I heard it on the jade vine

Route http://www.munromagic.com/MountainInfo.cfm?Mountain=21 Distance 17km Munros Cac Carn Beag (Lochnagar)

Route http://www.munromagic.com/RouteInfo.cfm?RouteID=184 Distance 33.5km Munros Carn a' Mhaim, Ben MacDui & Derry Cairngorm

Route http://www.munromagic.com/RouteInfo.cfm?RouteID=110 Distance 14.7km Munros Ben Vorlich & Stuc a'Chroin I was rather pushed to find a free day for some hillwalking in August which actually had vaguely decent weather. It eventually came down to Sunday 28th August, the only slight issue being that I had already arranged to be at a Edinburgh International Festival concert on that evening so I had to be back in good time and not so wiped out that I would snooze through it! The choice was to either go for a short drive and a mid-size walk or a longer drive with a short walk. I opted for the former and headed out to do Ben Vorlich & Stuc a'Chroin near Lochearnhead. These hills are not new to me, I first did them in full winter conditions as an undergraduate many years ago which was a truly incredible introduction. This was going to be my fifth outing, typically doing both except for my previous visit when I only did Ben Vorlich due to horribly thick cloud.

Over the years I've often wondered about people use walking poles, even at university a few people in the student hillwalking group were using them but I wasn't sure why they bothered. I always had the impression that they didn't give much benefit and that somehow they detracted from the hill walking experience. The various problems I've had with my ankles and knees over t he last few years d ue to my flat feet have made me reassess walking poles. They certainly seem to be more popular than ever and I've seen numerous articles in magazines such as Trail extolling their benefits. There is now also some scientific evidence that walking poles significantly reduce muscle damage during mountain walking. So, I have finally given in and I recently bought a pair of Leki Makalu Trail walking poles from Tisos (my favourite shop for outdoor kit and, no, they're not paying me to say that...). They cost £56 and were by no means the cheapest poles they had on sale (which I

Route http://www.munromagic.com/RouteInfo.cfm?RouteID=47 Distance 17.4km Munros Carn Mairg, Carn Gorm, Meall nan Aighean & Meall Garbh After my previous total washout on 26th June I wanted to get straight back out there and complete the Carn Mairg round so the next chance I had on Sunday 24th July saw me taking on this route for the second time. The weather could not have been more different from my previous outing. The sky was blue, the cloud was very high (not even close to the tops of the hills) and the temperature was warm without being too hot. To me this is the ultimate summer walking weather, as long as I remember to apply the sun cream it's as good as it gets. As before I took the clockwise approach to the round starting with Carn Gorm and then heading over An Sgorr to Meall Garbh , I then took in Meall a' Bharr to reach Carn Mairg . Rather than going direct to the final munro - Meall na Aigean - I also took the chance to visit Meall Liath . I

Route http://www.munromagic.com/RouteInfo.cfm?RouteID=47 Distance 17.4km Munros Carn Gorm & Meall Garbh (2 out of possible 4) Last Sunday (26th June) saw me attempting the Carn Mairg round of 4 munros. This route is 17.5km and, being 5km shorter, should have been considerably easier than my previous outing to Beinn A'Ghlo. A combination of appalling weather and very tired legs meant that this was never going to be an easy day out. The walk starts at Invervar, which is near Fortingall (which is itself near Aberfeldy) in Perthshire. It seems that over the years the estate which owns these hills has not been very welcoming to hill walkers, in particular they pretty much don't want to see people during the stalking season. With this in mind June seemed the perfect time for a visit. The estate has now provided a small parking area in Invervar with strict guidelines that once it is full people should just go somewhere else. The parking area is not that easy to spot

There are times when having a small kid really makes me realise just how much the world has changed. This morning Ella was chatting about space rockets and "blasting off" to the moon so I immediately got onto youtube and we sat down to watch footage for loads of the Apollo and Shuttle launches (subtly ignoring a few unfortunate fireballs along the way). We then went on to look at the Apollo astronauts planting flags and bouncing around on the moon. She was really fascinated with it all, although at first she got a bit worried by all the fire and the equipment falling away as the rockets got going. The one thing which truly puzzled her though was watching the earth-rise from the perspective of the moon. Clearly at the age of two the idea of the world being round is a tricky one. I guess I saw these things on TV occasionally as a kid but being able to see them on demand really is awesome. I also still can't get over how long it is since anyone last stood on t

Route http://www.munromagic.com/RouteInfo.cfm?RouteID=32 Distance 22.4km Munros Carn nan Gabhar, Braigh Coire Chruinn-Bhalgain & Carn Liath After a long time of not getting out into the hills I finally got a chance on Sunday 6th June. The main aim was to get out and do a few new munros and really just see if I was still up to the task. The target was Beinn a'Ghlo which is near Blair Atholl. It is actually 3 munros - Carn nan Gabhar , Braigh Coire Chruinn-Bhalgain & Carn Liath . There is no great technical challenge to these hills, you won't have "hand on rock" at any time during the day and there is no real "exposure" to sheer drops. That said, they are not uninteresting grassy lumps either, there are nice tops with good views (on a clear day...). There is also a fair amount of effort required, it's just over 22km and 1480m of ascent. The route starts from a rough parking area beside Loch Moraig near Monzie Farm. Getting from Blair