Monday 29 October 2012

The Dales and The Film Fest - and some valued perspective

It has been too long since I last blogged, but the past couple of weeks have been most fulfilling.

Following Dave and I's great wee trip to the West Coast, and reaching the wonderful goal of my 10th Munro, I was excited to head off on another adventure.

This time I was heading south, off to the Yorkshire Dales with my colleague Jenny for a research trip. We were hoping to get a bit of walking done whilst we were there but alas, the weather was not in our favour. We had a successful few days exploring Swaledale, Wharfedale, Wensleydale (and sampling much of its delicious cheese!), and lovely villages such as Reeth, Hawes, Kirkby Stephen, and Appleby.

On our fourth day we managed to get out for a short walk on the Lady Anne's Way, one of the new walks we'll be offering at work for next year.




It was lovely to be out and about, strolling in the fresh Yorkshire air and enjoying the views. I was a wee bit nervous with so many sheep about but managed to cope!

My highlight of the week however had to be a short stroll to Hardraw Force (on the Herriot Way fact fans!), the highest single drop waterfall in England. With so much rainfall recently, the waterfull was gi'in it laldie:



This weekend has brought another exciting event, which has given me a renewed and fresh perspective on things. This was the weekend of the 10th Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival, an absolutely fantastic event which was not on my radar until this year. We had a stand at work, and it was great to have the opportunity to get out and chat to people.

I've put a lot of work into conquering my nerves this past year. There are occasions where my progress is put to the test - and I'm not too sure I do so well - by my own standards anyway. I had a really hard time, initially, feeling brave enough to speak to people. It's an overwhelming feeling - I feel sick, I just want to run away and hide.

However. That would be the easy way out. I really have to force myself not to run away. Generally things end up okay, but it feels like a mountain in itself to overcome. These challenges are useful to check out my progress - or lack of it - yet frustrating at the same time.

I've bagged my 10th Munro, but I don't have a measurable equivalent when it comes to my anxiety. I can only go on my feelings - and they come and go.

Anyway, the best thing about the Film Festival was the opportunity to see some of the films on show, and listen to some of the inspiring lectures from the guest speakers. These amazing people have achieved incredible things, and it is truly humbling to hear their tales.

I may never reach the North or South Pole (I'm okay with that) but I've even more determined to achieve my own personal goals. That means those 272 unbagged mountains out there in the north of Scotland are going to be conquered at some point. This weekend has cemented my certainty.

I've just signed up to do a winter walking course in the Cairngorms too. Maybe I do need to check out my progress a bit more often when it comes to my anxiety. I know I've progressed a lot in this past year, although I am often frustrated that I haven't progressed more. I've never been very patient...

But I'll get to the summit eventually - that I am sure of.



Wednesday 10 October 2012

ten down, 272 to go!

Hooray!

Apologies for the delay in getting to this blog post. My tenth Munro came at the beginning of a wee holiday Dave and I took last week, and I only returned home yesterday.

We left Edinburgh at 8.30am last Thursday and this time banana and jam rolls replaced the usual pre-hill porridge (well we were on our holidays after all!). We well and truly celebrated our grand vacances by consuming the usual post-hill pies, eh, pre-hill. I think myself (and Dave) find it extremely difficult to drive through Callander without stopping for a couple of Mhor Bread's finest.

That meant we got to Inveruglas around 11.30am. The forecast for this day was not good, with the Met Office telling me that drizzle - and sleet - were coming. I thought we'd give it a bash. I so wanted to bag my tenth. I knew I was out of free weekends in October, and who knows what November will bring. I did say I wouldn't bother persevering if it was pouring down, so I was thrilled when Thursday brought a cloudy - but dry - sky.

We began from the visitor centre at around 11.40am, crossing the road and walking past the pipes of the Loch Sloy power station. The views over Loch Lomond were nice.




We then left the road and headed along a road most used by Network Rail. There was a lot of work going on prior to reaching the sub-station, which threw us a bit, and we kept walking up the road when we shouldn't have. Thankfully Dave has much better navigational skills than I, and we corrected ourselves before we'd gone too far.

The views of Ben Vane kept opening up in front of us:



Soon we left the road and began walking up a farm track, past some amiable coos.

The 'path' then disappeared into a bog, and we could see we were heading up to the shoulder of Ben Vane's ridge. It did look steep going - but short and sharp. Possible. Manageable. But not before we picked our way through a soggy bog. I never did follow up on my boot saga here but I came out a winner, as I now have a pair of Zamberlan Ultra Lite boots which are - hooray - waterproof! It was nice to come through that bog (and the others that followed) with dry feet. The same can't be said for Dave who, also in a pair of Zamberlans, ended up with wet feet. His boots aren't in good shape and he just cannot seem to stop himself getting at least ankle deep in boggy bogginess.

Once we'd got through the bog we were up and onto the shoulder.


At this point we couldn't see the real summit. In fact we couldn't see the real summit until we were on the real summit, but we'll come to that (eventually).



We were then back in the bog. It had obviously rained a fair bit up there prior to our arrival. I was glad of my sturdy boots, but terrain-wise it was so tough going as we were constantly looking at where we put our feet. I was desperate to get to the more rocky section where it was drier. I'd feel differently later in the day...

It was then, as we got higher, that the mixed weather rewarded us. The rain was never constant, nor heavy, but there were a few showers here and there that forced our jackets on. So it was nice to see this:


We soon reached the rocky section. And it certainly was a relief from the bog but it soon became a challenge in itself. The 'path' was steep and the rock was loose. It was pretty scrambly already. We stopped often for a breather, which was great because every time I turned round, more and more views opened up.

Looking back to Inversnaid, I reflected on times gone by. For a good two and a half years, at least once a week (and once 4 or 5 times a week!) I drove the mad 15 mile stretch from Aberfoyle to Inversnaid, and back again. A stunning road, Billy Connelly's favourite. A nerve-wracking road. On my first day as a tour driver guide, I put the bus in a ditch on this road, and 16 passengers pushed me out. It was a road I hated and loved all at the same time. I saw it in spring, summer, autumn and winter. But I had never seen those wonderful sights I used to frequently pass from the angle I was seeing them at now.

There was Loch Katrine, so famous. And Loch Arklet, so beautiful. They were three-dimensional now. It was just so beautiful.



And. Then. Things started to get seriously tough. At that moment we hadn't fully appreciated that we were heading for a false summit.



So steep!

Monarch of the Vane!




Our instructions said there were 'a few false summits' - I was not prepared for four. These were false summits unlike Schiehallion's false summits, or any false summits I'd experienced before. You literally could not see the summit - or any false summit - behind the one that preceded it. Each one went up sharply. I got my usual pre-summit boost of energy, only for my hopes to be dashed again and again.

After the second - or was it third? summit in disguise, we stumbled upon four women. We hadn't seen them before so they must have set off around two hours ahead of us. They were on their way down, and I was hoping they'd tell us that the chunk of rock afore us was our last dash to the summit.

"No, there's another one after this" Sigh. "But this one was the worst".

Yup that was about right. We choose a way up that seemed okay, but it did involve Dave giving me a leg up. This was rock climbing, not Munro bagging.

Eventually - thank goodness - we bagged the summit that wasn't the summit and were surely on our way to The Summit. By this point we were heading into a cloud and things got colder and wetter. But finally we reached Ben Vane's summit! The real summit!!






Woohoo! My tenth Munro - Ben Vane - conquered!!

Once more we didn't spend long at the top. It was pretty freezing and to be honest we were so hacked off with Ben Vane and its lies that we just wanted to get down. This Munro had been much tougher than I'd given it credit for - it may be the 282th Munro but starting at almost sea level meant that we'd come up a long way. I had enjoyed the ascent - up to a point. Unfortunately that point was not the top. Not even close.

"Let's get off this ******** mountain now" I thought.
"Let's get off this ******** mountain now" said Dave.

And so we began our descent. We picked our way down a better way than we'd come up. But we knew there would be scrambling to be done. So we flung our walking poles down as far as we could and set about the scamble.

I was worried and going more cautiously than I would normally. I finally admitted to Dave that I was really struggling with my hands - they were freezing and were no good to me trying to grip rock. I assumed Dave would be the same; forgetting that my circulation is pretty shocking, and his works like a normal person. In possibly the most romantically practical gesture ever he took my hands in his and within seconds the feeling returned! I could then use my hands to scramble down. Aww I got a bit soppy and emotional on Ben Vane - yet another emotionally charged Munro.


The descent was extremely painful, and this time we were so relieved to reach the boggy section! It was relief from the painful rockiness. We caught up with the four women, overtook them, and didn't see them again! Then we were back along the road and finally back to the car around 5 hours and 20 minutes after we'd started.

So pleased to have conquered Ben Vane. It was a tough yin.

I'm not sure when my next Munro will come (will it be this year?) but I'll try to keep blogging nonetheless. The spelling blog is coming along nicely: www.mondaytoothjuly.blogspot.co.uk

I'm off to the Yorkshire Dales next week on a work trip - with some walking thrown in, so I hope to blog after that. 

The rest of Dave and I's holiday was great by the way - stunning weather, cold crisp Autumnal days, blue skies, Loch Fyne Ales, Loch Fyne salmon, Inveraray Jail, stone skimming on the Isle of Easdale, McCaig's Folly, Duart Castle, Tobermory, Calgary Bay, Fionnphort, Staffa, Fingal's Cave, coming within metres of seal pups, Iona, beautiful white sandy beaches, gorgeous Scotland.