Scouting

Tarmachan Ridge from the North [Munro #7 & two tops]

We got another day out on the hills to walk the Tarmachan Ridge from the North, taking in Beinn nan Eachan, Meall Garbh and Meall nan Tarmachan. Meall nan Tarmachan looking East from the Western part of the horseshoe shaped ridge (Photo: James Kemp) Planning Tarmachan Ridge Route onto the Tarmachan Ridge We approached Meall Garbh from the west along a fairly narrow path with a drop on either side. (Photo: James Kemp) The walk was in 100 Best Walks in Scotland, and instead of starting in the Ben Lawers car park it started on an unnamed patch of tarmac due North of the horseshoe shaped ridge. The route was to walk up the North-western end of the horseshoe, and along the ridge, taking in Beinn nan Eachan (Horses Mountain), Meall Garbh (Rough hill) and then Meall nan Tarmachan (Ptarmigan…
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The King’s Peace [Write Club] [Fantasy]

Broughty Castle from the landward side. 15th century tower with late 19th century outer works. (Photo: James Kemp) The King's Peace is a standalone short story set in the same universe as the Yngvild stories, but from a different cultural perspective, that of the Dael Riatans, inspired by some local history. There's a load of world-building for this on my wiki site, as well as in my notebooks. I wrote this for Write Club, but also because it expands a bit of my universe that I'm using for a game I'm planning to run. Key character bios are King Alasdair V The Murchadh brothers Iain Alpin (commander of the King's Guard, referred to as his steward in this story) Pronounciations Many of these names are taken from Gaelic, or old Scots. So they don't necessarily sound the way you would…
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Scouting

Ben Lomond from Ptarmigan Ridge [Munro #6]

Yesterday Alex, Davie and I walked up the Ptarmigan Ridge and from there onto Ben Lomond. It was an interesting walk with some excellent views and a fierce wind that almost blew us onto the summit of Ben Lomond. Planning Ben Lomond Route up Ben Lomond The original plan was for an easy walk to blow the winter cobwebs away. With Ben Lomond's reputation for being so easy small kids do it that seemed an obvious reading through a few accounts of the route I found that most serious walkers go up the tourist path and back via Ptarmigan Ridge. On looking at the map I thought that maybe doing this the other way round would be good. I also discovered when reading that there's a third route up Ben Lomond, from the north face. Having seen that myself I…
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Going to Aldhani

On Saturday Alex and I took a walk to the Imperial base at Aldhani, otherwise known as the Cruachan Dam. The primary draw to walk to the dam was that it was used in the filming of the Star Wars Andor series as the imperial garrison that was raided on Aldhani that triggered the rebellion to coalesce into a coalition that was able to take on the Empire. So from a Star Wars rebels perspective, Aldani is where it all started. Alex also wanted to do a spoof insta style 'Rebel Roots on Aldhani' report. Planning for Aldhani Alex walks with his feet either side of the path because there's water flowing down it! (Photo: James Kemp) Having looked at the map it seemed to be a wee bit of a walk, just over a kilometre from the closest bit…
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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…
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