Conic Hill Trip. Loch Lomond. Always Far From The Madding Crowd.

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With the gradual easing of restrictions and recent permission to go further afield I decided a day out on Conic Hill would suit me fine. At only 361 metres or 1,184 feet it's not a particularly big hill but it was an overcast murky day in the Scottish Highlands and the higher peaks were in the clouds.. There was also a chance it would rain as the two month long sunny weather of Spring had been replaced  by a similar long run of cooler unsettled conditions.

                                                    Raindrops on a leaf. Natural Jewels.

Conic Hill sits on the edge of the Scottish Highlands at Balmaha with fine views over the southern half of Loch Lomond and its 23 islands. Another reason for picking it was that I'd checked online first to see if it was open after recent reports of traffic jams and police moving visitors on in the nearby crowded Trossachs area so I did not want a longer drive only to find the car park full... or out of bounds... or visitors unwelcome. The car park at Balmaha is also very large, with space for almost one hundred cars at a guess so a safe bet for getting parked as one thing I have noticed is a steady year on year increase in tourists with car parks increasingly full earlier on in the day.

Out on the water Loch Lomond at Balmaha was fairly quiet and serene, just a few private boats moving on the surface and a few privately owned kayaks paddling around as I do not think the hire places were open yet by the looks of it.

By contrast the hill and village appeared totally packed with visitors. like a closer to home Skye, and I was lucky to get a space in the car park, despite its size, by 10:00am - only half a dozen vacant spots remaining. I set off up the hill with 1000 others- almost like an Irish religious pilgrimage mountain. I enjoyed the crowds for a while but the novelty soon wore off so I found my own less frequented path up the hill, away from the mass ascent.

One benefit of following this less trodden route was the variety of alpine plants still thriving on the more deserted slopes. Moss Campion here.

Purple Bell Heather. After the initial early Covid 19 experience of a much quieter world with most folk staying indoors the reverse seems to have happened throughout the last month. Probably with families not fully at work or school yet, no holiday breaks abroad, and a pent up release of energy plus a somewhat false feeling that the worst might be over.... means there's more people than ever out and about. That's what I've noticed anyway. Cycle tracks and canal paths are far busier than pre covid levels, twice as many joggers, cyclists, and folk walking than ever before and roads and car parks back to being really busy. I almost miss the first two months of  Covid when you could glide through a silent, near empty cityscape or parkland setting and feel like you were living in a post apocalyptic world. The last few humans left alive. A unique experience I have to admit, as a sometimes natural loner, I secretly enjoyed.  Nature was and always has been my main 'support bubble' in life so I was scarcely affected by the pandemic or not seeing anyone for months on end.

And nature did seem to thrive... so I did as well...

It's the getting back to normal thing I can't handle very well :o)

A microlight over Conic Hill.                                      Far from the Madding Crowd.

Microlight Pilot.

 Crowds ascending Conic Hill. Loch Lomond Islands below.

For me, still proudly keeping my 50 metre distance well apart from humanity, I was remembering another past era.... one where I first explored the twenty three islands of Loch Lomond in my newly purchased kayak. A wonderful archipelago that was as captivating to me then as any Greek island tour. Each new trip by myself or with friends opening up a little more of this secret world every time. Islands full of wonder and mystery... discoveries of fallow deer herds swimming between islands, Australian wallabies, an island pub, (Oh, joy of joys!) , feral goats living like smelly outlaws, a mail boat, a deserted summerhouse, fantastic, mature deciduous woodlands, various game trails, sandy beaches, a nudist colony,  a prison island, an island with a dungeon on it, a castle island, ancient crannogs, occasional ospreys, buzzards and golden eagles spotted overhead , an inquisitive seal at one point...far from the nearest salt water habitat, and a dozen fondly remembered camping trips long before the National Park took it over and put restrictions down. Even free diving occasionally on my own with a mask, snorkel, and wet-suit in my hasty ill advised youth, discovering yet another realm under the surface of caves, secret fish movements, and deep currents.

Tour boats like this one here are fine but with your own kayak or boat you can explore anywhere, or could then, and the sheer joy of discovery on each new trip was a great feeling. Easily the equal of any exotic trip abroad yet only an hours drive away from Glasgow and £40 paid for the kayak. The long distilled chapter in Autohighography about these islands was fun and very easy to write about as I had so much material to draw on in reality and so many great trips to look back on. Just wish I could discover them all again, anew, with fresh eyes, or capture that youthful innocent zest and energy for life a second time round but that would be asking far too much. I've had my slice of heaven already and cannot complain. 

The start of the magical archipelago of islands from Balmaha.

Some of the island chain seen from Conic Hill.

Cruise Boat on Loch Lomond.

Blue Hydrangea.

Kayakers setting off to explore the islands.

The first and original service industry at work. When you study nature closely it also operates with mathematical precision at every turn.

Tom Weir at Balmaha. Outdoor TV presenter, Writer, Rock Climber, Scottish and Greater Ranges Mountaineer and Naturalist.     1914- 2006.

A beautiful song and stunning video that seems to capture my feelings perfectly. A true modern classic that deserves to be far better known than it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meaDDLtBH5c

Moments of Pleasure. Selected Scottish Central Belt Snapshots.

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A herd of cows near Clachan of Campsie. Looking at the OS Landranger Glasgow map one day years ago, having done most of the best and more obvious walks on it I spotted a circular route running under the high wall of the Campsie Fells then up via Maiden's Castle and onto Cort-ma Law. It turned out to be a cracker of a route. A highly enjoyable and very varied outing- which is where the post title comes in. Often day long 'moments of pleasure' are reflected in these photos.

A lightning storm over the Garleton Hills in this one. I'd not long discovered the wide open beauty of the Garleton Hills, a small insignificant range of grassy knolls east of Edinburgh and after my initial brief visit to climb the Hopetoun Monument with friends as an add on to a bigger hill day we'd already had.... I fancied going back myself to do the full range. I did not intend to traverse this little known, low level range during a summer thunder and lightning storm but that's exactly what happened. Luckily the surrounding and higher Moorfoots and Lammermuir summits captured the brunt of the lightning strikes and flashes leaving me untouched, completely dry and able to enjoy the show. The majesty of nature at its finest is always best if you are not soaked and freezing cold under it as I had very little shelter nearby to escape any rain if it came my way. I'd rolled my bike over the hills as it was part of a day long cycle tour of East Lothian and a couple of hours later I was cycling along a vast open beach in bright sunshine. Another great day out.

The beach in question was at Gullane then onto this place, cycling across Aberlady Bay. Garleton Hills now firmly in the distance. One thing I have found post social media and Instagram is how busy most beaches have become in the last 10 years.

Here's another east coast beach not that far away from Gullane. The aptly named 'Broad Sands.' Again on a bike and again deserted ... which is a big part of the fun for me... like being the only person on the planet in your imagination as you bomb along at speed over the hard packed surface. ( obviously avoiding any birds ahead and giving them plenty of space to co- exist and stay still sitting on the sand. It's a wide beach -you can easily do that.) A desert island drifter with Fidra in the background here. Inspiration for R. L. Stevenson's Treasure Island. I used to walk or cycle regularly along numerous Central Belt Scottish east and west coast beaches and hardly see anyone else around but now they are frequently busy, even mid week. Call me elitist but for me it's not the same vibe as before. I don't mind crowds just not in the wilderness. But I've had my allotted time on an emptier planet already so I can't complain.

Alex is not usually a morning person after a night in the pub. A racing snake greets the new day in a climbing hut years ago.... or maybe a slow worm on this occasion. The right colour of bag anyway.

A club trip further north. Julian? demonstrates his new fireproof trousers. That boulder seat looks very uncomfortable.

A solo day out on the Arran Ridge years ago. Early 2000s. Very quiet for most of it with only these two other hill-walkers encountered.

 

The Arran Ridge from Great Cumbrae in mid winter.

Minor road covered in sheet ice so no cars on it to trouble our walk. It's rarely frequented anyway this minor road, even in summer.

Walkers descending Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh. The easy side of this extinct volcano has excellent views over the Firth of Forth and its handful of islands.

Many tourists are surprised however just how steep the other side is and this harder end of vertical cliffs can catch many folk out, especially under snow and ice when walkers go up it under equipped in street shoes and limited warm clothing. For its modest size- 800 foot high and in the middle of a city- it can occasionally bite the unwary. A proper little mountain.

Beach cricket at Earlsferry in Fife. Afternoon summer thunderclouds arriving after a hot, sultry morning. Beach walking again for me. The era of 'Captain Coastwalk' when I was bagging new Scottish  beaches and remote clifftop walks most weekends in the 1990s, usually on my own. A somewhat derogatory and condescending title by those still addicted to mountains and hill-walking to the exclusion of anything else. I didn't mind one bit as I got to know Fife really well- an extraordinary and ancient kingdom filled with surprises round every corner.... including village cricket teams and sea queens, more unusual sights here and a richer visual tapestry of settlements and long traditions than on the west coast, where many of the original inhabitants of the various districts and Highland glens were moved elsewhere or emigrated abroad.

A waterfall jump. River Etive.

Caterpillar and a dedicated photographer.

Not bad but here's one I made earlier.... roped then tamed them into a line. That's real action photography, small scale. Yeehaaa cowboy!

A mystery girl on the shore.....  but who is she? My 'princess of suburbia' perhaps?

Waiting and watching. Feeding time at the children's zoo many years ago. This girl is now a responsible young adult in the world of work. The guinea pigs have sadly passed away. Sniff sniff.....

                                                Calton Hill in Edinburgh from Arthur's Seat.

As I'm in a playful mood here's a playful little number. A horse race through a city. Fantastic modern artwork done with great style and imagination. Best watched full screen. This is worth looking at. The distilled essence of 'cool' in visual form.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5fk523

A Mountaineering Life. The Early Days. Part One.

One positive of Covid 19 for me is that, instead of always posting new outdoor trips weekly it's given me a chance, as outdoor activities have been very limited the past few months, to look back and realise how fortunate I've been in my mountaineering life. Work is what you do to earn money and I've always put 100% in there but what makes life worth living for me is the outdoor existence I enjoy in my free time.

Over five decades  later I've been in half a dozen clubs and made numerous friends and companions through them that shared a love of the great outdoors so here's a selection of memorable trips in no particular order.

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As you can see I started early. Around nine or ten here or younger and scrambling on the easy but steep cliffs of Byne Hill above Girvan. We were staying on holiday in a caravan under this hill and every day was a fresh adventure.

20 years later I was still scrambling up cliffs- just bigger and higher ones. 1980s remote central highlands here.

Then we graduated to remote peaks in winter. Beinn Mhor Dearg here in the far north west of Scotland. Easily the equal of any Munro with its snowy ramparts and vertical cliffs.

Then the occasional sea stack... for which we needed rock climbing. Alex at base of stack, above, having crossed the water gap on a rope after Brian had swam across with an end. Although I started out mainly hill-walking and bagging Munros I soon got sidetracked into scrambling, rock climbing, kayaking, caving, island bagging, cross country skiing, and coastal walks... as well as city and town exploring... for me that was a very natural progression as I liked them all....as long as it was outdoors I was usually up for it and would have a go. Day or night.

The Old Man of Stoer here... a classic rock climb in Assynt. Brian and Alex on the middle pitch. At 60 metres or 196 feet high not as hard to reach or as difficult as the Old Man of Hoy at twice the height at E1 but still a daunting proposition at VS 5a with a steep climb down the coastal cliffs then a Tyrolean rope traverse to avoid a deep sea gap just to reach the base of this stack. Brian and Alex sitting on a halfway ledge in this one, above, waiting their turn to climb to the summit as another climbing pair can be seen above them on the sunlit ramp. The bit that worried them (and me watching) was the long abseil off the top where they left their own long sling behind around a summit boulder just in case. ( No telling the condition of the old ones already left there by previous groups, open to wind, salt spray and storms so better to add a fresh one just in case. Most climbers die on the descent on climbs, especially abseiling.

I've got it down as a 240 feet high climb here over 4 pitches but that's probably the total amount climbed including sideways climbing as there is some of that. You can now get taken up it with hired guides if you book then pay online apparently. Probably lay on a WiFi service and games up there as well if there's a queue. That's progress I guess. I was club photographer on this trip as there was no-one else good enough on hand as a partner to drag me up it but I didn't mind that one bit. Taking these photographs was enough for me.... already keen on my new hobby as a snapper of climbing types. If I was actually climbing the route the photos would not be as good at showing the full climb or its position on the coast.

Same with this one where I could move around on the cliff edge to capture different angles. Another real classic snapped from a distance. The famous 'Dream of White Horses' on the Gogarth sea cliffs in  North Wales. HVS 4c and very exposed to the elements.

Roger and Brian on a high level traverse across the cliff. During rough seas large waves can almost reach this position. Which is where the title came from on a windy day of big swells.

Before we started going to mainland Europe for our holidays we would travel down to the Lake District, Wales, Devon and Cornwall on Classic Rock trips. A guidebook and photo list of rock climbs from Diff to VS that became our new bible, although these two routes above are probably in Hard Rock. VS to E1 or thereabouts. In this one I've scrambled down to sea level to photograph 'dream' from below, looking up.

What I liked about Classic Rock and easier rock climbing in general was the situations and rock architecture they took you into. Amazing places only rock climbers see. Hard Rock tends to move out more onto steep blank walls leaving the easy stuff- long chimneys, caves, huge cracks leading deep into the mountain itself for lesser mortals like us.

Ossian's Cave marks the turning point of this long weaving route where you cut back diagonally upwards, onto a higher right running ramp/ledge, directly under the cave- in reality a horrible dripping slot a spider would slide out of if not careful moving around and reached by a dangerous steep extra scramble on grass where folk have fallen before that misjudged it. An incredible place though.

Another Brian from a different club and a memorable trip to Skye. Four days of unbroken sunshine and hot weather and our first visit to the black Cuillin ridge. Early 1980s. Still scrambling at this point. No ropes yet.

Late 1980s and another trip to Skye. Alex on the Cioch here- without a rope in sight.

If you have a very good head for heights you can solo it but the rock is like glass as millions of feet and hands have gone here before you. Most of them on a rope I'd imagine. Very slippy... and you have to reverse it backwards coming down.

If you wonder why I was able to scramble this pinnacle on Gran Paradiso with a thousand foot drop below... years of rock climbing and previous scrambling experience in the UK is the answer to that.

A view hanging off the belay on Integrity. A VS 4c or 4b rock climb ( depends which guide book you look at) up a near vertical cliff face above the Cioch. You can see a single person on Arrow Route on the slab, a few folk on the flat rib above that and one person climbing the Cioch exactly where Alex was two photos above. At some future date I'd imagine the Cioch must fall and slide into the glen below as you can see a deep crack all round the resting edges here- releasing thousands of tons of moving rock in the process. Hope no climbers are on it or under it at the time.

A view of the Cioch Slab and Arrow Route, A 60 metres long V.Diff. on Skye. Note two climbers on the slab. Integrity starts up the cliff at the top left of this photo. You can get 1000 foot of quality rock climbing Hard Severe to VS standard by linking three routes together on this cliff- which we did. Alex and I also climbed Eastern Buttress on a different occasion which is where I obtained these distance shots from. When you are actually on a route it's mostly views looking up or looking down a wall.

A rainy day climbing the Cioch Slab. Integrity goes straight up the cliff right above Alex's head. A very exposed feeling climb. Given the variable Scottish mountain weather getting caught out by rain, sleet, snow, hail, or strong winds is possible and we have enjoyed all of them on rock climbs over the years including a foot of snow falling suddenly halfway up a fairly serious route. Needless to say this makes climbing slightly harder. 'Wet' can also be slippy depending on rock type. Such is life.

Brian on Spartan Slab VS. A cracking balance climb up a massive wall ascended up crack lines and using pure friction in a few places. (No actual holds available just blank padding over slabs.) Loved this climb as it wasn't vertical. Always a bonus. Got up it all the way the first time- rained off it the second time, close to the top.

Sou'wester Slabs. A multi pitch V Diff on the amazing Rosa Pinnacle on Arran. A favourite island for walkers and climbers. You can see two folk on it a quarter of the way up the route in this photo.

Higher up, climbing under the overhang.

The top of the Rosa Pinnacle. We were treated to a foot of hailstones battering our bodies the second time I did Sou'wester Slabs. May can be a tricky month for rock climbing in the mountains... So can second ascents of routes in my case.

Another route on Arran. The 6 pitch VS 4b adventure of Labyrinth. A partially subterranean route going under chock-stones, squeezing up deep chimneys, traversing along ledges and crawling through various holes in the mountain. An amazing experience. You can make out two climbers at both ends of the deep chimney, above.

Higher up on the same route a zoomed shot of Brian and Gordon and (John?).

I also like surprises when it comes to music. You will probably not have heard of this band.. or the song... but it's an underrated gem. All the best kind of surprises are. This is music for grown ups :o)  A tune with depth of character that grows on you as well.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xas5vm