A bit of midweek outdoors stuff to get you in the mood for some action at the weekend!

My usual iPhone photography and inane drivel… with a picture of my girlfriend’s bum near the end to keep you reading. Posted it up on my blog, but still like posting these things here too in the hope it cheers some of you miserable buggers up 🙂

Doctor and self-imposed time off the bikes is almost over (finally). I thought the last twelve months were going to be rubbish without riding, but it’s really given my body a chance to heal properly and allowed me to do things which I wouldn’t have done otherwise (since I’d always have been on the bikes!). I’m also fitter than I have been in a looooong time.

With a bit of time off work, what better way to spend it by disappearing to the Highlands and Islands for a few days.

First off we heading up to Fort William under heavy skies to meet Ben (mountain man extraordinaire!) for some climbing at Polldubh, some of the best crags in the UK, in the beautiful and dramatic setting of Glen Nevis. The weather looked like we might avoid rain, so we got cracking straight away, heading straight up for Secretaries’ Buttress.

The long(ish) slog up…well worth it!

Sensing the air beneath my feet at the end of the amazingly exposed traverse on The Flying Dutchman

Well protected, jugtastic and an easy pitch for tired arms…

Happy climbers, proudly sponsored by Mountain Equipment (I wish!)

All smiles as the suns starts burning through

Don’t look down. Patiently waiting for my leader to sort out the belay above me and out of sight.

Ben keeping a watchful eye on Anna as she seconds up the final pitch on tired arms.

Who says you can’t accessorise on the mountains?

After a fantastic days climbing we headed back to our usual camping spot when not spending the night on a mountain…Red Squirrel. It’s famous for many reasons – it’s in one of the most beautiful locations in Scotland, it’s walking distance from The Clachaig (easily the best pub in Scotland) and they allow you to have a campfire. It’s a great wee place, where you soon start spotting the same faces – climbers, walkers, bikers and people who just want to get pissed around a fire! The owner (who is a bit a character), has just gone to great expense in renewing the gents toilet and shower block. This might not sound like much, but trust me, it’s a HUGE improvement (especially when you spend every other weekend here!). Shame the girls are still having to rough it in the old blocks though.

With the tent pitched, camp fire lit and a couple of beers cracked open, Anna gets to work on that well know Jamie Oliver classic – tinned spaghetti bolognese with pitta bread. The tins were expertly opened with the tiny knife on a bottle opener (you can tell we get out priorities right, bringing a bottle opener but no tin opener!). The attack on the tins was so brutal that some kind soul wandered over to give us some kindling for the fire since he could hear us “frantically chopping wood”. Must remember the tin opener next time.

After dinner and a couple of beers, we make the weekly pilgrimage up to The Clachaig. If you’ve never been, you really are missing something a bit special. Winter or summer, snow or sunshine, this place is always buzzing. If you like beers, it’s heaven – there’s always about a dozen cask beers on. Just don’t drink eight pints of “Black Gold” if you’ve pitched your tent 100 yards away from the toilet block…

It tastes alright when you’ve got bugger else all to eat.

The road to Skye…

There is only one problem with this otherwise perfect island…the weather. Skye is a fair old drive from pretty much every major city and the weather is either beautiful or horrific. I’ve yet to see an “OK” day on Skye. That can make trip planning a bit of a problem.

If you are on the island to sample it’s fantastic restaurants (including the truly amazing Kinloch Lodge, a Michelin starred delight) and kick back in an upmarket B&B, then the weather might not be an issue. However, if you’re planning to take advantage of what Skye is REALLY famous for…The Black Cuillin…then bad weather can bring with it gruelling climbing and often extremely dangerous conditions.

The Cuillin is one of the most formidable mountain ranges in the UK, and the mountains bring with them a unique and challenging atmosphere which most climbers and walkers love.

On the road to Skye…one of those “I love my life” moments.

If you plan to climb in the Black Cuillin and you are planning on camping, there isn’t a better location than Glenbrittle campsite. Situated on the beach at Glenbrittle, the Cuillin loom behind you with a menacing silence which belies the scale of the task of traversing the range. You can’t hear the roars of the wind rushing over the summits from the campsite, only the gentle lapping of waves from the beach in front of you.

Glenbrittle campsite has an adequately stocked shop, but you’re a good hour return trip by car to pick up booze, so buy before you arrive! It’s pretty cheap to stay here considering the prime location, facilities and general cleanliness and state of repair of the site. What’s REALLY impressive about Glenbrittle (and I highly commend them for this) is that all of the pitches are set out for maximum individual privacy. In a world where any real estate is maximised and where campsites often put tents a few feet apart, you are pretty much guaranteed your own little slice of Skye here. Apparently I’m not the only one who appreciates this place – The Daily Telegraph voted it the best campsite in the UK.

The Black Cuillin admiring my creative way of airing the now rather smelly sleeping bags

You really don’t get much better than this…Super Quasar taking in the Super Views.

Looking over past Glenbrittle towards a pot of gold. It’s amazing how small these giants look from here

The weather isn’t always this nice on Skye, but when it is…

There is a huge amount of choice on offer in The Black Cuillin in terms of walking and climbing, from pretty intense to insane. There really isn’t much on offer for those who want to bag an “easy” munro. We opted for Sgurr na Banachdich. This was selected for two reasons – it’s the midpoint of The Cuillin and the views are outstanding, and secondly, it’s more easily ascended/descended in poor visibility or bad weather than most of the other summits. Technically, you could get up this without much need for your hands, but you can pretty much make this as easy or as difficult as you please – it starts from sea level and climbs relentlessly for 965m (3,166ft) over pretty rough ground. Getting up any of the Black Cuillin can be a bit of a shock for those more used to easier, but often higher peaks, in Scotland. The climbing is constant, the gradient steep, the route often vague, good navigation skills required and the pitfalls and plentiful and serious. We decided to take a direct and rather gruelling ascent to the summit, where a bit of scrambling was most definitely the order of the day! However it would ensure we hit the summit in good time, hoping to catch the views before the weather moved in.

You won’t be smiling for long.

Steep and loose. I’ve never been hit by so many dislodged rocks on one little section. Anna’s still not mastered the use of “below!”

Looking across the stunning Sgurr nan Gobhar. Almost at cloud level now.

Big boulders mean big strides and a fantastic pace scrambling the last 750ft as direct as possible.

The weather beginning to make its fickle presence known.

Ha! I can see the tent from here! (seriously)

Starting up the final push to the summit after a short breather.

Almost there…the precarious ridges of The Black Cuillin are a nightmare in poor visility, with over 1,000ft drop in some places.

Standing tall (and knackered) after jogging along the ridge to the summit cairn. [img]http://professionalwreckhead.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/IMG_3184.jpg[/img]

West from the summit.

South west from the summit.

Unfortunately (or luckily, depending on how you look at it) we were only afforded around 5 minutes of clear weather after hitting the summit before visibility was reduced to a few feet. Rain, hail, snow…but fortunately very little wind, replaced the sunshine we had enjoyed on the way up.

Grateful for the small window of good weather to take in the views, we realised that hanging about wasn’t an option, the weather was worsening and we had over 3,000ft of precarious rock to get back down. Judging by the level at which the cloud came in at, I estimated we would hit clearer weather at around 2,000ft, so we opted again for the most direct (and precarious!) route off the summit.

I’ve always been a fan of jogging off mountains wherever possible, and the snow and scree covered slopes from around 2,300ft were absolutely great fun! We managed to get off the summit and back down to the main path at 500ft in just over an hour! It was a great laugh, but not without a few bum scrapes, as Anna’s leggings can testify…

Running down snow covered scree is not advisable if you climb in leggings!

After getting back to Glenbrittle and stuffing down as much food as we could cook, we finished off the remaining beers and settled down to enjoy on of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve seen in a long time. My extremely amateur photography could not ever begin to show how amazing the evening really was. Fortunately, my own memory is richer in images from that night than my memory card is.

Is there somewhere else you’d rather be?

Anna playing in the waves.

Good night and good bye Skye…see you in a couple of weeks 😉

Great stuff.

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NIce start to day – thanks! Nice ending in every way!

mmmmm bum. 😉

I do very similar stuff, just with my dad though… been trying to get my other half into something, giuess snowboarding will have to do.

Great stuff.
Andy.

NIce bum, good read.

That mud looks suspiciously like fingerprints to me!!

Great pics, love Skye, teeny bit jealous,

That mud looks suspiciously like fingerprints to me!!

Great pics, love Skye, teeny bit jealous,

ha ha, I can assure you Rodger, they probably are fingerprints! 🙂

Managed to get a quality Anna-ism out of the this (which led to the picture), after she tried to wipe the dirt off and exclaimed:

“Oh no! I think I have a hole on my bum! Look! Do I have hole on my bum?!”

Yes darling, you do.

Tooled to the max with kit and you eat tinned pasta? Bleurgh!

You kids need to learn to source some proper bushtucker for cooking round the old campfire.

Otherwise nice pics

Excellent stuff. The crag in the first bit looks nice and not too intimidating.

I’ve done that walk/scramble up to Sgurr Bannachdich. It was amazing – the Cuillin really is a very special place, never seen anything quite like it.

Have to agree on the food front though – not hard to make some top camping meals, risotto is a good ‘un.

ps Your girlfriend is very cute 😳

ha ha! we do normally eat quite well (even on wild camps), but forgot to pop into Glencoe village on the way back, so decided to eat what was in the bottom of my pack – some tinned crap! I don’t even know where the pittas came from 🙂

great pics! did some years back…the exposure on cuillen reaafirmed my vertigo…great place though…managed to cook a gourmet feast after coming off cuillen of chicken wrapped in parma ham with a flash sauce/spuds

nice bum!

I was going to say i came for the bum but was impressed by the other pics too. But that would be unfortunate phrasing 😀

If you dont mind me asking what injury did you have that kept you off cycling for a year but still able to do climbing?

still hasn’t mastered the use of “below”

My mrs once knocked loose a chunk of rock the size of a microwave oven, then let it bounce down and roll over my hand because she “couldn’t remember what it is you’re supposed to shout.”

I told her “F***!” would do fine next time.

If you dont mind me asking what injury did you have that kept you off cycling for a year but still able to do climbing?

Don’t mind at all…I made a thread about it on here last year Advised to give up MTB

Basically, it was a DH accident which left me with a fractured shoulder, clavicle and 3 ribs + costochondral separation. The bones healed nicely, however it was the third time I’d suffered costochondral separation (which, IMO, is far worse than a fairly clean break and takes longer to properly heal).

I was advised to avoid any potential impact to my chest. Easier said than done!

I tend to fall off my bike a lot, and my core takes a bit of a beating, so any remotely serious MTB was off the cards for a while.

I’ve found that climbing has strengthened my core considerably, which should help me resist further separation in future (well, that’s the theory anyway!)

🙂

I would be taking her off the market if i were you.
You are a very lucky chap ( discounting the shoulder injury ) still being able to climb , and have a g/f who seems happy join in as well.
cracking pics , never been.- looks ace .

All good. Ta for posting