February 2012
26 posts
The winter that never was
So I made it through the ‘winter’, although the last fortnight has been a grim affair, on the West coast at least. It’s taken its toll; I’ve had a fair bit of pain in my broken thumb, incipient arthritis, which seems more damp than cold-related. Nowt I can do about that, but I can address the logistical wall I’ve run into. I’ve just snapped another strut in the...
1 tag
Ben Hunter's winter Munro round
In the spring and summer of 2011, articles started appearing in the media about a proposed winter Munro round. It wasn’t just Outdoorsmagic that ran a series of pieces. It was everywhere: UKH, mainstream media, even corporate websites and commercial kit makers like Montane. A whole bunch of articles followed - Ben’s motivation, his training regime, his philosophy, the search for...
The psychology of littering
I loathe and despise people who drop litter. I didn’t stop road cycling because of the traffic. I stopped because I could no longer stomach the depressing inevitability of verges festooned with litter, even in remote rural areas. Being confronted every few yards with evidence for the stupid, selfish behaviour of my species became intolerable. The fag packets, junk food wrappers, plastic...
Can’t sleep; got bitten badly by ticks the last day or two, itching a fair bit. Just goes to show how mild this winter’s been. Unfortunately, mild equates to wet and windy. Yesterday was bloody awful, and there’s more rain and gales forecast all week. It could be time to head into a bothy with a bag of coal and a bottle of Jura.
Highlands bus chaos
It seems the Highland Council have slashed local bus services, but are so short of cash they haven’t changed the timetables in at least some bus shelters. I got badly caught out today, you need to phone up and check. On a brighter note, Scottish Citylink are doing a promo if you book online: two quid anywhere in Scotland in February! Just enter the word ‘TRAVELOFFER’ in the...
Lochalsh gas prices
Don’t even think about buying gas cannisters at the Kyle of Lochalsh hardware store - £9.80 for a 500cc cannister, and an eye-watering £6.95 for 250cc! Querying these prices, I was assured they were correct. I wandered to the garage two minutes away and bought a 500cc can (same brand) for £7.80, still a little over the odds but at least within the realms of sanity. Time to kill waiting on...
It took three weeks, longer than the mat actually lasted, but Nevisport (and POE) came up with the goods today, giving me a full refund on the Peak Oyl Mountain. Bit disappointing, to be honest - I’d gone into the Fort William store all revved up for a shouting match after three weeks without any feedback or resolution. Anyway, all sorted now. I was told recently (not by Nevisport, I should...
January stats
After an unpromising start, January turned out quite good: thirteen Corbetts and a few Munro re-ascents. One night in a cheap hotel, three nights in bunkhouses, 16 nights in the tent, plus 11 nights spent in eight different bothies (six of them for the first time). Don’t call me rainman.
