Snow & Mountains

Jan 31st, Inverness. This week I had a day trip to Inverness for work - I took the first train from a wet and cold Stirling rather earlier than I normally like to get up (it was still dark for God's sake)! By the time the train had reached Pitlochry (60 miles north of Stirling) there was a lot of snow falling so I was a bit concerned that I might not get home that night (I did, although a bit later than expected). There was snow all the rest of way until, magically, it disappeared as we descended into Inverness- the locals say the city has a unique micro-climate, maybe it's true (although it was bloody freezing)!

On the way we passed through amazing countryside particularly the Cairngorms National Park where I was lucky enough to see 2 herds of wild deer (not sure if they were red or roe deer) and 3 to 4 pairs of startled black grouse flying up from the heather - apparently there are only 5000 breeding pairs left in the UK making them on the RSPB's 'red list'. They make the funniest clucking sound when they are scared (obviously I couldn't hear them from the train but you can listen to them on the RSPB website http://www.rspb.org.uk/). The wildlife and scenery was definitely the highlight of the trip since the actual workshop was uninspiring and not worth the 6 to 7 hour 300 mile round trip!

Feb 2nd, More hillwalking

Inspired by our walk last weekend in the forest park we decided to try a different route this time and headed for Strathyre Forest near Callander (it's still part of Queen Liz Forest Park which covers quite a large area taking in Loch Lomond too). It wasn't snowing in Stirling but by the time we had reached the hills there was a thick covering off-road which pleased Michael who loves snow (although he'd forgotten his gloves)! Luckily I had packed my style-icon woolly hat and scarf!

View of Ben Ledi with cottage & manky caravans in foreground

The directions on the website said we should turn off at the signpost for the Strathyre Forest Cabins which we found without too much trouble. After parking the car we walked along a road to see 3 ugly static caravans outside a cottage which weren't exactly the 'forest cabins' we had been expecting! We realised a mile down the road that we hadn't actually reached the cabins which were very impressive, large, wooden-built houses, not manky caravans! I quite fancy staying in one!

Me in Peruvian hat at waterfall viewpoint on Stank Glen walk, Ben Ledi

We decided to do the Stank Glen walk which is 3.75 miles and supposedly takes 3 hours (it only took 1.5 hours in the snow so the Forestry Commission are definitely over-generous in their estimates of walking time). It's on the eastern slope of Ben Ledi (Gaelic for Hill of God, apparently) which is part of the Trossach Hills. Stank has nothing to do with stinkiness, by the way, but means 'pool'. Apparently many years ago some people drowned in a pool covered in thin ice when following a funeral route over the mountain to a church.

Yay - I reached the top!

The views were gorgeous even though the snow clouds meant we couldn't see too far into the distance and we decided that we rather like being able to get out to do something outdoorsy so close to home even in winter. (If you live in Scotland and stay indoors in bad weather you will almost never go out)! The path doesn't take you to the summit but it gets near.

Michael looking cold at the highest point of the walk

We were wondering, when does a hill become a mountain? Apparently there's no agreement over how high a hill has to be before it's called a mountain although some sources say over 2000 feet (610 metres) qualifies as a mountain. Anyway, Ben Ledi's usually described as a mountain, so there!

We've caught the walking bug and are planning to join a young person's drinking, I mean walking group (under 40s only) if we can get Michael some decent boots and I can persuade him to get some thermals! Since we have been doing a few short and not too difficult walks we are hoping it won't be too much of a shock to the system to go on a 'proper' full day hillwalk right to a mountain summit .... The group's guidelines said we had to take a survival bag which put me off a bit. (What's a survival bag anyway? Like a body bag...)?