Blog Posts in Category: Walking

After being evacuated from the campsite in Arolla due to landslides we headed down to Les Haudères. Due to an unsettled forecast we spent a few days doing day walks rather than heading up to the big mountains. The first walk was the ridge directly above the campsite, we walked up to the Col de Torrent and then aimed to walk along the ridge over the Pointe du Prélet and along to the Pointe du Tsate. The walk up to the Col de Torrent had lovely views up the valley towards the Pigne d’Arolla and down the valley towards some mountains north of the Rhone valley. As we were leaving the col we were treated to a close flypast by a bearded vulture which was stunning. The ridge was fantastic, with great views in every direction, some good scrambling and plenty more wildlife. Unfortunately we got to within 100m of the Pointe du Tsate and had to turn back due to a climb and some loose rocks which we weren’t willing to do without ropes. Thankfully the forecast thunderstorm did not arrive! The next day we planned on climbing the Pic d’Artsinol but decided to turn. Read the full article…

At the beginning of July I headed up to the Lake District for a long birthday weekend, we spent the weekend with the Avon Mountaineering club in the beautiful but remote Duddon Valley before heading over to Eskdale on Sunday. On the first morning we woke up to a spectacular day, with almost wall to wall sunshine it doesn’t get much better in the Lake District. There was a reasonably cold wind, but this didn’t matter as we weren’t able to climb as Becky had broken her finger earlier in the week. We elected to walk the obvious circuit from the campsite which included most of the peaks around the Old Man of Conniston. The circuit was great, with a short walk up a track to a picturesk tarn before making an abrupt ascent up to the ridge which connects all of the peaks. Once we had gained most of the altitude the views were stunning in every direction. To the south west we could see down the Duddon valley and out to the sea, to the north we could see Scafell, Scafell Pike and Crinkle Crags and to the. Read the full article…

After two days of walking and a day cycling we had one day with some mild dampness, before another sustained spell of good weather. We took this as a good opportunity to enjoy a rest day before heading out for dinner. The next morning we woke up to a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky and without a breath of wind, we quickly decided it was too hot to go walking and we needed to go and get some brunch (definitely not the wine…). As the day continued to heat up, we did indeed decide that it was too hot to enjoy walking, but we could make the most of the conditions by waiting for it to cool down before climbing Conival and sleeping on the summit. Due to the lack of phone reception we didn’t actually realise that it was forecast to be 30 degrees, or that the far north of Scotland was the hottest place in the UK. We left the car park after 7pm, and the walk up still felt brutally hot. I am pretty sure I have never been hotter walking, even in the. Read the full article…

We have recently got back from a trip to the far North of Scotland where we were Munro bagging and road biking. Initially we headed up about as far north as it is possible to go in Scotland to climb Ben Klibreck and Ben Hope. These are often climbed in a single day, as they are both relatively short days and are close together by road. Thankfully the weather saved us from having an epic day climbing both, as we had two days in a row with good weather in the morning and rain forecast in the afternoon. Ben Klibreck was an enjoyable walk which followed a natural ridge line up, with a feint path for most of the way. The views from the top were very different to most of Scotland, with lots of moorland combined with the views of Ben Hope, Ben Loyal and Ben Mor Assynt. Ben Hope was a very dull peak, but not as bad as Mount Keen! It was again another early start due to forecast rain, although it never materialised. The walk up was fairly harsh with lots of ascent in a very. Read the full article…