Hi Lionel

Thanks for your encouragement and advice to me which is much appreciated.

I feel so unfit at the moment as all I seem to do is go from A to B in the car and back again with the girls to nursery. I would love to walk to their nursery but then we would never get there as they are only 3 and 4!

Maybe I should be tougher on them and get them going - what do you think? They are not very enthusiastic about walking which I feel is my fault because I didn't do enough of it more frequently with them.

When I get the chance to go walking myself I will build it up again as you say and get some proper, good boots. I have eradicated TV out of my life now as it had such a hold on me and I would do nothing but sit and watch it but I've said enough is enough - there is too much else to do, that I want to do and that includes getting outside more and walking more up hills and mountains, get fit, feel healthy and enjoy my life more. I think that's what it's all about. Experiencing real life outside in the wonderful country we have here.... and other countries too which are calling to be explored.

My younger sister Fiona and her boyfriend David recently went to Switzerland on a walking holiday and had a fantastic time there.

I have not done anything like that yet although I have been walking in the south of France after attending a French friend's wedding, and the scenery was fabulous.

I have done the Lairig Ghru as I said and have also walked at Glen Clova, also with the foreign students at college, which was a great experience. So much still to be explored for this novice.

Where my Mum and Dad live, on the road which leads to Strathconon, in Ross-shire, there are a lot of wonderful walks. Our Mum and Dad had us out all the time in the hills which has been great. When I got glandular fever in 1988 and had to go home because I was quite ill with it - I became quite a recluse up there with Mum and Dad and all I liked doing was taking the dogs out and going off by myself into the hills. Just me, the dogs and the hills - fantastic. I found mixing with people really difficult but in the hills you can be so free from the cares of the world.

I haven't got any photos to hand at the moment but I will try to look some out for you and then someone will have to show me how to do it as I'm not a technological wizard at all!!!

Love Highland Connection x

Hello Highland Connection !!!

It's good for you to realize that you need to walk and I'm sure you should take your children for short walks so that they get used to walking. Little by little they'll enjoy it and they'll ask you to take them for walks.

I walk quite a lot with my nephew (he's now 10 years old) but we've always been walking on the hills. Last week we did a long walk and he climbed a 850 m ascent and a five hour walk... which is quite good for a child.

In Scotland you are very lucky with the amount of possible walks. It's immense !!! And you get all kinds of walks from low level to difficult. When I arrived in Scotland in August 1987, first, I thought the weather would keep me inside the house but I understood very quickly that it was really possible to walk in any kind of weather... even in stormy weather that I experienced in the Cairngorms, Torridon and Ben Wyvis

I would recommend to buy and read the book "Walking in Scotland" by Sandra Bardwell, Lonely Planet. It's a "bible" for people who wish to walk in Scotland. It gives hints for walks of all levels : from family walks to technical climbs (Alpine action, geological finds, cliff walking, historic walks, tranquil walks, urban exploration, wildlife rambles, discovering waterfalls and lochans (children love discovering waterfalls and lochs)).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1...5A1OLE&st=books

I would also recommend to start walking with your children, the book :

Family walks in Scotland by Colin Hogarth, Publisher : The Inn Pin

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1...9442357-7787868

How is the Lairig Ghru ?

Strathconon !!! I've never been there but the Runrig song makes me envious, I'd like one day to go and walk there.

Here are the covers of the books I recommended.





And check also the website : http://www.walkscotland.com/

It's "one of Scotland's best hillwalking resources."

Walking jokes !!

www.walkscotland.com

Yesterday I went hillwalking with my friends Dominique and Alain. We climbed a summit named "La Tournette" (2 351 meters) above Lake of Annecy in Haute Savoie.

We had a lovely day with sunshine, 25°C, clear blue sky and views over 150 km on the Alps range of mountains.

We walked for about 9 hours and the total ascent was 1500 m. That was a fantastic day and we saw quite a lot of "bouquetins".

The top of the mountains is called "The fauteuil" (The armchair). It's quite comparable to the summit of the Cobbler in Scotland and some scrambling must be done. Recently metallic chains were placed to help hillwalkers to reach the summit.



This is the fauteuil !!!



Climbing up to the top of the "fauteuil" !



Here is "le doigt du Diable", the Devil's finger !

And this is the view of Lake Annecy from the summit of the "Tournette" !

Saturday autumn walk in the French Alps.

I climbed Mont Baron (1566 m), then down and up to the "TĂȘte des Fieux" (1772 m). After a beautiful ridge walk overlooking Lake Geneva I climbed "Pointe de Pelluaz" (1908). I started walking under rain showers and the second half of the day was sunny with blue sky and magnificient Autumn colours. A six-hour walk and a total ascent of 1233 m. Mont Baron is a very good place to admire the beauty of one of the nicest peaks in my region : Dent d'Oche.




Pointe de Pelluaz is also famous for its black ski piste in winter (a very difficulte piste to ski but the scenery in winter is also breathtaking). Two months to go before the ski season starts. Really looking forward to it.

Below the picture shows the Dent d'Oche in winter seen from the Pointe de Pelluaz that I climbed on saturday.

Did anybody walk in Scotland or in England last weekend ?

I'm on holiday and today's walk (Monday 24th October) was an easy one with my nephew Florian.

We climbed the Pointe de Miribel under perfect weather : sunshine and blue sky (we were wearing t-shirts and we are nearly in November). Still the Indian summer here. We walked for three hours (not a long walk) and the total ascent was 400 meters. The hill is not very high but thanks to its location, from the top you can enjoy great views over the Mont Blanc range.

Here is a picture of the top of the Pointe de Miribel.




And this is the view on the Mont Blanc range that we had.

I don't think our short walk on Cleeve Hill in the Cotswolds on Sunday afternoon can compete with any of yours! Although there was a rather nice rainbow after we'd got soaked in a heavy shower - but I didn't have my camera with me, so you'll just have to take my word for it!

Hello Puffin !!!

You know there is no competition in this thread. It's very interesting to see where other people walk or enjoy walking. That's why I would like to see more people posting about their walks with some pictures.

I wanted to know what the Cleeve Hills look like so I found a picture. That looks really beautiful !





Next walk you do, Puffin. Take some pictures to show us your nice region !!!

Greetings from the Alps of France.

Lionel

Today's hillwalk in the Northern Alps.

I climbed Pointe de Ressachaux (2'173 meters) under a beautiful Autumn sunshine. The whole walk took me a bit more than 4 hours.... But this hill is very steep and the climb was quite exhausting. From the top, excellent views over the skiing resorts of Morzine and Avoriaz (some might know these resorts). The Mont Blanc looked so close to the Pointe de Ressachaux, and I could see the glaciers sparkling in the distance. From this hill I could see the next hill that is the highest in my region, les Hauts Forts. That's the hill I plan to climb tomorrow. Today the total steep ascent was 1'150 meters. Quite an achievement.

I found a picture of the Pointe de Ressachaux. The picture was taken in 2004 when the Tour de France bicycle race came to Morzine and the race celebrated its 100th anniversary. People climbed the Pointe de Ressachaux and they cut the grass to shape big letters, numbers and a bicycle. When the Tour de France was on TV, a helicopter filmed the Pointe de Ressachaux as you can see it on the picture.



In a month and a half time, the Pointe de Ressachaux will look like the below picture.

I'm just back from a beautiful hillwalk. I climbed the highest hill in my region, the Chablais. The hill is called "Les Hauts Forts" (The High Forts) and it's our "local Ben Nevis". The altitude of the summit is 2466 meters (7'472 feet). The total ascent is 1366 meters and it took me 2 and a half hours to reach the top under a very sunny and warm weather. The whole walk took me a bit more than 5 hours.

The views from the top are really spectacular, over lots of other ranges in Switzerland, France and also most summits of the Mont Blanc range. The higher summits are all covered in recent snow. The contrast of colours with lower grounds is really amazing. Indian summer on lower grounds and already winter on higher grounds.

Here are some pictures I found on the internet.



Another picture taken from the ski pistes of Avoriaz... as Les Hauts Forts overlook the ski resort of Avoriaz.



A great walk on steep ground with very few hillwalkers on the route.

I have just found another beautiful winter picture of Les Hauts Forts. In winter, free riders ski down some of the gullies marked in yellow. Extremely dangerous skiing, only experts can do it !

If you are interested in watching magnificient photos of the Alps, I recommend you to visit this website :

http://www.alpesphoto.com/



Enjoy !!!

You can see some photos of my region when you click on :

- Montagne and then
- Chablais

Just come back from a few days in Glencoe...Tiz and I managed to climb Na Gruagaichean on Wednesday...sadly the weather wasn't very kind to us, driving rain and howling winds (and that was just Tiz ) we did intend doing the whole ridge but decided that the weather and light were against us and Tiz seemed to want to go to the Clachaig for some unknown reason ...could it be that there was a real ale festival on perhaps????

Photos were pointless as we couldn't see anything when we got to the top and my hands were numb from the cold and wet (guess who forgot her gloves ) ....thanks to Tiz and his superb navigational skills we got to the summit and back down again ......and that beer really did taste good in the Clachaig

On the bright side it was a good -*test*-('") for my nice new Gore-tex leggings which passed the -*test*-('") with flying colours ...money well spent.....we'll just have to back to finish the ridge off hehehehe