75% of Ben Venue

I didn't get moving quickly enough today. When I woke up it was pretty dull so I just got on with things in the flat - washing, sorting out things after Christmas and getting my finances straight. About 11 I realised that it was a beautiful day so decided to head north thinking of Ben A'an or something in the Trossachs. I set off about noon and got to the car park just over an hour later and decided to explore Ben Venue rather than the usual. I've never climbed this hill but often admired it from Ben A'an.

Unfortunately I had really left it too late to get to the top - I reckon it would be a 4 hour round trip and with it fully dark at 4 I had no chance of finishing in the light as I got going about 1:15. I headed up anyway just to check out the route for the future.

I cut off the main path and went straight up the hill stopping for a cup of tea at about 2:30 - about the same time as the sun dipped below the hills opposite and things began to become twilight. I contoured round the hill for a bit expecting to hit the path coming up the shoulder but never found it - it is a lot further on - so just dropped back down eventually and back to the path and the car at about 4.

It was a beautiful day. Ben Ledi had a light dusting of snow but a cloud sat on top of it. Similarly Hoover Bag looked looked frosty with another cloud on top.

I'll be back here when I allow myself more light.

I like the Tossachs. Just north of the Highland Fault these are the first real Highland hills. The contrast with the lowlands is stark - the nearby and visible Ochils and Glen Artney hills are rolling and rounded. These are rocky and jagged.

27 December - Thurstaston Beach

This is from the beach at Thurstaston. Looking over to North Wales across the Dee. I'd wandered down here with my parents on Saturday. It was good.

We crossed the Wirral Way which was once a Railway but was closed in 1956.

My Dad told me of his one trip on the Railway when he was in the RAF for his National Service and returning from basic training to a posting in West Kirby - ironically only a couple of miles from his home.

The Wirral - Wallasey

Back to my family for Christmas. Great to see everyone, but there was too much time indoors.

On boxing day morning I went for a walk down to the beach. It is full of memories. Times playing there as a kid, learning to drive on the promenade where it was quiet, walks and runs down there. Hours spent staring out to sea or over to Wales and the shadow of Angelsey, thinking and trying to work out what was going on in my life. I'm 40 now and no closer to working out what I'm going to do when I grow up.



I love the mountains but there is something about the sea that draws me too. And this corner of the Wirral is so full of memory. I don't want to go back - the whole peninsula seems like one giant housing estate now and much seems "tacky" (that sounds so snobby) - but it is home or at least it is my beginning. If I had to move back the beach would be my regular escape.

migration....

The photo to the left is looking up towards Turnhouse Hill in the Pentlands last Sunday afternoon. It was so windy that I went out for the hell of it.

I have been in some strong winds, but this was one of the strongest. Really violent constant pressure making it difficult to move.

I didn't even get to the top but cut off at the trees about 3/4 the way up coming back round the shoulder.




Off south for Christmas for a few days now.

I hope everyone that reads this has a great time over the next few days and enjoys the rest, the friends and the family.

I'm looking forward to next year: to longer days, to more hills, maybe to a bit of backpacking.

Happy Christmas

13 December

it rained

North Berwick Law - 6 December

North Berwick Law - a Marilyn! - rises sharply from the flat coastal plains of East Lothian. It's distinctive cone - the remains of an old volcano - is clearly visibly for miles around. From my desk at work I can swivel my chair and, if I stretch the right way, can see this fine pyramid 17 miles distant on the other side of a bay which, when the light is right, look like the warm seas of the med. (A view which is only partly marred by the coal fired power station at Cockenzie)

I'm always surprised at how small North Berwick Law actually is. 616ft and it is scarcely 15 minutes to the top without pushing it. For something so visible and so classically shaped I expect it to be higher.

Anyway, a beautiful winter's day. Incredibly blue sky.



I am sure the highlands would have been spectacular today - crisp, fresh and incredible skies. The snow would have been good too. (PTC and Alistair both had good trips)

I was busy first thing and so could not really go further afield, but the Law was a great option. not too far but great views. From the top the Pentlands looked a fine ridge of hills black against an increasingly orange sky. To the north Fife gave on to snowy mountains. According to the viewpoint marker you can see the hills of Glen Shee - Glas Maol at least.

In the Firth the Isle of May was visible and, more immediately, Bass Rock, the largest single rock gannetry in the world, white with the birds.

North Berwick town looked small and friendly and a cup of tea and a browse in the second hand bookshop called us down.