Blog Posts in Category: Walking

Mullach Clach a’Bhlair & Sgor Gaoith

Alastair BegleyMountaineering, Walking Short Link

Having had an excellent day on Sunday traversing Liathach in unusually nice Scottish weather, today we were treated with a more usual day out. We spent the day munroe bagging above Glen Feshie where we completed a 25km loop which included Mullach Clach a’ Bhlair & Sgor Gaoith. We set off from the car hoping that we would be able to cross all of the rivers which on the east bank of Glen Feshie, thankfully we were just about able to with some fairly committing jumps over the first river we came to. The ascent up Mullach Clach a’ Bhlair was very painless after the long walk down the valley due to the estate track which runs all the way up to the plateau, as we joined the plateau we ascended into the white room. Unfortunately the rest of the day was spent in the white room staring at a compass. Having read stories online of people not being able to find the summit of Mullach Clach a’ Bhlair in the summer even with the help of GPS due to the summit being very indistinct and having a tiny cairn. Due to this. Read the full article…

Sunny Schiehallion

Alastair BegleyWalking Short Link

Today was the start of this years Scotland trip, last year we were constantly battling with frankly terrible weather. The start of this year’s trip could not have been more different as we were greeted with wall-to-wall sunshine, I even got sunburnt! We have plans in Torridon tomorrow so had a short day en-route today. We climbed Schiehallion, which is a Munroe which Becky had been saving for a perfect winter day, and it certainly could not have been much more perfect than today. On the ascent we were too hot in our baselayers as there was no wind, although we did get a sharp reminder of how cold it was in the slight breeze on the summit. The conditions underfoot were relatively easy going on the well trodden path which enabled us to make a quick ascent in under 2 hours. The views from the top were absolutely fantastic due to the cold crystal clear air which meant that we could see over to Rannoch Mor and Ben Nevis to the west, Ben Lawers to the south and the Cairngorms to the North East. The snow was softening slightly. Read the full article…

Stag Weekend in North Wales

Alastair BegleyRock Climbing, Walking Short Link

It’s been a while since I have written a blog post, which is more due to the shear volume of climbing I have been doing, rather than the lack of climbing. I have been having an excellent season and have been making good headway into E2 and am now looking forward to the rest of the season. Last weekend I was due to head up to North Wales for a friend’s stag do, and given the nice weather three of us decided to head up a day early and do a mountain route in Snowdonia. We decided on Grooved Arete and were pleased to discover that we were the only people on the crag when we arrived in the morning. The weather was fantastic but very warm and humid in the sun which made the approach pretty warm. I lead the entire route to save time due to thunderstorms being forecast in the afternoon. The route was fantastic with lots of interesting pitches, although there was a surprising amount of polish which was a bit of a shame. The standout pitches for me were the second main pitch, the third main. Read the full article…

Walking on the Black Mountain

Alastair BegleyWalking Short Link

I have just returned from a rare weekend away walking in the mountains of Wales. On Friday after work I headed out to the Back Mountain with the Avon Mountaineering Club for a fun weekend of walking, drinking and playing silly games. We were staying in the quiet valley of Ystradfellte, as per usual in winter we arrived in the dark so it was great to wake up and be greeted by views the next morning. In order to make the most of the weather we made a reasonably early start, defrosted the cars and headed over to Glyntawe which was at the base of an obvious ridge up to Fan Brycheiniog. We were supposed to be meeting Phil at the car park, who had decided it would be a good idea to get up 2 hours before daylight and walk to meet us there! This didn’t quite go to plan and he was a bit delayed, so Pete and I decided to stay and wait for him while the others headed up the mountain, the idea was that we would catch them up. Phil was only shortly behind and we headed. Read the full article…