2019 in Review

April 2019 saw us celebrating our Silver Wedding Anniversary, so we hired a campervan to have an adventure in Scotland. We spent a lovely few days on a whirl wind trip around Scotland.

 After the second half marathon distance in April

 Dornie Castle

 Silver Anniversary

 Schiehallion

 Stonehaven beach

 Cnoc Poll a' Mhurain

 Farrmheall

 The start of the Ghost Train Walk

 Loch Quoich

 From the first of three Munros, Carn Aosda

 Carn Leac Saighdeir

 Kelpies

 Mayar

 Driesh

 Clachnaben

 Geallaig Hill

 Loch Muick

 Ben Alder Forest

 Warth Hill

 Free mackeral

 Creag Dhubh

 Meall a' Chrasgaidh

Tap o' Noth

 Mither Tap

 Cul Mor

 Meall an Fheadain

 Falls of Kerkaig

Little did we know that we would be the proud new owners of our own van, Ellie, the following month. David sealed the deal and collected her whilst I was completing my 7th Challenge in May and he came to meet me so we could spend our first night together with her just a little south of Corgarff.

I had a successful and enjoyable Challenge, partly because I am much fitter, we had completed half marathon training mid-April, in fact, we ran the distance twice in two weeks.

Since May, we have tried to get with Ellie about once a month and we have had great fun and climbed many more hills than we usually get to do together. We were very pleased to have Ellie when David agreed to Assess a Gold Duke of Edinburgh group in the Ben Alder Forest when the weather was utterly dreadful and camping would have been no fun whatsoever. We have also been tourists around Scotland and had our first van meet with Mick, Gayle and Bertie in Inshriach Forest. Ellie has been a wonderful addition to our lives.

In June, we took part in the Ghost Train Walk, an over night walk on the Summer Solstace following the Dava Way from Grantown-on-Spey to the Dallas Dhu Distillery. We have walked the route together before when it first opened in July 2007, and I did the first Ghost Train Walk in 2009 with friends, so this was our first long distance overnight walk together and we had a great time.

In August, we took Conall to the Junior International Air Pistol and Rifle competition at Bisley. He had a good time and is doing well and gaining confidence. It is very strange to be there with just Conall though. There will be many more and much bigger competitions for him in the near future.

In November we were treated to a two night stay at Fonab Castle for our anniversary, which was quite an experience, but the weather was not conducive to walking, so we sheltered at House of Bruar in between fancy meals.

 The view from our room at Fonab

So, we are really looking forward to many more Adventures with Ellie in 2020 and I am hoping for another successful crossing on the Challenge in May.

Wishing all of you the very best for 2020.

Due to having to edit this post in Blogger, the photographs are randomly placed.

So, That Was 2016…

Well, there was some walking this year, totalling around 1,201.84 miles 88,478.12 feet ascent, but I didn’t walk with Laura until February. We also went to a family wedding in February, which was a lovely social for us in Glasgow.

March saw some walking with Laura and our three young athletes were competing in the Scottish Air Pistol Championships in Edinburgh.

April saw more Challenge preparation with Laura on the Fishwives Walk.

And then there was May, when I backpacked across Scotland with my world on my back to for two weeks, this time crossing from Oban to Stonehaven. I had a fabulous time.

More local strolling for me around Altyre Estate during June, with a little DofE thrown in for fun.

July saw us venture to York for a few days of leisure.

August was a bit busier, we took the athletes to Surrey to compete in the Junior International Championships, we did some more DofE, we had a wonderful time with visitors Mick and Gayle and Rhiannon and Ciara moved into the flat they’re sharing in Aberdeen whilst they are both at University there.

A fab walk with Mick and Gayle

In September, as well as finally seeing our Silver Group pass their Expedition, I also found ‘Harry Houdini, the Disappearing Hernia’, hopefully he should be sorted in the next couple of months…

October, November and December saw me enjoying lots of local walks and some with Laura too. Aedan was still competing and performing well at two competitions at Cardiff.

The Lovely Laura

All in all, we’ve had a busy year, all good fun and hopefully there’ll be more to come in the New Year, who knows!

Slàinte mhor!!

PS I apologise for the lack of photographs, I’ll come back and add some over the next few days!!

Time to Kill in Callander

Ciara was given a spot on the High Performance Training weekend in June as Aedan was ‘incapacitated’ at the beginning of May, so we took the opportunity to go for a walk.

We had deposited Ciara at the venue by 9 am and headed straight to the local Co-op to get provisions then went off to find the public conveniences. These were situated at the Pay and Display which was only a couple of quid and as that would partly go towards the cost of the upkeep of the toilets, we happily paid and displayed.

On closer inspection, the weather didn’t look up to much and I generally refuse point blank to climb a hill with no view from the top, so I voted not to climb Ben Ledi as we had planned (to test the ankle) but to go for a stroll along the Rob Roy Way to a little beyond Stank Glen, then return along woodland paths.

The first part of the route follows an old railway line of which there is some evidence along the way. The path goes through pleasant surroundings and the occasional views we got suggested it would have been a nice train ride. We met a few people mainly at the beginning of the walk and then a little later around the holiday park area. Most spoke.

Evidence of a previous life

First for me, Water Avens

More evidence

Ornamental something or other

TTS

We just walked and chatted, it was a nice, if unremarkable outing. We even found a cafe to have a cup of tea at the Strathyre Cabins Holiday Park, Stank Glen. The Wildlife Ranger there was an interesting, ex-military chap who obviously had a very Scottish chip on his shoulder. I sat quietly in the corner. After finishing our tea, we walked on for a while, taking the forestry path uphill and round the corner to head back in the direction from whence we came.

Looking kinda north-ish

We eventually started to look for a place to stop for lunch, but by now we were off the Way, which had had the occasional bench, and there weren’t any handy logs or rocks on which to perch. After some time, we found an old log pile that was just about suitable, but it didn’t have much of a view and no breeze. Not long after stopping, I was up and about again, marching and munching to escape the midgies that had started to plague us. Oh well. We continued.

Bit of a rubbish lunch view

Looking right…

…and left

A view later up the track

Loch Lubnaig

Glad we didn’t head up

Roughly towards Stirling

North again

There wasn’t much excitement on the way back either, we bumped into a DofE group on expedition, twice, as we were slightly misplaced and took a circuitous route at a junction to pass them again. Whoops!

Overall, a very pleasant stroll on a dampish day, but enjoyable all the same.

Roughly 11.3 miles and 1822 ft total ascent.