Wednesday, July 1, 2009

June: A few highlights.

Wow that's June "Been and Gone" as they say. It felt like I perhaps hadn't done a great deal, other than DIY, new windows, garage door, utillity room now finished. Yet sorting out the pics, it doesn't seem it has been too much of a wash out.


It started with Becky, Juliana, Peter and I, making a weekend out of cycling the Dava way, this is the old dissused railway line that runs from Grantown on Spey to the Coast. Two days of Hardwork as we set off and returned to Inverness.


On the Dava way.

A few days later Andy, Charlie, and I hit the Old Man of Hoy in a day raid from Inverness, well not quite but we managed to top out 12hours after leaving home, and return the next morning via a midnight walk over the Island. A truly magical route and the achievement feels so much more than than the sum of its parts.






Somehow the Fulmars managed to miss me, but the other two got a bit of a fishy soaking, including one that soaked Andy whilst it was in mid flight, which I could'nt help but laugh at. It has to be said the rock itself is pretty intimidating, when you stand at the bottom with waves crashing, birds all over the place, and a crick in the neck as you strain to see the top. However we were up and down with minimal fuss.

Other highlights include a fantastic day on Skye getting in some alpine training, moving together on the three classic routes, below, upto and above the Cioch. With a brief pause for a sandwich on Scotlands best picnic spot.

Davy and I went up the Cioch nose in Applecross, the local crags have had a bit of revitalisation with my discovery of Tynrich Slabs.

Becky and I had a very wet weekend attempting to go sport climbing, Whilst the rest of the country basked in glorious sunshine we sat under a blanket of drizzle! Still we managed a few routes.

Finally the month finished with the Ben in perfect condition yesterday, Centurion providing the days entertainment, and some very hard pitches for the grade, or maybe I was just having a bad day? Still Andy "Opted!" to be rope gun for the crux pitch which was harder than I anticipated. Despite climbing like a fish in a pair of badly fitting Scarpas, it was worth it, just to see that place without a cloud, the view has been a long time comming.






So all in all a few things done this month.

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