There are no sea eagles in Sussex

The excitement of the Outer Hebrides trip is becoming just a memory, admittedly a good memory.

I have had a few days relaxing since I got back but now that period is over and I am back in the routine of maintaining a high level of fitness. I focus on getting distance and height into my legs on a daily basis as the objective is to climb hills as effortlessly as possible.  

I break my routine up by including regular trips to local hills and this week I was in West Sussex.

The weather was damp and visibility was poor.  The wildlife seemed to be hiding and I certainly did not see a sea eagle which I had been fortunate enough to do in the Outer Hebrides.  But I covered a lot of miles and on the way visited 6 hill tops including the one below.

This particular blog is dedicated to all the hours I spend maintaining my fitness levels.  Some are boring and some are rewarding.  This walk over the hills surrounding the River Arun near Pulborough was definitely rewarding despite the lack of sea eagles.

Looking back and thinking ahead

It is over! My 15 day hillwalking trip to The Hebrides. And what a trip.  One of the best I have ever undertaken. There were many highlights and few bad points. At times it was tough, both underfoot and due to the weather.  At all times it was inspirational.

Before leaving I had trained hard to lift my level of fitness and this paid off.  I was able to be out hillwalking for 14 successive days with only one of these being a light day.

My journey took me by train from Inverness to Skye and on via CalMac's ferry to North Uist.  I walked hills on South Uist, Benbecula, Eriskay, Barra and Vatersay before CalMac took me to Oban and on to Kerrera.  

Mainly I was on my own but in the middle weekend several long term friends arrived and joined me on some tops.  Prior to leaving I had hoped to join Graham and Gregor for an overnight stay in Uisinis Bothy and to combine this with two days on the Hecla to Beinn Mhor ridge. This was not to be as despite my improved fitness, the underfoot conditions on the island were at times very strength sapping and sadly I had to admit defeat on the bothy trip.

This type of trip needs a lot of planning. Prior to leaving I had spent a lot of time pouring over maps and timetables.  By and large I got this part right although looking back I should have picked up one more Marilyn and two more tops. Despite missing these I still managed to reach the top of 17 Marilyns and another 28 hills making a grand total of 45 tops.

The other negative was barbed wire which seemed to be on top of every fence. Why?  There were few gates and almost no stiles. Most fences could be stepped over but always was the lurking fear of being caught on the single strand of barbed wire at the top of the fence.

Tthe Outer Hebrides are almost on a different planet to my home in Central London. A fact that was reinforced on my return with the murder just 2 streets away of a young man returning home from work, by a moped gang intent on stealing his phone.  Stabbed to death for a phone!!!  

Getting around required thought.  I used several ferries and local buses, plus a few lifts from friends, and couple of hitch hiked rides. However most time was spent walking.  The bus journeys were enthrallling with completely different traffic problems to what I suffer on the 414 route from my house in London to Putney Bridge.

Wildlife abounds.  I had a close up view of a sea eagle and among many different species I saw an otter, eider ducks, merlins, hen harriers, voles and of course deer.  The roaring of the deer signalling the rut was underway.

The island hills were not high but nearly all were very rough underfoot.  Everywhere was wet. There are endless lochs big and small.  Always from the top there was a view of the sea.  The Minches lay to the east and the mighty Atlantic to the west which piles up the kelp shown in the photo below.

I cannot finish without thanking my friends for their support and help. At times my enthusiasm for the hills must be a bit wearing to them!

Philippa encouraged me to make the most of the opportunity and thankfully provided all kinds of back up both before, during and after the trip.  Although I very much doubt she will swap the London theatre and opera scene for accompanying me on a future trip, she will be very welcome if she does decide to come.

I have returned  home feeling very alive and buzzing.  Hopefully I will get to return to the Hebrides and Skye before long as I have many hills I still want to climb and several ambitions to achieve. 

 

 My thanks to Trevor who supplied some of the photos 

Kerrera

The island of Kerrera today which makes 10 islands visited on this trip.

Kerrera is a quiet island with gravel roads, few people and memorable views.  The little CalMac ferry plies back and forth across the Sound of Kerrera. On the opposite side of the island is the Firth of Lorn and beyond that The Island of Mull.  To the north larger CalMac ferries go back and forth to Oban.

I climbed 3 hills including a not particularly hard Marilyn.

The plan was just to spend the morning on Kerrera and then peak bag on a roundabout route back to Oban. A gale was blowing and was forecast to get stronger.

After 2 weeks in the hills, my fitness levels were high and I sped round so that I was back at the ferry early.  Panic! No ferry.  It was moored up at the overnight mooring and there was nobody round to ask or timetable to review.  The gale howled. It started to rain.  The sea was getting rougher minute by minute.  I had visions of a night on Kerrera and missed connections back to London.

Hugely helped by Philippa we worked out that all that was happening was a long lunch break and after a 90 minute wait the lovely little ferry lurched over the bumpy Sound of Kerrera to get me - just me- back to the mainland and allow me to bag 3 more hills.

Tough day

Sunday 15th October 2017

Sometimes I sense that people think climbing Marilyns is the easy option. Quite often it is. However there are exceptions and yesterday's climb of Cruach Leargs was one of them.

The hill is just south of Oban and is only 252 meters high - 827 feet. The approach is via a very muddy forest track and then either more forest tracks or via the edge of the forest following a fence above the loch side. Sounds OK?

I didn't fancy the subsidiary forest tracks as they'd were overgrown and so went straight for the loch side route.  This was also overgrown by man eating bracken, head high plants and fir trees. It involved a traverse along a very steep bank with a lot of ups and downs. It was exhausting.

Eventually I made the top - yes that is Marilyn number 479 bagged.  I was definitely not returning the same way so headed south through a succession of bogs before reaching a very steep cliff which needed descending.  The obvious way down was defended by a herd of big horned cattle who all stood up on my approach and took a few steps towards me.

I found another way down and was at times plunging almost vertically into yet more head high bracken. Somehow I made it and was just left with a very long walk back.

Oh and most of the time it rained....

When back at the B&B I realised that if I had gone west instead of south from the top I would have also reached a road back to Oban. I would also have bagged another hill on the way. This time an easy one.

And today - 15 hours later - I feel pleased I bagged Cruach Creags.  I will never go there again!

Barra and Vatersay

Saturday morning and the ferry is sailing. Currently we are about 2 hours from Oban so I am planning a hill to target this afternoon.

Barra was really good as was the neighbouring Island of Vatersay. Plenty of yomping which is where I start on one side of the hill and walk in an almost direct line to the other side via the summit.  Rough pathless country in the main but I am quite happy with that. I also picked off a number of low lying tops so I managed to bag a lot of hills.  Great wildlife as well including seeing a pair of golden eagles and a really close up view of a giant sea eagle.

I thumbed a couple of lifts. The first was with a local lady who had lived all her life on Vatersay. She crossed London once about 40 years ago, in the rush hour, and found it intimidating. She spoke of tough conditions before the causeway was built which connects Vatersay with Barra.  Everything had to be manhandled into and out of boats. Now she can just drive to collect her groceries and also deliver very grateful hitch hikers.

The second lift was with a visitor from New South Wales who was spending a week on Vantersay. A very long way to come for first visit to the Outer Hebrides.

Barra and London are both in Great Britain but that is about all they have in common. Both are very likeable.  Now for the next part of the adventure.......

Superb days on Barra

Friday 13th

The ferry has not sailed for 2 days due to the gales.  It is causing a backlog of vehicles waiting to get to the mainland.  Hopefully it will sail tomorrow as this is when I hope to go the Oban and on to Kerrera.

There is plenty to do on Barra if I am stuck yesterday I walked over 2 Marilyns and then onto the far end of Vatersay Island which is now connected to Barra via a causeway.  The final hill involved real scrambling and rewarded me with iconic views.

The wildlife is stunning. Seals look on inquisitively. I watched an otter or Eriskay and yesterday a huge sea eagle slowly flapped past me high on Ben Tangabhal. Maybe just 10 flaps and then it used the thermals to soar to a point where it was impossible to see with the naked eye.

I am on Barra

Wednesday night and I am safely ensconced on the Island of Barra.  The ferry ran without a problem. The bus was on time and delivered people on a sort of door to door service and this included me to the door of the bed and breakfast!

4 more hills today including one Marilyn.  I also got a good soaking from torrential rain.  The tops were in cloud, the wind howled and it was very wet underfoot. Can I make it sound more appealing?

9 days gone

9 days into the latest adventure and I am loving it.  Currently there is a ferocious storm battering the Western Isles which may well mean I cannot get to Barra tomorrow but as Philippa says "go with the flow".

So far I have managed to climb 11 Marilyns plus ascending another 13 tops making a total of 24.
However the current grim weather is forecast to continue and if it does, I will not be as productive as I have been recently.

5 days gone

Five days gone and 10 to go. I have climbed 7 more Marilyns and 6 other hills.  A total of 13. My journey has taken me from London to Invernsss via British Airways, Garve and Kyle of Lochalsh via Scotrail, Skye and eventually to South Uist in the Outer Hebrides thanks to Caldonian MacBrayne's ferry.
South and North Uist are on the edge of the mighty Atlantic Ocean, with plenty of low lying areas, lochs and a decent number of rough hills which combines to give a unique feel.  They have the wow factor.

A new adventure - the Outer Hebrides October 2017

I am planning a trip through various Hebridean Islands for October 2017. I anticipate some tough walking conditions and need to considerably improve my fitness levels so my weekly walking programme will gain a new intensity. Well that is the plan so it will be interesting to see how I get on. I intend to travel fairly light in the Hebrides so time will be spent on getting my pack list as right as possible, bearing in mind that weather conditions, will probably have the final say as to what I achieve.


The middle part of the trip will include 5 days with members of Trimarc, the hillwalking and mountaineering club I joined just over 45 years ago. The rest will be solo and will involve public transport or Shank's Pony.


Living in London does present challenges to the hillwalker in that the nearest decent hills are about 150 miles away. My preparation will include a mixture of trips to the Wales & Northern England, and trips to local small hills such as the Cotswolds, Downs, Chilterns and the bumps in between. The tempo will be increased using cycling and walks up the pimples in London, particularly Primrose Hill and Hampstead Heath.