Archive for Camping

Return to the North West

August 1st, 2011 • Camping, Cycling, Mountainbiking, Rock Climbing

It’s never enough to satisfy the craving but for a few days at least it’s all there, and you with it.

 

Achmelvich

August 1st, 2011 • 1 comment Camping, Rock Climbing


Amateur night on the Buachaille

June 4th, 2010 • 3 comments Camping, Hill walking, Rock Climbing
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Last night  decided to solo the broad buttress and bivi on the top, I left Glasgow at 5pm into the rubbish hour traffic. It was a beautiful evening with a warm sunset dropping fast behind me, threatening to leave me in the dark  if i didn’t move my arse.  The climb was pretty exciting, i lost the route a couple of times and ended up giving over my life to a few clumps of heather and some grass. When i finally topped out it felt amazing to be alive. I walked the last few hundered feet to the summit and ate my sandwich and set up my bivi for the night.

Its the first time i have solo’d a hill never mind a scramble it felt pretty amateur to be honest, but i have learned a lot about my limitations, and where i need to work on stuff. Mostly navigation and route finding.

Would I do it again.. certainly but the bivi was pretty dull without company.

‘nice sunset i said to myself’ ..’aye’ i said back.

Patagonian Wanderings

May 11th, 2010 • 3 comments Around the World, Camping, Hill walking
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It’s ironic really. You save all your pennies, finally book the Big Trip and fly out to Patagonia for four months of trekking through landscapes you’ve spent years reading about and dreaming about, and what happens? You time your trip of a lifetime to coincide with the best Scottish winter in 20 years…. Sounds like you guys have had a cracking winter!

Not that I’m complaining you understand.

Patagonia was still everything you could ever hope it would be. The landscapes really are as varied as they are magnificent: you can be walking among perfect towers of granite one week and boiling pools of mud and volcanoes the next. Sometimes surreal, often majestic and always beautiful.

I was down there working primarily on a landscape photography project (the exhibition opens next week in Keswick if anyone’s interested) but I thought that I’d try my hand at some video too, partly to try to broaden my horizons from a creative point of view, and partly because it was a great excuse to stop and put my bag down from time to time. Misha suggested I post the result on here so, well, here it is….

I hope you enjoy it.


Stob Ghabhar – ‘Goats Peak’

September 21st, 2009 • Camping, Hill walking

We might not have seen any goats, but this is a classic hill in a classic place.  Up by Bridge of Orchy and about an hour out of Glasgow, an uninterrupted expanse of wilderness starts and runs all the way down Loch Awe and across to Glen Etive.  I’d never really noticed it before, maybe just being distracted by nearby Glencoe, but it feels as wild as wild and fantastic as the any of the highlands to the north.  We only stayed one night, although you could spend days walking through here.  We did try fishing one of the hill lochs at dusk, but didn’t pull out anything more than a tidler –  .  Hopefully the pictures do it justice.  Stob Ghabhar on Wiki

Misha/Greg/Ross/Carol-Anne/Chris

Suilven by Kayak

August 28th, 2009 • Camping, Hill walking, River Kayaking
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Some pictures from a trip earlier in the year to Suilven.  We kayaked out to the mountain from Elphin and camped near the summit.  Weather was spectacular but quite windy up high (suilven doesn’t get much shelter as it’s got no neighbours).  This has to be one of the classic Scottish trips.

More photos to follow hopefully (any other contibutions welcome – email them to misha@high-8.com)

here are robins: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/robin4c/SulivenJune09#

About High-8

High-8 is a loose gathering of like minded adventurists who document first person, on the ground experiences with words, photos and film. The hope is to form a rough guide to outdoor adventure sports in Scotland and provide a warts and all, honest representation of what we find. No sport is excluded from mountaineering and mountain biking to gorge walking and kayak all are welcome and encouraged.

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The Code

The Country Code, which most of us learned in school (and we probably haven't read since!), was updated in 2004 when it became the Countryside Code. Here's the updated version:
  • Be safe - plan ahead and follow any signs
  • Leave gates and property as you find them
  • Protect plants and animals, and take your litter home
  • Keep dogs under close control
  • Consider other people
In Scotland, where there is a more general right of access, there also exists the Scottish Outdoor Access Code:
  • Take responsibility for your own actions
  • Respect people’s privacy and peace of mind
  • Help farmers, landowners and others to work safely and effectively
  • Care for the environment
  • Keep your dog under proper control
  • Take extra care if you are organising a group, an event or running a business.
There's obviously a lot to to be learned from these - it's amazing how many people get out to enjoy the countryside but are still happy to leave it in a mess. Even with the recent updates, the Countryside Codes seem slightly outdated when considering the wider issues involved when lots of people get out into the countryside. Some places just can't handle high volumes of people, no matter how they behave and publicity, no matter how interesting or well-done , has the potential to attract lots of people to an area. Blogs including video, pictures or words, form part the the wider media which could easily contribute to tipping the balance, and so we as bloggers have to consider the implications of what we decide to post. Can the place we're writing about take more people, and if not, it might be wiser to leave maps, place names or grid references out of posts. In Scotland, the Mountain Bothies Association has been careful to protect the location of some Bothies due to mis-treatment and, in some cases, even malicious vandalism. That is not to say they would not advocate people using them - in fact, a well used, maintained and loved network of bothies exist, and the MBA as an organisation is there to encourage this. Some bothies are busier than others but generally it is the less remote places which are more susceptible to abuse - something which might be worth considering when deciding whether to post information. It must be said, in most cases it's obvious what should or shouldn't be publisiced, but it's worth taking these considerations to mind.

Please note: The Code is constantly being revised and added to. If you like to add something login in to the discussion on the forum.