Cape Wrath to Kylesku - June Solstice 2015

For many years now me and my old friends Philip and Andrew have spent the summer solstice walking in the Scottish Highlands ,generally Munro bagging or more recently on through trips. This year's coincided with the start of Andrew's Cape Wrath to Stranraer walk (the first part of a journey which will eventually take him to Cape Clear in SW Ireland).

Link to photo album here  As usual best viewed as a slide show with captions.

23/6/15
We'd met up at Inverness last night and today caught the (only) direct bus up to near Durness and walked down to the ferry. We were a bit concerned when we read the MOD notice which said that there would be bombing on the Cape Wrath firing range for the next three days and that access would be restricted.The ferryman wasn't too sure of arrangements but agreed to take us across the sound so that we could speak to the sentry at the east end of the exclusion area.

When we got to the sentry post it turned out that we'd only have to wait 15 minutes before being allowed through the range and down to Kearvaig Bothy where we were planning to stay the night.A brilliant MOD man who,as he had to check that the bothy was clear the next day anyway ,agreed to pick us up from there just after 8am and take us up in his 4x4 to the Lighthouse which was the "official" start of the walk!

Kearvaig Bothy

24/6/15
The plan worked and the next morning after being dropped off ,and a coffee at the very remote Ozone Cafe, we headed down the coast towards Sandwood Bay.

Leaving the danger area over a small stile.I'd been expecting a high fence as some Cape Wrath Trail articles seem to rate it as an obstacle

 

Sandwood Bay

The faint paths above the cliffs were dry and easy to follow but the route inland from Sandwood Bay to Strathan Bothy became indistinct and boggy so it was a blessing to reach our home for the night.Quite a salubrious bothy.

Strathan Bothy

25/6/15
We managed to keep the dry weather for a third day on the tracks towards Kinlochbervie and road walk to Rhiconich (with resupplies at the London Stores at Badcall and beer at the Rhiconich Hotel).
Our good deed for the day was picking up a wallet ,money,bank cards and it's other contents which we found scattered on the main road and then reuniting them with their owner via the helpful locals.

View inland towards Rhiconich and the mountains

It was good to leave the hard tarmac and walk inland along the stalkers path on the bank of the Rhiconich River, but like most of these paths do it eventually petered out into the bog nearing the top of the glen.We found a dry campsite at the end of the loch with some shelter from the strengthening wind.

Rhiconich River

Breaking camp the next morning

The rain started as we pitched our tents so a "cold tea" ensued partly due to a miscalculation on the gas supplies (had turned out that the available screw fitments were different from the ones previously promised by the stores!)

26/6/15
It had been a wet and windy night but the tents stayed up and the weather improved for the start of today's  route.

Philip and Andrew

Towards the end of the day the "lovely" stalkers path from Achfary to Kylestrome that Andrew recalled from his previous trip proved a lot stonier than suggested.
Ever since becoming a fellrunner I've struggled with walking boots.I'd been persevering with ones that I'd bought last year which finally got the better of me on the stony landrover tracks and tarmac so I decided to leave the walk at Kylesku rather than going on a few more days to Braemore Junction as originally intended.
However this section ended on a high note with a slap up meal at the Kylesku Hotel and a pleasant stay at our B&B with great views inland across the sea lochs.

View from our B&B

27/6/15
After seeing the other two on their way I managed to get a lift to Ullapool with a local and headed south to stay at Inverness YH and then catch the train back south the next day.
After a short foot recovery I bought a trusty pair of Lowa Renegade boots ,the only ones I seem to be able to wear comfortably.
They certainly did the trick when I rejoined Andrew for the Clyde Valley/Southern Uplands part of his journey later in July.

(a catch up post written on 7/11/15 ,a wet and windy November day)

Mid June plot - put the flags out

Went over to the allotments to make a photo record of the plot after a morning of much needed rain.On the way over the flag iris were in full bloom on the dub.

The spring has been generally cool ,often with a biting wind, and either very wet or very dry! The clayier sections of the plot (ie quite a lot of it) have been hard to work so I decided to form some no walk/less dig beds edged with a mixture of new boards ,others from the original raised beds in my garden plus some mainly broken paving flags from a supply that have come our way recently.

Each bed is a bit over 4 feet wide with the space between kept to a minimum of about 14/15" or effectively less when you take account of the netting spilling over ,so it doesn't feel like I'm wasting a lot of potential growing area. Over time I'll try to build up the soil with suitable bulky material.
I'm still cultivating the top half of the plot more traditionally but have noticed that the gaps between planting are in fact the same or wider!

I inadvertently bought twice the amount of new boarding than was required for this project ( 480 cm lengths cut in half rather than buying the 240s as originally planned ,don't ask!) so phase 2 might happen on the top part by next spring.Might go for long rows across the plot and already have some more stone sets given to me which will make up enough materials to complete the job.

This will get back towards how I worked the plot in it's first year, in long heaped no walk beds which seemed to suit the heavy soil conditions.

Top half of the plot on 16th June 2012

Oh.The Tibetan prayer flags were made in Nepal.I bought them at the Kellerjoch Hut in Austria last year. Many of the Alpenveriens huts have Nepalese cooks who are allowed to supplement their wages with souvenir sales.

Llangattock and Brecon Beacons May 2015

A short midweek trip to South Wales which co-coincided with the General Election.
Link to Photo album here best viewed as slideshow with captions.

Looking down to Llangorse Lake between the showers

Stopped off for a wild and windy run up Mynydd Llangorse on the way down before staying at Llangattock Mountain Bunkhouse, aka Llangattock Youth Hostel ,which is located high up off the mountain road between Crickhowell and Brynmawr.
The next day was still very windy but this helped to keep the rain away and after walking round the south side of Mynydd Llangattock some welcome shelter was provided by the dramatic northern scarp slope.

The Lonely Shepherd

After another night at the bunkhouse I moved west of the Brecon Beacons to stay at the eponymously named Youth Hostel (but which is really Llwyn-y-celyn in old money). By now the weather had calmed down and it was fairly bright and sunny so I did some point to point navigation round the geocaches on the Fan Fawr hills from the top road south of Heol Senni.

Some very wet caches which seem to have been placed to attract as much moisture as possible!
A very good midweek trip altogether.

Late April on the allotments

I thought that I'd better do an allotment post while it's still early spring! Very chilly weather similar to the start of April with an unseasonal warm dry spell in between. The wind died down and the sun came out again late this afternoon after heavy showers so I took my camera over to the site and took quite a few photos.

Slideshow here

This year as well as growing onions from sets I'm also trying them from seed.So far so good.The leeks from seed are also a couple of months further advanced than last year.

Garlic and onions from sets

Italian red onions (banana shallots? )from seed

Italian winter leeks

The plot is now in it's fourth year and beginning to look more established with the addition of the fruit bushes and canes.Summer and Autumn raspberries, loganberries,gooseberries,blackcurrants, a tayberry and a redcurrant.I've removed the blueberries from a very clayey spot in the fruit area and transferred them into pots of ericaceous compost in the garden at home and they've already perked up.

Red and black currants

Summer raspberries

Loganberries and a Tayberry

The whole site is now beginning to mature with lots more greenery and no longer looks bare in early spring.
There's now also a Community Garden Area where people from the village can come and pick crops in season.

Our shared greenhouse is a real boon.Although I have a couple of basic cold frames at home I try to bring stuff across to the site so that the others can keep it watered when I'm away!
As well as using it to start off the onions I'm now got brassica ,legumes,curbits and flowers,including some of last year's self seeded Black Magic sunflowers rescued from a nearby pot of mint.

Re-homed sunflower seedlings

Snapdragons

Pumpkin and cucumber

Succession peas and beans