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Ben Lomond yesterday. Ptarmigan ridge for ascent and tourist route down. 70mph gusts and rain stinging the eyes but the most frightening thing was seeing about 50 youths on some charity outing, some of them wearing tracky bottoms, some of them wearing plimsolls. Deary me.

Tbh, the best support you can have on a distance walk is baggage transfer, even if it's just as a back up plan. On Great Glen Way, my mate was close to packing it in halfway and only made it because we started using transfers to get our backpacks and tents to the next stops. I asked the company that the Speyside Way website points you to and was quoted £100 for a four day stint. Na. Same on Rob Roy Way.

How did you get on? I really enjoyed the Great Glen Way, beautiful views of Loch Ness and hope you did the signposted extra ascent for the viewpoint. My mate and I did it across four days - Fort Billy to Laggan Locks, then to Fort Augustus (short day), then to Drumnadrochit, then final stint into Inverness. If I'd seen this earlier, I'd have given you one tip - stock up on food when leaving Fort William as there is genuinely no shops or cafes for the first 30 miles or so unless you manage to get something at the floating bar at the Locks. If there was one negative, there was quite a bit of road walking, think it was in between Invermoriston and Drumnadrochit.

Sounds like Minigaig? I attempted that a few weeks ago but failed Lost compass on first day but thought I'd be fine with compass on phone and a well defined path. Unfortunately the phone compass was exceedingly shitty and the path was non-existent in places. Started ascending A Choich instead of Leathad an Thobhain and by time I realised my error, had lost two hours and had a second steep ascent ahead of me. Took the safe/pussy option and retreated. Midgies. Grrrr. Will do it, probably next year, by leaving Blair Atholl instead of Kingussie.

1. Mate and his girlfriend came up from England to the football a couple of years back. Asked which team we were supporting. Us: "Ayr". Her: "And are they the ones in the yellow bibs or the blue bibs". She was pointing at the Ayr squad warming up with a game of 5s. 2. My girlfriend didn't realise that Tunisia was in Africa. She followed it up a few weeks later when we were laughing about it with, "I'm still not sure though, is it a city or an island?". I'd like to give her some benefit of the doubt and think she was thinking of Tunis, I really would.

And speaking of Glen Clova and munros, I went to Driesh and Mayar today. We deviated from the usual route, which involves a bit of doubling back on yourself, by ascending the Scorrie. Bugger me, what an effort that was. It felt damn near vertical. Ashamed to say I involuntarily heaved up my breakfast half way up, allowing a sheep or mountain goat a second hand service station breakfast. That breakfast cost me the guts (pardon the pun) of £10 . From the top of the Scorrie though, it was a piece of cake. Views were a bit meh, but a good day out nonetheless. Set off at 10am and at the Glen Clova Lodge for a half of ale by 3.30pm. Link to Mayar and Driesh. You can see the map there - the Scorrie has worse contours than Michelle McManus and mounting it had the same pleasure. However, if you're after a couple of 'quick win' munros, these are two good 'uns. Just stick to the path .

Caledonian challenge - the person you get to support can make all the difference. Our guy would have beans and sausage rolls waiting for us, whereas a mate's support was awful - his team split in two (try not to let that happen) so she supported the first group and did nothing for the second. If you're moderately fit, I think you'd be fine but it's the mental side of things that's tougher - the sheer mind-numbingness, particularly during the overnight period, can be a killer. Tape your feet up with the white fabric-y tape climbers use, it'll make all the difference is keeping the blisters away. Changing topic, anyone done the Speyside Way? Done Great Glen and most of West Highland so me and my mate looking for another trek.

Mondays

Was up on Schiehallion three weeks ago. Cracking little munro, only a couple of hours from Edinburgh. Didn't bother with crampons. I don't think winter gear is needed now for a lot of the hills, though you're probably better off having it if you're doing a ridge or something with a steep drop.

1. Drivers on the A9 who drive at 40-50 on the single carriageway parts, then hit 70 on the dual carriageway parts. Do they not realise that the dual carriageway is to let frustrated drivers past slow ones, or are they so selfish that they believe saving one minute off their journey time is worth preventing two or three cars getting by and frustrating them for 20 mins till the next dual carriageway part. 2. The A9.

Two things I noticed today: - the advert for California starts off with "People have misconceptions about California and some of them aren't true". Some of them? - I was in Game and looked at the Dr Who game for Nintendo DS specifically because it looked a bit shit and a rush job. The back of the case said the game is "staring the voices of...." [repeated in the "manufacturer's description"]. Now there's at least one, possibly two things wrong there. Are standards slipping, am I becoming more observant or am I becoming more of a pedant? If you didn't notice what was wrong with the above, I just want to stress that pedant is not the same as paedophile.

Hi Caley T, here's hoping we have some luck at that end of the A9 for once Hi Dunfermline, that Leishman still kicking around I see. Not forgiven for having our team kicked off the park in the late 80s but always like a day trip to East End Park Hi Morton, good to be playing you in a proper division again Hi Dundee, really looking forward to some Dens Park visits this year Hi Livvy, nice and handy for an Edinburgh based Honest Man Hi Partick, as Weegie teams go, you're definitely one of the more pleasant ones Hi QoS, it's not really a derby but it'll do until the scum get relegated from SPHell next season Hi Ross County, I refer you to my Caley T comment Hi....oh. Raith. You're here too.