Nice Day Trip

We left freezing temperatures behind in St Andre for a day trip down to Nice by train. After exploring the market we strolled along the beach; the day was lovely, with several people in swimming. We had a nice lunch in the Vieux Nice before heading up a long hill to the Musee Matisse and took in some culture before the train back home. Some pics

Schiehallion in the Clag

Schiehallion, as seen from Glencoe, is a lovely mountain - a great white triangle rising above Rannoch Moor. Today, I got to climb it but the weather didn't exactly cooperate. Pretty much as soon as I left the car I was in the clouds and it was quite windy; fortunately, the rain was never really heavy. I didn't see anyone else all day - I was the only one daft enough to be out on such a day - and the only break was a quick lunch on the summit. Sometimes, that's what a day on the hill is like in Scotland...

A 5 Munro Day on Ben Lawers!

Ben Lawers is a complex mountain - it's more like a set of mountains - and I hoped to 'bag' 3 munros (Beinn Ghlas, Ben Lawers and An Stuc). But the days are very short in December in the Scottish Highlands and I had left the house later than I intended. There were quite a lot of clouds around at the start and I was wary of finishing the day in the dark and in the clouds, so I set myself a "turn-around time" of 1.30 on the last peak.  

The clouds slowly burned off as the day progressed, and there were lovely views in every direction. Just 3 minutes before my turn-around time I arrived on An Stuc's summit and met three young lads. They intended to take a different route back and to climb a couple more hills (Meall a' Coire Leith and Meall Corranaich) on the way. 

They set off as I ate my lunch and pondered. I didn't feel at all tired, the weather had improved and the descent from the last hill was pretty easy (and could be done by head-torch). So I headed after them and we climbed the last two summits in the gathering gloom. We got back to the cars at 5.00 pm using torches for the last little bit. Quite a day!

Some pics.