Ben Alder bothy adventure

Continuing on from the western isles cycling tour... Jo got the train back to Edinburgh, and I got off at Newtonmore, found a campground nearby & pitched the tent! I was meeting Heather in Dalwhinnie early afternoon so I biked up to Shepherd's Bush intending to climb a nearby munro (A'Chailleach), or maybe two (+ Carn Sgulain) if there was time (or maybe three if I ran (+ Carn Dearg)... so I did). It took longer to get back to my bike than anticipated because it was really boggy, so I had to race to Dalwhinnie (a wee bit late to meet Heather)...





We set off along the west side of Loch Ericht & up to Culra Bothy via Loch Pattack. It was a really nice bike ride in - the rocky terrain & dodgy footbridge were a bit of a challenge with the panniers but sometimes I quite like challenges so it was okay. The bothy was really big (3 rooms with a fireplace in 2!) - we dumped our gear & set off up the NE ridge to Ben Alder, then round via the saddle to climb Beinn Bheoil. It was a great hike but by the time we got back to the bothy (8:30pm) I was pretty shattered!

Sunday was forecast to be miserable weather - that turned out to be an optimistic forecast, especially on the tops. We climbed straight up behind Culra bothy to the top of Carn Dearg (a different one!) - there are 4 munros in a circuit from here but we couldn't see anything & the wind was really strong, so we just dropped down the North side into another valley and took the 'lower option' back, which meant we could actually see something, picked up the bikes & set off back to Dalwhinnie. That's where the adventure began - we'd tried to reserve our bikes on the train without any luck, so had no choice but to 'wing it' and try getting on anyway...


The thought of being stuck in Dalwhinnie was making us slightly nervous until we saw this sign :) With 3 mins to go we realised we were on the wrong platform (signs were very unclear) so we had to carry our bikes up & over the step - my front wheel hit the railing & the handlebars rebounded to clock me perfectly in the forehead - OUCH!! The train was now in and the conductor telling Heather we couldn't get on because the bike spaces were already fully booked (although the bike racks appeared to be empty, very annoying). However, I looked suitably pathetic - massive egghead, watery eyes and totally spaced out - so the lady took pity on us & said we could get on until Perth...RESULT!

I've thoroughly enjoyed all the adventures in the last few weeks, but it was extremely nice to get home, have a shower and sleep in my own bed!

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Western Isles Cycle Tour

A quick turnaround on Saturday, before another adventure with Jo!! We got an early train to Oban, had time to look around for a couple of hours, and then a ferry crossing to Barra (Castlebay) - the journey took up most of Sunday :) Barra is tiny so we set off on arrival (8:30pm) to use the remaining daylight - made it up to the north side near the airport and got a great campspot.






Monday: Barra Airport is cool - the planes are scheduled around tide times as planes actually land/take-off on the beach! Ferry Crossing to Eriskay, and the real cycling began... the weather was great and we'd decided to go pretty far on the first day - most people had told us there wasn't so much to see in the Uists so better to leave more time for Harris/Lewis. We had a lunchstop at Howmore (South Uist)which was really pretty, and then carried on through Benbecula and North Uist to Berneray. The hostel was amazing - 2 old whitestone buildings with thatched roofs, situated right on the beach. Campers can use the facilities for £6 at the GHHT hostels - great deal!



Tuesday: I had a run around the beach & up a small hill in the morning, before we set off to get the ferry to Harris. Unfortunately the weather started to change & for the rest of the day it was a mixture of heavy rain, beautiful sunshine, wind, rain, more sunshine, etc etc - typical Scottish weather! We had a fun time though (despite much more hills than the previous day!) and thought that Harris was beautiful. We went up the west coast to begin with, then inland to Tarbet before continuing North-East to a place called Kershader.





Wednesday: We set off in the rain but it cleared up quickly and turned out to be a pretty nice day. We headed west across Lewis to the standing stones at Callanish (very impressive), briochs, and the blackhouse museum at Garenin. Lots of historic buildings/ruins with really interesting stories about typical island lifestyles. There was another GHHT hostel at the blackhouses so we pitched our tent in an old ruin & went for a walk up the hill - the view were amazing & there was a really great sunset over the beach & cliffs!



Thursday: Leaving most of our stuff at the blackhouse hostel, we biked up to the Butt of Lewis (the very top!)..there were some great views on the way up, but the top itself was a bit boring :) The way back the wind was against us the whole way - it felt like 5 or 6 RPM classes back-to-back :)




Friday: We followed a route along a disused railway line back to Stornoway and jumped on a ferry back to Ullapool. We finally had a seafood meal (had been looking for somewhere the last few days but there seems to be a distinct lack of restaurants or shops on Lewis - Tesco Direct is apparently the way to go!) before getting on the bike bus back to Inverness. Such a fun trip!!

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Lots of fun stuff :)

I got back from Slovenia & had a couple of days at Braemar with Richard - we cycled in passed Linn of Dee & climbed a couple of munroes, I practiced my navigation & map-reading skills! I came back to Edinburgh for a token day's work (2 x rpm plus some meetings & organising of the performance programme for next year). On Thursday we did an orienteering event near St.Andrews - part of the Scottish Orienteering champs which Richard was involved in organising. It was really good fun, I did 2 courses and managed both of them better than I expected to, but I reckon it must have been a pretty easy area :) On Friday we went to the beach with Gav & Jen, had a picnic & played some frisbee!




Saturday was Lesley's hen party - hilarious! We were all cowgirls, which actually wasn't as cheesy as I thought it might be (apart from the pink hats :) and had a really good laugh in town. Sunday we went to see a couple of shows at the festival - Jo, her mum, Steve, Helen, Richard & I. A Compas Flamenco and Capoeira Knights: Boys from Brazil - both were fantastic!


On Monday Richard & I drove up to Glen Shiel to do some hiking & camping. Got seriously ATTACKED by midges the first night - my eyes were swollen to the point I could hardly open them in the morning.... NOT fun. We had plans to climb 9 munroes along the South Shiel Ridge from West to East, then cycle back from the Cluanie Inn. The weather was rubbish so we just did The Saddle & Forcan Ridge to Sgurr na Skine, then dropped back down - it just wasn't worth it in the conditions. Day 2 didn't start much better so after hanging out doing some crosswords in the Cluanie Inn we decided to head up another couple of munros on the North side - A'Chralaig & Mullach Fraoch-choire. It cleared up and we had a really nice hike, with a fun scramble on the ridge & pinnacles of MFC.




Day 3 - finally the forecast was for better weather so we headed up to do the remaining 7 munros on the South Side. The clouds lifted quite quickly and we had some great views... it was actually quite a straightforward hike, and not as challenging as doing 'seven' might sound! We both felt fine, so actually planned to do another 7 on the North Side the next day (starting with the 5 sisters of Kintail). The weather had other plans and it LASHED down from the minute we got up, so again, decided we'd leave those ones for another time. Back to Edinburgh with a few pitstops - still pouring - and out for a nice meal at Oscars!

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Slovenia

I decided to book a last minute holiday in Slovenia - cheap flights from London so I just tagged it onto the end of County Week! It was full of activity, adventures, adrenaline & fun - I felt like I needed a holiday at the end of it all ;) All the pictures/videos are on my Slovenia Web Album.

Day 1:
I got collected from Ljubljana airport and arrived at hostel (Pod Voglom!) next to Lake Bohinj around Sat lunchtime. I had my first activity (high ropes adrenaline course!) at 5pm that afternoon so hired a bike & set off to explore straight away... Up to Slap Savica waterfall at the east end of the lake and then around the lake to the nearest village (Ribicev Laz) where there are a couple of shops & tourist info, restaurants etc. The high ropes course was great fun – a mixture of climbing/abseiling, jumping, swinging & balancing across various tricky courses.... good start to the holiday!


Day 2:
I ran around Lake Bohinj in the morning – fantastic route, approx 12km with a variety of terrain underfoot but generally pretty flat... beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. Activity #2 - canyoning trip in Jemeica – brilliant mix of jumping, sliding, swimming & wading through the canyon, with some great waterfalls. In the afternoon I walked to the village & bought some maps to plan hiking adventures ;)


Day 3:
So I wanted an adventure, and I definitely got one doing TRIGLAV – the highest mountain in Slovenia at 2864m, and part of the Julian mountain range. I left at 7:15am, got back around 8:45pm, and barely stopped the whole day! Tremendous day – amazing views, mixed terrain, some via ferrata style climbing near the top, and of course some confusion over direction & route choice (learning to use a compass properly has been on my list of things to do for a really long time ;). I’d thought about taking a bike up to the Slap Mostnika waterfall which would have significantly reduced the time needed, but would also limit me to coming back the same way, so I decided to attempt a circuit route instead to make it a bit more interesting. I didn’t quite go the intended route, but it was definitely interesting ;)





Day 4:
Bit of a lie in followed by a kayaking trip to Bohinjska Bistrica – some swimming & jumping featured as well (intentional though!) I rented a bike again in the afternoon & did a wee trip through Stara Fuzina, up to Ribnica waterall & round via Bohinska Bistrica then around the lake at Bohinj back to the hostel.

Day 5:
Hiking adventure #2! I felt I needed to join the dots on my Triglav hike, and see the 7 Lakes I’d valley I’d intended to see on Monday ;) It turned into another mission (of course) but at least I knew where I was ‘almost’ all of the day. The highlight was definitely Czro Jenero, a gorgeous lake at the top of a 1000m climb going literally straight up the side of the cliff from Slap Savica waterfall. The circuit took me up to 2350m with some incredible views all round, and a fun if tricky descent back to Lake Bohinj. I walked into Ribicev Laz in the evening & watched a band called ‘The Sexual Band’ (!) in a cute setting next to the pub and by the river.




Day 6:
Hydrospeeding! What’s that?! Lying face down on a boogie board going down rapids and trying to avoid rocks on the way! Made the mistake of going for a run at 2pm in the heat of the day – the only thing that kept me going was the thought of diving in the lake at the end. I had a pretty relaxing afternoon after that – swimming in the lake & lying down by the beach area working on my tan lines ;) Had met a nice Welsh couple who were rafting in the morning so we had dinner together at the hostel & shared travel stories!

Day 7:
8am is a much more enjoyable time to run so I was a bit faster & definitely happier – and still dived into the lake at the end ;) I rented a kayak afterwards & had a couple of hours on the water – my arm fitness is WAY behind my legs! Chilled out at lunchtime & caught up on some e-mails before heading out for my final adventure – ‘extreme’ canyoning in Gremecia... it was fantastic! Loads of jumps (highest one just under 30feet) and some tricky abseils & slides – really enjoy canyoning because it involves lots of different activities... can just be a bit cold sometimes!

Day 8:
Last run round Lake Bohinj in the morning followed by a final swim in the lake –sad to leave, its been amazing but I’ve done pretty much everything I could have done in a week so very happy! Sarah picked me up & we went to Bled where I had a tour, went round the castle, & did some brief tourist shopping before heading to the airport. Amazing holiday!!

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