Dolphins Yesterday – Early start for Ben Wyvis – Great result for Andy Murray. The Munros in Winter Martin Moran.

Yesterday was a chill out day after a day on the hill with a lovely baptism in our local church for Mhari Ann and Elsie  Mai Swadel. It was a busy ceremony with lots of kids and then a lovely reception in the hall.  After that I had  a walk along the coast and we saw the dolphins, they were jumping this afternoon must have been a shoal of fish about and the whole coast was clear and sharp.  It was bitterly cold but so clear and the body was recovering from a great day on the hill on Saturday. Lat night I was enthralled to watch Andy Murray what a man he must have been pretty tired but what a win and what proud parents to have produced two incredible boys both winners and good people. It is not often a small country like Scotland produces such talent but what work they have both put in as have their families. My Mum who loved tennis would have loved this as she never saw a British winner in her time she loved Wimbledon  and that was her heaven. I wonder if she saw it in heaven?

 

Ben Wyvis my nearest local Munro.

Today it up in the dark for a day on Ben Wyvis my local Munro and it is bitter cold outside so we will have to take it easy I am a bit stiff but Jimmy has recovered from a knee operation and we will take it easy. Today I have put on a bit more clothing including long johns, I was frozen on Saturday, we will see.

On a previous trip to Wyvis

Ben Wyvis is a vast and sprawling mountain whose isolated position makes it the dominating feature of a wide area of the Highlands. The ascent to its spacious plateau is a reasonably straightforward ascent in good summer conditions by Munro standards and there are very extensive views from the summit. In winter it can be interesting with a long open ridge that gets the wind and can bring huge Cornices, in a wild day it can be tricky navigation and Martin Moran tells a great tale in his book the winter Munros of a wild day on Wyvis.

The Munros in winter what a book.

 

In 1985 mountain guide Martin Moran achieved the first completion of all 277 Munros* in a single winter with the support and companionship of his wife Joy. Their success was a feat of dedicated mountaineering and effective teamwork through the storms, snows and avalanches of an epic winter season in the Scottish Highlands. Martin s account of the winter journey became a classic mountain narrative, combining his passionate enthusiasm for the mountains with humorous insights into a marriage put to the test through three months of living in a camper van. It was described as the best guidebook to the Munros by mountain writer Jim Perrin. The book inspired many other climbers and runners to pick up the gauntlet in pursuit of new feats of endurance on Scotland s hills, and is now reissued with full colour photographs plus an introductory update by the author on how the Munros in Winter changed his life.

The master of understatement is Martin Moran and  this is a great book and a must read for the winter mountaineer.