Walking in a Winter Wonderland

It's been snowing again in Invergarry!

It's beautiful enough here at any time of year, but the snow seems to have a magical effect on the scenery and it is just stunning right now. Instead of writing any more, I'll just show you some of the photos I've taken this morning, none of which really do justice to the actual experience but were the best I could do with very cold fingers and an impatient dog!

Needless to say we're all enjoying the snow, especially Dylan!

Jen x

Dillon the Lovesick Dog

I'm just a Labrador puppy
My coat is shiny and black,
I'm only eight months old
And I'm rather a mischievious chap.

I live with Matt and Jenny,
In Scotland by the Loch,
Surrounded by woodland walks
I'm such a lucky dog.

I had some friends to stay,
They came from way down south,
Two glamorous blondes,
They made me drool at the mouth.

Tia is so much a lady
She just oozes elegance and grace,
But if I make any advances
She soon puts me in my place.

Lily is something else
I fancy her so much,
I follow her everywhere
But eventually have to give up.

They call her Lily the tart,
We romp and play all day,
I think she's stolen my heart
And soon she's going away.

She takes me into the woods
And shows me the ways of the wild,
I'd do all I could
For my Lily to stay a while.

She's such a competent swimmer,
I want to swim like that,
Retrieve sticks from the water
And take them to Jenny and Matt.

Today we went to Loch Lundie
Lily was magnificent,
I so much wanted to join her
But was too frightened to make the attempt..

I wanted to show her how brave I was
And launched myself off the side
I found myself swimming like Lily
But she took it all in her stride.

I think I'm in love with Lily,
She'll be going home quite soon,
I wish I had all my bits in tact
I'd show her a thing or two.

Jules

Sgurr a' Mhaoraich

The Exiles (Jen's walking/mountaineering club) are visiting and the "Mountain of the Month" on Nick's calendar at home is just down the road so we took the first good weather day to seize the opportunity.

The early start turned into a late start, the late start soon turned into an even later start which included a cooked breakfast.

The glen was looking stunning and the walk looked like it might be called off altogether as we had numerous photo stops (Nick is a very keen photographer). It got even worse when the we came upon about 20 stags standing around in the middle of the road, and we spent at least 20 minutes listening to his* camera beeping and clicking as we crept along the road.

The walk sets off straight up the hill but I don't think anybody noticed as we were all admiring the surroundings - and Jen had Lilly the golden retriever to pull her up most the way - I think she is planning on training Dylan to do that as well! After a few small patches of snow and ice to negotiate we were soon at the first summit of Sgurr Coire nan Eirichean.


Most of us were happy to sit here sunbathing and have an extended lunch before heading back down. Although we kept saying we weren't bothered about getting to the very top, Jen and I decided we'd leave our bags and run across the ridge to "bag" the Munro and catch the others up on the way down. We soon made it across the ridge and after a few icey-scrambley bits and a fine view we were back to pick up our bags an hour later and raced off to catch everyone up.


We had an amazing day out although I wasn't sure about Dave at first, he kept going on about it been "gneiss" and "schist" - it took us a while to figure out he was commenting on the rock and not the walk!

--Matt

*in Nick's defence, it wasn't just his camera clicking away, we were all at it.

Loch Quoich Munros

Our friends Steph and Richard are up for a visit this week, they have done loads of walking in the Lake District but none in Scotland so we headed out to bag us a couple of Munros. The short drive from the hostel was full of promise - blue skies, still Lochs reflecting the mountains and amazing autumn colours, unfortunately it wasn't the same story down by Loch Quoich where the cloud was already beginning to come in.


Richard set a good pace that soon got us up into the cloud and up to the first Munro, Spidean Mialach. Jen and I have done these two hills before so we told them how good the views are from here and what they could have seen if it was clear.

As we headed up towards to second summit the cloud began to clear and gave us some views. From here it's not far through some quite deep snow to the last Munro, Gleouraich, which was teasing us with some lovely views of the neighbouring peaks peeping through the clouds. It was Jen's turn now to set the pace as we headed back down towards the van/pub/hot meal.

Oh, and I'd like to take this opportunity to say hello to the blog's second biggest fan (after my grandparents) - Hello Steph's dad!

--Matt

A Spooky Witches Trail

The motivation for cycling has returned this week with Jen saying she wanted to have a go at one of the red runs at Leanachan forest. I haven't done the "10 Under the Ben" route but Jen was adamant that there isn't a better time to do the Witches trail than on Halloween!

We got to the top after a lung busting ascent with Jen telling me that it all seemed a bit too easy. I managed to convince her that we should stop for a few minutes and enjoy the view of the North Face which is looking great covered in the early snow.

The trail is named after a local witch, now I didn't see any witches but there was definitely some loud cackling and shrieking coming from Jens direction as we took off down the route. I could tell from the massive grin on her face that she was enjoying herself. After stopping a couple of times to check she was OK (and let her catch up!) I got told off for stopping as it puts her off and I should get a move on. Charming.


Anyway, we both had a great time and now Jen knows that the reds aren't too hard we're ready to get out and tackle some of the others in the vicinity. Maybe next year we'll dress up as witches and celebrate halloween properly!

--Matt