Banchory Veterans' Hill-walkers

From http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.com/ Sunday morning - our last full day - but, what's this - does big Dave need an early morning carbo top-up?: He returned for the mandatory team photo - this time it was the Magnificent 7: Climbing back up from sea level was pretty tough - probably the hardest yet, but, after that, we moved on to fairly good, flat walking terrain between the hills - and then we came upon this "Unique Investment Opportunity" as perhaps some agents and builders would have described it. Sharpy could clearly see the potential: We eventually ran headlong in to a couple of major outdoor sporting events, including tri-athletes taking part in a Coast to Coast race - there were over 1,000 competitors running and walking at us, sharing the same, sometimes narrow pathways. We eventually got to some treeland areas, which afforded me the opportunity to lighten my liquid load a little. I didn't quite notice the tree roots, however, and took a hefty tumble. Symp...

From http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.com/ There's a short video from day 1 that can now be viewed on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0d6PrJUdRw . The camera's microphone caught the wind, so it's hard to make out anything anyone is saying, but at least you can see the scenery. Our second day didn't start too well - it was wet and misty for our traditional team photo (with Glencoe behind us): In fact, we hadn't walked 100 yards when Ian decided to don full terrorist gear: The first bit of the walk was fairly flat and we imagined we might have spotted Jimmy Savile's cottage along the way. Arriving at the foot of the Devil's Staircase, there was an unexpected sign: It was a fair climb to the top and there was a lot of puffing and panting - mostly from me - but, when we got there, we found out that the posters at the foot of the hill were not a spoof, because there, with wife and small child, is the author, Richard Happer, with his trestle table, sign...

From http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.com/ The 5 of us who had stayed overnight in FW took the early morning train south to Bridge of Orchy and met up with John, who had stayed there overnight. Tea and bacon butties, gear on, and here we go: It looks like John was having a bad hair day, but he blamed it on the anti-midge spray: There was a bit of a climb at the start, but nothing to concern ourselves about and the walk was fairly steady after that - and in decent weather conditions. Towards the end, we spied the imposing Buachaille Etive Mòr and we got a fellow walker to take a photo with the hill as a backdrop: Our hotel was now in sight and we were all grateful for the King's House's facilities - baths, in particular, but beds for some: The real ale quality was a little disappointing so, after dinner, we reverted to drams: I was using a Blackberry app on the walk ( http://bimactive.com ) and the stats are noted below (click on image to enlarge): In short, our total elapsed ...

From http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.com/ Idle Friday night pub chatter over the last year or so had included amongst our sporting ambitions the West Highland Way. None of us were experienced walkers - complete novices, in fact - and all of us were still working, so couldn't afford to spend a whole week doing the full 96 mile walk. The breakthrough came when Ian McWhinnie (John's son) did a mini version over a long weekend. This covered the prettiest and most northerly part of the route from Bridge of Orchy to Fort William, so a plot was hatched around this, and, after 9 months or more of planning, plus a few mini practice walks to test the gear, lungs and limbs, the time had finally come on Thursday 16th September, 2010. The route we planned to walk over 3 days was: Three vehicles set off - John McWhinnie left at lunchtime, taking Colin Kilgour and Ian Sharp with him. I drove directly from my office in Fraserburgh, leaving there not long after 2 pm, and Dave Williamson, having ...