Thunderstorms & Sunshine: Days of Contrast

Coire an Lochain

That the weather can change rapidly in the Scottish Highlands is a truism. ‘Four seasons in one day’, as the saying goes. Sometimes the contrast is stark though and so it was on two days this week when I went on two short walks.

River Spey

The first was along the River Spey on a very hot day. The river shimmered in the heat. The sky was blue, distant clouds white. The banks of the river were rich with fresh vegetation and bright with blossom and early summer flowers. On sandy beaches children paddled in the edges of the river. Anglers waded out into the water thigh-deep to cast their lines. Further along a group of teenagers were swimming, splashing and shrieking out in the middle of the river. Away from the people birds dozed on rocks in the hot sun – mallards, pied wagtails, dippers, common sandpipers, black-headed gulls. All somnolent and still. It was a perfect summer’s day, an idyll, the sort of day summer should be.

River Spey

A day later I was in Aviemore as the first crash of thunder shook the skies and the rain began, torrential rain that lasted for several hours. It’s not wise being up high in thunderstorms (I’ve run from them a few times) so I amended my plans to a walk into the Northern Corries, and only that if the storm eased. In Corrie Cas I sat in the car watching the rain lashing down and decided another coffee was a good idea. Eventually the rain lessened a little and I ventured out. Although the sky was solid grey the cloud was above the summits. Heading into the lower reaches of Coire an t-Sneachda I could see a surprising amount of snow hanging on the walls of Coire an Lochain. After many days of hot sunshine I thought more would have gone. 

View over Glenmore to Meall a'Bhuachaille

Before I reached the upper corrie the rain strengthened again and there was a hint of thunder, just a distant faint rumble but enough to make me feel exposed. I turned and retreated back to the car, looking over a mist-filled Glenmore to the dark outlines of the Meall a’Bhuachaille hills. Only the new bright grass beside the path made any connection with the lush richness and sunshine of the day before.

It really was wet

PHD Summer Lightning Collection

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PHD has launched another collection of ultralight down items only available during May and June. I've written about this gear for The Great Outdoors here.

John Muir Trust AGM & Annual Gathering

Trust Chair Peter Pearson speaking at the AGM

Last weekend I went along to the John Muir Trust Annual Gathering and AGM in Inverness and had a great time. The event was well-attended, well-organised and very informative and inspiring. Friday evening we went along to the magnificent Town House for a civic reception. Here the Provost of Inverness, Helen Carmichael, presented pupils from Dochgarroch Primary School with their John Muir Awards and a group of sixth formers from the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music in Plockton gave an excellent concert. There was also plenty of time to talk to members, staff and other trustees - I always find these conversations one of the most stimulating and valuable parts of events like this.

The next day saw us move to the Ironworks, normally a music venue, for the formal business of the AGM - not as dry as you might think as there were informative accounts of the last years activities from the Trust staff - followed by an open forum where members could ask questions and raise concerns. In the evening there was a dinner followed by an excellent illustrated talk by photographer Pete Cairns about his Scotland: The Big Picture project, which, along with some brilliant pictures and videos, showed some of the pitfalls and realities of wildlife photography as well as being an inspiring call for conservation.

The event ended with further conversations over pints of beer in a nearby pub. Meeting like-minded people (with independent thoughts, not all in agreement!) is always energising and I left with much to think about after a really enjoyable few days.

A midge net with built-in glasses!

The midges are almost upon us. June is the month when they start to become a real problem in the Scottish Highlands. Head nets are one way to deal with them but I've never liked them. However I am impressed with the latest headnet design, called Netspex. I haven't needed to use it in anger yet, though I'm sure I will soon. In the meantime I've described it and given my thoughts on the TGO website here.

The Great Outdoors June issue - making plans, three-season sleeping bags, Wickiup 3 test

The June issue of The Great Outdoors is out now. I've written about the pleasures of planning long walks for my backpacking column and reviewed a dozen three-season sleeping bags plus the Nigor Wickiup 3 pyramid tent.

This issue has a theme of long trips with Ronald Turnbull visiting remoter YHA hostels in the Lake District on a five day walk; Ian Finch spending eleven days traversing the Outer Hebrides; and Mary-Ann Ochota trekking with camels for forty-three days across Australia's Simpson Desert. On somewhat shorter though no less interesting trips Will Renwick visits a cave with a political history in the hills above Merthyr Tydfil and Andrew Galloway spends the longest day of the year crossing the Carneddau in Snowdonia.

In his Mountain Magic column Carey Davies praises the Isle of Arran while in his Environment column Roger Smith looks at the problem of funding conservation projects. In the Hillwalkers' Library Jim Perrin describes a fascinating-sounding book that I must admit I'd never heard of before - Vivienne De Watteville's Speak to the Earth: Wanderings and Reflections among Elephants and Mountains. Great title!

The Hill Skills pages are all about navigation while in the gear pages as well as my reviews Judy Armstrong tries six women's lightweight base layers.

Keen Versatrail trail shoes reviewed for The Great Outdoors

Just before heading off on the TGO Challenge I reviewed the new Keen Versatrail shoes in my column on the TGO website. You can read my review here.

TGO Challenge completed

After twelve days and some two hundred miles I arrived in Montrose and my sixteenth TGO Challenge was over. Now I'm thinking back over the journey - the places, the people, the wild camps, the wildlife. It always takes time to absorb a long trip and I know that memories will come and go over the weeks and months ahead.

The weather dominated the walk from Spean Bridge as the calm and quiet changed to dramatic and unpredictable. The wind strengthened and became cold and northerly, bringing heavy showers, sometimes of hail. The rivers were roaring and waterfalls spectacular. I walked into Braemar in heavy rain and over Jocks Road in shifting mists with the ground sodden. The path down into Glen Doll was running with water. My camp in that glen above the forest was the most spectacular of the walk as the rocky hills rose into dark clouds and water crashed down every ravine and cliff. The last two days were dry but the wind was bitterly cold and very strong. I hadn't expected to be walking in hat, gloves, insulated jacket in late May. My last camp was on a tiny shelf just below the tops, partly sheltered but still blustery. 

Then it was the final road to Montrose and the Park Hotel and two days of old friends and new, a sharing of experiences and love of backpacking and wild places that is one of the things that makes the Challenge so special. I'll be back. 

There'll be a further report with more photos once I'm home and have downloaded them from my cameras. The pictures posted so far are from my phone.