I heard it on the jade vine

Distance: 22Km Height ascended: 1400m Time taken: 7hours 30 minutes Munros: Braeriach (1296m), Sgor an Lochain Uaine (1258m), Cairn Toul (1291m) and Devil's Point (1004m). Over the last few years we've done a family holiday for a week to stay in Ballater in Deeside. We've often gone in the Autumn when the area is particularly beautiful but with the imminent arrival of daughter number 2 things got pushed forwards to July this year. This seemed to me like the perfect opportunity to make use of the longer daylight hours to fit in a bigger hillwalking trip. I had various thoughts of doing the hills near Lochnagar or possibly those accessible from Glen Shee. Eventually though, a much bigger prospect came into view. Although I wasn't really on the "right" side of the Cairngorms, I realised it's not that far to drive to get to Aviemore. This brought up the idea of doing the classic walk over all the Cairngorms hills that have a height greater than 4000feet...

Distance: 21Km Height ascended: 1900m Time taken: 7hours 15 minutes Munros: Beinn a'Chroin, An Caisteal, Cruach Ardrain, Beinn Tulaichean Having been doing shorter routes during the Winter I felt that with the longer days of Spring and the clocks going forwards it was time to get back into the longer, bigger challenges. With the recent warm weather there was no risk of any snow remaining except in the most shaded hollows so there was not going to be any need for the heavy crampons and ice axe so I knew I could cover the ground much faster. Even so, I expected this route might take a minimum of 8 hours. This isn't a hugely long walk but the amount of ascent and the steepness of the climbs means this route is definitely hard work and that's what accounts for most of the time. Having recently discovered the access into these hills from Inverlochlarig I was keen to do as many of the munros in this area from this starting point. Last month was Stob Binnein and Ben More ...

As an undergraduate at Durham University I got to know the Lake District really well through the Hillwalking Society (DUYHA later DUHWS) and had many excellent outings. I am reckoning it's now over 10 years since I last actually set foot in the area never mind did any hillwalking. My plans for hillwalking in 2012 hadn't initially included anything outside of Scotland as I have intentions of covering a lot of munros this year. However a message posted on Google+ by an acquaintance from my university days got me interested in going back. In some ways I think that I fancied going back for old-times sake - a bit of a nostalgia trip maybe - but I do still have plenty of unfinished business in the Lakes. I am also hoping this year to do some more challenging routes in Scotland, particularly I fancy the Aonach Eagach ridge, so a bit of practice on some easier ridges first to check I can still handle the exposure seemed like a good idea. The plan was to meet up for the weekend at P...

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...