Banchory Veterans' Hill-walkers

Two match reports from Sunday. First me: Returning to the scene of the crime, I headed back to the Mount Lofty area at dawn yesterday morning (Sunday) - this time with the express view of hiking to the top, unlike the last time when I got lost on a short wander round the foothills. My companions were my very pregnant daughter Kelly and her partner Chris, both of them gym freaks. We were up and down the mountain before the heat of the day. It took us 2 hours 23 minutes with total climbing of 505 metres, and a peak elevation of 712 metres. The distance covered was 9 kms ( http://www.mapmywalk.com/workout/1354029475 ). Here's Kelly and I at the observation deck at the top, with the city of Adelaide behind us, and beyond, the seas of the Great Australian Bight which lead to the Antarctic Ocean: Meanwhile, back home in Deeside, Gordon was our star reporter: " 5 walkers – Ken / Gordon / Stewart / Colin / Ian Sharp and two dogs headed to straight o the Quarry Car P...

Jeb and Ian dipped out of the cycling trip on Monday but instead opted for a Hill of Fare Walk, described here by Ian: " In the absence of cycling suggestions  today ( due to ice ? ) A man & his dog ( Jeb & Sky ) along with late comer Ian Sharp went walking up Echt end of Hill if Fare . Jeb had a route in mind - a long loop around the East end of the hill . Quite a steep climb upward followed by an flatter section to the Cairn /  viewpoint ( see photos ) - where we took in the lovely views toward the sunny & snow covered hill tops around us . A long loop round to a steep decent ( Jeb suggested potential cycle route - Red Card ) back to the cars . The only incident was when Sky decided to give chase towards 3 golden labs - but all ended in some play only & no fights ! 1 hour 45 mins walking . " The photos: Our leader, meanwhile, opted to go ski-ing!

From Ken: " Well, our little stroll up Peter Hill was tame compared to these Aussie walks!  We benefited from there being only one path up and returned the same way (note that one Ian).  Ken, Ian Sh, Colin, John and Jeb assembled at Finzean car park (thats Finzean car park Jeb, not the guide hut) and drove another mile along the road to the sawmill.  We took the landrover track across the Feugh and headed up onto the grouse moorland, eventually topping out at the cairn on the top of Peter Hill.  Views were good with Bennachie to the north and a very snowy Mount Keen and Morvern to the west. It was balmy down by the Feugh in the intermittent sunshine and baltic on top in a biting wind.  The grim-faced souls on the top in the pic are the ones without any tomato soup - that should be a lesson to us all. Two and a half hours round trip at the cracking pace set by Colin with his bionic joint. A quick bite to eat at the busy Finzean farmshop and for me a gentle stro...

Almost accidentally, I got another hill-walk in this morning. Jo and I drove over to Mount Lofty and the Cleland Conservation Park. We had planned to have lunch at Utopia , a nice restaurant at the foot of the first falls, but we arrived a little early, so I booked a table for 1:30 pm and we took a short stroll up the trail to the second falls. At this point, Jo reckoned the trail was getting too steep for her - and it was very hot - so she waited there whilst I explored a little higher up and further on. I got to a viewpoint at Eagle on the Hill then decided to take one of the other trails back, rather than just re-trace my steps. Therein began my troubles - the trails were all named but I didn't have a trail map and went the wrong way on what I thought was a trail that would safely take me back to Jo and the restaurant in plenty of time for our lunch booking. I walked and walked, never seeing another soul and the trails were becoming hikes, and I was only wearing flip-flop...

I thought it was about time that there was an entry on this blog. Jo and I went to Morialta Gorge in the Adelaide Hills yesterday and completed the 12.6 kms 3 Falls hike. Unfortunately, it's midsummer here and all 3 falls were completely dry, but it was a very pleasant walk up and round the gorge, including just over 1,600 feet of climbing - stats and route map here -  http://www.mapmywalk.com/workout/1325458011 Here's a few photos: Looking over the city of Adelaide and beyond to the Southern Sea Kookaburra Rock viewpoint No sign of any water at these falls   More dry falls Just to prove it is Australia

The choppy weather had forced all the boat operators to cancel the trips out to Staffa, which had been our original plan for the day, so Ken came up with Plan B again, which was a couple of beach walks with a break for lunch at the local pub/restaurant. Before that, however, a few of us were up early enough to take a look inside the Abbey before it officially opened for business. They were ready for Sunday service: Setting off towards the north of the island, the first task was to climb the only significant hill on Iona - all 300 feet or so of it. A bit like going up Mount St. - only greener: From there it was down to the beach: We could spy Staffa and Fingal's Cave in the distance, almost taunting us: After our walk round the coast, we headed across fields towards a sign which indicated the direction back to the main road and another one towards the hostel. We took the latter, slightly shorter route and came across our first grumpy islander, apparently resident...

Coastal/beach walks were planned for today and, after we checked out of our hotel, we drove through Glen More towards the west of Mull. Spectacular scenery with fairly precipitous drops meant there were waterfalls everywhere: A fairly typical scene was sunshine as we drove through the glen below, with Ben More constantly covered in low cloud: We had to do a bit of fine manoeuvring through a narrow estate road and at the car park at the end before we all lined up for today's team photo: We were walking along a coastal path under steep cliffs, trying to dodge some heavy showers, but eventually came to a large sea stack where we stopped for elevenses: We turned round from here and headed back to our cars. It had been a short but interesting walk - just 4 kms -  http://www.mapmywalk.com/routes/view/713290291 We had lunch in the pub at the ferry port where we discovered the local predilection for half a bowl of soup. Stewart's was only a couple of spoonfuls and...