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dy lost an hour we opted for carn chois sitting above the western shore of loch turret reservoir with a handy car park by the dam where there were half a dozen cars it s a well worn route up the slope from the water s edge past the scar on the hillside caused by fencing contractors vehicles why were they installing deer fencing we wondered usually the precursor to tree planting but no signs of that yet this was a relatively steep slope and though there was no direct sunlight through the hazy sky it was very warm in the lee of the hill with not even the slightest breeze to cool us we were both perspiring heavily but there were good excuses to pause and look back over the loch glen turret and the growing views over this very pretty part of perthshire we chatted briefly to two other walkers as we passed them on the way up false summits are a common feature of scottish hills and carn chois certainly had a few to our frustration and our rising temperatures most of the terrain is smooth with grasses glowing purple heather shrubs and berries but there were the occasional little crags to skirt round or scramble over nothing serious we stopped at the trig point at 786m the car park was at 350m for lunch and to admire the views the summit is a great vantage point and we tried to identify peaks around us the distinctive conical tip of schiehallion was just visible on the northern horizon and the flat summit of ben chonzie lay just north of us it seemed difficult to believe that at 931m it was 145m higher than carn chois it didn t look it as we were getting ready to repack for our descent the two walkers we d met earlier arrived one was a recently retired local teacher who certainly knew his hills we discussed the pleasures of retirement and hill walking when we said that we would both reach the venerable age of 70 next year he a mere youth of 58 said there s hope for us all he identified for us stob binnein and ben more to the west and beinn tulaichean and cruach ardrain just south of them i had climbed these four in my forties i asked him about the jagged ridge in the distant west and he identified it as arran to the south east we could see the twin tops of the ochils and the campsies to the sw concealing glasgow for me this makes perthshire a desirable place to walk as i do like seeing and identifying the distant peaks we decided that rather than retracing our steps we would head sse to join the track looping south round the hill there was a tiny breeze to keep us cooler and we eventually met the conifer plantation on wester knockbae and enjoyed the view up the reservoir and the glen before returning to the car park it s a bit of a haul from the borders i had driven 195 miles in total but the m90 does make it relatively quick and easy and it s an area i don t know well other than from the car the walk was 7 1 2 miles long you can see a map of all the mucky boots walks here crown copyright ordnance survey posted on may 27 2024 may 27 2024 by colinmclean100 102 rannerdale knots cumbria may 16th 2024 a short half day walk was planned for this morning we drove south and west from pardshaw to park on the western shore of crummock water which lies immediately north of buttermere this is popular walking territory and we were fortunate to get a good parking space for our two cars the plan was to walk ne below the crags of rannerdale knots then turn se past dale how and up the gentle valley of squat beck with high rannerdale on our left much of the land here is owned by the national trust and we noticed the ropes to keep walkers away from the glorious spreads of bluebells this is really pretty countryside the bubbling brook the green fields the herdwicks the trees the aforesaid bluebells and the fells above us the girls left us at the bridge over squat beck to take another route and we slowly followed the beck up its valley slowed down considerably by my constant need to stop for photographs it is so beautiful reaching the top of the valley we turned sharp right almost back on ourselves to ascend the ridge towards low bank stopping to snack and enjoy the views back down from whence we d come over crummock water with loweswater in the distance as we ascended the views over buttermere gradually unfolded and we could see haystacks and scarth gap pass to the south where mike and i had walked over from ennerdale in september 2021 blog no 54 we were not alone here and one of our companions for a short stretch was a friendly goat apparently on his own presumably looking for titbits he soon concluded we were no use to him and wandered off to join a more likely looking group as we climbed past low bank and the cairns then reached the crags on the summit of the knots we paused several times to soak in the beautiful views over buttermere lake and village we saw a wonderfully located house at the north end of the village with a garden reaching down to the shores of crummock water very desirable indeed but unfortunately that enabling phone call from the national lottery did not happen it is a very steep descent from the knotts stone steps all the way but with water trickling down them and requiring full concentration and i would not like to do that without walking poles it had been a gentle morning s walk but we all commented on how warm we were after the strain of tensed muscles on the descent i felt sorry for those who had elected to do the circuit anti clockwise and ascend here and even sorrier for those without poles from the road it was a very short walk back to the car we drove down to buttermere making use of our nts membership to park for free in the nt car park and met the girls for a tasty light lunch in croft house farm cafe here we said our farewells and headed home after a very very enjoyable visit to the lakes what a beautiful place enriched by our two very nice walks and our hosts fabulous hospitality this morning s walk was only about three miles but size isn t everything posted on may 27 2024 may 27 2024 by colinmclean100 101 eskdale cumbria may 15th 2024 the plan had been to stay with friends in the lake district and climb helvellyn i haven t climbed any of the lakeland peaks so this was to be an adventure the forecast was looking hopeful as we left peebles and stopped at rheged for lunch and a look at the current exhibition in the art gallery rheged is such a nice facility since having been taken over by the westmoreland group which runs the tebay service centres on the m6 long been our favourites however as we headed west on the a66 it became apparent that the weather forecast may need revisited with cloud hugging the tops despite my enthusiasm for climbing helvellyn our recent experience on ben ledi blog 100 was not something we wanted to repeat the notion of needing a plan b option emerged over an excellent dinner mike and mhairi s wonderful hospitality was to be a feature of this trip we benefitted from mike s local knowledge and after pouring over some maps he suggested a lower level possibility in eskdale to be reviewed at breakfast and indeed that is what we opted for all five of us drove to the green planning to take the narrow gauge railway up the valley unfortunately there was no train timetable at the station so we drove to gate house outward bound centre from whence the girls departed with the car and we set off up through the woods towards miterdale though just over 100 miles south of peebles the vegetation was significantly further on with the trees in denser leaf and large clumps of purple rhododendron on the slopes as we turned ne following the river mite the landscape changed to moorland though with many more trees than we see at home another feature was the very many herdwick other breeds are available ewes with their lambs the ewes were as protective as ever but some of the lambs were too young to be fearful with one near low place farm clearly taking a fancy to paul he was one of three perhaps an orphan the lamb that is we climbed gradually up the valley reaching about 280m asl as we reached the crags at the top where we ate lunch then dipped over the summit to approach burnmoor tarn and burnmoor lodge a slightly odd building with a bible quotation on a slate plaque on the gable wall as there were a few drops of rain we kept our kagouls on for the gradual descent past eskdale fell and down by whillan beck leaving the moorland behind us we dropped back into the richness of the lakeland countryside so green with trees in full leaf as we descended into the hamlet of boot the raindrops developed into a slight drizzle so there seemed no need to resist the temptation of a pint of something local at the boot inn we sat outside under a convenient parasol umbrella and worked out we had 40 minutes before the next train from dalegarth station just ten minutes away the ravenglass eskdale narrow gauge railway was constructed in 1873 75 to bring iron ore from the workings up in eskdale down to the port at ravenglass replacing the earlier horse and cart and proving significantly cheaper per ton moved this was the first public narrow gauge railway in england and its first passengers embarked in 1876 now run by enthusiastic volunteers it is the height of efficiency though be prepared for a shock at the price of your ticket when i said to the ticket seller i m an oap he smiled and replied that s very interesting sir but everyone pays the same price we chose a semi open carriage roof but no windows and had time to inspect the little steam engine that was to haul us and chat to the driver who was polishing every inch of it not that it was at all dirty we saw a couple set up in a windowed carriage for afternoon tea complete with a full cake stand the rail trip is an absolute delight about ten miles at a comfortably slow speed with plenty of time to enjoy the landscape as we tootled through it stopping occasionally for passengers to join or leave i was sitting on the left and as we curved round left hand bends i could see the length of the train ahead of me and the plumes of smoke and steam from the engine it would be impossible to complete such a journey without a smile on your face at the terminus at ravenglass we had time to briefly visit the very good railway museum before the girls arrived from their visit to muncaster castle and we drove home tired but happy about 6 1 2 miles posted on may 13 2024 may 13 2024 by colinmclean100 100 ben ledi may 1st 2024 the plan was a celebratory walk up ben ledi the celebration being that this would be blog number one hundred which felt like something worth celebrating paul and i left peebles in glorious sunshine and under a blue cloudless sky but as we approached edinburgh to collect gordon clouds started to emerge sadly that was a portent of what was to come as we passed stirling the clouds became more dense and remained so as we went through callendar on the a84 into the pass of leny i had picked ben ledi as i had been in the trossachs back in march with the bmw car club we all have our weaknesses i had taken the drone that day and from its high vantage point had noticed how prominent ben ledi was in its surroundings ben ledi in march 2024 i like a prominent hill as it presents great views i am sure that must be true for this ben but as we donned our walking boots ben ledi was no more than a looming presence in the low cloud it s an attractive start to the walk up through a conifer plantation and we were not alone with quite a few groups including some families out enjoying the fresh air just as we left the trees we entered the cloud and so it was to remain for the rest of the day there was a light wind so the clouds were moving affording occasional glimpses of the crags above us and north to loch lubnaig in these 100 blogs virtually all the walks have been on hills and mainly the rolling hills of the borders at 879m ben ledi is a corbett and not a munro 3 000ft or 914m but it is of sterner stuff than the borders hills as my legs were telling me however we weren t in a hurry and i enjoyed the climb if grateful for my walking poles it did remind me of the slogs up various munros i did in my 40s which is not yesterday lunch in the cloud we turned nnw to attain the ridge at 724m and there are a couple of false summits including meall odhar at 850m before spying the os trig point on the true summit of ben ledi there was a bit more of a breeze now though not enough to shift the cloud only to stir it and we walked down to the left of the ridge a little to find shelter from the wind and have lunch no expense had been spared as we shared a can of zero alcohol ale in celebration of the century i have completed a good few of the 100 on my own and i do like that but it is in the company of good friends that they are most enjoyable and these two have been the most frequent walking companions thanks guys rejoining the ridge for the mainly gradual descent the path was distinctly rocky and the poles were for me certainly a necessity the view to loch lubnaig ahead of us came and went seen down the engagingly titled stank glen eventually we dropped below the clouds and joined a forest road though for some reason we ended up at the north end of the forest lodges and had to walk about 2km on the road back to the car park the celebrations continued for the non drivers anyway with food and a pint in mhor 84 further up the a84 and we drove home tired but happy thanks both for the company on this day and on many others and in particular thanks to paul for driving though it was a chance for him to show off his impressive new wheels but that s another story approximately seven miles crown copyright ordnance survey posted on april 23 2024 april 23 2024 by colinmclean100 99 culter fell from coulter april 22nd 2024 i had climbed culter fell back in january but from glenholm to the east today s plan was a relatively short circuit on the other side from culter allers farm about two miles south of the village of coulter the weather was not looking very promising when i collected paul in peebles with low cloud hugging the hilltops around us at least the temperatures have started to rise i had been out in 2ºc in the yorkshire dales the previous week with a forecast of 10 11ºc it s a pleasant drive south from biggar and through coulter into what feels like a sort of secret valley other than a couple of farms there was little to see though we were very aware of the turbines of the clyde wind farm on the hills to the west we started with a brief walk down the road before heading up the shoulder of fell shin following a line of stone built grouse butts it was pretty steep and we were certainly i was puffing as we ascended and got much warmer we had heard lots of birds including skylarks down by the burn but as we climbed into the cloud they disappeared as did the turbines of the wind farm with the cloud shifting and swirling around us the views came and went with glimpses north towards coulter and biggar but only very ...