Continuing Day 1 of my Big Scottish Adventure... After walking along the river for a while, we turned right at this little green hut. I wanted to know who lived here, but there seemed to be no one home! M said it was owned by a Mountaineering Club, for them to use when they visited to climb in the hills. It's quite small though, so I don't think many of them can stay here at once... The sign outside the hut said "Respectez les fleurs". M said that meant "Respect the flowers" in French, so I immediately started looking for some flowers to respect. I found these beautiful tiny pink flowers. They were hidden in the grass. M said she thought they were tiny wild orchids. If you look closely at them then they DO look just like miniature orchids! AS we started going uphill, I found this curious pile of rocks. M said it was a "CAIRN", and that they are built to label paths and mountain summits. This one showed where the path we would take on our way back joined our outward path. I thought it made a great place for me to have my picture taken! Our path zigged and zagged up our first mountain. Sometimes we were looking at other mountains down the main river valley we'd walked in from... Sometimes we were facing what would be our second mountain of the day... I was surprised to see small white patches of SNOW up there! It was May, and at home the snow had gone long ago! Oooo...a mini cairn for my next photo opportunity! Then some rocky bits to scramble up... And FINALLY a big summit cairn to sit on top of! Hard work getting there, but the view was GREAT! Heading along the ridge to our next mountain, I found my first patch of snow! M was busy explaining to me that both of these hills were called "Munros", I just wanted to play in the snow! Sadly she wouldn't wait for me to build a snowman... Oh...a "Munro" is a Scottish mountain over 3000ft high, and there's a list of them that "Munro baggers" try to "tick off" and complete. (How strange humans are!) See M, I WAS listening after all! There were also rocky bits to negotiate on the ridge... And quite a bit of snow along the edge of the ridge. M said we needed to be careful and avoid this as much as we could. (Apparently bits called "cornices" can break off over the edge of the solid ground. You can fall off a long way with them!) It seemed to take a very long time, and it was a bit steep to get to, but EVENTUALLY we reached our second and final summit of the day. Great views in all directions. This one looks down the way we will head next. There was an old row of fence posts up there. It must have been hardwork for whoever put that fence up! We walked down on a muddy path next to this waterfall... Then lots more grass and uneven ground to negotiate... Before finally meeting the bigger path we took on the way out. (I was getting quite worn out by now. I only have tiny legs, and it had taken me a LOT of tiny steps to get that far!) I was so glad to make it back to this bridge, and shortly after to the car! That was the end of my first long day. I got back to the tent very hungry and very tired. I was hoping M planned to cook something yummy for my tea! That's all for now! Catch you later...Love Odd xxx
10 Comments
Jeremy Bear
31/5/2014 06:50:34 am
Wow, such incredible pictures. I'm blown away. I've enjoyed learning about cornices, munros and cairns. Thanks for sharing!
Reply
Odd Sock
31/5/2014 07:19:23 am
Thanks Jeremy!
Reply
31/5/2014 06:55:06 am
What a smashing blog - the photographs are really amazing. Great views chaps, thank you.
Reply
Odd Sock
31/5/2014 07:22:40 am
Thanks Toddy!
Reply
31/5/2014 07:23:03 am
How wonderful, Odd. I hope this is all adding up to a book! ;)
Reply
Odd Sock
31/5/2014 09:36:02 pm
Hi Destiny!
Reply
31/5/2014 09:24:53 am
What a beautiful place! Looked like a lot of hard walking for a little sock though, but so worthwhile for those pictures. Bit scary at times, but looks amazing. Glad you found all those nice cairns to stand on for photo opps!
Reply
Odd Sock
31/5/2014 09:38:45 pm
Hi Ted
Reply
Pete Bear
31/5/2014 09:54:58 pm
What spectacular postcard like views, how scary it must have been on some of those edges, especially with the snow and ice, your a brave Sock.
Reply
Odd Sock
31/5/2014 10:03:17 pm
Hi Pete
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorsThe Top of the Wardrobe Gang: Oscar Rabbit, PD Monkey, Odd Sock, Burton Bear, Terry Tiger (TT), Burton Bear; helped by Melinda Kinsman Archives
October 2018
Categories
All
|