Skye.

As you may be aware, The Northern Division (Ian and I) have been kicking around in the great the outdoors for quite some time now, and while Northumberland is the best place on Earth (obviously because we live there), we do like to explore other places, especially ones with mountains. This has resulted in a few trips beyond our borders (Norway twice, Italy and Spain) but more often than not, we end up in Scotland, at least 4 or 5 times a year, and we try to make a special effort to visit the Isle of Skye. So this year was no different, and during early July, we made the 8 hour journey to the land of the Black Cuillins. Normally we stay at a Youth Hostel in Glen Brittle, but last year we discovered a new bunk house in Carbost. It doesn't possess the same spirit as the YH, but it does have a pub!
So, pretty much travelling all day on the Sunday (Ian did the driving as usual), with a stop off in Calendar for lunch,  finally arriving at our digs by about 19:00. A few jars and in the scratchers by midnight ready for an early start on Monday.
DAY1: Monday arrived swathed in mist, not look particularly appetizing, with the upper half of the Cuillins completely obliterated. Bugger. BUT, not to be put off, we thought let's have a go anyway. But what did you do (I don't hear you cry). Our first day was going to be devoted to a grade 4 scramble called Clach Glas, finishing off by getting onto the summit of a mountain called Blaven. To cut a long story short, it was bloody hard work! The exposure was quite extreme, with knife edge ridges, very steep chimneys, huge drops, and amazing views of the rest of the island. Unfortunately the guide book didn't really explain how much down climbing was involved (I hate  down climbing), but Ian saved the day with excellent route finding and some really good lead work. All in all, highest point was about 900 metres but with all the up and down, it was probably a total ascent of 1300 metres over about 8 miles, although it felt a lot further. A cracking day, with minimum rain and back to the digs for 19:00 ish.
DAY2: One of our major goals for this trip was to finally get on to The Cioch. This is a peculiar rock projection that sticks out of the side of the Cuillin ridge, and if you have seen Highlander, its where the major sword fight takes place in the early part of the film. Anyway, we had tried twice previously and were defeated by the weather. And this time was no exception. We started off by entering the Lagan Corrie then working our way into up the right hand side below the Cioch, which takes you up a particularly "lumpy" route (piles of boulders up to 3 metres across, plenty of loose scree, not dry and quite steep). Anyway, the mist came down, over heavily, completely obliterating any land marks, so which just continued up to the top of Sgurr Scumain, where upon it decided to clear.  Gutted, but not down hearted we dropped down the opposite side to a high level lochan (a lake) at 600 metres. From here we worked our way down over massive, wet volcanic slabs that have to be seen to be believed. From here it was about another 400 metres descent back down to the coast, and a pretty lengthy walk around the bottom of the mountain back to our starting at Glen brittle camp site. The walk was completed by a nap on the beach with a bottle of Cidre - not cider!

Surrey Scumain.

DAY3: Bit of a day off this one, bit of wandering around, went on a glass bottom boat trip, followed by snorkelling (we had our wet suits) from the coral beach the place name escapes me. And yes, its called the coral beach because the sand isn't sand at all, its broken down coral, and you can pick up recognisable bits if you look hard enough. A nice easy day, and the weather was pretty good.

Scree slope descent.

DAY4: I shall spare you the gory details but we did another excellent grade 3 scramble called Waterpipe Gulley. Not particularly high at about 700 metres, but fantastic easy climbing punctuated by large grass ledges. We had our bait (that's snap if you are from the Midlands) on the very top then descended about 200 metres down a very steep scree gulley, which was fun in a demented sort of way. After getting onto safer ground we then had a bit of a sit down in a fabulous ampithetre surrounded by mountainous peaks, and from here worked our way back down to the Fairy Pools which are filled with the mountain water run off. Overall there was probably the best part of 50 people or more enjoying jumping off the rocks into the pools and just generally having a great time in the sun (it was about 25 degree C). With about 2km left to go, Ian went over on his ankle, and it was so severe the way it instantly swelled up I thought he had broken something. But after a short rest and a couple of Nurofen he managed to hobble the rest of way, relying heavily on his walking poles. But even being injured, he insisted that we finished the day off with some more snorkeling. That night we had a meal in the pub, while some local guitar gadgey played Janice Joplin and the such like. We then decided there was no point in staying for the last day (Friday) as Ian's ankle was just too bad, and any normal man would have been in intensive care (so he said anyway).

Waterpipe Gulley

DAY5: A steady 8 hour drive back to Northumberland, getting home around 18:00. What a brilliant week we had. Looking forward to next adventure already.

Robin

Holidays and that!

Well it's been a while, couple of months in fact. We're still here and still looking forward to the 3 Peaks Challenge in October, so we need to get some more walking done prior to the big day. For me the past two months have been taken up with a holiday, work and a bathroom replacement, followed by watching Euro 2012 and Wimbledon. I could have gone mountain walking on holiday, but figured I was on holiday and the 32 degree heat I would be walking in wasn't my idea of fun, so I laid on the beach with a cold drink. Euro 2012 was a disappointment as an England fan, but we're used to it by now, the ups and (mainly) downs of supporting a team that promises so much only to shoot themselves in the foot, usually from the penalty spot, certainly isn't easy. Wimbledon was close run thing for a certain Mr Murray, but as they say, form is temporary, class is permanent and Federer is class, apart from the stupid headband! Next walk planned is Kinder Scout in Derbyshire and judging by the way the weather is lately, it's going to be a wet one, dry one, overcast, sunny, bleak, gorgeous type of day. Being prepared for the worst is the best plan, it's just walking around in a downpour with sunglasses on isn't a good look and neither is being soaked and things starting to rub and chafe! Most of the walking gear I will be taking on the day of the challenge is now in my possession, with the last item I bought being an hydration bag for my rucksack so I can replenish lost fluids on the go instead of having to faff about trying to find my bottle of water amongst all the other kit I will be I will be carrying. My wife said it looked like an oxygen tube, which might not be too far off the truth come the day. So now the garage is getting back to being clear again after having a bathroom suite in it, I can get back on the treadmill....if only I knew how to switch it on! Chris