Hillwalking Thread

[Swello]

On 08/11/2020 at 08:50, Day of the Lords said:

Gairich yesterday. Bit of a weird one as 80% of the walk is boggy shite but the actual hill itself is really enjoyable and has glorious views. Missed out on cloud inversion but could there was one over Loch Arkaig. Excellent day overall.

I like Gairich - I've done a summer and winter climb (the winter one was a bit interesting as the rocky part at the top was iced up). Like all the hills round there, once you're on the stalker's path, it's easy...

And nice brocken spectre

[invergowrie arab]

Who needs Munros.

Lockdown Dundee (+5) has ample options for walks 

[Benjamin_Nevis]

6 hours ago, Swello said:

I like Gairich - I've done a summer and winter climb (the winter one was a bit interesting as the rocky part at the top was iced up). Like all the hills round there, once you're on the stalker's path, it's easy...

And nice brocken spectre

Even though It's all very man-made, I really like Loch Quoich and it's hills. It just has a really quiet a desolate feel to it. Other than an utter fucking shambles of a route selection off Sgurr a'Mhaoraich, I've had some brilliant outings there. 

ETA, also got a good look at the landslip scar on the hillside above the dam which must have been a spectacular sight. 

Edited November 9, 2020 by Day of the Lords

[Le Tout P'ti FC]

Around the absolute mud bath of the Eildon Hills today. The conditions were abysmal but a good time was had.

[Swello]

43 minutes ago, Le Tout P'ti FC said:

Around the absolute mud bath of the Eildon Hills today. The conditions were abysmal but a good time was had.

Yeh - the weird red claggy stuff on the Eildons makes me avoid them even thought they are close...

[Detournement]

So no winter walking outside your local authority boundary.....

[invergowrie arab]

If you were to handpick 4 weeks to be banned from the hills or would be mid Nov to mid Dec 

Winter conditions with good consolidated snow rarely kick in before the turn of the year 

[Swello]

2 hours ago, invergowrie arab said:

If you were to handpick 4 weeks to be banned from the hills or would be mid Nov to mid Dec 

Winter conditions with good consolidated snow rarely kick in before the turn of the year 

This is very true - it's the season of mush.

I'm in a level 2 local authority and so can still travel (if I'm understanding the rules properly) but even so, I'm not planning any highland trips right now - there are plenty of hills in the Borders and D&G that I've not climbed yet, including a couple of Corbetts, so I'm keeping it fairly local until the snow kicks in. Haven't been out for my November bivvy-a-month yet either, so it's time to look out the colder weather gear...

[Chinatoon Bairn]

Off work for 6 days starting Friday, law could not have come into place at a worse time although the weather doesn't look great so not actually sure how much walking I would get done.

[Adamski]

I’ve always loved hillwalking, but parenthood and a nasty knee injury a couple of years ago have knocked it on the head for quite a while.

But had a rare day to myself on Sunday so decided to go for a walk up Ben Vorlich (the Loch Earn one). It was dreich throughout, hardly any visibility and wild weather at the top, and I bloody loved it. So good to be back on a hill. Already getting the maps and books out and planning where to go once we’re a bit less locked down.

[Benjamin_Nevis]

On 17/11/2020 at 20:50, invergowrie arab said:

If you were to handpick 4 weeks to be banned from the hills or would be mid Nov to mid Dec 

Winter conditions with good consolidated snow rarely kick in before the turn of the year 

Yup, it's a shite time of year mostly, although I've had to can a trip to Corran at the end of the month which was disappointing. The restrictions (i think) will potentially allow me to walk the Glenshee hills and that's about it. I might repeat the Glas Maol round from Auchavan. That was one of the my ever hillwalks and it'd be good to reminisce over the shite grassy ascent of Monega, and the bog across to Monamenach from Creag Leacach. 

OR the atrocious weather will continue and i'll be fannying about on Zwift until proper snow comes and restrictions lift. 

I'm hoping to compleat next year so i need a less lazy winter than last years 

[IrishBhoy]

Got stopped by the traffic police on Thursday morning when heading to Fort William from Glasgow, just past Ardlui where the road starts to widen. They were sitting at the side of the road a couple of miles before Ardlui and my plate had obviously flashed up on their ANPR and theyve seen that I wasn’t from anywhere nearby. 
 

They flew up behind me and overtook straight away, and I assumed that was that. They’ve  then stuck their lights on and swung their car round to block the road in both ways and pointed me into the lay-by. Guy was asking my reasons for travelling and I told him I was headed for FW to go a walk. Was told that wasn’t a valid reason to be travelling such a distance and that the police have the powers to issue on the spot fines, but on this occasion if I turned back and headed home he wouldn’t do that. I was genuinely unaware that travelling from Glasgow to FW would be any issue whatsoever on Thursday, I know that the rules have changed from yesterday and travelling from a tier 4 area to tier 3 isn’t allowed (don’t think it’s an actual law tbh).
 

Has this happened to anyone else heading north from the central belt? .I’m happy to adhere to rules that will keep people safe during this pandemic but putting restrictions on people travelling in a car with one other person to go a walk outside, seems a tad overkill. I was quite annoyed by it tbh. Just seems completely unnecessary. 

[8MileBU]

1 hour ago, IrishBhoy said:

Got stopped by the traffic police on Thursday morning when heading to Fort William from Glasgow, just past Ardlui where the road starts to widen. They were sitting at the side of the road a couple of miles before Ardlui and my plate had obviously flashed up on their ANPR and theyve seen that I wasn’t from anywhere nearby. 
 

They flew up behind me and overtook straight away, and I assumed that was that. They’ve  then stuck their lights on and swung their car round to block the road in both ways and pointed me into the lay-by. Guy was asking my reasons for travelling and I told him I was headed for FW to go a walk. Was told that wasn’t a valid reason to be travelling such a distance and that the police have the powers to issue on the spot fines, but on this occasion if I turned back and headed home he wouldn’t do that. I was genuinely unaware that travelling from Glasgow to FW would be any issue whatsoever on Thursday, I know that the rules have changed from yesterday and travelling from a tier 4 area to tier 3 isn’t allowed (don’t think it’s an actual law tbh).
 

Has this happened to anyone else heading north from the central belt? .I’m happy to adhere to rules that will keep people safe during this pandemic but putting restrictions on people travelling in a car with one other person to go a walk outside, seems a tad overkill. I was quite annoyed by it tbh. Just seems completely unnecessary. 

For all they know though, you could’ve ended up popping into the supermarket in FW and coughing the covid everywhere. 

It is arsey as f**k though because there’ll be literally thousands of folk flouting the rules in far more densely populated areas and environments who will get away with it.

[IrishBhoy]

2 minutes ago, 8MileBU said:

For all they know though, you could’ve ended up popping into the supermarket in FW and coughing the covid everywhere. 

It is arsey as f**k though because there’ll be literally thousands of folk flouting the rules in far more densely populated areas and environments who will get away with it.

I understand the reasons for restricting travel to other areas with a lower infection rate, and I’m happy to abide by the rules if it means we can get back to normal quicker. It was quite a surreal experience at the time. If someone had told you a year ago that the police would be using their number plate technology to track where cars have came from, and had the powers to pull you over and send you back to your house with the threat of a fine being issued if you didn’t comply, when you are trying to travel 2 hours up the road to go a walk on a quiet Thursday morning you wouldn’t have believed them. 

[Archie McSquackle]

I think it's always been part of the Tier 3 rules that you shouldn't be travelling to other council areas for non-essential reasons, it's only now that it's been made law though.

[IrishBhoy]

6 minutes ago, Archie McSquackle said:

I think it's always been part of the Tier 3 rules that you shouldn't be travelling to other council areas for non-essential reasons, it's only now that it's been made law though.

If that’s correct then it’s fair enough, as I said I genuinely didn’t know that. I’ve been to numerous parts of Scotland over the last couple of months climbing munros, although they have all been the southernmost ones within a couple of hours drive from Glasgow, and have passed numerous traffic police but never thought it to be in breach of the regulations. As I said I think it was the absurdity of the situation that got me, everything is a bit strange these days. 

[invergowrie arab]

2 hours ago, IrishBhoy said:

Got stopped by the traffic police on Thursday morning when heading to Fort William from Glasgow, just past Ardlui where the road starts to widen. They were sitting at the side of the road a couple of miles before Ardlui and my plate had obviously flashed up on their ANPR and theyve seen that I wasn’t from anywhere nearby. 
 

They flew up behind me and overtook straight away, and I assumed that was that. They’ve  then stuck their lights on and swung their car round to block the road in both ways and pointed me into the lay-by. Guy was asking my reasons for travelling and I told him I was headed for FW to go a walk. Was told that wasn’t a valid reason to be travelling such a distance and that the police have the powers to issue on the spot fines, but on this occasion if I turned back and headed home he wouldn’t do that. I was genuinely unaware that travelling from Glasgow to FW would be any issue whatsoever on Thursday, I know that the rules have changed from yesterday and travelling from a tier 4 area to tier 3 isn’t allowed (don’t think it’s an actual law tbh).
 

Has this happened to anyone else heading north from the central belt? .I’m happy to adhere to rules that will keep people safe during this pandemic but putting restrictions on people travelling in a car with one other person to go a walk outside, seems a tad overkill. I was quite annoyed by it tbh. Just seems completely unnecessary. 

Im genuinely puzzled as to why you think this is a reasonable way to carry on.  The rules aren't "go if you think it will probably not be a risk" it's no "non-essential travel". You might think, and I agree, that the risk is tiny but you surely also know it's not an essential journey.

If I lived in the highlands I would be fizzing at people coming from a place with nearly 300 per 100k heading up for a walk.

[IrishBhoy]

18 minutes ago, invergowrie arab said:

Im genuinely puzzled as to why you think this is a reasonable way to carry on.  The rules aren't "go if you think it will probably not be a risk" it's no "non-essential travel". You might think, and I agree, that the risk is tiny but you surely also know it's not an essential journey.

If I lived in the highlands I would be fizzing at people coming from a place with nearly 300 per 100k heading up for a walk.

It wasn’t about me thinking anything was a reasonable way to carry on, until I was pulled over I was genuinely unaware that what I was doing was against the regulations. That’s my fault for not knowing. 
 

Also these hypothetical highlanders that would be fizzing at people travelling to their area, do they live in the vast wilderness around Inchree, where I would be able to park my car and go for a walk while never coming within a mile of another human being. I wasn’t going to Fort William for a pub lunch and a look around the shops, infact I wasn’t even getting as far as Fort William itself. As I said, I was unaware that before yesterday travel wasn’t permitted to different areas. I’m not rebelling against these restrictions at all, but if you were to do a risk assessment of my journey, the chance of me infecting another human being would be absolutely nil. 

Edited November 21, 2020 by IrishBhoy

[invergowrie arab]

33 minutes ago, IrishBhoy said:

It wasn’t about me thinking anything was a reasonable way to carry on, until I was pulled over I was genuinely unaware that what I was doing was against the regulations. That’s my fault for not knowing. 
 

Also these hypothetical highlanders that would be fizzing at people travelling to their area, do they live in the vast wilderness around Inchree, where I would be able to park my car and go for a walk while never coming within a mile of another human being. I wasn’t going to Fort William for a pub lunch and a look around the shops, infact I wasn’t even getting as far as Fort William itself. As I said, I was unaware that before yesterday travel wasn’t permitted to different areas. I’m not rebelling against these restrictions at all, but if you were to do a risk assessment of my journey, the chance of me infecting another human being would be absolutely nil. 

If you are genuinely unaware then fair fucks.

I just get annoyed with the folk on walking sites who seem to think they can disregard any rules as they are an exceptional case.

[IrishBhoy]

2 minutes ago, invergowrie arab said:

If you are genuinely unaware then fair fucks.

I just get annoyed with the folk on walking sites who seem to think they can disregard any rules as they are an exceptional case.

As I said it’s my own fault for not knowing, and I understand completely how reckless it would be for a couple of Glasgow punters to think they can travel to a place like Fort William or anywhere that there is a low infection rate, and have disregard for bringing the virus along with us and putting other people at risk. I think as a sensible grown man I can strike a balance between what I think is acceptable during these times and what isn’t, and wether other people think it was right or wrong, in my opinion travelling a couple of hours up the road to an area where I could quite confidently say I wouldn’t be coming close to another person at any point, was acceptable to me.  If I had known at the time that the rules stated that travelling that distance was not allowed, I wouldn’t have went.