Kinlochewe to Sconser

Today, there would be no climbing or walking or biking... only driving. Luckily, it was through some of the best scenery there is; so not so bad.

Beinn Eighe, Torridon

We left Kinlochewe shortly after 9am and headed along the single-track road to Torridon. Almost immediately, we were treated to a spectacular view of Beinn Eighe to our right - amazing. When we reached Torridon, we turned of the main road and headed through the village and continued past Beinn Alligin towards Diabeg. If you're not a confident driver and don't really have a head for heights, then this isn't the road for you - you have been warned! I thought it was great fun, however, and there is a viewpoint at the highest point of the road that gives spectacular views down over Loch Torridon. After taking in the views, we headed back to the main road and continued on towards Lochcarron, before turning off onto the tourist route around the Applecross Peninsula - another crazy road in places. Once at the headland, we were treated to great views across Skye and Raasay. Unfortunately the mighty Cuillin were engulfed in thick cloud on this occasion - gutted.

Loch Torridon from Upper Diabeg

Applecross Peninsula

Next was a quick lunch stop at the Applecross Inn for a pint of prawns and some crusty bread; highly recommended. Then it was time to head over the famous Bealach na Bà (once again: not for the fainthearted!). This I was most looking forward to, as I had heard so much about it. It didn't disappoint and the scenery is simply breathtaking - watch out for bikes! On our way down, Emily spotted some climbers on what looked like a huge multi-pitch route right up the nose of one of the buttresses. It looked simply awesome - one for the bucket list indeed.

Bealach na Bà

Bealach na Bà

Bealach na Bà

Bealach na Bà

Climbers at Bealach na Bà

Climbers at Bealach na Bà

The remainder of the drive was fairly uneventful but the scenery was still amazing and the rain had stayed away. Unfortunately, as we crossed over the Skye bridge, the Cuillin were still covered in cloud. We arrived at Sconser Lodge in time for an excellent dinner. Tomorrow evening we would take the Calmac ferry from Uig to Tarbert to explore Harris and Lewis.

Diabeg to Torridon from Chris McMorris on Vimeo.

Grass Crag, Gairloch

After a great start to the summer so far, my folks were due over for a couple of weeks holiday in July. They hadn't been very far north before so they fancied doing a bit of a road trip - with me as tour guide. Naturally, I was more than willing; as I never miss an excuse to go north for some outdoor action.
Our first day was spent driving to Kinlochewe from Glasgow; a lovely scenic drive but not forth mentioning here. We settled into our B+B and then made some plans for the next day. I was keen to show my folks Gairloch, as I knew it would be right up their street, and I was also keen to do some climbing (I had really got the bug after The Lakes, some bouldering and having just purchased some shiny gear). I had borrowed a copy of Scottish Rock - North and had just had a quick skim through the local area. Being new to trading, I didn't really want to try anything too daunting and I wasn't too clued up on anchors at the moment so I was a bit unsure about what we could do. But then I found Grass Crag, very close to Gairloch. A small sports crag with a short approach and some easier graded routes - perfect.

Grass Crag, Gairloch

After exploring Gairloch in the sun and taking in a hot chocolate from the excellent Mountain Coffee Company, Emily and I set off to find this crag. We parked at the tip entrance on the right hand side of the road, as you head out of Gairloch towards Poolewe. We grabbed our gear an set off due northwest over the boggy terrain. After around 15 minutes of bog-slogging, we spotted the shiny bolts glinting in the sunlight - we had arrived!

Grass Crag, Gairloch

We geared up and were soon ready to climb. We were focussed on the far right end of the crag - where the easy routes were. I set off leading Third and Final F5+ and it looked ok from the bottom. The rock was warm but rather harsh on the skin; fingertips especially. It was quite easy climbing and it didn't feel daunting in the slightest, considering it was my first sport lead in the outdoors. I was soon at the top and clipped into the lower-off... not to attempt the thread.

Grass Crag, Gairloch

I recently invested in a copy of Libby Peter's excellent book: Rock Climbing - Essential Skills and Techniques and I had read up on what to do at the top of a sport climb with a lower-off. It was fairly straightforward but I just had to concentrate to make sure that I did everything in the right order. But it was nae bother and I was soon securely attached to my figure-of-eight on a bite of the rope and being lowered safely to the ground with a huge grin on my face :-D
Next it was Emily's turn. She had never climbed outside before but was super-keen to give it a try and she flew up it in no time at all - I was most impressed. With the rope still up, I thought it would be rude not to give something harder a shot on a bottom rope so I had a bash at Kick Ass Yoga F6a+. This felt a lot harder than what we had just done and I struggled up to the top but ticked it nonetheless - happy with that.

Grass Crag, Gairloch

We packed up and headed back to the car and then met up with my folks at The Old Inn for some excellent grub. I was nice to share and reflect on our afternoon at the crag over good food and with good company. When we headed outside later on, we saw that the sun was heading towards the horizon and that it was going to be a spectacular sunset that evening. We headed back to Kinlochewe and I remembered from the Cycling Project last year, that there was a fantastic viewpoint just a wee bit up the road from Kinlochewe.
We made it there just in time to snap a few amazing pictures of the sunset - what an end to a great day.

Sunset over Loch Maree

First Trad Climbing Rack - New Shiny Stuff!

Today... the postman came!

After purchasing my first set of nuts during our trip to The Lakes and leading my first Trad route, I was keen to get more climbing done over the summer. For that, I was going to need a bit more than a set of wires...

I had a bit of extra cash and I figured it was a good investment in the long term so I started shopping around online for the best deals on a basic Trad rack. I shopped around, but I still couldn't beat TheOutdoorShop.com on price, and their service has always been excellent. I got the usual selection of Dyneema slings of various lengths, and I already had a set of Wild Country Classic Rock Set, so all I really had to get was some screwgates, hexes and quick draws.

In the end I went for a set of 10 Wild Country Wild Wire quick draws of various lengths. I went for these mainly for the price - they were the cheapest ones I could find by a well-known brand. Again, because of the price, I went for a set of Wild Country Rockcentric Dyneema hexes. For the screwgates, I opted for Wild Country Synergy Lite Keylock Screwgates. To rack everything, I also bought a 5 pack of the Wild Country Oxygen Straight Gates - mainly because of the price (cheap) but also because they were straight gates rather than wire gates so hopefully the nose wouldn't snag on anything in my inexperienced hands!

I'm happy with what I've purchased for now as a starting point, so now I'm super-excited to try it out on some real rock!

Blackford Bouldering

After an amazing week in The Lakes, I was super keen to climb as much as possible this summer. During the trip, Adam had suggested that I try a bit of bouldering at Blackford Glen on Agassiz Rock. Keen to make this my local crag, Emily and I set off after work with a couple of school bouldering mats into Blackford Glen. I had purchased a copy of the excellent guide book: Bouldering in Scotland and a bit of our local knowledge helped us find the crag in no time at all. The guide book and the ScottishClimbs page show diagrams of some of the illuminate (harder!) problems but I found them quite hard to pick out, to be honest. I stuck to the traverse problem: High Traverse F6b**

Agassiz Rock, Blackford

Agassiz Rock, Blackford

It was quite hard, I thought! Obviously not having climbed outside much wasn't doing me any favours, and the rock was quite harsh on the skin... to say the least! I had a few goes on it but couldn't quite get through the middle part, so I decided to split it up into two. The first section was easy and was mostly good jugs with polished footholds. The second half, from left to right, is on smaller holds and some slopers. I found the crux was moving from the high first section to the lower second part. I just couldn't make the link. Ah well... I would be back... hopefully frequently!

Climbing Hands, Blackford

GWC Climbing Club Trip 2009 - The Lakes

I had been looking forward to this trip for as long as I care to remember and now it was finally here! We met at school on Monday morning and loaded up the vans with kids and kit and headed South down the M6. Our destination was The Lakes; Buttermere Hostel to be precise. However, before we could get very far, we suddenly realised that we hadn't packed the reel of rigging rope. A quick stop, some chat and a quick u-turn later; Richard T and I headed back to GWC. The remainder of the group headed onto Keswick for lunch. In the end, as it turned out, we made good time and weren't too far behind. We had soon left the M6 at the Penrith junction and were heading towards Keswick on the A66. The sun was shining and we were treated to a splendid view of Blencathra. As this was my first trip to The Lakes, I was amazed by the scenery and knew that I would be back to take in some of the many hills.

Richard T sealing the lengths of rigging rope, Langdale

Chapel Stile from Raven Crag, Langdale

Our first climbing venue was Dalt Quarry and our instructors for the week were Adam and Mhari. It was only a short walk in to the Quarry and the top ropes were up in no time at all. The group had a range of experience and aged from 12 to 18 years old. Some had climbed a little on outside rock, while others had not. A quick survey soon revealed that none of them had ever climbed on slate before - and neither had I so I was really looking forward to giving it a try. It was a great intro venue that Adam had chosen; with lots of easy routes to practice (not) smearing on the slate. The kids really enjoyed it and it was the perfect start to the trip. The heat was relentless however, so we didn't stay too late and we heard that the weather-men were predicting a heat wave for the rest of the week! Hungry and thursty, we headed for the hostel to get settled in.

In the morning, Adam took us to Raven Crag near Chapel Stile in Langdale. This was a high crag close to the road that gave the kids the opportunity to try some longer and harder routes. We happened to have a massive 70m rope that Adam used to bottom rope one of the longer classics in the middle of the crag - much to our amusement. Before this however, Richard T and I were tasked with cutting the rigging rope to length. This was quite difficult due to the lack of space on the tiny country lane and we had to resort to laying the rope out on the road whilst checking for approaching traffic! Job done, we were keen to get on some of the classics at the crag. The climbing was excellent; but some of the younger ones were a bit intimidated by the height of the climbs. After lunch, we had a play on the Chapel Stile Boulders. The kids jumped on everything and showed great spirit, while Adam and Mhari tried a tricky looking traverse problem that was waaay out of our league but great to watch. The day was capped off with ice cream in Ambleside.

Raven Crag, Langdale

Raven Crag, Langdale

Wednesday was our 'rest' day from climbing and Richard T had canoeing planned for us. As this was the hottest day so far, we were glad we weren't climbing in the heat. It gave the kids a chance to blow off a little steam and try something different and they seemed to get a lot out of the day. That evening, Adam, Mhari and Richard T took the 4 older lads to Moss Crags in the Honister Pass so that they could have a go at seconding on some trad routes. The lads had showed Adam that they were super keen and quite sensible so he was more than willing to help them progress with their climbing skills. Richard G and I took the remainder of the group down to the lakeside at Buttermere for some Ultimate Frisbee - awesome!

Buttermere at dusk

Buttermere at dusk

Buttermere

The next morning we headed to Shepherds Crag, via the cafe... of course! I was rather excited about this particular crag because I had heard and read so much about it and it certainly lived up to all the hype. Adam and Mhari quickly rigged a bunch of bottom ropes in the Brown Slabs area and the kids were straight on the routes and tearing them to shreds. Then it was our turn and I have to say: the quality of the climbing was excellent and highly enjoyable; as expected. Adam and Mhari took some of the older kids to learn how to second a trad route and then we moved the bottom ropes to the Jackdaw Ridge area - also highly enjoyable. Adam then took two of the older lads to have a go at their first trad lead on Little Chamonix - an incredible opportunity for them. Later we called in to the cafe again and topped off an amazing day with a refreshing dip in the cool waters of Buttermere. A truly memorable day of adventure.

The forecast for Friday was for it to be a wet one. Adam's plan was to take us to Headend Quarry, as he said we could get lots done in the morning; even with the threat of rain. Sure enough, the clouds gathered but the rain held off for quite a while and Adam and Mhari had a bunch of bottom ropes set up in no time. The kids jumped on and quickly set about dispatching everything in sight. Adam then pre-placed some runners for the older lads to have a go at clipping them on lead; which they really enjoyed. Meanwhile, I had my own mission in mind; my first trad lead. Adam suggested that Richard G could lead something easy, then I could second him up but leave his runners in place. Then I could lead it and place my own gear but also clip into his runners for extra safety - a sensible plan I thought! A few days ago we had made a quick visit to the excellent Needle Sports in Keswick and I had purchased a set of Wild Country Classic Rocks. This was the first piece of trad gear I had ever owned and the plan was to build on that and add to it. Obviously I was very keen to put them to use and it was a great opportunity with Adam and Mhari around to keep an eye on things. Richard had picked out Soap Gut (Severe). Adam laughed and said that it was probably the dirtiest line at the crag but that it would be fine. Rich was soon at the top of the route and had placed 4 nuts on the way up. I swiftly followed, un-clipping as I went; it was rather dirty! Happy with that, I hopped to the bottom of the crag, tied in and I was off. My tactics were to clip Rich's runner before placing any nuts of my own. I soon discovered, however, that Rich had certainly picked the best of the placements and I struggled to get more than two of my own rocks in. I was soon at the top and Adam had already prepared anchors for me. Rich soon followed after me and grinned all the way at the poorness of my nut placements! Still chuffed with my first trad lead though; that was me grinning for the rest of the day! It was just then that the heavens opened and we packed up and made a dash for the vans. Late afternoon was spent wandering in Keswick and a trip to the cinema with the group later that evening... another fantastic day.

We only had the morning for some climbing before we headed home on the Saturday afternoon so Adam suggested that we cram in some final bouldering with the kids. Our first stop was at Honister Boulders, just up the road. The sun was out and everyone had great fun trying a number of problems. Once again, Adam and Mhari stole the show by completing one of the harder traverses. We then made a stop at The Bowderstone (more for historical reasons!). It was soon pretty clear that none of us would be able to climb anything on this massive boulder so we decided to have lunch instead; while Mhari got stuck into a problem that she had her eye on. But it was great that we were able to show the kids and give them a bit of climbing history chat. After lunch it was time for the long drive back to Edinburgh and time to reflect on a fantastic week in The Lakes.

Adam on one of the Honister Boulders

Honister Boulders

Honister Boulders, Honister Pass

GWC at Honister Boulders, Honister Pass

The Bowderstone

Picnic at The Bowderstone

North Berwick Law Quarry

With the kids finished their block for climbing this session, we had a free Tuesday session for some staff climbing. Richard T had suggested that we head to North Berwick and check out North Berwick Law Quarry, as apparently there was some sport climbs there. I had been up and around Berwick Law a handful of times in the past but couldn't recall anyone climbing or seeing any bolts. However, after some brief online research, I had found us a topo of North Berwick Law Quarry.

We left sharply at the end of school and after negotiating the Edinburgh Bypass traffic and blasting down the A1, we were at "The Law" carpark and gearing up. The approach was less than 10 minutes; go over the style at the carpark and head right along the path that goes around the base of the hill until the quarry comes into view on your left. As this was only my second climbing trip in the great outdoors, I was pretty excited to check out the routes. However, I was a little intimidated and I thought some of them looked quite tricky! After a bit of a chat, Richard T decided to get on something easy(ish), so he lead Wild Iris 5+** and I gladly belayed and then followed on a bottom rope to strip the route after him. It was more tricky than I had planned for and I have to say that I struggled a little to find the holds - this was most probably just down to my lack of experience. Not impressed by my first attempt, I got back on it and this time made fast work of it. The rock wall is quite blank and has had the holds chipped out to give the routes - not much visable traffic for a while made them quite tricky to find.

Richard G bottom roping Darkness Falling F6a+, North Berwick Law Quarry

Richard G had now joined us and was keen to get on a route, but with none of us climbing particularly hard recently, there wasn't many easy options as we gazed at the topo. We had a look at Darkness Falling 6a+* and the description said, "Tricky first clip"... and it really wasn't kidding! The first bolt was high above the ledge that appeared to be gained by a rather tricky move in the corner - certainly the crux. As we didn't have a clip stick, and none of us fancied risking an injury, we decided just to top rope it; this seemed the sensible option. Richard T headed up Wild Iris again and swung accross the top to put the rope through the lower off above Darkness Falling. We all felt more compfortable with this approach and we all had great fun on it, but I wouldn't fancy leading it without a clip stick!

Richard T bottom roping Darkness Falling F6a+, North Berwick Law Quarry

The Richards then had a play around on a few of the harder routes but they both soon discovered that they were quite nippy! A great evening of climbing and great company too. I was really impressed by The Law as a climbing venue and I fancied coming back to try a few leads when I had gained more confidence and experience; a venue that I would recommend.

Pentlands Mountain Biking - Reservoir Cogs

After purchasing a new mountain bike, visiting Glentress a few times and being part of the GWC Cycling Project 2009, I had spent quite a bit of time in the saddle over the past few months. While I really enjoyed touring the northwest of Scotland, I didn't think that road cycling was my thing; I was finding mountain biking far more enjoyable. I had spoken to a few folk about good places to mountain bike around Edinburgh and more often than not, the Pentlands were mentioned. After a bit of online research, I quickly came across the excellent Bike Fax guidebook: Southern Scotland & the 7stanes. Armed with the guide, I set out last weekend to explore the Reservoir Cogs route. It really was great fun and I blasted round it in no time at all.
Later that week, Emily was keen to get out on the bikes and after hearing me going on and on about the route at the weekend, fancied giving it a go. We headed up to the car park at Rangers Centre at Flotterstone straight after work to get the most out of the remaining light. We geared up quickly and were soon heading along up the tarmac road past Glen Cottage and along the north shore of Glencorse Reservoir. We passed over Kirk Bridge and went through the gate on our right and headed up the dusty, rocky track. Just before the end of the forest on our left, the track forked and we headed to the right, straight up the steep grassy slope. This was a tough hill to climb on the bike without getting off and I was glad of the breather at the top of the steep section. We followed the single track around the hill and over Knightfield Rig. Passed between Harbour Hill and Phantom's Cleugh and then joined the enjoyable track that followed the woods above Bonaly Reservoir and went throught the gate on the left just after the break in the trees.

Scald Law ridge from Knightfield Rig, Pentland Hills

It was a lovely evening and there was still plenty of light left in the sky. The tracks were in great condition; very dry as we hadn't had any recent rain. We pushed on down the hill on the wide rocky track, as if riding towards Edinburgh in the distance. We picked up plenty of speed heading down towards Bonaly and took some evasive action to avoid the many dog walkers! Just before the large gate, we took a sharp left to follow the single track into the woods; taking great care on the many exposed tree roots, then down the rough path to the bottom of Torduff Reservoir. Then a steep zig zag back up the road towards Clubbiedean Reservoir. There were plenty of folk out enjoying the summer evening and we hit the crowds as we headed down across the fields to Harlaw. After negotiating the large wall, we stopped for a snack on the north side of Theipmuir Reservoir.

Emily tackling the first steep section at Knightfield Rig

After a short break, we pushed on along the single track through Redford Woods; appearing back on the road leading up to Bavelaw Castle. The steep road up to the Castle was lung-busting to say the least, but it was the last climb of the day - great news! After pausing to catch our breath and to take in the historical building, we set off over the grassy fields and joined the sweeping single track running nicely down to The Howe. This is a great descent and you can really get some speed and let the bends flow - just watch out for anyone coming up the other way!

Glencourse Reservoir from Knightfield Rig

After a great run down to The Howe at the top of Loganlea Reservoir, all that remained was a gentle cycle along the minor road to The Flotterstone Inn for a well deserved steak and chips.