Posted by Eddie & filed under Military/Aircraft, Mountains & hills, July 25 2010.

Coire Mhic Fhearchair and the Triple Buttress

On Tuesday last week I travelled to Torridon to hike to Coire Mhic Fhearchair, a three hour walk to a hidden corrie behind Beinn Eighe. Coire Mhic Fhearchair must be one of the most dramatic corries in the whole of the Scottish mountains, with the impressive backdrop of the Triple Buttress.

The day started off with blue skies and very little wind, and the walk along Coire Dubh Mhor beneath the eastern cliffs of Liathach was almost idyllic (there were a few midgies about), with a great view in the morning light of the glacial ‘hummocky moraine’ deposits in Glen Torridon called ‘The Corrie of a Hundred Hills‘.

Posted by Eddie & filed under Military/Aircraft, Mountains & hills, July 22 2010.

Looking west from Sgurr nan Ceannaichean over Glen Carron

On Monday I travelled to Glen Carron and climbed up to the summit of Sgurr nan Ceannaichean. I did not walk up the usual way recommended in guide books but instead walked up via Coire an t-Seilich and the north-western slopes of the mountain. This was over difficult terrain and the overgrown vegetation, boggy ground, steep slopes of wet grass, insects, humidity and heavy rain made it a pretty unpleasant climb! Once I was near the summit however, the weather cleared and I was able to take some photos of the great views, which included the peaks of Torridon and Letterewe to the north.

Posted by Eddie & filed under Travel, July 16 2010.

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week I undertook a 100km cycle trip around the Black Isle in Easter Ross with Kate. The route was mostly on quiet country roads, some of which formed part of NCN 1. We started at Inverness train station and our route on the first day took us over the Kessock Bridge, past the Tore roundabout and along the north part of the Black Isle through Culbokie (with great views of the Cromarty Firth and Ben Wyvis) to finish in Cromarty where we camped. On the second day our route took us back along the southern part of the Black Isle, past the high point of the Eathie Hill transmitter, through the Tore roundabout again and then back along the Beauly Firth coast, to return to Inverness via the Kessock Bridge again.

Posted by Eddie & filed under Mountains & hills, July 12 2010.

Striding Edge

On Thursday last week I travelled to the Lake District to walk up to the 950m summit of Helvellyn. This was my second walking trip to the Lake District (the first being to Skiddaw in March, see the blog posting ‘Skiddaw‘)

I walked up along Mires Beck river from Glenridding and onto the broad ridge of Birkhouse Moor before the ar�te of Striding Edge itself.

Posted by Eddie & filed under Mountains & hills, Science, July 9 2010.

The Ciste Mhearad snowpatch

For the past few years I’ve made summer trips to the Cairn Gorm – Ben Macdui plateau in the summer months to check on the snowpatches that remain at high altitudes on the plateau (see the previous blog postings ‘Summer snowfields in the Cairngorms (2)‘, from August 2009 and ‘Summer snowfields in the Cairngorms‘ from July 2008). See my website page here for more information about ‘perennial’ snow in the Scottish mountains.

Posted by Eddie & filed under Mountains & hills, June 25 2010.

Sg�rr Ch�innich M�r from Stob Coire Easain

Last Saturday I walked up to the summit of Sg�rr Ch�innich M�r in the Grey Corries with Norma. This was our first munro-bagging trip for two years, since our long cycling and hiking trip to An Sgarsoch and Carn Ealar in June 2008. In April 2007 I walked on the same route up to the nearby summit of Stob Coire an Laoigh but did not go further along the ridge onto Sg�rr Ch�innich M�r.

Posted by Eddie & filed under Military/Aircraft, Mountains & hills, June 5 2010.

Wreckage of a USAF jet fighter at the head of Coire nam Frithhallt in Morvern

Last Sunday I did some walking in the hills of Morvern, a quite anonymous and hidden part of of Scotland. The area has no high summits, but has some amazing scenery and views. After a quick trip across Loch Linnhe on the Corran Ferry, I walked up Coire nam Frithhallt from Glen Tarbert towards the site of some wreckage from a jet that crashed here in 1964. A USAF Voodoo jet fighter came apart over Maol Odhar and there are aircraft parts littered over a large area, including the jet engines. Unusually for such a relatively recent military wreck, the parts were never cleared away. You can see my page about this wreck site on my website here.

Posted by Eddie & filed under Travel, May 31 2010.

At Losgaintir beach, Harris

Two weeks ago, Lesley and I went on a trip to the Western Isles, travelling the entire length of the Islands from north to south.

Highlights of the trip included the standing stones at Calanais on Lewis, eating at the Gallan Head restaurant (a converted building on an ex-RAF base), the mountains and beaches of Harris (Losgaintir beach looking like it should be in the Bahamas or the Caribbean, although definitely not as warm!), staying on the remote island of Baleshare off North Uist, the desolate panoramic view of Benbecula and South Uist from the radar station on the summit of Ruabhal (used for the nearby missile range), walking in the flat machair landscape of the west coast of South Uist, sampling the nightlife of Castlebay on Barra (curry and pubs full of drunk young people) & walking on Vatersay.

Posted by Eddie & filed under Military/Aircraft, May 25 2010.

Wreckage of a Catalina on the island of Vatersay

Last week whilst on a trip to the Western Isles, I went to the island of Vatersay at the southern tip of the chain of islands.

On Vatersay I visited the site of the wreck of an RAF Catalina flying boat that crashed on the island in 1944. There is still quite a bit of wreckage at the site, even though it is right next to a public road and the coast of the island. It is very remote though, requiring a long ferry trip from the UK mainland to get there.

You can see my page about this site on my website here.

Posted by Eddie & filed under Mountains & hills, May 3 2010.

Last weekend I went on an ML refresher course at Glenmore Lodge in the Cairngorms. This course was to enable me to have another go at some of the skills that are required as part of the ML award syllabus (and which are initially covered in the ML training course, which I also did at Glenmore Lodge in 2008, see my blog posting ‘Mountain Leader training course‘).

Beinn Eighe; Coire Mhic Fhearchair and the wreck of a Lancaster

Sgurr nan Ceannaichean

Black Isle cycle trip

Helvellyn and Striding Edge

Summer snowfields in the Cairngorms (3)

Sg�rr Ch�innich M�r

Morvern and the wreck of a USAF jet fighter

Western Isles

Catalina wreck in the Western Isles

ML refresher course

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