Tr ~ Am Bathach

Ho do you do it? You're away every weekend, yet I've climbed
nothing since last October! I think I need to cancel all my
commitments and get out onto the hills!!!!

Jim

Graham Ingram said:

On my own today as regular walking partner Frank was
housebound so a chance for me to catch up with a Corbett
he had climbed before but I had missed. An early drive to
Glen Shiel saw me parked at 8:45 and walking minutes
later. I took the direct route up the front of the hill
from the A87 and summitted in 1 hour 15 mins. A delightful
summit with some terrific views and definitely an example
of a Corbett that should be climbed at the same time as
the neighbouring Munro, in this case Ciste Dubh. This lone
Corbett sits amongst the Kintail Munro's and from the
summit you can view all of North Glen Shiel, most of South
Glen Shiel and the significant Munro's in Affric and
beyond. As it had been misty on the way up but then
cleared I decided just to retrace my upwards route and get
the benefit of the narrow and very steep sided ridge. The
views along the South Cluanie Ridge were spectacular with
high snow patches still on most of the mountains. Having
got used to the height drop between Corbetts it is
incredible to think that there are 7 Munro's on the ridge
with hardly any drop between them. A very enjoyable if
short outing, 2 hours from car to car.

Jim Willsher

Homepages at jimwillsher.co.ukjimwillsher.co.ukOpen ↗

In article <[email hidden]>, graham.

(Graham Ingram) said:

A very enjoyable if short outing, 2 hours from car
to car.

IMHO you are being a bit of a whimp here. Only 2 hours walk
on a hill day! You should have dropped to the bottom of the
valley and also done Sgurr Mhic B! (I did it the afternoon
of doing Sguman Coinntich in the morning 8-) After a short
hill, squeeze in another one and you'll greatly reduce the
munber of hills day 8-)) just a suggestion... Rob

"Jim Willsher" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Ho do you do it? You're away every weekend, yet I've
climbed nothing

since

Quoted message said:

last October! I think I need to cancel all my
commitments and get

out onto

Quoted message said:

the hills!!!!

Hi Jim, long time no speak !

I have to admit I AM very lucky in a number of key elements
for getting away most weekends

a) I have a very understanding wife who works Saturdays
b) I am off most Saturdays although I have to be "on call"
one in four
c) I have a fully expensed company car so there is no real
cost of travel to me involved
d) I have 30 days holiday a year to use if needed to
enhance the weekends
e) As I work for an essentially English company I get all
the national ( English )Bank Holidays as well as the
local Scottish ones.
f) Having a regular walking partner helps as well as
there is then dual motivation to go out even in the
poorer weather
g) Bad weather walking has never bothered me so we tend to
go out in all conditions ( unless really extreme )
h) On top of all that I have a very understanding boss who
also believes in work / life balance and knows I walk
regularly and takes an interest in what I am doing.
i) Apart from walking I have no other hobby that is time
hungry or demands regular commitments
j) I ensure that regular family holidays are taken that
suit my wife and that walking does NOT feature in them.

And finally I personally find that working through a list ,
Munro's or Corbett's also stimulates regular commitment to
seeing the totals rise, apart from getting to parts of
Scotland that I otherwise would never see.

All in all I am a very happy and lucky bunny ! ( currently
planning my next long weekend to include the Skye and Harris
Corbett's )

Cheers Graham

"Rob Milne" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

graham. (Graham Ingram) said:

A very enjoyable if short outing, 2 hours from car
to car.

IMHO you are being a bit of a whimp here. Only 2 hours
walk on a

hill

Quoted message said:

day! You should have dropped to the bottom of the valley
and also

done

Quoted message said:

Sgurr Mhic B! (I did it the afternoon of doing Sguman
Coinntich in

the

Quoted message said:

morning 8-) After a short hill, squeeze in another one and
you'll greatly reduce

the

Quoted message said:

munber of hills day 8-)) just a suggestion... Rob

That would be the normal preferred option and usual practise
if both Frank and I were on the hill together. This was just
a catch up day for me as he couldn't make it on Saturday so
I was just filling in a Corbett he had done. I suspect that
Sgurr M B may get twinned with Sgurr an Airgid for a day
trip with your last outing to Sgurr Gaorsaic being a day
trip to itself, without the Affric Munro's added ! ! ! I
think this was in fact my shortest day on the hill ever but
would have to check my diaries to be sure. If not the
shortest it can't be far off it. It also meant an early
arrival back home at 1:30 pm and as my wife had Saturday
afternoon off this week some Brownie points were gained
which keeps me ok for the next trip as in my response to Jim
elsewhere.

Cheers Graham

"Jim Willsher" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Ho do you do it? You're away every weekend, yet I've
climbed nothing since last October! I think I need to
cancel all my commitments and get out onto the hills!!!!

..and you live in Scotland too! Think how the rest of
us feel...

Rob Extremely harrassed and office-bound IT Manager
regretting not doing the TGO Challenege til I saw the
weather this week.

Graham Ingram said:

"Jim Willsher" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Ho do you do it? You're away every weekend, yet I've
climbed nothing

since

Quoted message said:

last October! I think I need to cancel all my commitments
and get

out onto

Quoted message said:

the hills!!!!

Hi Jim, long time no speak !

I have to admit I AM very lucky in a number of key elements
for getting away most weekends

a) I have a very understanding wife who works Saturdays
b) I am off most Saturdays although I have to be "on call"
one in four
c) I have a fully expensed company car so there is no real
cost of travel to me involved
d) I have 30 days holiday a year to use if needed to
enhance the weekends
e) As I work for an essentially English company I get all
the national ( English )Bank Holidays as well as the
local Scottish ones.
f) Having a regular walking partner helps as well as
there is then dual motivation to go out even in the
poorer weather
g) Bad weather walking has never bothered me so we tend to
go out in all conditions ( unless really extreme )
g) On top of all that I have a very understanding boss who
also believes in work / life balance and knows I walk
regularly and takes an interest in what I am doing.
h) Apart from walking I have no other hobby that is time
hungry or demands regular commitments
i) I ensure that regular family holidays are taken that
suit my wife and that walking does NOT feature in
them.

And finally I personally find that working through a list ,
Munro's or Corbett's also stimulates regular commitment to
seeing the totals rise, apart from getting to parts of
Scotland that I otherwise would never see.

All in all I am a very happy and lucky bunny ! ( currently
planning my next long weekend to include the Skye and
Harris Corbett's )

Cheers Graham

It's Point H which kills me! I never have the free time. I
think that will be the theme for the whole year for me, I
don't envisage much walking getting done this year.

Jim

Jim Willsher

Homepages at jimwillsher.co.ukjimwillsher.co.ukOpen ↗

"Graham Ingram" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

I have to admit I AM very lucky in a number of key
elements for getting away most weekends

a) I have a very understanding wife who works Saturdays
b) I am off most Saturdays although I have to be "on
call" one in four
c) I have a fully expensed company car so there is no
real cost of travel to me involved
d) I have 30 days holiday a year to use if needed to
enhance the weekends
e) As I work for an essentially English company I get all
the national ( English )Bank Holidays as well as the
local Scottish ones.
f) Having a regular walking partner helps as well as
there is then dual motivation to go out even in the
poorer weather
g) Bad weather walking has never bothered me so we tend
to go out in all conditions ( unless really extreme )
g) On top of all that I have a very understanding boss
who also believes in work / life balance and knows I
walk regularly and takes an interest in what I am
doing.
h) Apart from walking I have no other hobby that is time
hungry or demands regular commitments
i) I ensure that regular family holidays are taken that
suit my wife and that walking does NOT feature in
them.

And finally I personally find that working through a list
, Munro's or Corbett's also stimulates regular commitment
to seeing the totals rise, apart from getting to parts of
Scotland that I otherwise would never see.

All in all I am a very happy and lucky bunny ! ( currently
planning my next long weekend to include the Skye and
Harris Corbett's )

How far do you typically drive to bag a hill or two? I live
in Bristol and when I first got interested in the hills up
North I used to think nothing of driving the 200-250 miles
to Snowdonia or The Lake District in the early hours of
Saturday morning and then back Sunday evening for a quick
weekend's walking and scrambling. That's far too much
effort these days and trips are limited to longer stays in
the school holidays either with my girlfriend in her
campervan or backpacking and wildcamping by myself (mostly
Scotland). I get a more regular outdoors fix from local
strolls, mountain biking and running. Half past nine and
I've been on a 15 mile bike ride around the local woods
already this morning.

"AndyP" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

How far do you typically drive to bag a hill or two?
I live in

Bristol and

Quoted message said:

when I first got interested in the hills up North I used
to think

nothing of

Quoted message said:

driving the 200-250 miles to Snowdonia or The Lake
District in the

early

Quoted message said:

hours of Saturday morning and then back Sunday evening
for a quick

weekend's

Quoted message said:

walking and scrambling.

I suppose the easy answer to the question is as far as it
takes to get there ;-) My most local hills, Ben Chonzie (
Munro ) and Auchnafree Hill ( Corbett ) are less than 10
minutes drive from the house and in fact I could walk to
both from the house without using the car at all. I once
counted about 100 Munro's less than 2 hours from the house.
Crieff is almost ideally placed on the main routes and with
an early Saturday morning start and lack of traffic it is
more about drive time than distance. I can be in Glencoe or
the Cairngorms in under 1.5 hours and as far as Inverness in
under 2 hours. This even brings the far North into play for
a day trip if the hill time is fairly short, so for example
when we did Seana Bhraigh we simply drove North, did the
hill and drove back home again. Now that the Corbett's are
the main focus I can even be into the Galloway and Border
Hills in well under 2 hours. I suppose realistically my
average drive time will be around 2 hours each way and this
will cover the bulk of the significant hills in Scotland. We
tend to try to keep the multi day trips for the islands or
Knoydart etc where the travel then does become much more
significant.

Cheers Graham

"Graham Ingram" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I can be in Glencoe or the Cairngorms in under 1.5 hours
and as far as Inverness in under 2 hours. This even
brings the far North into play for a day trip if the hill
time is fairly short, so for example when we did Seana
Bhraigh we simply drove North, did the hill and drove
back home again. Now that the Corbett's are the main
focus I can even be into the Galloway and Border Hills in
well under 2 hours.

I am seething with jealousy :-) From here I can access the
Galloway/Border Hills in probably slightly less than you,
but Drumochter and Glencoe are about 2 hours north. As
almost everything I do is via the A82 or A9, the driving
gets a bit tedious although it is a lot better with the
light mornings now.

KRO