Breezing along with Broken bits

4 1/2 miles, 17.5kg, averaged just over 2 mph, probably nearer 3 as I had a good 25 minute stop over when the bbuckle of my waist belt broke, tbh I think I probably damaged it in the car somehow,  maybe I caught it in the door, not sure but luckily I carry a spare

For some reason these pics remind me of days wandering the german plains

Love to see the bar that was nicked from, mines a gallon please barkeep

Sair feet no more

I did the Maud to Peterhead spur of the Buchan and Formartine way last week with about 15kg on my back, I don't know what I did but as soon as I stopped the soles of my feet felt like id been beaten by bamboo canes, the next day was even worse, it was a good two or three days before it improved.

The pain seemed to be mainly around  the outer edge (outsole???).  That's twice this has happened now, different boots each time, once while up the proper hills and once on a long hard flat walk, I'm blaming the socks, anyway lots of Gehwol and baths during the week but I still thought it better to give the walking a break for a few days, so i never got out this weekend (drank guiness, G&T and red wine instead)

Stunning weather (again) today so after I passed a rigorous late fitness test I took advantage of it and did a quick 3 mile circuit around white cow wood, up near Mintlaw in Aberdeenshire with 17.5kg on,

  I had planned to go a bit further,  but decided halfway round just to do the first loop and let the feet off as ive got a big weekend planned....

A bit more evidence of the some of the mad winds we've had this year, quite a lot of trees down over the track that weren't down last month. 

Looking away NE towards Crimond and Fraserburgh

A bit of a blow out on the Scarp 1 the other week, the wind was reported as gusts of 111mph about 8 miles north (cairngorm top  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-26575896 ) from where I was camped.  It was certainly the windiest ive ever been out in and in hindsight I made a wise decision to stay down in the glens. Even then it was a night where the pegs were being pulled, I awoke when the fly started beating me about the head, I actually thought the worst, but on inspection it was a case of the guys slipping and the pegs being completely ripped out, a quick hunt in the dark and a couple of house sized rocks were sourced and promtly deposited on top of the pegs, problem solved, although I just couldn't get the corner stays to sit as they should.

The door was also blown open twice and that was with the little securing clip fastened,  luckily I had previously put paracord loops on the zips as pulls and was able to use them and  peg the door shut/down.

My seam sealing seems to have worked fine though

A couple of days later and back home I set the tent up to dry and change a couple of guys, I noticed the corner stays were still looking a bit out of shape,  on further examination I presumed the inner pole had burst through the sleeve

A quick stitch hopefully fixes it, I sewed the whole hole thing up before realising that there is actually a gap at the bottom of every sleeve, presumably to allow the poles to be replaced/removed, i put a couple of stiches in each one to hopefully stop the problem re occurring.

Conundrum

My current selection of footwear (yes I know they need cleaning), but what pair is the question?

I think the Salomon boots are excellent when going up and down big hills, I dont think they are so great on long flat stretches.

The Salomon shoes are comfortable both going up and down and on the flat, they have been worn more than anything else this past winter, but they're not waterproof.

The Brasher boots are like slippers, they were once waterproof but aren't anymore, although ive just started using dubin (blast from the past) so they might be ok for puddles, the soles are going flat but i love them, comfort personified.

Wear the shoe and go down the wet route, wear the big boot and hope the water doesn't get in and put up with comfort issues on long flat sections. Or the old faithfuls, all comfort but suffer with water ingress (probably)

After a weekend of childish shenanigans and drunken debauchery down in Glasgow cheering on the mighty Aberdeen fc to their first sniff of success this century,  I decided it would be a good idea to partake in a spot of pre TGO Challenge training, great idea at the time, 4 hours sleep is plenty, hangovers are for the weak, 15kg is nothing and absolutely nothing will wipe this smile from my face..........  Aye right you are then.......

 To be fair it was a great day to be on and around mithers tap, the mildest winter in living memory seems to be moving seamlessly into spring (long may it continue), and a monday morning jaunt was just the ticket, only a handful of cars in the car park promised for a quiet day, the standard route up mithers tap is probably only a couple of miles at the most,  I needed a bit more exercise so plotted a more vague roundabout route of approx 5 1/2, 6 miles.

Being overly cocky and not quite clear in the head I followed a really nice path for 3/4 of a mile, a good steep section, just what i needed really, a cure for all ills, until I realised I should have left it 3/4s of a mile back, ok two full water bottles and a super sized snickers later, it was back down and off up the really quite obvious spur that id breezed past 30 minutes previously. 

 

 After finally clearing the lower forestation the marked path became a bit of a walk in the heather, eventually it petered out completely, leaving me the choice of going back and following a better path,  or continuing on, knowing that there would be a main path about 250/300yds above me on the ridge, I decided to bash on, through thigh high heather and covered/hidden boulders, a couple of falls (not great with a 15kg bergan on) and about a gallon of guiness tasting sweat later I finally made it to the path, great views but I was fairly puggled.  

 Good views out over Aberdeenshire mind

The top and the rain

 

 View towards, inverurie,  newmacher,  home and bed

Mean and moody

 The obligatory summit shot 

 Heading down

 Still

Nearly there,  I'll never drink again

Actually a very satisfying wander that hopefully helps in the build up to some sort of  decent level of fitness

Glen Dye

Horrible day weather wise, but strangely a really enjoyable and satisfying jaunt, i was doing a bit of a recce in the area and decided to have a wander up glen dye to the bothy for a brew before returning,  cant remember how far it was but a decent tab with a good heavy bergan on, the marmot cerro torre and mountain equipment over trousers got a good workout,  very impressed with the jacket, especially the hood, with the wind driving the rain in from all directions it did what was expected of it. Salomon aero s were also impressive after getting thoroughly immersed early on, it was quite hypnotic watching the water getting forced out with every step, the initial dunking was freezing, but within half a dozen steps the feet we're tasty again and stayed like that until I got changed back at the car. Happy with them to, dread putting boots on these days.

Another day,  another jaunt around millstone with 15kg on, February and the weather is stunning, stopped for a good long brew, then spent 20 minutes scaling the fallen forrest

A wander (about 8 miles) around millstone hill, nice crisp day, carrying 15kg

First Aid Kit

The bits and pieces bag

TGO 2014

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Due to allsorts of circumstances its been a pretty barron last 3 months when it comes to wanders  the year started really well with every weekend being spent up a buffalo or two, even managed a week up around cape wrath and a long weekend around Aberfeldy. But other priorities took a front seat and as a consequence the fitness has suffered. Only five months to the challenge so this morning it was on with the bergan and around the 4 1/2 circuit in front of the house.

    I really enjoyed it, came across 5 Roe, a couple of engleesh eagles and another hawk that I couldn't id and some rather tubby pheasants, the weather turned very pleasant,  a bit of a biting wind but my new favourite craft gloves (with wind mitten bitty) soon had the hands right toasty. Should have taken the house keys though, got home to an empty and locked abode, everyone had headed off to the big city. Schoolboy error and lesson learned.

The search for a new tent continues, initially id decided cheap is good and was happy enough with a zephyros, eventually sense prevailed and I remembered how often ive been stung with the buy cheap, buy twice adage.
   So I then went to the other end of the scale deciding that an Atko was the answer, great reviews, in fact fantastic reviews, but something still niggles about it, I have the same "anti" problem that I have with apple owners, so far up their own backsides they can inspect their own fillings. So thats it, I'm getting down with the real people and getting a lazer instead, definitely, maybe, ok maybe not today its all change again, ive now decided I really really want a scarp 1

Posties Been

Bonus,  posties been and its a go for the TGO Challenge next year, (best start booking some lodgings im thinking) route is pretty much done, just need to figure out the correct format

Ive been trying to get a pair of "non waterproof" shoes/trainers/hikers for a while, amazing how hard that was. Anyway I eventually settled on the Salomon eskape aero, I already have a couple of other Salomon boots that i really like, so that went quite a way towards picking these, in the end it came down to a straight shoot out between these and a pair of merrell.
    Initial thoughts are that they are very comfortable, as expected really.  I was initially worried about the heel depth being quite shallow,  im not used to shoes as everything from my work to leisure wear is in some sort of boot form. But after wearing them for three days those fears have been allayed.  I like the mesh, its sort of similar to the adidas climacool running shoes, theres no suede (one of the reasons I took these over the merrells, hopefully that allows them to drain off quickly. Im going to wear them a lot over the winter,  get them really broken in and comfy then try and utilise them as my main tabbing shoe next year, More to follow....

MUSE OF THE WEEK

I love lamb chops

I live in the back of beyond near Aberdeen, looking out my front window I see a field of lamb chops on the hoof (some quite cute but thats for a different blog.........), out the back window there's a futher four fields full of them, if I got off my butt and actually went to the window I would have a view over dozens of fields,  all of which are home to the wee wooly blighters. The farmer (small holding) mentioned he had 300 ewes lambing earlier this year, the majority had twins.

So, sheep/lambs everywhere but 9 or 10 quid a kilo for lamb chops, thank god the fields are full, imagine the price if we didnt produce them...

Funnily enough ive just returned from a holiday in paxos, a wee greek island only a few miles long and maybe one mile wide if that, everything arrives and leaves by ferry to corfu about an hour and a half away.
    I never saw a sheep or lamb the whole time I was there, ive also been to corfu a few times and cant remember seeing any there either, like me Greece is reported to be having some cash flow dramas,  so imagine my delight to find lamb chops on the menu's of all the restaurants in the little fishing village we stayed in, the dish below cost 9 euro,  so about 7.50/8 quid, there was four huge lamb chops on it, an other meal on an other night served up 6, yes 6 chops, still for 9 euro, tbh it was to much after a calamari starter

Help your local skint farmer, eat British meat, aye right..

Alex Salmond - Destroying Scotland

Being at a loose end this week i went for a wee walk recce yesterday (after being forced to partake in girdle scones and coffee at raemoir in Banchory and as they say up here they were afy afy fine min........).
    I wanted to confirm a possible start point and maybe an overnight bivi area for something im hoping to do next year, anyway a nice drive from Banchory to the Clatterin brig via the cairn o mount, and on to Stonehaven via Auchenblae (due to a rd closure) skirting the southern edge of the Fetteresso forrest.
    We stopped on top of the cairn for an all round view, looking west towards Mt Battock and glen esk it is thankfully still stunning. Looking east and around to the south and salmonds folly appears from the clouds,  monstrous wind turbines dominating the once wonderful hills, thankfully the low cloud base hid some, while others faded in and out of view like mutant triffids,  at least three giant cranes were assembling more for the never ending sea of monstrosities, a disgraceful scarring of one of Scotlands major selling points, its beauty lost forever to line the pockets of the already rich.

       At least my energy bills will decrease..............


    Finally Mr Salmond, iam a diehard fan of an independent Scotland, but never ever can i vote for it under the SNP and their plans to destroy my country, if these things are required put them out to sea, or is there less proffit to be made by the rich landowners and energy companies.

INOV 8 Recolite 190

For the last year or two I've been craving some after hike footwear, i was often coming off the hill after a long day and driving home in bare feet, to be honest its not so bad, but then when passing the Ballater chipper it would mean more faffing about getting the boots back on,  (the law states that you must stop at the ballater chipper for a white pudding supper after hiking the east cairngorms).
     Flip flops are fine in good weather for scuddging about but are worse than bare feet for driving in,  I've also never really been much of a trainer person, so recently after a couple of very long and bloody hot days i started to put a bit more effort into finding an answer, first off I discovered that its actually quite a common whinge and recovery shoes seems to be the moniker given rather than after hike shoes.  Google is my friend (what ever happened to the other search engines?) and a quick search threw up some options, as luck would have it, sport persuit were doing a INOV 8 sale at the tine and the Recolite 190s were available and dully purchased at a decent price.
    A wee while down the line, and after my initial "WTF" are these moment i have decided that they are exactly what i needed, initially they were a bit of a scutter to get on, especially at the heel, but after a couple of wears that has eased up, now I find them to be really comfy, last week i took them to the Greek island of Paxos and actually wore them while wandering along the donkey paths and cliff tracks, they performed brilliantly,  I'm that happy with them that I reckon next year they will get a run out while munro bashing and not just the driving home/recovery shoe.
    If I wear the recovery shoes all day, what do I wear to recover??????