2022 Retrospective
For the last few years I've been writing a retrospective for the year, and maybe setting out something that could be called resolutions for the next year. I've been a bit softer on the resolution front the last few years, I'm calling it wisdom, but also a bit of realism. It's good to have aspirations, but we need to make them things that are in our own year, I set four goals for 2022. Find a new house for the family to live in, and get us settled over the summer Make some new friends, and keep in contact with our current ones Keep on having things to look forward to Climb some munros, and take my family on the hills with me New House We spent the first half of 2022 looking for a new house and then packing…
Beinn Ghlas and Ben Lawers [Munro 4 & 5]
Earlier today I walked up Beinn Ghlas and Ben Lawers with my brother and son. On the new count Beinn Ghlas was number 4 and Ben Lawers the fifth Munro. Only another 278 to go! It was a two hour drive from our house, but we had an early start and got there just before 10. The car park had a £3 parking fee, although free for members of the National Trust for Scotland. We started off at 10:05. You can see the detail of our route on OS Maps - I plotted this one using the aerial photos of Beinn Ghlas and Ben Lawers because the footpath was suspiciously straight and it suggested three hours was enough to do two munros! Beinn Ghlas Translated from Gaelic this is Grey Mountain. It's in a nature reserve, although we didn't see…
Driesh and then Mayar
Driesh is the closest munro to our new house in Scotland, and Mayar is only a couple of miles on the same ridge from it. So on Saturday 22nd July Alex and I went for a walk to bag two more munros by doing Driesh, and then Mayar. We did them in that order because of the proximity, even though most of the guides have the walk in the opposite direction. Our route was up the Kilbo path on the side of the Shank of Drumfollow to a saddle between Driesh and Mayar. We then detoured East for a mile to the summit of Driesh, and then back to the same point to approach the summit of Mayar from the East. We then turned North and walked to the source of the Fee Burn and then descended into Corrie Fee…
Moving North
I haven't written for a while, and there are good reasons behind that, we're moving North! Until February all my spare time was spent online looking at houses in Scotland that we could move to. Moving North Finding a New Home in the North The February half term week was spent with a massive driving expedition across Scotland. We stayed at Blackridge, between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Over the course of the week we saw several houses on both coasts of Scotland and both south and north of the central belt. In the end we chose a fab house outside the area we'd been expecting, in NE Scotland between Dundee and Aberdeen. Preparing to Move The living room in the old house being packed ready for moving north. (Photo: James Kemp) Since then it's been a mix of packing books, of…
Moving Home
One thing I'm sure of this year is that I'm moving home. We've accepted an offer to buy the home we've lived in since 2005. So sometime in the spring we will very definitely be moving home. The old shed in the aftermath of demolition and its contents (photo: James Kemp) Moving Home Last summer I got promoted, and the new job is based in the Glasgow office. Thanks to the pandemic the fact I started in October hasn't been a huge issue. I've had five days in the office, two of which have been in Glasgow and three in London. However one day the pandemic will end and I'll want a slightly shorter commute for the times I need to be in an office. Since September we've been watching the housing market in Scotland. It's possible that we've seen…