For newcomers

At the bottom of each post there is the word "comments". If you click on it you will see comments made by followers, and if you follow the instructions you may also comment and I always welcome that. I have found many people overlook this part of the blog which is often more interesting than the original post!

My blog nick-name is SIR HUGH. I'm not from the aristocracy - my middle name is Hugh which relates to the list of 282 hills in Scotland compiled by Sir Hugh Munro in 1891. I climbed my last one (Sgurr Mor) on 28th June 2009

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Saturday, 20 August 2016

Torridon 1

Friday 19th August

I arrived yesterday at the Caravan Club site at Kinlochewe.

I have a good EE phone signal but no wifi. The pub a few hundred yards away has wifi but for a reason unknown has it switched off between 6:00pm and 9pm, and I am self contained here and have no reason to go to the pub so posting on here and comments on other blogs will be intermittent at best.

Today I climbed Beinn a Mhuinidh NH 032 660 (Marilyn) from the car park at Incheril. From leaving the Loch Maree footpath there were no paths. First a short climb through chest high bracken then continuing very steep on rough ground up to the rim. After that endless undulations and rough going to the summit - three hours, return two and a half hours. The views of the Torridons, Slioch and further north to An Teallach were overwhelming, and I do not use that word lightly. It is a while since I have been in the Highlands and I was taken aback by the scale of things. I had an unrealistic feeling knowing that I had climbed many of the peaks I could see, that is the ones that are Munros, and I found it difficult to accept that I had the energy and motivation to press on and complete them all, most of them within a short period of time when I was in my sixties. It was pleasing to find that I can still do the odd hill like this at age 76, and I was once again uplifted with that Scottish Highlands magic tonic the weather was perfect, and although tough this was a little classic - no Marilyn pushover.

Back at the caravan midges were at about 8 out of 10, and it had started to rain heavily. I wanted a shower, but knew I would be eaten alive on the way back from the CC Club heated toilet block, so I used the one in my caravan which I rarely do. It works fine. Time now for a sundowner and catch up on the Olympics.

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What about the new verb: to medal? It has come under some criticism, but language is a living thing continually developing, and I like this new addition.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

2 comments:

  1. A fine area to do some Marilyn medalling.

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  2. Alan R -You're right but I'd forgotten how tough these Scottish hills are. Makes the Lake Disrict seem like a children's playground.

    ReplyDelete