Going Wild on Arran

Lucy: The title of this post, is deliberately, quite similar to the title of my old blog, over on the google platform, that I curated for many years.  It describes perfectly what I spend a lot of my time doing.

The last couple of days I've been out and about with clients, wildlife guiding.  Yesterday we were on a Hotspot Safari- quite literally a tour of the best palces to watch wildlife on Arran.  The day began beautifully, with otters and sunshine.  There were snipe on the beach (who expected that?) and a red throated diver out to sea. Later in the day the weather deteriorated, but we were treated by a show of strength by the stags on the hills above the Newton Shore, who are in full rutting mode just now. Very dramatic.

This morning was a typical dreich west coast day with strong westerlies. I wondered whether to call it but hoped that we could find a bit of shelter, and some sheltered water for an otter watching session.  Happily when we hit the shore, the rocks along the beach gave a bit of protection and we saw plenty of activity, incluing a female with two cubs, who bounced and flounced amongst the waves while their mother fished for breakfast. Later, we took a stroll along the shore the watch seals and found these lovely otter tracks in the sand.

And the weather gods smiled...

Lucy: Wally and I have spent the last two days tramping the Galloway hills checkpointing young people on their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh's award qualifying expedition.  They were very lucky, although they possibly didn't appreciate how lucky- it rained heavily during their expedition, but only while they were in their tents.  The rest of the time it was dry and breezy. No midges... The weather gods were certainly smiling on us!

Lochdoon Castle, an unsual place to be checkpointing kids.

Loch Bradan

Goatfell Peasouper

The view from the summit of Goatfell is, in our humble opinion, the second finest in Scotland (the best one is from the top of Caisteal Abhail...). However, today there was no view!  Npthing at all to be seen, in fact we could hardly see 10m ahead. Massive thumbs up and a pat on the back for the young people from Gosforth who accompanied myself and the staff from the Lochranza Centre to the summit. A good day's work and a well earned icecream and play about at Isle be Wild afterwards!

Feels a bit like Autumn...

Loch Trool

Lucy: Wally and I were working together for a couple of days this week, on a Bronze Duke of Edinburgh's training expedition in the Glen Trool hills. The first day of the exped had reasonably pleasant weather, but even in the sunshine, the air was cool and the autumn colours and lack of midges signalled the turning of the season.  After a dry camp, day two saw everyone soaked through and trudging back to the coach in distinctly unpleasant conditions.

Following this, I headed up to Lochaber, for a couple of days working with first year students from UHI.   This was a two day introduction to the essential skills required to enjoy the hills safely, looking at planning a fun, safe day out, weather, kit, navigation and movement skills in the hills. On the first day the weather was really quite benign, good for some introductory map games and a boggy map walk around Torcastle. On day two the wind (and a few red stags) roared and the rain poured, but we still had a fun and adventurous day out on the North ridge of Stob Ban in the Mamores range on the soth side of Glen Nevis.  We looked at movement skills and navigation in the mountain context. It was a great opportunity for the students to experience some real conditions, demonstrating the importance of good gear and route planning when heading out, especially at this time of year. It was ace to be working alongside local professionals,  Mike Pesocd (Abacus) Dave Anderson (Lochaber Guides) and Dennis Harvey, as well as a great gang of students who brought plenty of their own experience. The most interesting work for me is always when I'm learning as well as teaching and I enjoyed the change of venue and working with different colleagues.

This weekend as we hit the equinox,  I'm on a course in the Central Belt, learning about the processes involved in delivering quality Mountain Training Awards. It's a new avenue for me to explore, a different direction, and I'm not sure at this moment where it will lead!

One thing I do know though, the nights are fair drawing in. Time to add the headtorch in to the bag if it isn't there already, and winterise the clothing system...

Cairngorms D of E

Lucy: Here are some pics from a great gold expedition in the Cairngorms working for Mary Erskine School in Edinburgh.  This is one of my favourite, regular bits of work as the school has a strong ethos of hillwalking and outdoor activities, and the girls are very motivated.

On Saturday, I was supervising remotely in the Lairg Ghru.  It's a fabulous walk, and I never tire of it. We had perfect weather, cool, breezy and sunny, with no sign of the dreaded midge untill we got in to camp at Luibeg.

The following day, I shadowed a team as they headed up over Ben Macdui. This is a big challenge for a DofE exped, but one that the girls tackled with enthusiasm.  It was very cold and windy on top, but fortunately the visibility was perfect and the navigation presented them with no problems.

On the third day, myself and another member of staff shadowed a team over Beinn a Bhuird. These girls were awesome navigators, which was just as well as the visibility was shocking.  In these conditions, supervision is necessarily a lot less remote, but I was happy to observe and let them get on with it! Easy life!

Meawhile, Wally was out in the Arran hills with clients, leading over Stacach and Goatfell. He didn't take any pictures, (doh) but it sounds like they enjoyed themselves with a fine ridge walk and some amazing views.

Where the heart is...

Lochranza Castle, a 13th Century Scottish hall and tower house.

Lucy: A huge contrast to the bright colours and fierce sunlight of last week. It's good to be back amongst the soft greys of home. There's been just a little rain, only a few midges, and a refreshing breeze.  I'd forgotten how tangy the sea air is until it hit my nostrils when I arrived back at the coast.

This week has been mostly wildlife tours, with a couple of days spent in the company of lovely Val, enjoying otters, seals, wildflowers and a bit of Arran history thrown in for good measure. 

Samoëns: IML Summer Assessment

Lucy: I'm back on Arran after a couple of weeks living the high life in the Haute Savoie.  This was a personal trip, preparation for my International Mountain Leader Summer Assessment, followed by the assessment itself, which I'm delighted to say, I passed.

Based in Samoëns, I had 10 days to get to know the area, before assessment, trekking up high, exploring the passes and steeper chained sections of the main routes, and learning about the amazing biodiversity of the area. The backdrop was an incredible karst limestone landscape, baking sunshine, lively marmots and badass alpine flowers throwing shades at 2500m. Guidebook: Cicerone's Walking in the Haute Savoie: South. 

Now all that remains is the (not) small matter of my Winter Assessment!

Massive thanks to the posse of aspirant IMLs and other warm and friendly folk who I joined in the hills, to the Plas Y Brenin staff for a professional and challenging assessment, and Ian Spare, Communications Director of BAIML for organising an aspirants day in the hills.

On the way up to the Refuge Alfred Wills.

Cascade de la Pleureuse, Sixt fer a Cheval.

Field Gentian.

Heavy Whalley: A life in Mountaineering and Mountain Rescue

EVENING TALK:

Heavy Whalley, A life in Mountaineering and Mountain Rescue

Wednesday 9th August, Corrie Village Hall at 7.30pm.

Hosted by the Arran Mountain festival. This promises to be an exciting evening.  Heavey is an experienced local mountaineer, who has dedicated his life to the mountains and mountain rescue. He has many adventures to tell both on Arran, and further afield.

If that isn't enough, Kirstie and I will be talking about our Arran 700s challenge, and Arran MRT will be flipping their legendary burgers...

Adults £10, u16 £7. Tickets from Arran Active.  BYOB!

Slovenské Tatry

Lucy: I've just returned from a fantastic week assisting Andy Charlton of Adventure Expeditions: Duke of Edinburgh's award expedition experts. Alongside their excellent UK based journeys, they also provide a number of bespoke European Gold expeditions including an adventurous and frankly, stunning journey through the Tatra mountains of Slovakia.

Initially, we based ourselves on the Polish side of the border in the bustling town of Zakopane for acclimatisation and last minute equipment and food purchases. Once underway, we quickly crossed the border in to Slovakia. The first day we explored the eastern fringes of the White, or Belianske Tatry. With quiet farms and meadows, this was a big contrast to the noisy tourism of the Polish side.

Belianské (White) Tatry

For the following three days, we crossed the White Tatra, and headed deep in to the High Tatra, or Vysoke Tatry, journeying from hut to hut and crossing remote mountain cols. We met a few fellow travellers, and almost as many chamois and marmots. We saw no sign of the reported bears and wolves.

This was was my first time in this wild and exciting mountain range. The nearest comparison I can come up with, is that it is like a huge pumped up Cuillin Ridge, with dark and jagged ridges towering over remote lakes and corries. The terrain is complex and steep, but the paths we used are well maintained, making this a great place for a very special DofE Gold exped.

Vysoké (High) Tatry

Tatra Chamois

Lomnický štít Cable Car

Téryho Chata mountain hut.

A special whisky tasting

Lucy: All quiet on the blog recently but that doesn't reflect daily life here at Arran Wild Walks, both Wally and I have been flat out with freelance work, Duke of Edinburgh's Award expeditions and otter watching trips. Today was a little outside the ordinary however and worth a quick update. 

As part of the annual Arran Malt and Music Festival, I was commissioned, along with Jackie Newman of Arran in Focus,  to lead a walk to a special tasting at Loch Na Davie, which is the source of the water that the world renowned Arran Malt Whisky is distilled from.  The location of the disillery, in the remote village of Lochranza was selected for the special qualities of this water- purity, pH and minerals, as well as being in plentiful supply year round.

This point was not lost on our intrepid explorers who endured wet peat bog and plenty of standing water to achieve their mission: A dram on the shores of the loch where the magic starts.  And what a special dram it was!