of Keith (Peters Dad) -The view the Cobbler near Arochar -Getting picked up by 2 Germans wearing Lederhosen while hitching back to our van -Reaching the half way point (all downhill from now) Down points - Cycling for 5 miles along the road and back to reach Beinn Bhuidhe to find we could have drove down the road. Bouldering in the mountains Crazy Clouds Pete's mustache after on 30 days!!

A visitor arrives

The time and Munros are moving on. On Monday we booked a bed at Crianlarich Youth Hostel so we could have a shower and wash our clothes and bedding before meeting up with Keith (Pete's Dad). Tuesday the 3 of us headed out starting with Ben More, At the summit Keith decided to make his own way down leaving us to do further Munros.

Glen Coe and the Olympic Torch

When we planned this trip we originally wanted to see how fast we could 'do' all the Munros, but then we realized that we could have way more fun if we took a little bit longer over them, hence why we have a 60 day schedule. Yesterday, proved that our decision to take our time was a good one. Yesterday morning we drove to Fort William to buy more food. (£100 of pure Carbohydrates and sugar!). As we were driving back through Glen Coe village we noticed an unusually large crowd of people lining the streets, we stopped to to have a nosey, It turns out that the Olympic torch was passing through, so we scraped our plans for that day and decided to be tourists and watch the torch go by. (its not every day you can see the Olympic torch) In the evening we managed to nip up 3 more Munroes west of Loch Etive (Sgor na h-Ulaidh, Beinn Fhionnlaidh, Beinn Sgulaird) getting back to our van at about midnight. We were greeted on the top of Beinn Sgulairdby an amazing cloud inversion at sunset, (sorry no photos) On Friday we had pleased that the weather forecast was wrong an we had a good day starting on Bidien Nam Bian and finishing on the Buchaille.

5 Munro's, river jumping and whiskey tasting

After having a well deserved lie in this morning we started the day 12:00pm (much later than originally planned). We got our first real taste of Scottish weather today on the last 2 summits with strong winds and heavy rain but can't really complain because it has been a long time coming and all in all the walk was good. As we walked back to our trusty van, soaked head to toe, we saw a bridge over a river with very deep water.We thought it would be rude not to jump in! The last few nights we have been using the famous Clachaig Inn in Glen Coe as a base. Living in our bright orange van it is difficult to stay inconspicuous, as a result the Clachaig staff began to notice us. We were very lucky to enjoy a 'Benromach' whiskey tasting evening courtesy of the Gordon from the Clachaig Inn. Thanks for the Whiskey Glass and the T-Shirts. I'm sure everyone reading this blog will have heard of the Clachaig, but if you haven't it is definitely worth checking out. (they have a selection of nearly 300 whiskeys) http://www.clachaig.com/

The Mamores

We thought the issue with the van meant that we would have to take another unplanned rest day, ( that would be 3 in the last 10 days!) All was fixed by about 3pm so we decided to drive to Glen Coe skicentre and walk up 4 Munros in that area. (Meall a'Bruiridh, Creise, Stob Ghabhar and Stob a Choire Odhair) We got back late, but at least it was not a wasted day. Today (Wednesday) we finally did the Mamores. It was another long day (13 hours) but at least we managed to get 10 more done. We have literally just got back (11.30pm) and we would really like some food and sleep now, So this blog will be kept short and sweet.

The Van is now fixed!

We have replaced the battery, and we are just about to head out and do 4 more hills this afternoon. While we were waiting the Manager of the Clachaig took our picture and put it on his website!:-) http://www.facebook.com/ClachaigInn

The Van has died!

We woke early this morning only to find the our trusty orange van wouldn't start. (so our planned '10 Munro' day is a no go). After our failed attempt to push the van down the road from the Clachaig Inn to start it; I (Pete) hitched to the nearest fuel station to buy jump leads. I got picked up immediately by a walker we had met on the hill the previous day. (he gave me a lift there and back)... the jump start also failed! As I write this, we are waiting for the RAC to come and save us. They didn't seem best pleased when they found out how far away we were. Hopefully all will be solved soon and we will be on our way soon..............

Ben Nevis and the Aonach Eagach

Internet is proving to be more difficult to find more recently, however we are now using the free internet at the Clachaig Inn in Glen Coe. 2 days ago we had a good day. Catching the first train from Fort William to Tulloch Station and walking back to Fort Bill over some impressive peaks and ridges. Taking in 10 Munros, finishing on Ben Nevis and down the tourist track. We were surprised to see hundreds (no exaggeration) of walkers/3 peakers and tourists on the top of 'The Ben' at 8pm! It must have been busy on the top at midday with people trying to get away from the Jubilee celebrations. Yesterday we slept in until midday, so our plan to do the Mamores (another 10 peak day) had to be abandoned, so we decided to drive to Bridge of Orchy and have a fairly short day in order to recover, We still manged 5 Munros. Today we planned to meet with our friend,, Matt Dudman, in the afternoon to do the, famous Aonach Eagach ridge. We decided to nip up a the Ballachulish ridge o do another 2 Munros. As I write this we are sat in the Clachaig Inn eating steak and getting tipsy from one pint of ale, prematurely, celebrating completing our 100th peak, which we should do tomorrow. The CMD Arete and the North face of Ben Nevis a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilKPop4vHUqDaYQfzn2SZ-vwM32WSYz75o1fWhp69d2nhEgtrId0bormVDhGqc3DbtDA_jXbBaxdIqRBcTNm1xC7bZo_9trbvLkJbCK8ik-FrO0YpLXryQRoU4q3_M0buictcePOKiapk/s1600/DSCF5602.JPG" imageanchor="1" style=""> Mountain Goats on the Aonach Eagach descent path The Aonach Eagach

The midges are here!

Due to no internet access over the last 3 or 4 days, it has been impossible to update the blog! We had a rough 2 days on Ben Alder, surrounding Munro's and Loch Ossian because of the lack of food we could carry and little sleep we had in Ben Alder cottage. We got a motivational boost when the lovely woman working at the Corrour Youth Hostel let us eat the left over food guests had recently left; so taking advantage of the opportunity we feasted! Yesterday was much easier and shorter taking in the 4 Munro's (Beinn a' Chaorainn, Creag Meagaidh, Stob Poite Coire Ardair and Carn Laith)situated in Creag Meagaidh National Nature Reserve. Although the weather was pretty miserable and Viability poor we both seemed to have enjoyed ourselves. Unfortunately this morning Pete woke up with a unexpected and strange illness he believes he got from drinking diseased water... Still, he wasn't in any fit state to do any walking today so we decided to take a rest day in Fort William and stay in the Glen Nevis Youth Hostel in preparation for a big day tomorrow climbing 10 Munro's finishing off with Ben Nevis. All this recent good weather does come with one down side.... the return of the midges! Pete says 'going for a number 2 in the wild has become much more interesting'.