Assynt Holiday Wk/c 19/10/20

 As it was getting later in the year and we both had leave to take, we booked a self contained pod in Culkein. We had stayed in the Assynt area before and love it for the stunning mountain scenery. This time we were right at the end of a single track road which during this pandemic, meant we weren't putting ourselves or the local community at risk. Assynt is a beautiful area at any time of the year but I was blown away by it’s autumn colours.

Stunning view of Suilven from the Elphin Tearoom

Looking towards Quinag with Ardvreck Castle on the shore of Loch Assynt

A close up view of Quinag

The view over Culkein Bay from our pod

Our first days walk was a circular route from Stoer Lighthouse along the coast, past The Old Man of Stoer and returning inland over Sidhean Mor.

Stoer Lighthouse, constructed in 1870 and automated in 1978

The Old Man of Stoer, a 60m sea stack popular with climbers

Me and Lesley on Sidhean Mor

Sidhean Mor trigpoint

13 shot pano of the Assynt skyline

PeakFinder app photo of the Assynt mountains

Our walking route

The Wednesday was a bit wet and windy so we headed into Lochinver for our dinner and a look around.

Great view of Suilven from the Culkein to Lochinver road

After our dinner we went on a recce' to suss out the starting point of the walk we had planned for the next day.

Waterfalls across from Ardvreck Castle

Loch Assynt tree islands

Thankfully the weather had cleared for our mountain climbing day of Canisp at a height of 847m which would take us around 6 hours.

   

The start of our route

Over the footbridge into the boggy floodplain which, after the recent heavy rain, didn't make for good progress

The pathless route hand-railing the Alt Mhic Mhur chaidh Gheir burn, the going underfoot wasn't any easier than the pronunciation of said burn, at one point I had to run to get out of a near knee deep mud hole

Lesley leading the way as we headed up the steeper slopes

Away from the bog and onto the boulder field with great blue sky views of the Canisp summit

Climbing around the west flank to be met with this stunning view of Suilven, what a great feeling to be up here

Lesley in the summit windshelter

Me posing for the camera, shortly after this I realised I had left my dinner in the pod fridge

Great views of the Quinag mountain range

Our fantastic mountain day route

After leaving Assynt on the Friday, we drove to Cromarty for our pre-booked boat trip with Ecoventures, hoping we would be lucky enough to see some dolphins in the wild again.

 

Lesley and I were seated in front of the 400bhp engines

Our luck was in as the dolphins surfaced nearby

Some of them got pretty close

Dolphin acrobatics

We have been very fortunate both times we have been out with Ecoventures, it is an amazing experience to see dolphins in their natural habitat, well worth the trip.

Mount Blair Third Attempt 12/10/20

With high winds forecast on the Saturday and being a smaller hill not too far from home we decided to head up Mount Blair. We had attempted to get to the top in January of 2017 but that time the snow got too deep and progress was very slow, we abandoned it for another day. This time approaching Kirriemuir my car started playing up, having to nurse it up the glen it seemed to be getting worse and not wanting to get stuck, we turned round and headed home. As time was against us we went back out on the Sunday in Lesley's car, we did get to the top at the third attempt, great weather and views all round. The car problem turned out to be the EGR valve, not what I needed a week or so before going on our holidays. The car did get fixed at great expense and we had a great time in Assynt on our holidays, that blog will be up soon.

Beautiful light on the fields

Me and Lesley in the wind shelter with the great view indicator around us, the camera was perched on the nearby trig point

A panorama of the surrounding mountains

The view indicator showing amongst others, Schiehallion, Buchaille Etive Mor, Ben Vrackie, Ben Nevis and Ben Alder

The Munros of Stob Binnein, Ben More and Ben Lawers

Heading back down after a great days walk.

Post Lockdown holidays July 2020.

We started our first holiday of the year with a bike run on the Saturday taking in Tyndrum, Connel Bridge, Glencoe and a fuel stop at Tyndrum again on the way home. But first we had to take them for their MOT's. The bikes are well maintained but its still a nervy time at best never mind not being able to put a bit of weight on the brakes when they were getting tested, the bikes were checked over by two testers while we had to sit it out, thankfully they both passed with flying colours, now we could relax and enjoy the run.

The bikes ready to go again

A food stop at Ben Lora Café in Benderloch, worth a visit if you are passing

On the Tuesday we fired up the bikes again, this time for a run round some of Perthshire's beautiful lochs and the Fife coast.

The analogue Gps route

Wee stop in Comrie for tea and coffee, not from the chemists

A stop for dinner in Falkland

Last stop at Crail.

At night we were treated to views of the Neowise Comet and the ISS both passing overhead.

On the Wednesday we headed to a Shoei stockist in Edinburgh to try on new helmets, as a virus restriction we were asked to buy balaclavas to wear before we tried the helmets on. Great helmets with the integrated Sena comms system that actually work, Lesley can now hear my inane chattering, or maybe she hasn't got the hang of  muting me yet.

The shop asked us to pose for a photo for their F.book page

On the Thursday the forecast wasn't the best for bike runs so we went for a look at the Japanese Gardens in Cowden near Muckhart. The rain and mist brought out a film like feel to the place.

Beautiful muted colours in the mist

Needing some exercise and wanting to get back in the hills, on the Friday we drove up to Glenshee to climb the Munro Glas Maol, pretty easy as Munro's go with a stony track to follow for most of it.

Great views from the top on a clear day and not busy. A pity about the scarring on the landscape with the ski tows but it brings in the money to keep the centre going.

Heading up to the hill Meall Odhar

View back down the A93

Lesley at the Glas Maol trig point

Me breathing in for the photo

View over to the Munro Creag Leacach

The route as tracked on the Viewranger app

On the last day of our holidays we fired up the bikes again for a run to Rannoch Station, always a cracking run and the platform cafe serves good food and hot tea. The train runs on the West Highland Line which goes from Glasgow with the line splitting at Crianlarich to either Oban or Fort William and Mallaig. We were on the train with Sitka briefly in 2018 when we got off at Corrour station to walk the 12 miles back to Rannoch station.

http://jeg569.blogspot.com/2018/10/corrour-station-rannoch-station-walk.html

The train leaving the station with views over Rannoch Moor

Lesley heading back over to the bikes

The bikes ready to head home after our warming tea and coffee stop.

A classic bike gathering.

 I eventually got round to developing an old roll of CineStill Bw XX black and white film, a derivative of the old Eastman Double-X motion picture film which was used in Raging Bull, Schindler's List and many others. The photos are of an old bike meeting.

After the gathering finished we went round by Andy's to have a look at his Buell X-1 Lightning which he gave me a shot of, endless amount of torque with enough vibration at low revs to rattle your fillings out. The huge front brake disc had a great feedback and stopping power.

Sitka Flick Book.

As it would have been Sitka's birthday weekend, I thought I would share one of my lockdown projects. To make a flick book for Lesley of the photos I had taken of her and Sitka on Dornoch Beach in 2017.

The photos put together in a Youtube video.

Lesley and Sitka on Dornoch Beach 2017
https://youtu.be/Ug1HrXS0eG0

Editing 45 photos for the flick book on Adobe Lightroom.

The photos were all printed on Fotospeed paper using the Qimage printing programme, including leaving a margin for the hinge. Thankfully I numbered all of them in case the got mixed up, which they did several times.

They were all sized then cut on the guillotine.

They were then covered and put in the vice to drill them for the hinge, I used a proper paper drill as a normal drill will chew the paper up.

I designed the cover and the gift card using the Adobe InDesign programme.

The Qimage printing programme set up.

The cover being printed.

The photos and the cover with Chicago screws for a hinge.

The finished Sitka flick book with the gift card.