Brief look back at year so far

The Slackers plan to have a late season walk this weekend, short loop round Arrochar, where it all began this year..    looking forward to 2013 and the Great Glen Way..                          

                                         Memories (the Summit of Ben Ihme) early season
                             

                                          The Brothers Grimm(zoom in Inverkip in Background)
                                   

Small Boats at Balmaha WHW 2012

Cairn at Summit Ben Ihme

The Beuchille

Great Glen Way 2013

The Slackers are planning on walking the Great Glen Way, (The Groovy Way :-)   late April 2013. We intend to start our preparation around January 2013 with plenty of good long walks.

If you are interested in coming along for the trip or any of the planned walks or indeed have a walk you would like to suggest as good GGW prep (nothing to hard) then please let us know.Our intended splits are as follows:

Stage 1: Fort William to Gairlochy, 10.5 miles.


Today’s walk is very easy, which will give you the opportunity to do several side trips. The first one being Old Inverlochy Castle which is one of Scotlands earliest stone castles, built in 1260. Continue on with your walk before taking a short diversion to Corpach sea loch, with its lock-keepers’ cottages and pepper-pot lighthouse. You then head up to the Tow path of the Caledonian Canal following it past “ Neptune’s staircase” (a flight of 8 locks) to the small village of Gairlochy.



Stage 2: Gairlochy to South Laggan, 12 miles.

A mainly easy walk today, but it does have two short steep ascents. You will be walking on a mixture of tarmac, forest paths and tracks, mostly shared with the Great Glen Cycle Route. Two miles after the start of your walk, take a side tip to Clan Cameron Museum and Cia-aig waterfall before rejoining the Way at Clunes. From Clunes all the way to Kilfinnan, you walk on forest tracks, you will get splendid views of Loch Lochy with the mountains behind.



Stage 3: South Laggan to Fort Augustus, 10.5 miles.

Today the terrain is a mixture of tarmac, railway track bed, old military road, then a canal towpath. You will enter the Leiterfearn nature reserve, enjoying the wonderful ash, birch, elm and hazel woodland. If you have time you could walk up Meall a’Cholumain from Fort Augustus which is a great viewpoint. F. Augustus was largely built in 1729 as the hub of General Wades military road building programme to calm the highlanders after Culloden and there are 5 Locks at the center of town on the Caledonian Canal and several museums.



Stage 4: Fort Augustus to Invermoriston, 9 miles.

A harder day today with steeper ascents. You will climb through a forest of birch and pine, beside a stream and uphill to a forest track. You should get some dramatic views of Loch Ness at intervals through the woods. Walk through the village of Invermoriston with its little bridge built by Thomas Telford.



Stage 5: Invermoriston to Drumnadrochit, 14 miles.

A moderate day of walking today with some steep sections. There is quite a bit of undulation today, but hopefully you’ll be used to the walking now! For strong walkers in good weather you could ascend Meall Fuar-Mhonaidh from where you may get views from Ben Nevis all the way to Inverness. You can take excursions to Urquhart Castle with commanding views over Lochness. Drumnadrochit which has a Loch ness Monster visitor’s center…or two!



Stage 6: Drumnadrochit to Inverness, 18 miles.

Today would normally be a long 18 mile/29km, which is a bit beyond the scope of the tour especially if you want to see something of Inverness. So it is possible to shorten the tour with a taxi transfer taking you from the town to near Loch Laide, famous for its very clean water. On route you can visit the Caiplich prehistoric settlement. Descend then to Blackford and the Great Glen once again meeting the Caledonian Canal once again before reaching Inverness, a beautiful town of past and modern, although mostly Victorian.



BLT

Milport 16th June 2012 Island Cycle

Thinking of getting a Cycle trip to Milport Organised a week on Saturday 16th June, anyone interested let me know (email address in profile).

For the more energetic The plan is to Cycle from Inverkip/Wemyss bay to Largs and catch the ferry to Milport.

For those who dont fancy the cycle down from Inverkip we could always meet up at the Ferry Terminal,for any easy run round porto milly.


                  Anyone Fancy it ?

                                             
                                                

101 day out Rothesay Golf Club friday 2nd June 2012

Another Great day over at Rothesay beautiful weather (again) and a new winner of the famous 101 day out trophy.... below are a selection of the pictures from the day.All in All a great day out..

                                        Breakfast at the Clubhouse

                                       
                                         Town From 1st Tee

Teams for the Day

                                          Peter , Clarkie, and Stevie Mc (Game on)

Neil,John, Al and Chris

Sam,Jack, John Mc and Davie

Chaz, Sam and Me

                                         The Three Amigo,s

Charlies T shot at 11th (would that have been the 1st ever Hole in one at the 101 day?

Serious bit of counting going on at 18th

Peter counts up the Scores

John Smith 101 day out winner Charlie hands over trophy (gladly :-) )

The Winner :- congrats John :-)

The Lads Chillaxing after a Hard day

The Boat trip home

                                 A Few beers in the Pub before bedtime

101 Golf outing / day out to Rothesay Friday 1st June 2012

The Slackers will be participating in the 101 Golf outing at RGC Rothesay ,

The days is a gathering of old work buddies and an annual catch up..great day..

Check back for pictures and day out report

Goatfell Arran from Brodick Castle 19th May 2012

The Weather on Friday evening was pretty Grim, it had been raining all day Friday and wasn’t really the best time for a Camping trip. We had booked the Ferry (£90 quid ffs) so we had to go, anyway the weather forecast said it was going to improve so, off we went (leap of faith).

By the time we arrived at our Campsite at Kildonan on the south side of the Island, the rain had stopped this allowed us to get the tents up without getting soaked.
                            
                                          Tents up in Double Quick  time

As it transpires was the most beautiful of locations and overall a magnificent campsite with excellent facilities, and it has the fantastic Kildonan Hotel next door.
 
                                        Campsite (ailsa Craig and Pladda Island in view)

Bedroom of the Vango Airbeam 300

Pladda Island from our tents

After we had got the tents up we went to the beach for dinner and a few beers, it was bloody freezing even with a huge fire however Charlie cooked us a lovely pasta dish despite the biting cold wind.

                                Our Beach Campfire

Beers by the Campfire

Saturday morning we had been expecting the forecasted sunshine however, this was not to be the case, overcast and still freezing , we made our breakfast a hearty one at that on Charlies,s Tangia stove.

                                     Brekkie Slackers style

After our breakfast and headed off for the days climbing as the weather had brightened up significantly (albeit temporarily) just enough to give us a view of where we where headed.

                               Goat fell and the ridges from our approach

We decided to tackle Goat Fell from Brodick Castle side (you can also go up from the brewery side) the initial weather on the way to the top was good and we have great views of the summit of Goatfell, whilst not a very technical walk Goatfell is a difficult ascent as you reach the top, the last 100m or so being quite tough.

                                     A Busy path to the summit

As we hit the summit of Goatfell the famous scotch mist rolled in and we couldn’t see a thing (typical) so we hung around for a while but the weather never lifted ..until we were half way back down the hill..(arrrghh)
                                     Customary summit pics (can you believe the mist ?? )

Holy Isle and Lamlash Bay from Goatfell

Ridge approach to Goatfell summit from Corrie

An improving picture

After an Alfresco dinner on Friday evening we decided on a wee bit of luxury was in order for Saturday evening .

We booked ourselves the Japanese / Thai Buffet £15 in the Kildonan hotel, we had been told the buffet nites were really popular, now we know why, the food was out of this world and lots of it too , which was exactly what we needed after walking all day.

                                      
                                        The lovely Kildonan Hotel best Buffet meal  ever

On Sunday a.m. after another hearty breakfast we decided to Drive around the Island stopping At Glen Sannox, Corrie and Lochranza,

All in all a great weekend cant wait til next time !!!!


                                       Chef Chaz avec le Bangers Sunday Brekkie

                                      Good-bye to Seal Shore Camping

Goatfell from Glen Sannox

                                          Small Viking long boat in Corrie Harbour

Arran Mountain Festival 18th and 19th May 2012

"The slackers" return to the Hills walking action next weekend, the Plan is to Climb Goat Fell from Corrie as part of the Arran mountain festival.

We have booked our Campsite Pitches at the Seal Shore Campsite at Kildonan.

http://www.campingarran.com/home.html

Cant wait, to try out the new Vango Camping gear.. Check back soon for a full trip report and pictures :-)

West Highland Way - Days 6 and 7 (The final countdown)

Day 6 – Kingshouse to Kinlochleven

Miles 9

Accommodation: Forest View B&B *** (would recommend)  

After the best breakfast of the week at The Kingshouse (the Climbers takes some beating) served by the most delightful old lady , we set off on our shortest days walking, the devils stair case is a daunting prospect but to be honest after a great nights sleep at the Kingshouse it proved to be easier than anticipated

                                        The Slackers at the Top of the Devils Staircase

We stopped at the top to enjoy the views, and on our descent we enjoyed a dram of Glenlivet and enjoyed the views of the Blackwater reservoir.

                              Dram over Blackwater reservoir

Another Dram over Blackwater reservoir

The decent into Kinlochleven seems to take forever, given you can see the town not long after you start your descent. After about 2hrs walking downhill we arrived at our B&B Forest View which was a lovely setup and only 5mins walk from the pub.

Day 7- Kinlochleven to Fort Bill

Miles 14

Accommodation Ben Nevis Hotel (leisure resort ** (tired and well out of town)

After a nice breakfast at Forest View served by our host “Big Paddy” we set off on our final leg of the hike.

Having had a few beers in the Tailrace Inn the previous night we were not looking forward to the climb out of Kinlochleven , none the less in true Slackers fashion we made it up there and with fewer stops than on the previous year.

The last part of the hike is through Lairig Mor is my personal favourite with great views on the way out and on the way in to Fort Bill

                               Boys with Aonach Eagach ridge in Background

The Pap of Glencoe from Path from Kinlochleven

Stob Bhan from path beyond Lairig Mor

Before long we found ourselves on our final descent, the walk in  allows great views of Ben Nevis and the surrounding valleys

Charlie and Bob enjoy views of Ben Nevis from WHW path

It wasn’t long before we were at the end of the road 7 days after starting off from Milngavie we had come to the end. All the preparation had been worth it.

No injuries no blisters of any note, and only a couple of stumbles (but not whilst hiking)  J

All in All a wonderful trip not sure what we are going to do now, but im sure we will come up with something soon , need something to help satisfy the wanderlust..

                         The Slackers at the End of the Road

Bye for now "The Slackers"