I have just found again an old diary from 1987 in which I wrote some notes about all my hillwalks when I was living in Scotland. And now many memories are coming back to my mind when I read my notes.

On Sunday February 1st 1987, with the Highland Hillwalking Club we went for a day meet at Ben Wyvis. The weather was dry but very cold and sunny. We parked the cars at Garbat Cottage. Behind Garbat cottage we took a track through the forest that leads to a path following the old drove route across the Bealach Mor. We walked up a steep heathery flank and reached a top : An Cabar (3106 feet / 950 m). Unfortunately on that top the wind was blowing very strongly (60/80 miles per hour) and sometimes it was just impossible to walk. Several people of our party lost things blown away by the wind (an O.S. map, gloves and a cap). To carry on walking we had to crawl on the ground so we decided to turn back down by the path we had taken up to An Cabar.

I tried then to walk up to Ben Wyvis twice in 1987 but twice the walk was cancelled because of terrible weather. Still a Munro I should try to climb one day.

Have you ever been up to Ben Wyvis ? And how was the weather ?

Hi Lionel

I too didn't make it up Ben Wyvis the first try due to gale force winds and thick mist! But the 2nd time was a delight. It was in late march a few years ago and there was perfect weather with snow on the top....quite deep infact as you can see by my summit picture here....only a few inches showing of the trig point!



Its a great mountain ....the ridge once you get up An Cabar is wonderful with lovely soft moss like a carpet. I'd like to climb this again and walk along the moss in bare feet! In the sunshine of course! There's a story about a man who was a golfer and completed his round of the munros by taking a golf club and ball up Wyvis and playing himself into the cairn along the flat wide summit ridge!

What other stories have you found in your log book?

Today I was walking with friends in the Moorfoot hills south of Edinburgh but it was a dull damp day with no views and quite cold so no nice photos to show you. However it was good to get out for some fresh air and catch up on chat! Last weekend was good weather but I wasn't able to get away to the hills...typical!

Maybe next weekend will be better!

Cheers, Sheila

Hi Sheila,

And thank you very much for telling about your walk on Ben Wyvis. I am quite envious. As the snow was deep it would have been possible to ski up the Ben with skins and then to ski down the flanks !!!

The story of the golfer on top of Ben Wyvis is quite unusual but he had a great idea and the summit of the Ben must be a perfect green if the weather is not too windy.

I have plenty of other stories from my log book and I might tell some here if people are not annoyed by trivial detail.

For example on Sunday 8th February 1987, with my friends of the Highland Hillwalking Club we walked up Seanna Bhraigh (927 m) under perfect blue skies and sunshine. On our way back at the end of the day we faced a strong snow storm but we were nearly back to the car. I wrote in my book that it was one of the most beautiful walks in Scoltand. Very wild and astonishing scenery with high cliffs and waterfalls. I was amazed by the black colour of the wee lochan (Loch Luchd Coire) at the foot of Seanna Bhraigh. To walk up to the summit from Luchd Choire we had to use our ice axes as the snow was hard packed and sometimes icy. From the top of the Munro we could enjoy views over the Summer Islands and the Hebrides in the distance. To the north we could see Ben Hope and Ben More Assynt. To the south, An Teallach. That was a very long day as the walk was about 27 km long (17 miles) and it took us nearly 8 hours to walk and then come back to the car. What a long but beautiful day. I really recommend this walk if you want to be amazed by the remoteness and wilderness of the place. I found some pictures on the internet just to give you an idea.





Here you are Sheila, if you are interested I can give sometimes details about more of my 1986-87 walks in the Highlands. I hope you tell us about your next walks over the week-end.

Greetings from the Alps,

Lionel

PS : Have a look at astonishing pictures of Seana Bhraigh on this website :

http://www.barbersasa.co.uk/scotland/lbrooms/sbragh01.htm

Well, what a surprise I got today when I set off, for the first time, up the seldom visited Angus glen of Glen Ogil. What a charming place this is. It only took me 35 mins to drive to my jump off point which is even more ironic. How I could have missed this little gem beats me - although it is fairly obvious the estate do not welcome visitors with a "no parking" sign at the road end next to a "Shooting in progress (exc. Sundays)" - which can be intimidating to those not clued up on their access rights.

Anyway, I was out for four hours over a fine horseshoe circuit of Hill of Glansie - 726m - and never met one person on my travels, although Storm saw a few furried friends in the shape of white hares and deer !

http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/2563579

Hi Greig
Nice photos, thanks....It is a bonny wee glen - I have been there as it is pretty close to Kirriemuir where I lived from aged 11, but I don't think I've been up that hill. Storm is so good at posing for the camera!

Today I went up Meall Buidhe in Glen Lyon with 3 friends but we didn't have weather like you!. Not cold going up but cloud down to 700m and soft slushy snow from about 650m, so almost white out conditions on the top. The wind got up too so we used one of the guys' bothy bag thing for lunch - very effective it was too, although the photos inside didn't come out!

2 of the lads I was with were more like young mountain goats so it was a fast ascent with me knackered at the back! This must be making me fit, although it seems to be a slow process NIce pint at the cosy Weem hotel tho....log fire and big soft sofas.

Hi Sheila and Greig !!

Thank you for posting about your weekend walks ! Always nice to read about the Scottish hills, hillwalkers and doghillwalkers !

Sheila, could you tell me more about this "bothy bag thing" you used for your lunch ?

Greig, is Glen Ogil the closest hills to your place ?

Greetings from France,

Lionel

Hi Lionel

A Bothy Bag or Storm Shelter is a nylon bag made in various sizes which you can sit in outdoors to stay warm out of the wind. If you click here and scroll down you will see a few examples. The important thing to remember if it's windy is to hold it tight when taking it out or packing it away or it'll fly off across the mountains never to be seen again!

Bothy Bags

You are right about Seana Braigh by the way - it is a truly fabulous hill!

Cheers

Sheila

Sheila,

Thank you very much for your post replying to my question.

Bothy bags are a good idea, however if the wind is very strong it must be difficult to take it out of the rucsack as you mentioned in your post !!! Did you try it when the wind was strong ?

Greetings from France,

Lionel

Lionel, thanks for highlighting that Seana Bhraigh web site. Bothy Bill and I walked from Carbisdale on the east coast to Ullapool in October last year and this site brought back fond memories. The views of Seana Bhraig, An Teallach and Suilven were fabulous on the 3 day trek. The overnight accomodation at Knockdamph was basic but atmospheric. We saw one person in 3 days, a cyclist doing the 50 mile round of Beinn Dearg in the day.

Seana Bhraig is a totally different mountain from the north compared to the long slog from the west where you just ascend it via a grassy ramp. We had superb weather, even though it was mid October. Our wives were in Egypt at the time but we had nearly as many sunshine hours as them (though less degrees Celsius!)

One of these days, I'll get a slide scanner, then I can show off some of my wares.

I'm ready for my trip to Ben Lomond in March. I've not walked in Scotland since the end of October when I went with a Munro Bagger to Spean Bridge to pick off 6. Ben Lomond was my ultimate Munro in 1999 and I look forward to climbing it in better weather than last time.

Hi Lancs Dave !!

Great to hear that you enjoyed also this fantastic area, just like Sheila too.

I'll be waiting for your scanned slides !

I hope you have good weather conditions for your next trip to Ben Lomond. I should be walking up Ben Lomond in August if I can get rid of my bad sciatica completely.

Don't forget to come and post here a report of your trip to Ben Lomond.

Greetings from the Alps,

Lionel

Lionel and insomniacs. If you want to read about Ben Lomond, my last Munro, it's on www.billdale.co.uk under "reports", together with about 6 reports of my last Munro trips in the late 90's. Bill's photographs on Ben Lomond show you what is meant by "Scotch Mist"! There must be 30 or 40 pages there altogether, so you won't need a Horlicks!

Bill Dale is AKA Bothy Bill and will be at The Drovers on THE weekend.

Regards to all my readers! - Dave

Yeah Lionel it is just about. There are several glens close to Arbroath which include Glen Clova



and Glenesk



but I can drive to Ogil in 35 minutes from my house.

This weekend I intend to explore an even lesser known glen in Angus called Glen Trusta !!

Watch this space !

Hi Dave,

And thank you very much for sharing your experience about your last Munro. Very interesting to read and watch the pictures. It's a pity as the weather wasn't very good.
Did you start another round of Munro bagging ? Or do you walk Corbetts now ?

Greetings from France,

Lionel

Hi Greig,

Thanks for the beautiful pictures of your region ! There is also something interesting as the names of the glens near your place seem to be different from other place names in Scotland. They sound nice ... Clova, Trusta, Ogil ...

That's a region I would like to discover one day !

Greetings from France,

Lionel

Today I took my first short walk uphill since I stopped hillwalking two months ago because of my sciatica and damaged disk.

I left from my own village and walked up above the chalets in the snow covered fields. I managed to walk only half an hour and it was not that easy. My back is very stiff and I think I lost my leg muscles !

I had taken my ski poles to help and I was very lucky as I slipped on ice and nearly fell on my back but managed to remain standing.

But it was so nice as I was breathing deeply cool air from the mountains. There was some sun shining through the clouds and the mountains I hadn't seen for two months were so beautiful and overwhelming. I will try to walk again short walks everyday (maybe) depending on my back and right leg, hoping the pain doesn't come back.

As I was walking back home, I heard a big crack and I saw an avalanche (snow and rocks) rolling down a very steep gully 600 meters above my village. What a view !!
We can see this avalanche every year and several times in winter when the weather is mild.

When I get better to walk a bit higher I go and take a picture of the place where the avalanche stopped to see the incredible hight of packed snow and I post it here.

Beware of avalanches ... even in Scotland !



Greetings from France.

Lionel