Peebles and a Posh event! 23/11/11

Rosslynn Chapel and Roslin Glen

Final Itinerary WHW 1st April 2012 - and big thanks to Mo for planning it

Sun 1/4 - MILNGAVIE - BALMAHA 20 miles
Bay Cottage
Mon 1/4 - BALMAHA - INVERSNAID 14 miles
Inversnaid Bunkhouse
Tues 3/4 - INVERSANAID - CRAINLARICH 13 miles
Craignank B&B
Wed 4/4 - CRAINLARICH - INVERONAN 15 miles
Inveronan Hotel
Thur 5/4 - INVERONAN - KINLOCHLEVEN - 19 miles
Edencoille Guest House
Frid 6/4 - KINLOCHLEVEN - FORT WILLIAM 15 miles

All agreed to come home on Friday 6/4, train appox £25.00 p/p.
Refreshments on train £??????????? (visit to Morrisons)
Train times to be confirmed

Rowardennan to Inversnaid and back again!

14 miles. Our first practice day for the WHW.Beautiful scenery but pouring wet rain all day so couldn't get phone out of bag to picture it!

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The plans begin for WHW itinerary ..........

Sunday 1st April - Milngavie - Balmaha

Monday 2nd - Balmaha to Inversnaid -Inversaid Bunkhouse

Tues 3rd - Inversnaid to Crianlarich,
Craigbank B&B

Wed 4th - Crianlarich to Inveronan - Inveroran Hotel
OR
Bridge of Orchy Bunkhouse

Thur 5th - Inveroran to Kinlochleven, Edencoille B & B

Fri 6th - Kinlochleven to Fort William

Fife Coastal Walk

Our starting point was the Robinson Crusoe hotel in the tiny fishing village of Lower Largo. it was a very very wet day but warm. We set off along the beach heading toward Elie.

We had a lunch stop at Shell Bay Caravan Park, then picked up the Fife Coastal path again..

We came across HM Coastguard carrying out some training exercises. Angela and I offered to be their "casualties", but they told us they're not allowed to use real casualties during training...worth a try though as they were very handsome and their uniform was quite attractive.

When we got to Elie beach the sun was breaking through... a spot of paddling for some..

And it was off to the Ship Inn to finish with a wee refreshment...

Another adventure with lots of laughs as always... Oh almost forgot the Elie Chainwalk:

and all before breakfast.......

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Me and my chicken.............

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Brantfell 25th September

Monday 15th August - St Andrews Hospice

Some of the Nevis Numpties were privileged to visit St Andrews Hospice tonight. We were presented with our medals, yay! We like medals!
We found the hospice a warm, welcoming environment, and we met some of the lovely people who work there. Our efforts raised over £2000.It takes £45000 a week to run the hospice. I am delighted to have contributed in some small way to this wonderful place, but I feel very humbled at how appreciative they are and am keen to do more to help.

Largs, Knock Hill and other ups and downs!

A beautiful day, we were very lucky with the weather and the views. As always we laughed all the way and the Numpties reminisced a lot about our Nevis Nightmare! This is the reason we fell behind as we climbed uphill today. Too much hilarity and chat. Nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that we felt a bit out of practice and were nearly on our hands and knees at one point!
Fun, and laughter.... a great way to spend a day...

A Walk through Edinburghs Fringe Festival

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We saw Chat Masala at the Gilded Balloon with Hardeep Singh Kohli.It was a good show and one of his guests was Dave Gorman whose books Scott and I have both read and enjoyed.

Meikle Bin 18th July

A beautiful day with lovely views from the summit.

We saw the remains of the wreckage of a WW2 Fairey Firefly PP566 which crashed on 8th January 1950 killing both airmen on board.

Falkirk Wheel and Union Canal/Forth & Clyde Canal

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Dumyat Hill 11th July

A walk with the Numpties which started off on a glorious sunny morning. And ended with a torrential downpour after a spot of rock climbing and mountain goat type manoevres as we chose the difficult path unknowingly up the cliff faces of the Ochil Hills! Not to mention stripping to our bras by the roadside to put dry tops on and asking a stranger for a lift back to our car! Just another walk with never a dull moment! And some folk think hill walking is boring!!
Hee hee
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Lochgoin Circuit at Whitelee Windfarm

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Ben Nevis Sunrise Challenge Slideshow

Ben Nevis Sunrise Challenge - Done!

What an amazing experience. The challenge was split into 3 parts. The first part was the climb
to our Base camp with our expedition rucksacks at 5.30pm approx.

It was still very hot and the climb was steep with a rocky terrain of steep steps and boulders. We followed this path upwards to "Windy Corner", and then began a slightly more level walk to where we would camp for the night!
We reached our base at the edge of Nevis Loch which is just below the halfway mark at around 8.30pm and began to set up camp.We set up camp effortlessly (haha), and got our little stove on the go as quickly as we could as we had cooled down quite a bit. I shared with Morag, and we kept a very untidy hoose!

Dinner was a gourmet delight, with obligatory wine for afters!

Then we watched the sunset and after a few trips to the "ladies", we made sure our lighter backpacks were all ready for the morning, tidied up a wee bit and got into our sleeping bags fully clothed complete with hat and gloves!Headtorches at the ready!

At 1pm after about 20 mins sleep we got a wake call, and soon set off on the second part of our challenge, the climb to the summit. It was very dark, and all concentration was needed as we were tired and disorientated, so it was heads down so the torches could light our way slightly.
this part was a series of 8 zig zags which again consisted of big boulder steps and scree. At some points the path was very narrow and the edge seemed very close. I felt light headed and had to eat a banana at one point.

Near the summit there was lots of snow

We reached the summit as the sun was rising at around 4.15am.It was an amazing sight.

We had the luxury of having the summit to ourselves,which was a joy and a well deserved privilege for us. We were the highest people in Britain!
Had to plank.

Descent was tiring, but the views were awesome and unforgettable.

We stopped at the waterfall to refill our bottles from the crystal clear water . It was delicious and ice cold!Wow!

We arrived back at base camp for our porridge and hot chocolate at around 7.30am.

Then began the last part of our challenge, packing up those rucksacks again and carrying them down to the bottom.

It was extremely tiring and treacherous on the way down, as it was hot, we were tired, and there was a huge amount of people puffing their way upwards which made the path very narrow at times.
very sore on the knees. We were glad to see our wee bus sitting waiting for us and Adam the driver had ice cold cans of juice for us which was lovely.
Challenge complete! Norbert's Nevis Numpties did well!
Celebrations continued at Kilmahog when we had a comfort break!