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good sunday evening to you all. brad and i went for a lovely walk today and i thought id share a couple of photos of us. if you ever fancy a trip to the country, let us know and we will be there!!





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Snowing was it ?  :D

Complete white out by the looks of things!

rotflmfao

yeah blizzard conditions today, mads new camera is working well :D

im on the laptop tonight and dont have the software to resize my phots. can anyone suggest anything

Sorry Mad, I can't suggest anything.  Not to worry, we will look forward to them tommorow.  :D

http://www.irfanview.com/

Sandy

ok 100th time lucky :)



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Nice views, Mad.   Where is that?  It looks a perfect place to take a dog a walk.

its the hills between aberfoyle and loch katrine. you can see the highland fault from the little hill we climbed and excellent views of ben lomond and about 15 other munros including the cobbler

Hi Mad,

Great photos.  Can you tell me what a munro is?  My colleagues brother is a bit of a walker and she's always talking about him climbing the munros and I don't really get it.

Cheers

Scottish peak over 3000ft. There are 284 of them .

Great Photo Mad :) I up - was up staying at loch ard/queen elizabeth forest park a few weeks ago with my wife.....fresh air and great scenery..ben lomond  and ben venue looked brilliant

thanks sandy. ive downloaded a programme and think ive resized this one using it. cheers buddy

this is one of a snow dump on the lowlands just west of quenn elizabeth park which is beautiful patman. we were walking round exactly where you were. yes and a munro is a mountain over 3000ft as sark described


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Do you do alot of walking, Mad?

I once climbed Ben Nevis when I was younger, with an ex girlfriend.

 It was alot of fun and very cold even though it was August.

It was really relaxing I thought.

i used to climb a lot. ive done ben lomond 3 times, ben lui 3 times, ben ledi 3 times and ben more twice. i also climb a little hill called glengoyne (the camels hump or the very end campsie hill where all of the campsie hills were spewed out of a very long time ago. its an old volcano) a zillion times
now as bradley is so unfit we are starting off with hills about 1000-1500 ft and we will build up to ben lomond in the spring. we do walk a lot and my mums collie loves fishing for boulders in water so we try to go where she can have a paddle too.
here she is


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by the way sark, im impressed youve done be nevis. i fancy that but have never done it before. was it easy?

Nice pic's Mr and Mrs Mad.

Are all mountains in Scotland called Ben-something?

yes nemesis, it appears that way. ben means mountain i think

Yep, Ben means mountain..

from a Ben Nevis website


 Ben Nevis is almost always referred to by climbers as simply The Ben (Ben meaning Mountain). The word Nevis is derived from the Irish word “neamheis” meaning terrible and another Irish word “ni-mhaise” meaning no beauty. However the first detailed map of the Scottish highlands drawn by Timothy Pont in 1595, shows the mountain as “Ben Novesh”.

No, Ben Nevis wasn't that hard, Mad. But I was about 16 when I did it, so it may be harder now that I am an old guy at 26. :D

I love walking and running. My dog broke his toe today and will be out of action for 6 weeks. So it will be gentle walks for him untill he gets better.

My other dog also likes running with me, but he is charming and stops and talks to everyone. So when I go running with him, it takes hours. I don't know how a dog can be so charming. He has about 100 friends and countless girlfriends  :D

Your mums dog is nice.

Ben Nevis was so, so cold. That was the hardest thing about it. When I did it, an American who was unprepared and wearing shorts and T-Shirt had hyperthermia(sp?). I gave him my gloves and cagoul (sp?).  I have to get a dictionary. lol. My spelling is crap



 

the hill at the very end of the campsie range here is the camels hump. its hard to believe it spewed out the rest of the range to the left. yes, the whole lot



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ah one of me favourite topic.

Dumgoyne is a funny wee hill and nice to get up as  a start to the campsies. Nevis is a good walk but it can get a wee bit pedestrian wi the amount of folk on the main path...and ye only get a view on about 60 odd days a year..but what a vire.

Not all hills are called "ben" or Beinn....Schehiallion for a start ...also a nice gentle munro walk.

Mad - seems as if you have been round the trossachs doing the hills..all nice ones too.

as a way of getting fit and staying fit as well as seeing our country it cant be beat!

an hour north of glasgow and there are about 9 or 10 munros that can be done with amazing views...not bad for a wee country

do i assume you are a bit of a munro bagger pat?

Not a bagger more an enthusiast.

i enjoy a corbett or a wee glen walk just as much as munros....but any time spent up a hill is quality time...dont count them as i think "bagging" takes away from the real pleasure...besides some of them are bloody awful.

have probably done a fair number of munros over the years but i dont count or record and also  have done a few several times...ben lawyers , lomond and cruachan ...but i enjoy the whw and also just going for a stroll up the arrochar alps for a day out...
got bad knees know so need to do it sparingly which means weight gain and lack of fitness...and too much guiness ;D

I hope to climb Nevis before I'm 30.  Have done Snowdon so far and want to get Scaffell and Nevis done soon.  Did Pen y Fan when i was in scouts but want to get the three peaks finished.  Never been to Scotland so am looking forward to eventually sorting it out. 

Snowdon was a very frightening experience for me.  I left all the preparation to my mate and quickly realised he didn't have a clue as he turned up with a guidebook and nothing else.  We were supposed to take the pyg tack up and the miners track down.  They meet not far from the top which is fine on the pyg track, but you have to make sure you take the correct path on the descent to the miners track.  We didn't and ended up tkaing an hour and a half to get back on to the path.  At points we were actually climbing down with no equipment.  Not an experience that I'd like to repeat.

I've heard that Nevis is not so much challenging as it is long, is this right?

Isn't K2 suppose to be the most dangerous?

I don't think so.  I was watching a documentary the other week on an expedition to somewhere else.  The name escapes me but I think they were saying it claims more lives than everest or K2.  I'll try and remember the name and post later.

Nevis is pretty much a long slog. can take it an easy pace about 4 to 4.5 hrs up the main path. It has several mixed gradients so ye can get a breather. Its also good to turn round and take in the view (presuming the mist or rain has lifted).
 It can be dangerous when people just use the path and dont take map compass etc and mark waypoints,the mist comes down, they get disorientated and out comes the mobile phone for mountain rescue ::). Normal rules apply prepare, dress properly and plan.
For the highest mountain in scotland i think there are better walks for better views but i suppose it is good to have done it. Its more of a climbers mountain than a walkers.

hell if ye come up sometime and want someone to accompany you up it i`ll see if i can tie in. then have a huge session in fort william

To be honest for me it's more of a "I've climbed all three" thing, rather than going for the view.  The fact that I'll have taken a few years to do it as opposed to the 24hrs that some of my mates did it in is irrelevant.  Although I was gutted when my colleague climbed Snowdon with her husband.  She came back with some amazing photos from the top etc and mine are all just grey everywhere. 

top tip...if the photo`s are all grey and crap you just say that was the best you could get in the whiteout that came down suddenly...before bravely battling of the hill... ;D

I agree with every word of this. 

It can be very cold on top even when it is t-shirt weather at the bottom.  In addition, the weather can change very quickly indeed.  It is bloody Scotland after all.

The 'tourist' path goes within a few feet of the potentially lethal Gardaloo Gulley close to the summit. To make life even more interesting, the 'path' at this point is virtually non-existent as the top is a barren boulder field.  It's not an issue if you can see where you're going, but be prepared to navigate a dog-leg on a compass bearing if the visibility is really bad.  A year or so ago, one of the walking mags gave directions (complete with compass bearings and map) that lead straight over the edge!  :blonde: 

Don't worry though, if you stray too far the other way you fall down Five Finger Gulley instead.

There are much more interesting routes up the mountain than the 'tourist' path but they are a bit 'airy' and not for the uncommitted.

The last time I climbed it was in Summer with my daughter who was then about 10.  We marched steadily up the tourist path in about 3 and a half hours.  We were admiring the view at the top (which consisted of unbroken cloud below us, i.e. bugger all) when we heard bagpipes!  A group of a dozen or so Munroe baggers were arriving, having climbed the long arrete up the other side of the mountain.  The last one to arrive at the trig point on top was completing his 284th and final Munroe.  To the sound of said bagpipes (from a cassette deck), the popping of champagne bottles and the clicking of his mates' cameras, he climbed the two or three steps up to the top of the trig point   ;letsparty;...................and fell arse over tit as he slipped on the icy steps. Not quite how he had envisaged his moment of glory, I guess!  rotflmfao

There are about 7,291 more interesting mountains in Scotland than Ben Nevis, but I still want to have a crack at the fell race one day.  The thing that is worrying me is that the record time is under 90 minutes.  Going up at that pace must be truly brutal and the descent positively suicidal.  In fact I suspect that the record was awarded posthumously  :D

On second thoughts, perhaps this is one ambition that is best left unfulfilled.  ;scarymoment;

nice post 12bar...laughed at the bit about the top...but its so true...