Comments on: Beinn Dearg ??? A Teenage Dream

By: McEff

McEff — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 21:16:36 +0000

Hi there, Paul. Thanks for that. Good to hear from you.
Cheers, Alen

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 19:04:52 +0000

Another great post Alen, Thanks for sharing this one.

By: McEff

McEff — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 08:33:31 +0000

Hi Al. That???s exactly how it happened for me, though I would imagine your skull map is far more complete than mine. I climbed my first half-dozen Munros in the early 1980s but didn???t really get into full swing until 2000 after walking the West Highland Way. But I recall in those early days bumping into people ??? many of them English ??? who talked as if they had been born in the glens and lived their entire lives walking from mountain to mountain. I always felt at a bit of a disadvantage. Now, though, it???s coming together.
I think I???ve just set myself up for getting lost the next time I venture north.
Cheers, Alen

By: McEff

McEff — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 08:24:40 +0000

Hej Hanna. Glad you like the pictures. I???ve bought a new camera in an attempt to improve the picture quality. To be honest, I???m not sure it???s made any difference. Some people have the skill to capture the mood of a place in their photographs and I have the greatest respect for them.
Cheers, Alen

By: McEff

McEff — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 08:07:25 +0000

Hi James. I’ve been thinking about doing the walk over Minigaig to Kingussie ??? but as with all these things the trouble is not so much doing them as squeezing them in between work and more important stuff. It looks a great walk. The bothy is in fine condition. It’s a comfortable little building in a superb location.
Cheers, Alen

By: McEff

McEff — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 08:01:02 +0000

Funny that, Mrs Potter. Because when you do your seaside walks I feel much the same way. I grew up on the coast and miss the sea a great deal. I think we were meant to live our lives by the times of the tides. That would suit me, anyway.
Cheers, Alen

By: McEff

McEff — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 19:11:21 +0000

Hi David. I wouldn???t like to have been up there in a white out. Once you climb to the top of the shoulder above the bothy things get pretty flat and featureless, so I???m glad I had a fine and sunny day. Incidentally, regarding pronunciation, we had a discussion at work the other night on the correct way to spell and pronounce ???howay??? ??? as in: howay the lads. Is it with an ???O???, as in howay, or an ???A???, as in haway? No one could agree, and the unsatisfactory conclusion was that on Tyneside its howay and Wearside it???s haway. So perhaps the same thing applies to Beinn Dearg. It depends where you???re from.
Cheers, Alen

By: McEff

McEff — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 19:00:12 +0000

Hi John. Yes, I look back to walking with my mates in the Lakeland fells during the mid-70s and the gear we had ??? or didn???t have. We walked in work boots with steel toe caps (a very recent innovation) and rucksacks that had been handed down from parents and uncles. It didn???t stop us reaching the tops of mountains. And we always had great times.
Get it on. Alen

By: alan.sloman

alan.sloman — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 16:16:41 +0000

“It???s the dawning of recognition ??? the slow process where strange inanimate shapes with strange outlandish names become familiar; making an almost imperceptible transformation from dark strangers into friends.”
So true! When I first started walking across Scotland I was amazed that walkers I bumped into on the TGO Challenge carried a map around in their skull of every inch of the country and could rattle off all the hills on the horizon. Many years later I now have that skull map as well. The hills and glens have become old pals.
It’s a wonderful country that seemingly goes on forever.

By: Hanna

Hanna — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 21:08:18 +0000

It is some great photos, Alen. They inspire to a hike in the mountains.

By: backpackingbongos

backpackingbongos — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 14:50:10 +0000

I have to say that I do enjoy big empty country such as that around Beinn Dearg. Many years since I was last there on a backpack across the Minigaig. Is the bothy in good nick these days?

By: rthepotter

rthepotter — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 17:55:13 +0000

Reading your posts is very bad for my character as I end up full of wicked envy.