A return by the club after a number of years saw 9 hardy souls arrive at the Smiddy hut. I have to say that the hut is much more inviting than I remember. Once the fire is lit the ambience of the hut completely changes. Dan commented that he arrived to a roaring fire, so much coal that the burning lumps kept falling out of the grate onto the brick floor. Next was a crampon fixing session.  A good hour was spent trying various combinations of boots and crampons. Much advice was shouted simultaneously from the four corners of the hut. This ended with a discussion on the merits of…

Gwen Moffat certainly left an impression on us all and for the second book club of the year, Gwen has inspired us to get outside. Our next book club will be on the 25th of June and it’s going to be outside, in the Cairngorms! At the height of summer, we’ll pick a walk to a picturesque spot on the Cairngorm Plateau where we can set up for an evening with Nan Shepherd. For more information and to sign up for updates on the meet, please email Lauren. “In this masterpiece of nature writing, Nan Shepherd describes her journeys into the Cairngorm mountains of Scotland. There she encounters a world…

Colin Cowie started the weekend with an impromptu swim in Loch Affric, before kayaking westwards.  He records “paddled in Friday, was blint [sic] by sun in eyes”. The small waterfall between the loch and the cottage curtailed further progress upstream.  Others walked or cycled in, followed a little later by Ben, Wendy and Jake in the 4×4. The weather on Saturday was good and a lot of folk had their eyes on Mam Sodhail.  Despite Spring making progress in the valley, Winter was still very much in control higher up and so the summit proved a challenging goal.  Debbie Raymont scouted out the corries.  Ben and Wendy ascended via Alt…

It’s official, book club is in Zoom for 23rd of March (2 weeks tomorrow – binge read time!). From inspiration from Heavy, we’ve picked Gwen Moffat’s, Space Below My Feet. If, like me, you’d like to learn a bit more about Gwen, then there’s also Heavy’s blog post and a short film called Operation Moffat. https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2022/03/operation_moffat-73002 Also a wee side note, Radio 4’s Woman Hours recently featured a discussion from two female authors (Helen Mort and Amy McCulloch) on their happy places – mountains, and their new books.It starts at 36 mins and worth a listen. Thank you to Joe Glennie for sending it to me.  https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0014xx9 At the end…