TGO Challenge 2013 : before you know it...

This week I received good news from the honourable Mr.Manning from Settle. I was lucky in the draw for the TGO Challenge crossing of Scotland in May 2013. I also got permission from SWHTBO, she's lovely.
Yesterday I submitted my route : "Rising the 45", starting in Mallaig and finishing in St.Cyrus.

Today I started my Challenge training. Apart from Chris Highcock's 'Hillfit' and the indoor hometrainer I've got to get the legs used to walking distances again and the back to carrying heavy rucksacks.
With the dogs I covered 12,5km today in just over 2 hours with a staggering 25m of ascent. Yep, it's hilly over here.

I'll keep you informed about my progress and the vetter's comments on my route.

Theooutdoors.nl

I used to have a photogallery at Fotopic.net but they stopped their activities a while ago. I decided to create a website with pictures and stories of my wanderings in the UK and Holland.
Time is a precious thing and my website is slowly being filled with pictures and tripreports.
Sofar the TGO Challenge 2007, 4 consecutive years of West Highland Way, 2 visits to Skye, An Teallach, South Harris and a visit to the Lakedistrict have been completed. I'm working at a second visit to the Lakedistrict at the moment.

More is coming up - I'm not even halfway methinks - but you've got to be patient.

Here's the link : theooutdoors.nl , I do hope you'll like the stories and pictures.

May 2010 visit to Skye

I've added a new story to my website. It's about my visit to Scotland with my oldest son, 11 at the time.
Most of our holiday together was spent on Skye (Coire Lagan, Sgurr na Banachdaich, The Old Man of Storr and Quiraing).

You can read it on www.theooutdoors.nl .

New website : theooutdoors.nl

In the past I've had my pictures hosted by Fotopic.net but they went out of business. Hundreds of pictures of Scotland, Lake district and The Netherlands couldn't be viewed anymore.
Also my TGO Challenge 2007 story was lost. Luckily I still had it on an external hard disk so I was able to rewrite it and put it on a new personal website : www.theooutdoors.nl .

My Challenge story has now been written but having visited Scotland and the ELD since 1995 there's a gigantic task to be done. New chapters will be added in the future but don't hold your breath.
Just have a look at my website now and then.

Friday May 7 : Sgurr na Banaichdich

Today we would try to reach the summit of Sgurr na Banachdaich, one of the easier Munros. That's familiar terrain for me but it will be Gillean's first Munro. The track starts directly opposite of the Youth Hostel and passes a waterfall very close to the edge of the little ravine. Just before the 2km mark, where two steppingstones are used to cross a little stream, the path forks. If you stick to the main path alongside the Allt a Choire Ghreadaidh you'll end up at An Dorus to scramble either Sgurr a'Ghreadaidh on your right or Sgurr a'Mhadaidh on your left. We followed the path into Coir' an Eich.

The slog up the nasty scree underneath An Diallaid was tiring but we managed to catch up with 4 other walkers who were so kind to take a picture from me and my son at An Diallaid. At that moment Gillean had never been at that altitude.

The views of Sgurr Thormaid and Sgurr a' Ghreadaidh were great.

We soon continued our now easier walk to Sgurr na Banachdaich. The summit was reached after 2 hours and 45 minutes. Congratulations to Gillean for summiting his first Munro at the age of 11. I was 36 when I bagged my first Munro (Ben Nevis).



His first Munro, Sgurr na Banachdaich



Ledges leading to Sgurr Dearg

A cold wind was blowing so we put on our jackets before having lunch. Three of the 4 walkers we met were continuing to Sgurr Dearg and I fancied joining them but Gillean didn't so we joined the fourth walker and baktracked to Choire an Eich.

At 15.30 we reached the waterfall near the YH and spent more than an hour playing with rocks and water.

A very satisfying day.

Thursday May 6th : The Old Man of Storr and The Quiraing

From Glenbrittle YH it was a 45 minutes drive to the the parking near The Old Man of Storr. This day meant new territory for me. I had never been here before but had seen it several times from the summits of the Black Cuillin. Low clouds shrouded the rockformations of the Trotternish peninsula. We started walking and soon came out of the little forest underneath The Old Man. The man himself wasn't visible although we were right beneath the rock itself. Visibility was down to 20 yards, sometimes less. Quiet. And spooky.
My son and I soon went into the labyrinth behind the Old Man and Needle Rock, despite a sign saying not to proceed because of possible rockfall. We're Dutch so we proceeded.

Routefinding didn't proof difficult despite the mist and rockfall didn't occur. We enjoyed this mysterious world of strange formed rockformations in a silent white world. As we reached the southwestern end of the corrie, after some tricky bits of path, the clouds had risen and were slowly resolving. We walked along the edge of the forest back to the main path. Tourists were already gathering in the sunshine to take the obligatory photograph with The Old Man in the background. The carpark had completely filled up. Our next destination was to be The Quiraing.

We parked near the graveyard and walked upto The Prison and soon passed the Needle and The Table. We abanded the idea of climbing upto The Table, a large flattopped rock big enough to play a footballmatch. Too much loose scree would drain our energy in the by now warm afternoon.

We returned to our car via a path leading to the viewpoint and massive carpark at NG 440 679. The views towards Staffin and onwards to the mainland are indeed grand.

7 days and counting

Next Monday we'll be leaving Holland. We is I and my 11 year old son Gillean. Our ferry leaves IJmuiden on the third of May at 6 o'clock in the evening. On Tuesday we'll arrive in Newcastle and drive to Shiel Bridge to spend the night in Ratagan YH. The next day we continue driving all the way to Glen Brittle, Skye, and hopefully do some good walking in the Black Cuillin. We'll be there for 5 days after which we'll move onto Glencoe for two days and after that another two days at Loch Lomond YH. The Cobbler will be our main hill over there. The longterm weatherforecast says 'unsettled', so everything is normal.