Hikes on the West Yorkshire hills and further afield
When friend Jenny suggested a trip to the Cairngorms, I jumped at the chance.
She had been out with Cairngorm Treks previously and really enjoyed the experience. So she liaised with Simon (Lead Guide and owner) to arrange a trek for a few of us (myself, Jenny, Karl and Taru: challenge walk mates in the guise of ‘Butterley Booters’).
I was sat with a large rock outcrop to my back, wind-sheltered and (sort of) warm. Watching the outliers from a small herd of red deer, below, watching me. I had just used my ice axe to prise a small bit of quartz from the vein above my head. A souvenir of sorts and a link to the archeological texts I’ve been reading of late. As well as lithic tool, quartz symbolized, as I understand it, moon and water, sight and seed*. I was feeling quite the nature boy. Feeling connected to hill and history. Feeling happy.
I got contacted today by an app developer who has brought out an app (for Android initially I think) for people looking to do the West Highland Way. I’d love to do this path / trail its entirety – on my bucket list, as having driven up most of it (and walked a tiny part + one mountain at the northern end) it’s a beautiful … read more >
Our second day on Rum was going to less about height and more about distance. We were heading over to Guirdil, the other Bothy on Rum. And what a beautiful start to the day – it was blue skies from the start. The occasionally heard cuckoo from the day before had made a couple of appearances during the night, I was blaming that, rather my snoring for keeping tent partner Nigel awake. Looking up Dibidil Glen – post-breakfast snooze in … read more >
This was to be our first full day on the Isle of Rum, with a traverse of the Cuillins and a stay at Dibidil Bothy that night. Firstly – a quick ad : before this trip I was chatting to a blogger and a man with real knowledge of the Scottish Islands, Pete writes over at http://writesofway.com/ and was really … read more >
Part #1 isn’t actually about Rum at all. More of that in the 2nd part of this extended post. This is the ‘Let’s climb a Mountain on the way up to climbing some Mountains’ post. The plan was to get our walking legs in after a few hours of driving from Marsden en route to Mallaig (to get the ferry … read more >