Archives for Alexander
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…
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World [Review]
Alexander with Cressida Cowell at the BFI (photo: James Kemp) I went with my family to see an advance preview of How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World at the BFI last Saturday. It was a good movie and the kids loved it, they also loved the Q&A afterwards with Cressida Cowell, Brad Lewis (the producer) and Dean DeBlois (the director of the whole trilogy). The Hidden World The Hidden World is the last in the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy. The Q & A was pretty clear on that. The next movie night well be related to The Wizards of Once, which Alexander asked Cressida Cowell about during the Q&A. In The Hidden World the gang are searching for the legendary home of the dragons. It's set a couple of years after the previous movie and everyone…
Elf Mischief 2018 conclusion
This is part four of the Elf Mischief series. You might want to read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 first. Choreographing the Elf Mischief is one of the more creative things that I've done this year. It stretches the imagination, especially as there's a lot of pressure to keep it going every day from the night of the 30th November until Christmas morning. Elf Mischief Tooth Elf Lucy lost one of her front teeth while we were out at Longleat for the Festival of Light. So when we got home late we opted for the Tooth Elf. The elves intercepted the Tooth fairy and gave Lucy a pound each (normally the Tooth Fairy brings a £2 coin). Oddly although she found the money she had to go back to find Timmy and Alfie. Elf on Christmas Eve Seeing…