We’ve all done it. Climbed the sodding hill in a grey clag, unable to see a bloody thing. Then you trot down, look up and lo-and-behold, it’s suddenly a beautiful day up there. That is what happened on Clisham, the 799m highest point of the Western Isles. The photographs – one clear, one cloudy – are…
Roineabhal
We We were coasting through South Uist when the car lost power. It just died. Flat battery we thought. But, no. Even with jump leads attached to a Range Rover, car refused to play ball. Ever tried to find a mechanic in the Western Isles on a Sunday morning? Your chances are slim to nil….
Bynack More
The last time I ventured up Bynack More I turned back in whiteout conditions after reaching around 800 metres. Today was a total contrast: blue skies, light winds, a glorious mountain day. I was running by 8am, along the tracks east of Glenmore Lodge and up to Bynack Stable, and was on Bynack More’s impressie…
Ben Wyvis
I would make a rubbish polar explorer. For starters, I can’t even grow a convincing beard. But worse than that, I feel the cold acutely, particularly my hands. And yesterday on Ben Wyvis, the closest Munro to Inverness, was the worst I have experienced. The vile conditions on the plateau – horizontal snow showers, swirling…
Fannichs
I had no desire to prove the MWIS forecast correct. Despite all our foolish optimism, it was, obviously. High winds, poor visibility and zero per cent chance of cloud-free Munros, plus a weather warning for heavy rain from the Met Office. So, it was with some scepticism that Graham and I began running along the track to Loch…
Monadhliath
Today was my first proper long-distance mountain run, a 16-mile jaunt across three Monadhliath Munros above Newtonmore. It was also my first run with a bumbag – or beltpack as Inov8 like to jazzily call it – containing water, a little food, waterproof, Helly Hanson, map and compass. With the wind light, the temperature mild and…
Cioch Mhor
A mere 25 runners lined up for the Cioch Mhor hill race, partly because the event clashed with two major running events in Scotland, partly because there were only 25 mad enough people in the north to tackle a tortuous nine-mile slog with a cumulative climb of a shade under 700 metres. There’s no time to…
Knockfarrel
Knockfarrel is an annual five mile hill race up and down Cnoc Mor, a 269-metre hill that rises to the south-east of Strathpeffer. Despite its modest height, the race involves a climb of almost 400 vertical metres, two of which are up devilishly steep tracks. On the second one, to the trig pillar on the summit…
Sgurr na Lapaich
Two Glen Cannich Munros – Carn nan Gobhar and Sgurr na Lapaich – and their respective tops. An exquisite March day – sunny, still, clear skies – with views as far as the Cairngorms plateau in the east and the Cuillins in the west.
Little Wyvis
I like signs. Not mundane “passing place” or “give way” signs. I like the ones that tell you where you going, the ones that tell you where you are, the ones that dispense apparently vital information and – best of all – the ones that have no point or use. From personal experience, two favourites that instantly spring…
Carn nan Tri-tighearnan
Carn nan Tri-tighearnan – I’m glad I’m writing that name, not saying it – is the highest point in a swathe of land bordered by the A9, the Moray Firth and the River Findhorn. It is a bleak, brooding and melancholic place. Think Kinder Scout without the crowds. Once up on the high moor, the journey…
Non-mountain days
I haven’t been able to get into the hills and mountains for some time, partly because of the conditions and partly because I’ve been focusing on training for the Inverness half-marathon on March 8. There have been nine deaths in the UK hills in the last month – four in Snowdonia, four in the Highlands and one…
Heights of Madness 