The Full Monty on the Crete des Serres

The Crete des Serres is a long ridge that offers a number of hikes from my front door. I've hiked it many times but up to today hadn't done the whole ridge as a single hike. Of course, there's a reason for that - it's pretty long. But I've been waiting for an opportunity and it arrived today. First, it was an unusually cool day for the middle of summer. Second, my wife was going shopping in Italy with friends, so there didn't seem any reason not to do it.

Everything went according to plan; I got home tired but happy after a nearly 9 hour day. A few pics

USA Trip

The Japanese Gardens, Portland, OR

My wife and I had a nice trip to the States. We did the West Coast (where my son lives) and visited Oceanside, Portland and Oceanside. In Portland we stayed in the Alberta quarter, which is on the east side of the city and it was much more interesting (i.e. lively and diverse) than the west side of the city. In particular it was nice to see evidence of resistance to the current Trump presidency.

Inside the Guggenheim, NYC

On the East coast we visited Baltimore (where my daughter lives), Manhattan, Portland Maine, Acadia National Park, a Shaker village in New Hampshire and New Haven. 

You can see some pics here.

An Optimistic Hike

For the third time in a row, the winter has been dry and mild in St Andre. I normally only start hiking in the higher mountains in May, but I guess I got carried away with the summery weather today. I did a standard 5 hour hike around the Col de Vachiere, but the north faces were out of sight from the bottom. They were a lot snowier than I expected and it took more like 7 hours. I had a bit of a diversion to avoid one snow slope and this resulted in my having to cross a river at the end of the day, when it was nicely swollen by melting snow. 

Some pics

South West France Visit

We had a short visit to Pau and Biarritz in SW France. Pau is a very attractive town just north of the Pyrenees; it used to be a fashionable place for wealthy Brits to spend the winter. Biarritz is known for surfing and some obliging young men were in the water so we could get some photos. Some pics of Pau and Biarritz

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.