Munros and Other Walks

One of the tasks I had been meaning to do for years now, was to look at gaining some sort of outdoor certification. A step in this direction actually came through my work. As a teacher I had been planning to get involved with the DofE. To be able to lead groups of pupils, or should I say to supervise their journey, you need to be accredited with a Lowland Expedition Leader Award. In the past I had considerd taking part in a mountain leader course, just for my own development, but like a lot of other things I never got around to it. The LELA course still provided me the chance to work on my map reading and compass skills and I was able to use this out on some practice walks in the Pentlands. Pentlands Training I can say now that I am much more comfortable now using a compass when out and about. It would be good to apply these skills when out Munro bagging (whenever that'll happen), but that may need to wait. As like most courses there is a fair amount of paperwork to com

My new Lockdown past time is getting out for a walk every day, even for half an hour or so. Nothing fancy about that you might think, but as I mentioned in a previous post I've taken up bagging trig points. In my local area there are quite a few points to walk to, now these are located at a school and a local church. I find it comforting to know that I'm walking to a specific point rather than an aimless wander. Unfortunately the local primary school trig point has been removed, but you can find the trig points near you by checking out this link:  Trig Point . It's useful because it also tells you the condition and type of marker you should be looking for. My recent jaunt took me up by Flemington, which turned out to be quite a nice walk. The walk was scenic, once we were across Hamilton Road on the A724. Instead of taking Flemington road which is slightly more dangerous to walk up. We went up the quieter Lightburn Road. Just as the housing estate starts, there is a

Review If lockdown has enabled one thing, it's the chance to catch up on some reading and tv watching. This particular book has been sitting on my shelf for the last couple of years, but it is only in the last couple of weeks that I've gotten around to checking it out. As always, I haven't been paid to give my thoughts and my opinion is entirely my own, whatever you think of it. Bothy The book outlines the location and amenities of all the bothies that are placed around Scotland. A bothy is a simple house structure, usually made of brick, that is free to stay in overnight. It usually contains a raised platform for sleeping and a fireplace for cooking. It's a basic structure for staying in if your hillwalking over  couple of days. They are vital in the winter, if climbers or walkers get caught out in bad weather conditions. Showing the location of these shelters has its advantages and disadvantages, more of which I'll cover in this post. Book Structure 

It's seems strange but I went out for my government allocated exercise time and ended up accidentally walking up a hill. Just to be clear, this is within waking distance of my house and the entire walk took about 50 mins. The walk to the top of Spittal hill is easy going and is part of a cycle route that leads to East Kilbride. The route took us out of the Drumsagard housing estate along the Newton farm road. Farm Road Part View of a Field At the top of the road we took a right  and followed the track which is well used by dog walkers. The track is sandwiched between two fields and does feel as if you're out in the wilds. The Track Trig Point  Trig Inspectors  The trig point is three quarters of the way along. It's strange to see this here but was fun to tell the kids they have just walked up a hill. The track leads back to the A724 to Blantyre and a ten minute walk back to Drumsagard. I was surprised at the fact there was a trig point

Please  note that this walk was completed Aug 2010. Buachaille Etive Mor If you miss Etive Mor, situated in Glencoe then you really need your eyes tested. This Munro is one of the most prominent mountains in the area and is impossible to miss. Close up View I had parked the car at the car park at  Altnafeadh,  just off the A82. This gives good access to the mountain, although the car park can get busy quickly. The first part of the walk was to a building that looks like a small cottage, nestled at the foot of Etive Mor. This is actually called  Lagangarbh hut.  Scree Time  From there I decided to ascend straight up between the two peaks. This area is covered in loose rock, also known as scree. I did pick out a faint track through it, until near the bealach where is was a case of a fun but stressful scramble. I had time to collect myself at there before continuing the well worn path to the top.  The Mist Decends Near the Top The mist had descend b