Mist on the Pentlands

So, I've got into this habit of the Sunday sunrise on the Pentlands but it is getting harder to see as the year progresses and it happens earlier.   I awoke well rested after a relatively early night and decided to go for it.  I was on the hills about 7:15 and it was sunny and while not warm it was still milder than recently.  Above on the ridge there was a bit of cloud hanging but it still felt warm.

The sun was just peaking out to the East as I climbed past the ski slope and on up to the tops taking a direct line.  It looked like it was going to be a good sunny walk, but as I topped out the mist rolled across.

It made for some beautiful views though as a golden sun glowed through the gloom.

It was great to be up here.  But it always is.

I was here earlier so I had more time to play and continued along the ridge, climbing up to Allermuir.  All the way I was catching glimpses of the city below, coming through the gloom.

The walk towards Allermuir was great, with the hill just freeing itself of mist as I approached the bottom of it, leaving it all pink and warm.

From the top I carried on down to the yellow brick road and then along a little way before coming back up another ridge to return to the trig point. 

A returned along the tops then dropped down back to where I started.  Just at the top of the ski slope I bumped into Steven Fallon and it was good to chat to him for a while. Then back for a bath and breakfast.

It was a good morning out though, with some great views.  Enjoy the photos!

Roslin Glen

Just to catch up,  I didn't get out last weekend.  I was down south visiting my parents.  A phone call late on the Tuesday night told me that Dad was being rushed into A&E with a bad infection.  They got it sorted, but it looked pretty serious for a while.  He was soon back in the Dementia Ward, but while at the other hospital he picked up the Norovirus, which was affecting that hospital.  Great.  It is one thing after another!

Then it was back up on the Monday and back into work which is hotting up now for the elections which are coming fast.  It was a week that left me knackered, so yesterday it was just pottering about with shopping and housework.

We did get a short walk in the afternoon along Roslin Glen.  It was nice to see some spring flowers coming out.



Then back for relaxation, a take away curry and CSI.  A relaxing day.

Sunrise and mist

A great walk in the Pentlands this morning.  I'll put more photos up later.

Morrone

From Morrone 12/02/2012 20:46

The last time I had been up this hill I had a broken toe.  It is interesting looking back at the post and photos from that day in 2009 It doesn't seem long ago, but today was so different.

So it was a big breakfast at the Youth Hostel and then a decision about where to go.  It was Morrone - easy from the village - the Corbett Sgurr Mor above White Bridge  - quite a walk in - or Connacraig near Loch Muick - another walk in plus a good drive to get there.  To save the drive and the walks, we went up Morrone.  I'd done it before but that was OK, today in these perfect  conditions all would be different.

It was a good and pleasant walk from the frozen duck pond through the birchwoods to the view point and then the short pull to the summit.

This is a stunning viewpoint, all the better today when all the big hills were caked in snow.  The cairngorm plateau itself was a marvel and looking over to it we were picking out familiar hills, each one kicking off a series of memories....Today with clear air, blue skies and startling white snow there was nowhere else to be.  You could see it all - cairngorms, Glen Shee, Lochnagar....

From the top we descended to the Linn of Dee road, looking for  a path that was on the map but not on the road, instead going through the forest for a walk along the road then up back to the duck pond,

It was a nice day out.  A stretch of the legs amid views that were sublime.

The rest of the photos are here:

Linn of Dee

Stressed out from work.  Knackered from life.  Worried about my Dad.  It was time for an escape.  I checked on the internet and there was space at the Braemar Youth Hostel so we headed up on Saturday.  We didm't get moving until lunchtime, so it was late in the afternoon by the time we arrived.

We didn't have time for a hill, so it was coffee in Gordon's then we drove to the Linn of Dee and took photos of the amazing sight of the Dee tumbling between rocks caked with ice.



It was glorious.

Then back to the hostel to watch the end of the Rugby.  Dinner was in the hotel opposite the hostel - fine food and substantial portions.  I was in bed and asleep by 10pm, getting a good 9 hours in - better than normal!

This is getting silly

....believing my own hype, there are even T shirts now to promote Hillfit!   If you like you can find more here.

It is actually pretty good, if a bit expensive - although I don't make much off it.

Byres Hill and the Hopetoun Monument

This afternoon after lunch we drove out to East Lothian.  In the back of my mind I had this idea of a walk up this hill.  We had driven past the car park a while ago but had not got out.  Today it was bright and sunny though and I thought it would be a great view point over the plain of East Lothian fields.

We parked in the small car park in the woods and stopped to read the notice board which explained the history of the monument.  There is more detail on Wikipedia

It was a short steep walk to the top of the hill and the Tower and there were nice views, but the exciting bit was that the door to the Tower was open and so we climbed the 132 dark steps to the top.  It was windy up there but the views over the county were fantastic.




We chatted to a guy up there who was taking photos with the intention of stitching together a 360 panorama.  He also told us some of the local geology and pointed out that the hill was jsut the end of a rocky escarpment heading to the east that had survived glaciation.

I took some photos but it is hard to get them to show all the scale of the view.  A nice afternoon walk though.

Pressing Reset

....and there was me thinking I'd missed the sunrise

I have a friend in the States - Tim Anderson - who has put together a few useful books on fitness, some looking particularly at the role of the brain and nervous system and how we improve our movement and health by thinking about the brain.  One of his books is called Pressing Reset and it gives a few simple moves to work the neural connections behind some basic movement patterns (free pdf here with examples).

That idea of pressing reset was in my mind this morning as I was up in the Pentlands again, not in terms of movement or exercise, just the need to reset my mind, my thoughts.  Last weekend I'd been south visiting my parents.  Dad is still in hospital.  His dementia is now such that his next stop is a nursing home, so the awful recognition is there for us as a family that we need to find him somewhere to live.  We would like to have him at home but he needs a level of care that we can't provide.  And it is heartbreaking.

My thoughts are taken up with that situation and also with work.  There is an election looming and as ever pulling the various strands of the project together is very stressful.  There is a team, but I carry the can if anything goes wrong.  So between long hours on that and then worry about Dad, things are exhausting now.

I felt really under the weather yesterday  and did hardly anything - lazing around the flat, watching the rugby, playing with my websites - then an early night.

This morning I was awake at about 530am.  Not feeling fully rested, but not drained as I had been yesterday.  I got up about 730 and was heading for the hills, having decided on an easy walk, when I looked out the window and saw the sunrise already happening....it is getting earlier.

Ach well.  I got in the car and was surprised to see the ice already melting from the windows.  It was warmer than I had expected. 

Not the exotic southern hills of the Pentland range today.  It was back to the north, heading up from Hillend to Caerketton. 

While I had missed the exciting pink sky as I climbed up the ridge, I saw that I was luckily in time for the finale as the sun peaked out over East Lothian.

It was wonderful.  Warm and alive.  

The ground was hard with frozen water, my shoes skidding around unless I walked in the deep heather.

Up on the ridge the views continued.

It was a good place to be.  A long way from work.  All back in perspective.  I was pressing reset with each step, each view, each breath.

The city was below, sleeping still perhaps but I was glad to be above it all.  I didn't carry on to Allermuir - I was still tired and just wanting an easy day.  I dropped back down to the car, an hour snatched from the week.

They were busy hills this morning - lots of runners up there.

Hillfit Manifesto

I've added a new page to the Hillfit Website - the Hillfit Manifesto.  The aim is to explain what it is all about, to summarise the drive behind the book.

Check it out and let me know what you think