Update from my last couple of weeks on them there hills.......

My penultimate day on my corbett challenge.
My last couple of weeks has seen me travelling through Highland Perthshire from Dalwhinnie over the hills around Rannoch Moor, down through Loch Rannoch, Glen Lyon, Loch Lyon, Glen Lochay, Lochearnhead, Glen A????, Glen Vorlich, Glen Dochart, Glen Almond and Glen ...........
I have had a blasting from cold, northerly winds and driving rain, having to escape from Loch ericht the day of Bertha with nothing dry, walking the length of Loch Rannoch looking for somewhere to hide. Meanwhile Rob was trying to bring me a bike and had a 280 mile detour as roads closed around him right, left and centre and he watched a fishing hut float down the Spey, and lots of livestock stuck on little islands.
I have met friends randomly like Laurie on the cycle path south of Dalwhinnie who was just cycling back home from Edinburgh (as one does) and Paul with mad dog Lennie who came to join me and move bikes on the traverse from Loch Rannoch to Glen Lyon. He has no idea just how good the Ghanaian chocolate with caramel and seasalt that he brought me was. My tastebuds are alive and well.
The girls have also been out, with company and support from Clare, Brenda, and Ali on the Dalwhinnie Hills and with Wendy on the hills around Loch Earnhead and a welcome night out at her home in Aberfoyle where a hot shower and a wood burning stove got rid of the chill I had been feeling for a few days.
Peregrine, Kestrel, owls and buzzards are all on the hunt and there have been a few grunts and barks from the deer. Along side the grouse and pheasant, bunnies and hares are a feature of the moorland around here.
As well as the development of hydro schemes and hill paths which have been a constant throughout, there is movement now in the big houses in the glens. Estate life is alive and well,
"the most money the estates have made since the kelp industry"
 was how I heard one businessman put it when I was eavesdropping on a conversation in a bar in Glenfinnan. So the estates get grants to put in hydroschemes then get to sell the power back to the government, am I missing something?
It started with the march of the sheep, then the deer and the forestry, and now it's the march of the Beauly, Denny Line.. At least Applecross are using their local hydro scheme for local people and are planning to come off the grid. More of this please.
Rant over. For now.
There are yes signs and no thanks, saltires and union jacks, people are talking politics and I will be returning to rising passions and heated debate.
Out here the world is purple and I'm loving it.
Only 1 to go ..........................

www.justgiving.com/lorraine-mccall

Folks.....she's got 10 to go.....brilliant.....how about giving her fundraising a wee boost in her last week....the just giving link is on www.lorrainemccall.com....go on even a few quid will keep her plodding to the finishing line on Ben Y Vrackie next Thurs or Friday.
Rob

201 down.....20 to go!!

Big Bertha got me today so I have had to alter my route for the remainder of of the journey and looking at the weather forecast over the next couple of days I may need to duck and dive a wee bit so it is (as always). I am at loch Rannoch tonight where I have a couple more hills to go before crossing to Glen Lyon and then on to Glen Dochart, Lochearnhead, Glen Lednock and Killin before eventually finishing on Ben  Vrackie at Pitlochry on 23rd August.

I hope to see some of you out on the hills and if anybody is handy for logistical support please phone Rob on 07754049809 who will have all the details and know where help is most needed.

Lorraine

Round the Cairngorms.............

Going round the cairngorms has been a time of long road cycles, mountain biking, catching up with friends, big, big distances between each hill, tickless, clegless, hot, hot sun and wet, wet rain.
Rob's heel is at last getting better and he has been out to play at the lecht and on Corriehabbie hill (where he went back onto the hill whilst I was Ben Rinnesing to look for my mobile phone. Needle in a haystack stuff, but he came back with it intact - amazing!). He then joined me for a mountain bike and trekking combo on that miles away from anything hill - Mount Battock. Interesting recent hill path developments taking place here as on many other hills on this journey.
Support has come in all shapes and sizes. Thankyou to Wilderness Scotland for the ice cream and the offers of support on the hill and for Stef for putting me up for the night and cooking me dinner, Oh and updating my facebook page throughout.
I have been joined by Patrick on his local hill Morven then put up by him and his family for the night  in the very bonny Tarland whilst eating them out of house and home and gaining local knowledge of the hills.
John Dunbaven, who climbed all the munros with his German Shepherd a few years back, came up to join me for a few days, move bikes around, climb some hills and eat lots of cake. It was good to share stories with someone who understands all the wee things - the hunger pangs during the night when you wake up and eat everything; being stuck in the tent all night when it's really hot but the infestation of midges means you just cant go outside; not panicking when the weather moves in and you have made a classic navigation mistake like 180 degrees out on the compass; the silly songs that get stuck in your head. Who else remembers this?
 Ma wee schools the best wee school, the best wee school in Glesga,
 The only thing that's wrang wi its the baldy heid heidmaister
  He goes tae the pub on a Saturday night
  He goes tae church on Sunday
  He prays to god to gie him strength to batter us weans on Monday!

I had a big day with friend Steve Willis mountain biking from the punch bowl to Brown Cow Hill and back over Cohnacraig and the twin summits of carn Liath and boy did we underestimate the length of the cycle. Steve has the eyes of a hawk, I saw more wildlife that day than I had all the rest of the journey round the gorms including 3 golden eagle sightings and the fresh tracks of a hare who had been trying to escape. Steve was a guide with Wilderness Scotland the same time as me and was always willing to share his knowledge and his humour.

This had been a big day and it was amazing to finish at the end of the day with some chocolate and whisky sent by Jane from the lake district whom I do not know but who has been following the exploits. It could not have come at a more perfect time.

I have not been meeting many people on the hills but on Ben Tirran i met Ian, the Watch of Barrisdale, after I had walked over the Capel Mounth and all the way down glen Clova to get there and he stated what a short day Ben Tirran was and he was off to do another hill down the valley. the joys of having a car. I comforted myself with the biggest slice of chocolate cake with strawberries and cream in the Glen Clova Hotel after the walk.

A big thankyou to Manny for coming to meet me after a big day walking the 5 corbetts from glen tilt to Glen Feshie. Boy was I ill. I have been lucky throughout this journey but something got to me that evening, having the runs on the hill is not fun - enough said. Manny carried my pack over the last hill of the day while I crawled along behind and he brought me a mountain bike to make the next day easier.

My 2 hills in the Gaick pass were vertical grass slopes, so much so that I did not have to bend down to eat all the blaeberries and crowberries which are abundant at the moment.
A long cycle out to Kingussie ended with a well needed shower, chippy, red wine and bed chez Manny and Brenda. My trip round the cairngorms finished with an ascent of the Fara this morning, I was very surprised to meet someone else on the hill and had to stop for a photo and a wee pic with Alan Chan, it's not often you meet someone on a corbett.

Meanwhile my friend Clare who had came all the way up from Glasgow had to go looking and finding my elusive mobile phone which i had managed to lose yet again on a wee 'comfort break' on my cycle to the hill.

The ling is purple at its best, the deer grass is deer coloured, the asphodel is turning burn orange and there is Devil's Bit everywhere. I'm walking into autumn with 22 hills to go.....

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