Collected Musings of a Hill Wanderer

A few weekends ago, Scotland drew me north for a weekend around Fort William. As it happened, the overnight journey had me leaving a very foggy Crewe to go to an equally foggy Fort William. Though I am well aware of temperature and cloud inversions, the lack of visibility was sufficient to get me questioning my plan to go to Glenfinnan for another look around its surroundings. After all, a previous visit to Morar showed me how fog can linger in glens around there.

Adding to the confusion was what I saw out the train window on the way to Fort William. On arising north of Bridge of Orchy, I lifted up the blind to be greeted by a stirring view over Loch Tulla towards the Black Mount. Last time I travelled on the Caledonian Sleeper, I was looking the other way but this was what was on offer on my first ever Sleeper journey more than five years ago. This time, the loch was still and the white-capped hills utterly majestic. If I had thought of cranking up the ISO rating on my Pentax DSLR, I might have tried to record what lay before me like I did with Loch Treig later on as you can see above. It was this clarity of air that caused my quandary in Fort William on my arrival there.

In the event, all that was needed was patience because the fog eventually clear as the time came for me to head to Glenfinnan. The reward for my perseverance came in the form of a sunny start to my second ever visit to the place. Unfortunately, I was to find that cloud cover was to snuff out those rays of sun all too soon. Nevertheless, I was decided on enjoying my wandering regardless of that development.

The sun stayed long enough for me to get from Glenfinnan's train station to Loch Shiel. My first visit to these parts came on a cloudy day in August 2001, in times preceding any vestige of hill walking in my outings, and it brought home to me the distance between the train station and the loch. While I was more laden back then, I still didn't hurry along the roadside footway on this year's trip either. A few walkers passed me in the opposite direction but that was limit of human incursion into my reverie until I got beyond the Jacobite memorial.

It was as I neared that monument that I got my only rain of the day and it was far from being a deluge. There was a final decision to be made at this point in the day: either exploring the glens to the north or going along the track along Loch Shiel. An unexpected discovery that steered me towards the latter was a walk through woodlands over duckboards that included a bridge crossing over the Callop River. The well-kept state of the path had me asking if anyone else had found this but two developments changed my mind. First, there was a child's red glove dropped on the ground and there were a group of relaxed cyclists coming after me while out on a lochside bimble. The fact that I was saved a round trip involving road walking was very welcome.

Those cyclists were to go ahead in front of me and I took the chance to hop up on a hump in the name of adding to my views of what surrounded me. Tree cover meant that what lay across the A830 from me was easier to see than any sights down along Loch Shiel. On retracing my steps to rejoin the vehicle track, I inspected the signpost that had been erected. Callop was one option and I would have passed by there if that welcome path hadn't been put in place. Polloch was the other and I was to set in that direction though time meant that I never was to cover all the distance to that place. Looking at a map while setting down these words, I spotted a hilly single track road leading from Polloch to Strontian and has caused my mind to ponder cycle touring around Ardgour, a prospect that excites me a little so long as I could get a bike around there. Could I hire out a bicycle for a few days rather than having to take my own that far north? It certainly would be handy if I could but some investigation is in order beforehand, methinks.

That pondering is for the future and never came to mind at the time though I could have wondered where those cyclists were going. My being intent on savouring my surroundings to a stop to that. The sun may have been staunched by the clouds but I have out among Scotland's hill often enough to see the possibilities. They almost demand a return on longer days with even the ca. 19:00 train back to Fort William having its place in my deliberations. Now that I think of it, later departures to Mallaig are beginning to feature in my thinking. There was nothing wrong with the brown hillsides that surrounded me and magic came in the form of wisps of low cloud that appeared for all the world to be affixed to those too. As if that were insufficient, I also came across a deer eating silage from a creep feeder. There was no move in this antlered beast as I stopped to gaze on a normally elusive creature at relatively close quarters. Maybe hunger during a lean winter dispelled any fear momentarily.

While the weather constrained any photographic opportunities, I still sensed that this was a special part of the world. Well, the lack of a breeze brought a stillness that soothed the spirit. As with all out and back lochside walks, the tricky part was deciding when to turn back. Similar trots beside Loch Eilde Mor near Kinlochleven come to mind here. The first one saw me needing to await a later bus to Fort William on a murky midge-infested August evening after missing an earlier departure. In contrast, my second trip there saw me leave too early and left some spare time in Kinlochleven. In the event, I got it about right with Loch Shiel. As it happened, the cycling party themselves had turned earlier and were coming back against me before I reached my pre-appointed turning point. Even so, my return was relaxed and steady rather than frantic and rushed though light was starting to fade on me.

Knowing exactly you are going stops any panic if you find the end of a day approaching and so it was with me beside Loch Shiel. So relaxed was I that I popped up onto another elevated vantage point for one last peek around me rather than rushing ahead. What was to be spotted was a streak of light in the sky with spouts of sunlight lighting part of the loch as the sun dropped towards the horizon. While light really was failing on my reaching the A830 again, I shared a few words with a fellow Irishman going to see a monument that drew his curiosity. By this point in the day, it had been lit up though it was difficult to make such lighting apparent in any photos. Even with an eye on the time so as to catch a train back again to Fort Willam, there was no way that I would not pass a polite Asian asking me of the whereabouts of the "Harry Potter bridge" (the Glenfinnan viaduct, of course). Suitably directed, he turned his car to get a glimpse of the movie icon. Glenfinnan's train station had more human activity than I had met during my whole walk with some folk awaiting trains to Mallaig and to Glasgow. The words "Haste Ye Back" seem to sum up my afternoon around Glenfinnan and I hope that they ring true.

That Scottish saying was to crop up again in spirit if not in mind before I left Fort William to return home. There was a brainwave regarding a circuit around by Cow Hill that would have taken me into Glen Nevis before reaching the bus stances where my southbound journey was to begin in earnest. My reason saw to it that I wasn't to try rushing about before leaving Lochaber. What I did was to gain height by going up Lundavra Road and look out over Loch Linnhe and towards Ben Nevis and Meall an t-Suidhe too. A reprise of the circuit was left for another time and the weekend reminded me that there are plenty reasons to return to these parts. Even retracing old steps has its appeal and memories of old escapades are flooding into my head now. Who knows what could come from them?

Travel Arrangements:

Bus service 38 from Macclesfield to Crewe, Caledonian Sleeper from Crewe to Fort William. Return train ride from Fort William to Glenfinnan. Scottish Citylink service from Fort William to Glasgow, National Express service 538 from Glasgow to Manchester, train from Manchester to Macclesfield.

There was one event in my life over the last year that very firmly punctuated the year in outdoors terms: a change of job. Whether it was the cause of putting my hill-going off track or not, there clearly were less outings in the second half of the year and those that were enjoyed weren't so extensive. The strange thing though is that a Christmas spent with the folks in Ireland seems to have recharged things for me. After all, there already has been a proper day out among the waterlogged hill country around Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) in Wales very early in this year with a mad dash up to Fort William and Glenfinnan together with a crossing to Ireland to savour the delights of Howth near Dublin following it. In previous years, it often has fallen to the last weekend of January before I managed to get out at all. There are other schemes in mind but more armchair exploring could be needed before anything comes of them.

The first few months of last year had me standing on hilltops more often than is usual for me and January and February fitted into this pattern with walks over Place Fell in Cumbria and Diffwys near Dyffryn Ardudwy, respectively. The weather was very amenable in both cases with a touch of spring being felt on the second excursion to contrast with the sights reminding onlookers of winter during the previous one. The other major outing in February was a cycle that took in Gawsworth, Astbury, Little Moreton Hall, Holmes Chapel, Goostrey, Over Peover and Chelford. Though I was tired after that jaunt, it sowed the seeds for a cycle to Chester later in the year.

March saw me move things up a gear again by heading to Scotland to see some Scottish snow-covered hillsides around Glen More among the Cairngorms. Braving some showers was the price that I had to pay for this but the rewards from the short sampling session more than compensated. In fact, it may have set the scene for a busy April that featured an Easter Sunday trot from Baslow to Bamford while shadowing the River Derwent. That wasn't as low level as it might sound but I headed to greater heights in the form of Carnedd Moel Siabod and Y Llethr in Wales too. Revisiting the trip reports for these makes me realise that I was more active than I now remember myself to be.

My recollections of May are stronger and it started with a Mayday bank holiday weekend visit to the Isle of Man where I savoured some of the ups and downs of the coastal path, Raad ny Foillan. That was a good introduction to Manx walking and I hope to follow up the outing some time. A trot from Selkirk to Melrose had it share of ascent and descent too as it brought back to a part of the world where I hadn't been for a few years. Later, I discovered that the Kerry mountains around Killarney can get some hot sunny weather. In fact, it could have been the most sun that I have had on a visit to the alluring area.

As it happened, May ended with the commencement of the distraction that was to occupy my mind for much of the next few months: a change of job. It was amazing to see how this really punctuated my outdoors year. The weather remained balmy as I pondered what I was doing with visits to the National Trust managed woods around Alderley Edge for some unwinding on lengthening evenings. That spell of good weather came to an end later in June but not before I snatched the chance to head north to the Isle of Arran and Kintyre for what became my only real longer summer break in Scotland. That didn't prove to be the end of my feeling hot sunshine for the year because a business trip took me to Sweden where long hot evenings allowed me to savour the delights both of Sodertalje and Stockholm.

From July on, the rest of the year gained a much quieter feel when it came to enjoying the outdoors. Nevertheless, I did manage to base myself in Aberdeen for the English August Bank Holiday weekend. Having not been there after a first visit more than a decade before, it was time to revisit places encountered before and exploring those that were new to me. The latter point brings to a first visit to Braemar that took me up to the top Morrone/Morvern with heavy showers making rainbows in the sunshine before things dried up later on an otherwise chilly day. The outing had a real end of year feel with that coolness though Edinburgh felt warm in the sun when I sneaked in a trot about its heart between trains. Maybe I should have based myself there instead, like I did for the same weekend in 2009.

For some reason, the rest of the year felt as if the stuffing had been knocked out of it for me and my outings appeared to reflect that. Nevertheless, I did get to cycling all of the way from Macclesfield to Chester, a brainwave that came to me earlier in the year. It also proved that Cheshire is far from flat though I knew that anyway. Ironically, my end of British Summer Time hike along the High Peak Trail and the Tissington Trail from Pomeroy to Ashbourne on a day when cloud overcame sun as I went further south. Following old railway alignments meant that ups and downs were kept to a minimum on that October afternoon but the distance covered was felt for a while afterwards, ironically for longer than the effects of my exertions in crossing Cheshire if my memory is not failing me again.

Breaking away for a hill country outing seemed to have become difficult for me but November saw me on top of Caer Caradoc in Shropshire due the perceived accessibility of the hill. Shrewsbury remains another idea for urban pottering as does Oswestry so it wasn't about standing atop a hill. In fact, the very next issue of Country Walking featured low hills with good views and put into my head the idea of collating a list of a few of these for times when inspiration was hard to locate.

December's snows may have been disruptive and I was to feel the effects of that when I popped over to Ireland for the Christmas but they were restorative when it came to getting me out of doors again. For one thing, there was a quick visit to the hills near Glossop that was more about broadening my experience of winter condition than covering much in the way of distance. Then, there was wandering around local haunts in Wilmslow (Lindow Common became a 2010 discovery for me), Macclesfield, Prestbury and West Limerick. Surroundings may have looked totally different and very pretty on these short strolls but they very much helped me in the restoration of my hill wandering mojo. Now, I need to ensure that it doesn't leave me again. After all, 2011 has started well and I really do need to set down some more trip reports as well as ensuring that my working life doesn't overwhelm everything else on me again.

Last weekend saw me follow a flight of fancy in that I journeyed up to Fort William on the Sleeper from Crewe. A forecast showing some sunshine was what unleashed me but the reality was more foggy when I reached Fort William. Incidentally, it was very foggy when I left Crewe too but that didn't stop me wondering at what I had done, even if I had gained a glorious view of the Black Mount beyond Loch Tulla or of the hills around Loch Treig on the way.

Despite a quandary induced by the weather that I , I stuck with my original design of popping over to Glenfinnan with two options in mind. The one that came to pass was a short trot along the banks of Loch Shiel and there was some the sun was found to be out when I arrived too though it wasn't to last with grey clouds eventually taking over the sky. Wisps of low cloud affixed themselves to hillsides too as if to amaze the passing wanderer. Add a stag to the scene and he partaking of some silage left out for feeding and there was some wild magic in the peaceful stillness. The surrounding hills looked majestic too so this was a good introduction that needs following up but more thoughts of unfinished business came to mind.

After all, it was ongoing unfinished business at work that made me wonder if I was doing the right thing in undertaking a weekend away but there were more instances from the outdoors world that overtook this. On Sunday morning, the thought of a trot around by Cow Hill and Glen Nevis came to mind but there really wasn't the time for doing that in any state other than in a worried rush and Scotland's fine countryside deserves better than that.

Other examples also joined the queue. Reprising the part of the West Highland Way between Bridge of Orchy, Kinlochleven and Glen Nevis is but one. Seeing more of the hills of the Black Mount and around Loch Etive or Glen Etive is another. Then, there's following up on fleeting visits to Morar and Ardgour more than twelve months ago. Part of the motivation for all of this is my coming away with pleasing photos but that has been an ever present motivation in my explorations of hill country and it's good to see that it still does the trick for me.

On the way home, the sight of Cameron McNeish's The Skye Trail on a bookshelf in Glasgow was enough to have a copy come away with me and that reminded me that I have unfinished business up there too. A fuller review has appeared elsewhere on the blogosphere so I won't be doing one but it's a pleasing mix of route description and social history that also was typical of the volume on the The Sutherland Trail, itself also in my possession and needing further perusal.

All in all, this is far cry from my state of mind last autumn when it became difficult to overcome any sense of fatigue to get out in the countryside all that often. Now, I blame the sense that there was nothing out there that drew me out anymore. Of course, that is fallacious and it's good to have cured it for now. All that it took was the arrival of arctic weather with a good deal of snow and a Christmas spent in Ireland (catching up with a few issues of TGO too) for that one to be put out of commission.

After the passing of 2010, my only wish is that 2011 brings you and yours good things. The past year saw me distracted by a change of job in the middle of it and I think that it may have reduced my output on here. However, after catching up with a few issues of TGO in recent days, I have come to thinking that I need to keep reading more from the outdoors media because my perusal certainly popped a few ideas into my head for the coming year. What's needed now is to make something of the few flakes that are littering my brain at the moment.

The recent arctic conditions may have made my Christmas travelling more adventure-filled than I'd intended but it also brought me an afternoon spent pottering around the hills beside Glossop gain. There is the seed of a post arising from that little outing but I also got to seeing how Lindow Common and the Bollin Valley look with clumps of snow stuck to everything around them too. Then, there were trots around rural Limerick in Ireland to savour what are rare conditions for the southwest of Ireland. It might be that one posting would suffice to collect my experiences on those little tasters of a whitened world.

Though I also am playing with the idea of a local wander before returning to work on Monday, there also are designs on a quick sortie by Caledonian Sleeper to see what's left of snowy coverings in the Scottish Highlands. That's something with which I have been playing for a while but it'll be a little look rather than a deep incursion. It remains to be seen if I can make anything of it.

Other brainwaves for the year include a longer sojourn in an area new to me (and perhaps others) that results in a number of posting that I can share on here. Firm ideas are few and far between at the moment but I did concoct a scheme centred on Mallaig that has me going out to the Small Isles. Maybe visiting Islay and Jura might be other propositions. Then, there's always the call of my native Éire for a fuller hill country excursion to follow up my nibble of the Wicklow Mountains nearly two years ago now.

With regard to smaller forays, there are hills around Keswick that I'd like to explore too after a few years of struggling to find a reason to go back there. That has come from the TGO writings of others and I am thankful of them too. Looking through old photos has brought thoughts of trying to better them and that could see me exploring Derbyshire a bit more too.

It's all very well making designs for a whole year when it can surprise you in a way that you cannot expect but not having the ideas at all will lead to torpor like what I felt towards the end of 2010. That is something that I'd like not to see happening again. Let's hope that all of us manage to get in some quality hill time over the coming year, even if life has a habit of getting in the way from time to time.

Yesterday evening and overnight, a white blanket arrived in and around Macclesfield. A company Christmas night out meant that I was out in Manchester to see the white stuff blanketting there and Stockport too. Again the south of England seems to have been affected too with Twitter awash with transport companies telling what services are running and where. However, it seems that hardly anywhere has escaped with Wales and Scotland seeing some too.

There was a time when this sort of weather was enough to have me out doors pottering over the white coverings but it doesn't seem to hold the same appeal for me these days. Was it last winter's snows that broke the spell? Prior to that, snow was a short-lived visitor that never satisfied my curiosity and was enough to lure me out of doors, even to pace over local paths. Now, it seems that there is a feeling of extra effort required to get about instead, not that I don't have the ability of the kit to be able to get where I want to go.

All of this has me wondering if the same sort of becalming has affected my hillgoing. It's easy to point out causes such as changing job, having busy working weeks, not getting alluring weather or being tired at weekends but there may be another cause: have I more than sated my hill country appetite? With that in mind, it might be an idea to see if there are ways around this if it indeed is the cause.

Popping up accessible little hills might be one of them and my visit to Caer Caradoc last month was very much of this ilk; the fact that it wasn't crowded either helped for enjoyment of the walk. Ironically, this months issue of Country Walking has a feature on walking little hills and Hope Bowdler, not at all far from Caer Caradoc or Church Stretton, gains a mention in there as does Ysgyryd Fawr near Abergavenny. Maybe, creating a collection of little hills on my proverbial ideas shelf for easy planning could help to overcome any present torpor. This is far from list ticking because I like to go for walks to enjoy the surrounding countryside and not to say that I have "done" all the tops on a certain list or other.

The word "little" cropped again in my reading, this time in an issue of TGO that I was perusing on the way down to Oxford for a business trip. What I spied on those pages was a review of Cicerone's Scotland's Best Small Mountains. Since then, I have acquired a copy of the said guide as an eBook and discovered that smallness is in the eye of the beholder. With Country Walking, the sorts of heights are in the 300-500 metre category but many of the "small mountains" are in the 700-900 metre range. There are other contrasts too with some of the hills featured in the Cicerone book being out in pretty wild countryside, a counterpoint to the more genteel surroundings of those in the magazine. The guide starts in the northwest highlands of Scotland and works its way south and throws up a number of options worthy of exploring, some of which I have actually walked. Here, Ben Vrackie and Morrone come to mind but there are one or two others if my memory serves me correctly.

It might that both the magazine and the book are highlighting something of which I have grown short: ideas. There also is the need for time to ponder and plan such things, particularly for those longer excursions. Then, I might be able get things going again in 2011 but my ambitions are sure to be modest. After all, I have been developing a certain dislike for lofty terms like summits and peaks and now find referring to such things as tops to be much more amenable. Whatever I call them, there will be no obsession with these because it will be the walking, exploring and savouring that will matter above all else.