The Demon of Ben Nevis

Wednesday 22nd - Friday 24th April 2015

Scotland Trip

Sorry about the delay in posting this blog. I was a bit angry on Wednesday and have had to allow myself a few days to settle down.

The reason I was angry is that we failed in our attempt to climb Ben Nevis. Failed as in we turned back out of fear (or sensibility, depending on how you want to look at it) rather than having to be rescued before you start panicking.

Ben Nevis is a not only a very big mountain but the ascent starts from close to sea level (50 metres in our case, as we started from the North face car park). There are a few routes up, but our chosen route was via the Carn Mor Dearg arête, which involves climbing a Munro called Carn Mor Dearg (1,220m) and then crossing a rocky ridge about a kilometre long with a massive drop each side across to Ben Nevis. Like Striding Edge and Sharp Edge in the Lake District, but longer and probably with a bigger drop. Then you walk down the mountain track (tourist/flip flop route) on the other side which is the easy way up and down.

However, to cut a long story (and a bit of a domestic) short, there was still some snow on parts of the arête, especially the steep part at the end which was completely covered in snow on the side we could see, and on viewing it from Carn Mor Dearg summit, we decided not to attempt it. Unfortunately, this meant we had to descend the 1,170m we had just climbed, which was not the easy route down at all. It was made harder not only by the weight of failure on our shoulders, but also by the fact that we were wearing stiff winter boots and carrying all our heavy winter kit. We took the precaution of eating the pork pies before descending, but that didn't have much effect on the weight of our rucksacks.

I experimented with my winter boot lacing technique during the walk, and can report with certainty that it is the fit of the boots that is the problem rather than the way I am doing them up. I am pleased that after 37 years my boot lacing technique is not being called into question, but unfortunately a new pair of boots is going to cost me a small fortune come next winter.

We spent the evening at the campsite sulking and eating huge amounts of pasta parcel things and chocolate. We were so tired we didn't even drink much.

The following day (Thursday), we had a completely different plan for the day, which we were pretty sure would not result in failure. We have recently joined (and some would say become obsessed with) a CrossFit gym. Google it if you're interested. If not, then skip to the next paragraph. The tradition amongst CrossFitters is to visit the local CrossFit gym whilst travelling, take part in their WOD (Workout of the Day), and come away with a T shirt. The local gym was called CrossFit Ben Nevis (yes, in light of the previous day's experience, a slightly taunting name), and is run by two ladies called Norma and Karen, who relocated to Fort William due to their love of mountains and dislike of cities. Either their gym is very popular with women, or we somehow managed to turn up to a ladies session, but there were no boys in sight. We were treated to 6 rounds of 6 front squats (35kg), 12 burpees and 6 toes to bar (or knees to bar in our case), and then purchased our T shirts for the bargain price of £5 each, with a warning that the arms tend to rip when you flex your biceps! We were welcomed by the trainers and the rest of the ladies in the WOD and will be sure to return when we make our next (hopefully successful) attempt on Ben Nevis.

Ok, that's the gym talk over. After our workout we went to Morrisons and bought some cinnabuns and some contributions to the family meal we had gate crashed at my cousin Alison's (Phil's little sister) house that evening. On the drive to Alison's (via Glenfinnan), I commented as we passed a sign warning us of stags galloping across the road that it would be amazing if a stag actually did cross the road in front of us one day. About 30 seconds later, we had to stop George to allow not one but two stags to amble gently across the road in front of us.

We spent a lovely evening with Alison and family and were made very welcome as usual. After dinner we went for a walk, spotted some more stags, and watched the sun set behind the Rhum Cuillin (some nice hills on an island which we will need to visit one day in our quest to complete The List).

We took up Alison's offer of the spare bed, and were up fairly early to say goodbye to her girls before they went to school. We were on the road for 9am, with the vague intention of ticking another hill off the list on the way south. However, were were both feeling rather lethargic and achey (not sure if we have Ben Nevis the mountain or the gym to thank for this), and didn't really feel like we had a mountain in us. We thought we'd go for a paddle in the canoe on the way back, but the weather wasn't great, and we had our comfy bed at home in our sights and ended up just doing the whole drive back home in one day.

We have had an amazing holiday, and have been so lucky with the weather. Buying those rucksack covers really did the trick. We may put them on eBay and buy some at the start of each holiday in future. It was great to get up to Inverpolly and make the most of it in the sunshine, and we have Phil and Anne and their Scotch to thank for that little diversion.

I am really hoping that our next trip to Scotland will involve Pack Rafts, and I this is something I will be working on with Claire over the coming months.

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Leg Day of Rest

Tuesday 21st April 2015

Scotland Trip

I woke up too hot last night, and when we got up this morning George's windows were condensation free for the first time this holiday. Being too hot at night is rarely a problem in a Campervan in April, and we normally have to spend 5 minutes mopping the inside of the windows after we get up each morning. However, the reason for the warmth was that it had clouded over, and whilst it was still pretty good weather for Scotland in April, it wasn't anywhere near as nice as the last few days.

We took our time over breakfast, and then set off towards Lochinver. We had some tentative plans to go up Quinag - the third and final Inverpolly hill from the Trail 100 list, but changed our mind when we saw that it was well in the cloud and the visibility was pretty poor all around. I think we were both quite relieved in a way as our legs were a bit shaky from yesterday's efforts. We've made a new rule this week about the Trail 100 hills that they're only to be done in good weather conditions, otherwise we could be anywhere, which defeats the object of the list.

We caused a bit of chaos in Lochinver trying to find somewhere to fill our jerrycan with water, and eventually found a tap at the harbour, only a few metres past a sign that said "no public access". All the harbour men were more interested in the canoe, so we didn't have any problems getting 10L of illicit water.

We settled into the drive south to Fort William, or rather south east then south west, as the quickest way by far was via Inverness. Combining a rest day with a travel day is good, as you get to enjoy the journey and admire the scenery without feeling like you should be doing something more energetic. The weather improved the further south we got, and it was soon back to the clear blue skies and sunshine that we've become used to.

We drove down the west side of Loch Ness, down the A82, which looked perfectly straight on the map but was actually one of the most bendy roads we've driven down all week. We didn't spot Nessie, despite Claire's eyes being focussed on the loch for the whole journey. I was looking at the bendy road most of the time you will be pleased to hear.

We had a wander round Fort William (I thought it was best to get the outdoor shop reconnaissance done while we had a bit of downtime), and then stocked up at Tesco Express. More of the same - wine, chocolate, bagels, bacon, cream cheese... There were even more odd balls in there than in Tesco at Aviemore. One woman appeared to be on the verge of death (staggering and struggling to breathe, but told her friend she was OK and carried on looking at the Danish pastries), and another was talking to a houseplant in her trolley in quite an angry tone of voice.

We urgently needed to make use of campsite facilities tonight, as yesterday had been a pretty sweaty day, so we've stopped at Linnhe Campsite, a few miles outside Fort William, alongside the water at the join of Loch Eil and Loch Linnhe I think. We've got a hard standing pitch with electricity overlooking the water (which is a section called The Narrows that is swirling in quite a dangerous manner). You obviously pay a premium in the Cairngorms, as it's cheaper here for what seems to be a better site in an nicer location on the waters edge. We've booked in for two nights, and have taken the canoe off the roof and put the pop top up.

Our legs are feeling a lot better now, and we both feel much cleaner. We're watching the sun set across the water with the mountains in the background and eating minstrels.

Just to make sure our legs don't stop hurting completely, we're going up Ben Nevis tomorrow, the hard way.

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Suilven Trek

Monday 20th April 2015

Scotland Trip

We were up fairly early this morning and were on our way by just after 9.30am. It was another amazing sunny day. Our route was 22km (about 14 miles) return, including the 731 metres of ascent, which looks pretty much vertical from a distance. After a few kilometres we got the first peek of Suilven of the day, which looked very big and very far away.

We stopped for a pork pie and scone break after a respectable distance (about 7km), and then started the walk to the base of the hill.

Things felt much harder going now, as the ground was even rougher and wetter underfoot, and we were now going uphill, albeit quite gradually. We saw lots of little lizards, frogs and an adder crossing the path, which Claire was rather nervous of when I told her it was poisonous.

The real fun started when we reached the base of the hill to start the near vertical climb up. Looking at Suilven in profile from a distance, it looks pretty much impossible to climb.

It didn't look much easier close up, but we could just make out a path higher up. Plus, we could see people already up there and the route was in our guide book. The route up went up the middle section in between the big humps at either end. It was just as steep as we expected, with various sizes of loose rocks covering the path.

We eventually dragged ourselves onto the saddle bit of the hill (in the middle), to find a couple of people sitting down amongst mountains of kit. It turned out they were there with 4 friends, so there wasn't that much kit after all. We chatted for a bit, and both came to the same conclusion that they were a bit weird. Mainly because they were all wearing a variety of inappropriate clothing (skinny jeans, denim waistcoat, thick woollen knitted jumpers), but were on top of one of Scotland's most remote inaccessible summits that's not exactly for beginners. They were all wearing walking boots, although not all of them looked waterproof.

We left them rolling cigarettes and drinking coffee and headed up to the summit, which is the end with the rounder hump. Good job that is the highest end, as the pointy hump is so difficult to get up that the guidebook refuses to describe the route for fear of getting sued. Claire had told me in no uncertain terms over breakfast, that we would not be attempting the pointy summit. It was very windy up there, but the sun came back out from behind some clouds and we found a sheltered spot and had lunch overlooking an incredible landscape of lochs, sea, islands, and weird shaped hills.

The summit ridge was rounded and grassy, and you could have pitched a tent on it if you weren't bothered about the wind. We came across a wall across the saddle, which for the life of us we can't think what purpose it serves all the way up there. Google can't shed any light on it either.

By the time we set off back down again, the weird group were reaching the bottom of the steep descent. We were surprised at how quickly we caught them up, as the descent was hard work, and scary because rocks kept slipping from under our feet. I set off a small rockfall that only missed Claire because she dashed on ahead instead of turning round to look at the tumbling rocks, which is probably what I would have done. We spotted a Peregrine on the way down, which was chasing after a crow and screeching at it. They don't usually do that unless the crow's been playing up, so I dread to think what it had been up to as the Peregrine was pretty angry.

The weird group gave us the impression that they didn't really know what they were doing or where they were going. There was no sign of a map between them, and two of them asked us how far it was to Inverkerkaig. I think my estimate of 4 miles was probably a bit on the low side. It was a good job it was such a nice day or they would have been in real trouble with their denim and wool.

After the steep descent was done, we made quite fast progress along the rough boggy ground of the return leg. It seemed easier than on the way until we reached our previous pork pie stop, where we didn't stop this time, after which things became very hard going. I think it was just a case of tired legs wanting another rest. We eventually stopped for a Belgian bun and a coffee about 3 miles from the end of the walk, thinking it would seem like a short walk back afterwards. But those last 3 miles were the longest 3 miles I have ever walked. My legs just did not want to move. It was such a relief when George finally came into view.

I was just starting a baby wipe wash inside the van when the two of the weird group arrived in the car park, which was empty apart from George. I had to cut my cleaning short because they plonked themselves down on the nearby picnic table, where they remained for over an hour while their friends caught up and their other friends arrived in a car. We were glad when they finally left because they were disturbing our peace and quiet, not to mention attending to our personal hygiene.
We're feeling very pleased with ourselves after today, as not only have we managed one of the hardest walks we've ever done, but we've now ticked off 25 of the 100 hills on the Trail 100 list. We're both absolutely exhausted now, and after we've finished our wine I think it will be an early night for us.

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An Unexpected Tick

Sunday 19th April 2015

Scotland Trip

We were up fairly early despite our late night. I must admit, I was quite excited about our change of destination and woke up before the alarm. After another mountain of homemade bread and some croissants we packed up, said our goodbyes, and got on the road.

We thoroughly enjoyed our day and a bit with Phil and Anne. Hopefully they did too. It was nice to do a big walk with someone else, and I don't think we'd have been confident enough to do a walk so big and snowy on our own. I also really appreciated two nights in a proper bed, as I had been waking up with backache, which is now gone (until tomorrow morning?).

The Cairngorms were quite dull and cloudy as we drove past, but the further North West we got, the better the weather got. Just like the weather forecast said! We had a nice drive along what we thought was the coast but was actually an inland loch in Inverpolly, and arrived at a car park at the foot of Stac Pollaidh at about 2pm. Stac Pollaidh (pronounced Stack Polly) is another hill on the infamous Trail 100 list, and ever since it had first appeared in view and I'd realised how easy it was to get to, I'd been thinking maybe we could just nip up it and tick it off. It was such a nice day it seemed rude not to.

Claire obviously hadn't eaten as much bread as me for breakfast, as she was starving and unwilling to discuss unplanned hill walks until she'd eaten. So while she was having a sandwich and some other stuff, I made a flask of coffee and got the scones out, which pretty much decided the matter. It was a bit like the Fairy Pools situation on Skye a couple of years ago, but with reversed roles and no cold water or midges.

The sun was still out and there were no clouds to be seen when we set off up the steep climb to the top. Stack Polly, along with a lot of the other hills round here, is not a massive hill, but rises up from sea level almost impossibly steeply. A lot of people think it is an extinct volcano but it isn't. It is actually made of quite crumbly sandstone. Our route took us round the back (East), where we would ascend the last bit from. As we rounded the corner to the east side, tomorrow's hill, Suilven, came into view. I had seen it hundreds of times in photos and magazines, but it was amazing to finally see the real thing right there in front of me, surrounded by small lochs and lots of open, bumpy ground. It did not look like an easy approach or ascent at all, and I think our legs are going to be aching by the end of tomorrow.

We scrambled over the stacks of Stack Polly, then had our scones and coffee looking west. It was still lovely and sunny but the wind had a real chill to it so we didn't stay too long. We jogged half the way down to get warm, and were soon back in George, doing some list ticking.

We've parked up for the night in the car park at the start of tomorrow's much anticipated walk, to try and make things as easy as possible for us in the morning! There is one other Campervan here and some sheep ambling round, but apart from the wind it is very peaceful.

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A Big Mountain Day

Saturday 18th April 2015

Scotland Trip

We were up fairly early for a Big Mountain Day. After a mountain of homemade bread and jam for breakfast, Phil (the food hero) very kindly made us all a mountain of sandwiches and hot cross buns, and carried them all in his rucksack!

The weather was the best it's been for ages, including those really sunny days I've had to spend at work recently. Our walk was a 12.5 mile horseshoe route, with the main attraction being a mountain called Creag Meagaidh - or Craig Meggy as it seems to be pronounced. It was a long slog up rough ground with little or no path to Carn Loath - the first "pimple" on the route (according to Phil - it seemed pretty big for a pimple to us!). Claire found a pair of glasses in a case on the way up, so we put them in my bag with a view to leaving them at the visitor centre by the car park later. However, when we reached the cairn at the top of the pimple, there were three other walkers just leaving. It turned out that one of them had somehow managed to lose his reading glasses out of his rucksack, and was completely unaware until Claire enquired with them. We hope the man appreciated reading his book that evening!

We all had a well earned hot cross bun and a coffee on the pimple, then continued along the horseshoe, which was much easier going now we were up high with stunning views across what seemed like the whole world. There were mountains as far as the eye could see, and no sign of human life apart from some wind turbines on one hillside. We had lunch in the sun on top of Coire Ardair, which was surprisingly warm, only requiring one fairly thin extra layer!

We could see the owner of the reading glasses and his companions ahead of us, one of whom was walking dangerously close to the edge of a cornice. A cornice is not a type of ice cream, but a chunk of snow that looks like the edge of a cliff and extends beyond the actual cliff edge, by some distance. They are caused by the wind blowing snow and it sticking to the edge and freezing in place. There were a lot of them around, with ominous looking cracks in them, but fortunately reading glasses man and his friends did not become part of an avalanche. Here are a couple of photos of Claire being persuaded to stand near the edge of a less dangerous cornice by Phil:

We came across our first big patch of snow on the final ascent to Creag Meagaidh. It was a bit scary as it was on quite a steep slope, but we all made it up without any accidents. We did have our ice axes out just in case.

The last half a mile to the summit was pretty much all covered in thick snow, although on a fairly gentle slope. We were surprised at how much snow there was there compared to on Cairn Gorm, which is higher. We all spent some time taking photos from the top, and then continued down the other side of the horseshoe in the direction of the car.

It was then that Phil informed us that we'd climbed three Munros that day! The pimple, the lunch summit, and Craig Meggy. Although we're not really trying to climb all the Munros (there's too many and they're too far away from home, and occasionally we like to holiday away from Scotland), we were chuffed to have climbed three in one day, and delighted in ticking them off on our iPhone apps later.

The final part of the horseshoe and the descent was made a bit easier by the large amount of snow still left. The snow was a bit like being on an escalator or walking on the moon, and we got three quarters of the way down pretty fast. The last quarter was tough going, still quite steep over very rough sometimes boggy ground on tired legs.

We all collapsed into the car at about quarter to eight. We were the last car in the car park, which is always a sign of a Big Mountain Day. Anne made us a mountain of food when we got back (thanks Anne - again!) and we polished off a couple of bottles of red wine and a few glasses of scotch between us. Whilst drinking the scotch, we completely changed our plans for the second week of our holiday. Anne checked the weather forecast, which said it looked pretty good for the whole week, especially in the North West. Then Phil showed us a load of photos of their trips to Inverpolly (in the North West), which included the hill I most want to climb off the Trail 100 list - Suilven. Before we knew it, we'd decided to head to Inverpolly instead of Fort William the next day.

It was 1am before we got to bed, and we slept like logs, once again in whatever positions we wanted.

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The Rock and the Lamb

Friday 17th April 2015

Scotland Trip

Our day on the river Spey got off to a good start when a friendly birdwatcher pointed out an Osprey nest nearby, and practically insisted we both had a look at the Osprey perched on it through his telescope. We managed to get away after a few minutes of bird related chit chat, and were soon on our way downstream.

It's been so long since we paddled on a river that it was all a bit scary to start with because it felt like we were going really fast. The part of the river we were doing wasn't a difficult stretch at all, but it was still a bit nerve racking with the current pulling us downstream, and various rocks and fallen trees blocking parts of the river. There were quite a lot of birds out and about on the river - we saw dippers, wagtails and goosanders, which are a rather dangerous sounding duck with a serrated beak for seizing fish with. Fortunately we didn't have any trouble with them.

We made fast progress and passed Aviemore much sooner than we expected, and stopped for lunch on a bench which appeared to have been underwater not too long ago judging by all the driftwood surrounding it. By the time we set back out I was cold, especially my feet, and realised I hadn't really brought enough clothes, and was seriously regretting having no gloves.

The section of river after lunch was described as being a lot slower moving than the first bit. Unfortunately, this lulled us into a false sense of security, and we were soon getting distracted by interesting thinks on the bank, like lambs. We spotted two very cute lambs, one of whom seemed to be gambolling dangerously close to the water's edge, and paddled over to have a closer look, and to be on hand for a lamb rescue. This meant that both of us were focussed on the lambs, and not on where the current was taking us, which turned out to be straight at quite a large, partially submerged rock. We spotted the rock too late to do anything about it, and crashed into it twice, once on the rebound after the first bounce. I'm amazed we didn't both end up in the river, although I think I was as soaked in cold sweat as I would have been in river water anyway.

You would have though we'd learnt our lesson after that near miss, but no, there were two more rock collisions to come, although these ones just appeared from nowhere in a faster bit of river. We managed to stay in the boat, the right way up, and to be honest, I was quite relieved when we reached the bridge at Boat of Garten and were back on dry land.

We hung around for a while waiting for the bus, and then decided that our faith in public transport was not strong enough and phoned a taxi. We reckon this probably cost us about £12 more than the bus, but saved us well over an hour, and probably at least £12 in money we would have spent on tea and cakes in the cafe over the road from the bus stop. When we arrived back in George to collect the canoe, the bus was only just arriving. During the drive, Claire spotted something standing in a field by the road that she insists was a Golden Eagle. I'm sceptical, but can't put up a very strong argument because I didn't see it.

After a very unpleasant and unsuccessful trip to Tesco in Aviemore, which was full of children, stressed out parents, and people with issues, and no Smash or sprinkly dried cheese, we headed over to Newtonmore to visit my cousin Phil and his wife Anne.

We were rather jealous of their house, which not only is smack bang in the middle of the Scottish Highlands, but has loads of rooms for storing outdoor gear and other stuff, as well as a drive big enough for several George's as well as the two elderly Land Rovers, Campervan and car already there.

After a wonderfully big tasty chilli (thanks Anne!) and a couple of drinks, Phil suggested a walk round the block. This turned out to be a much bigger and nicer block than we are used to walking round, taking in the famous Newtonmore Charity Wildcats, a lake, and some red squirrel rope bridges across the road.

We were pretty tired after all the excitement of our day (not to mention the visit to Tesco), and had a lovely night's sleep in the spare room, where we both enjoyed spreading out and sleeping in the foetal position simultaneously whenever we wanted to.

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Over equipped and over heating

Thursday 16th April 2015

Scotland Trip

Our night by Loch Morlich passed with no problems at all. There was another Campervan and a motor home overnighting in the main parking area, and two people slept in a normal car in one of the bays near us. We woke to blue skies, sunshine, and a lake like a mirror. It also seemed really cold.

We set off for our walk at about 10am, which is quite good for us. The start point was at the Cairngorm ski centre, which is at about 600m, so we were half way up already! Our route would take us round to the west side of the Cairngorm plateau and up via Cairn Lochan.

Within a couple of minutes of leaving the van, we'd spotted the entire herd of Cairngorm Reindeers that we'd been looking for on Tuesday. They were all just grazing on the slopes beneath the car park. We then spotted a pair of Ptarmigan a bit higher up, which we'd never seen before. They're a sort of grouse type bird, but probably slightly less stupid, and not as common. A bit later on we saw some Snow Buntings, which are quite cute, chubby looking small birds which live on snowy mountains.

We stopped for lunch at about 1,100m when the views had started to open up. All of the higher peaks still had quite a lot of snow on them although it was fairly patchy. Two men passed us as we were eating, who made us feel rather over dressed and over equipped. They were wearing very lightweight summer boots, carrying 20L daysacks with a couple of bottles of Lucozade shoved in the side pockets, and were only wearing T shirts. In contrast, we were wearing winter boots, at least 2 layers (going up to 4 at one point), and I was carrying a 40L rucksack containing crampons and ice axe amongst other things. Claire also had a survival shelter in hers. Although maybe we had just a smidgen too many layers with us, we think they were far more under prepared than we were over prepared. Unfortunately they did not need rescuing at any point so we were unable to make any smug or condescending remarks to them.

After lunch, it was a pretty easy hike to the top of Cairn Lochan, which was a lovely summit with some nice craggy cliffs with icicles hanging off them. Rather disappointingly, despite being 1,215m high, Cairn Lochan is not a Munro, I assume because there is an insufficient drop between it and Cairn Gorm.

We had a short break for photos (which are probably quite good as the weather was behaving itself nicely), and then continued along the plateau. There were a few patches of snow ahead, although we didn't need any of our winter equipment. We carried our ice axes across one steep patch just in case we slipped, but unfortunately we didn't.

The final bit up Cairn Gorm itself was a real slog. I was absolutely boiling, and was down to only two layers. I probably should have gone for just the one really. We eventually reached the summit after what seemed like a never ending trek up a boulder ridden hillside. The summit itself was not one of the prettiest we've been on to be honest, but the views more than made up for it. It seemed like we could see the whole of the Scottish Highlands.

There was a family (who I assume had walked from the train station near the top) who were doing some serious summit hogging.

Eventually the dad persuaded the girl to get off by bribing her with lunch. We took our own summit selfies (although my solo shot will not be uploaded because I look likely trying to stand like a cowboy) then made our way back down the same boulder ridden slope again for a cake and coffee break before our descent.

The route down looked fairly straightforward on the map and the route plan. And indeed it would of been were it not for the ski runs being in the way. It was a bit strange seeing the skiers, as they were skiing on strips of snow amongst a mainly snow free hillside.

We made it back to the van for about 4.30pm after several detours round the skiers. I immediately collapsed into George and ripped my boots off, which had been hurting the whole way down. Either I lace my winter boots up too tight or they're not a very good fit, because the whole of the front of my feet at the top was hurting. As they were an eBay bargain, either scenario could be true.

Whilst I was giving my feet some TLC (babywipes and moisturiser), Claire had wandered off and appeared to be gazing at the lower car park in wonder. It turned out that the entire reindeer herd had decided to come and check out someone's VW Golf, and then pose for photos. I couldn't help wishing we'd parked George on the lower car park instead. After a while, two women in an official reindeer truck arrived and bribed the reindeer back onto the hillside with some sacks of what must have been reindeer treats. We think they must have escaped from their usual area.

We're back at the campsite at Dalraddy again tonight, as showers were needed, and we also need to do some laundry and charge George's battery, otherwise the fridge will stop working.
Tomorrow we are planning a paddle along the river Spey from Loch Insh to Boat of Garten (which is a town, not a boat). Then we will hopefully be catching a train or bus back to George, or possibly be hitch hiking if it all goes wrong.

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Spying on Ospreys

Wednesday 15th April 2015

Scotland Trip

We went to the RSPB Osprey centre at Loch Garten this morning as planned. It was probably the most impressive bird surveillance setup I have ever seen. There were loads of telescopes and pairs of binoculars available in the "hide", but these weren't really being used much because there were also two giant TV screens showing images from the Osprey spycams. When we arrived, both spycams were spying on a different Osprey, one on the nest (no eggs in it yet), and one on a nearby tree clutching half a dead fish in its talons.

There were a few RSPB workers and volunteers mingling with the visitors, and there was quite an excited vibe because earlier in the morning (probably while we were still having bagels and coffee), two other Ospreys had attempted to invade and capture the resident Osprey's nest! Apparently the resident birds were very unsettled and not happy at all, although I wouldn't really know how to tell. They looked like the last pair of Ospreys we saw, although to be fair, I think they were pretty unsettled too as we were paddling under their nest which probably had chicks in.
Obviously, the residents had managed to defend their nest, but there was a certain anticipation in the hide of what the next phase of attack might be. One of the volunteers got somewhat over excited in my opinion when one of the Ospreys dropped it's fish.

The hide was a much more salubrious bird hide than the ones I've been in before. Aside from all the technology, there was also a gift shop, a drinks machine, and I suspect maybe some heaters. We bought ourselves a hot chocolate but managed to resist the temptation of the soft bird toys which made a bird call when you squeezed them.

We actually got bored of the Ospreys fairly quickly (they weren't doing much), and moved over to another corner of the hide next to the bird feeders. There were loads of small birds (the sort of birds that are referred to as garden birds, but not all of which actually visit gardens in my experience). Chaffinches were the main visitors but we also saw some greenfinches, greater spotted woodpeckers, siskins, blue tits, great tits and some cute little mousey things which we think were some sort of vole.
We were able to show off our bird knowledge (and ability to read nearby posters) to several other wannabe bird watchers looking at the birds on the feeders. If we hadn't been there then they would have gone away thinking female chaffinches were greenfinches, and having completely missed the woodpeckers.

Afterwards, we called in at an outdoor shop slightly outside Aviemore that we'd missed the other day. Although Claire wasn't particularly impressed with the shop, it did have a nice selection of canoe paddles and canoe fastenings that can be quite difficult to come by. We bought some waterproof rucksack covers, which hopefully will guarantee that it will be bone dry for the rest of the holiday. I have also taken the sun screen out of my rucksack, which should help.

There's not much to say about the afternoon, because I was overcome with exhaustion from birdwatching and had quite a long nap.

We've parked up for the night at the spot I've mentioned before by Loch Morlich. There are lovely views across the loch to the mountains with the evening sun on them.

We have decided it's about time we did something a bit more challenging tomorrow, so we are going up Cairngorm. The weather forecast is good, but we are unsure of the conditions up there, so will be taking full winter walking kit and I will be carrying or wearing most of my clothes.

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