Middleton Mouse

My friend reckoned we passed the Glasgow walking club that she used to go out with and we passed loads of people that day. I don't suppose any of your uni friends had a big black dog? We had a wee motley collection of people with odd accents tail us on the last part of the walk but they had this massive black dog with them. We had a wonderful clear day when we went up Ben Vane too but I'm afraid to say I didn't enjoy that walk too much due to the baking heat we also had that day.

Across to the Crianlarich Hills Ben Nevis Callander and the Trossachs (is this Ben Venue and Ben Ledi?). Ben Vane and Ben Vorlich and of course Ben Ime looked amazing from this side too Weren't sure what these hills were but made a guess at Ben Bhuidhe At the summit we sat and had a picnic as it was oddly comfortable but there was so much snow lying around we had to have a snowball fight too. On the way back I suggested we take the other path as lots of people seemed to be doing it this way. We walked down and came to a steep rocky gully which my friend wasn't happy with at all and so yet again I had to go first despite being much less experienced. We followed this path down and saw it cut across another far shorter hill Cruach nam Miseag. I said we should follow the main path which went this way but my friend suggested we take another faint path that ran down between the two and rejoined the main path. I had a bad feeling about it but as she looked close to having hysterics decided to go along with it. The way back I suggested we take with Loch Long, Lomond and Ben Lomond in the background There were some steep bits on my suggested way back The path we ended up taking This turned out to be a serious mistake. The path started as loose rock and soon turned into bog. It would have been fine if you were a) Very confident or B) Very light-footed preferably both. I am neither of those things and found it very difficult to pick my way down, that and the path was so faint that I kept losing it. It took us about an hour to navigate our way back to the main path but after that it was plain sailing. Great day though and good to know I managed to make the most of the wonderful weather we had!

Well the trip up Ben Narnain turned out to be one of the most enjoyable yet despite having to navigate our way over snow, ice and rock. We started off from the usual forestry commision path at the head of Loch Long and headed up around 10am. The sun was shining and the sky was blue (for a change) so we thought we were in for a good day. Looking back to Loch Long we could see Ben Lomond and it had one side covered in snow. In front of us lay the ever impressive Cobbler which my friend was tempted to do as there was little wind. Looking back along the path with Ben Lomond to the left The Cobbler However we made our way up the path and had a wee picnic at the Narnain boulders. We had decided not to use the path that branches off to the right to tackle Narnain but instead kept heading North East past the Cobbler and onto the path that takes you up the back of Narnain. We got some wonderful views of Ben Ime but were under no illusions about doing two hills that day. The summit of Ben Ime Looking back to the vally The path was snowy and icy in places and my friend was not confident at all, some kind chap stopped and allowed her to use his walking poles for the tricky bits but she was not happy in the snow at all. I coped a lot better though not so well later on. The Cobbler from the slopes of Narnain and the usual queue to the top The path eventually opened onto grassy slopes and we managed these well enough but after this it came to a boulder field which was a little more difficult. I've no problem with rock, ice and snow so I went first and my friend followed. Navigating my way over this was fun By that time we were not far from the summit and the views there were absolutely spectacular. This is my first walk in wintery conditions and so seeing the hills around us capped in snow was lovely. We could see right up Loch Long to Arran but loads of other places too.

pervy old men in the swimming pool. I do swimming the proper way therefore always have a pair of goggles on. This one old guy kept swimming past me and I'm surprised he didn't wring his own neck trying to look at me when I swum past. Bad enough he was looking in the first place but to make it that obvious?! Didn't seem to notice I had a pair of goggles on as well and could clearly see what he was up to. That's going to give me nightmares.

Forecast for the weekend is meant to be lovely, anyone going out at all? Think me and my friend are back off to arrochar to tackle Ben Narnain or Ben Ime, not sure if we can do both with daylight fading quicker now.

I'll let you know if I see anything interesting. B)

I'll be sure to watch my back!

Ah but it's Wednesday I'm there, I'm in Dundee tomorrow!

Have to drive to Dundee from Falkirk for the sake of one session tomorrow. Wednesday I'm in Rutherglen first thing then Wishaw which would be fine if there wasn't a 4 hour gap between the two sessions.

The Men They Couldn't Hang - Island in the Rain This is my favourite song of the moment though my friend sent me a song today as he claimed he was feeling sentimental. No idea who sings it but it's a great song too, the lyrics go something like "you're the best friend that I ever had, been with you such a long time you're my sunshine, and I want you to know that my feelings are true...". Need to find out who sings that!

The last book I read was "Of Mice and Men". I was a bit dissapointed though, I thought it was going to give me some advice on how to get a man.

Next time take a cup of tea, that seems to cure hangovers for me (not that I've had one in the past 4 years)!

You poor wee soul, that sounds pretty awful!

I did wonder but then I'm not usually very good at picking out other hills without a map. I wonder how Reynard's getting on in the wind and rain. It's horrible here in Falkirk I hate to think what it's like in the hills!

Well I can't pretend that hasn't happened before. Although at the minute I think sewing my mouth shut and throwing my mobile phone in the canal would be a good career move just now (probably a good aid to weight loss too ).

Nope thankfully the thursh is OK for now! This is more to do with my unfortunate habit of just saying whatever comes into my head. I've a feeling that something I've said is about to do a U-Turn and not so much bite me on the arse as bite my arse clean off.

Unfortunately it was nothing like that!

That horrid troubled feeling you get when you can never talk about the reason you're feeling troubled to anyone as you know damn fine it's your own fault you're feeling bothered. You also know if you try talking to any of your friends about it they'll say "What possessed you....?!". I really really hate that feeling, there's bugger all you can do about it either.

My original walking buddy's cousin had to be air lifted off of Ben Lomond (Ben lomond ) when he decided to walk up in shorts too. It was blazing sunshine down the bottom (Ben Lomond ) but at the top it was freezing and he didn't have a fleece or anything (Ben Lomond hahaha). Heh

Let us know how you get on! I'm not going back up unless I get to see something from the top and without proper waterproofs I aint going up in heavy rain.

Is it? we saw another hill beyond that one that looked more like the photos of Ben Vorlich (it was more humpy). Couldn't see A Chrois from where we were though so you're probably right. Hopefully I'll get to the top of Ben Ime soon but it's heavy rain forecast for Sunday so it may need to wait until another day. I'm really looking forward to doing Stuc a Chroin but I'm trying to hang fire until my original walking buddy can go with me. It seems like an age ago when he took me up my first hill (Ben Ledi). We sat on the top and looked across to the Cobbler and he told me he wouldn't take me up that one anytime soon because it was too dangerous. Now I've done it and he hasn't.

Well if you ever go back up the Cobbler here's how not to do it!