Category: Members Tales

Here are a few photos from the Rum meet last weekend. It was my first visit to Rum and what a magical place it is! Many thanks to Andy and Jean for arranging the meet and thanks to all who attended for making it such a splendid occasion. We arrived at Mallaig for the ferry in perfect weather and had wonderful views of the mainland, Skye and the other Small Isles. The Rum Bunkhouse is excellent and is set right on the shore in Kinloch. After dropping our stuff at the bunkhouse, people split up to make the best of the late afternoon weather. I joined a group going up Coire Dubh and up onto Barkival. We got down from Barkival in time to stock up with supplies (beer) from the excellent Rum Island Store and great evening was had by all. Saturday dawned with an impressive sunrise. On the Saturday, most people headed for the infamous ridge walk (often known as the Rum Cuillin) to do part or all of it – great effort by those who did the whole route.  Myself, Tim Taylor and Garreth Llewellyn opted for the delights of the south face of Barkival and the[…]

Tom Anderson remembers: The Coomloughra Horseshoe is a delight to walk!  A circuit Ireland’s highest Mountain plus a great scramble en route!  I started at the Hydro road at a new car park at the west end of the circuit.  A concrete path climbs up to the lower Lake which gives a fine view of the full circuit of hills.  My route took me left on a broad ridge leading to Skregmore & on to Beenkeragh via two other summits.  All with no difficulties.  On reaching this point you reach the really interesting part of the outing.  This is the Beenkeragh Arete which no faces you!  This cannot be taken lightly!  The ridge is spectacular as well as loose & slippery with a lot of exposure so great care should be taken on the crossing.  There are two walkers routes around the high point of the ridge so you have a choice.  Continue along passing the top of a gully until you reach the col and an easy walk to the summit of Carrauntoohil.  The view from the summit is very good of the ridge of the Reeks showing the remaining 3,000ers to good effect.  The final part of the[…]

Tom Anderson writes: This slide video post is not strictly a mountaineering outing but was a very interesting day out. The Skellings are two islands (mainly rock outcrops) off the Kerry coast Southern Ireland. The start of the voyage was from Portmagee, where several companies run outings.  The weather was very fine, clear and with not much swell (no one was sea sick!).  This trip is now very popular due to the rocks featuring in Game of Thrones [editor: and also Star Wars – The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi].  The largest island Great Skellig was once the site of a christian monastery and has remarkable beehive huts for the monks to live in!  This must have been a tough place to spend praying, let alone surviving?  Both Islands have a large colony of seabirds living on them with the usual smell of guano.  The trip was very enjoyable and enlightening made so by our boat man who was very knowledgeable.  This is a very remote place, a Dorner aircraft collided with the Little Skellig during WW2 and the wreckage was not found for several months.  If you visit County Kerry take a boat ride and have a rest[…]

Well, near perfect weather again for the Marsden-Edale!  What a treat you all missed. A very small group again this year (2025): 7 doing the traditional Marsden to Edale, plus 2 doublers (a fine effort) and 1 overnight Edale to Marsden. Here are some photos of the intrepid 7 singlers in action along the 22.5 mile, 4200ft of ascent route.  The high ground was frozen with a light covering of snow giving excellent conditions:

Here are a few photos that capture the essence of the 5 trigs and trods walk on 21st December.  A day noted for its gale-force winds (forecasted 50+ mph but was definitely even higher at times) and some very heavy, driving, stinging rain. The intrepid team that braved the elements was myself, Mike Gregg and George Hosford. As advertised, on our 18 mile circuit we did indeed visit 5 trig points and also included 4 interesting stone pillars, crossed a couple of ancient bridges and, bizarrely, found a snowman in the middle of the moors. (apologies for the camera blur on a few of the photos, the gale-force winds persisted for the whole walk and it’s difficult holding a mobile steady in such conditions). The final trig was on Blackstone Edge. We thought it had been windy for the whole walk but this was something else! It was impossible to get near the edge without being picked up and blown off your feet – the photo may not win any awards but well done to George for managing to stay on his feet long enough to snap one whilst I held on. The snowman and Christmas tree (it does have[…]

Tom Anderson writes: Rabachs Glen is in the Beara Peninsula of County Kerry in the Irish Republic. The circuit described doesn’t get to 2000ft at any point, only just over 600meters! But this does not seem to matter as it is a delightful outing in a very quiet part of Beara. A word about Rabach.  This man was thief and murderer who lived in the area in the early 1800s, he was caught and hanged in Tralee jail in 1831. The circuit starts at Lauragh and goes over Lackabane, Eskatarriff, Tooreennamna, Coomacloghane and Tooth Mountain.  It has a lot of bare rock, but no difficulties in the climb.  It is not walked much, and I saw no good tracks anywhere.  This area abounds with prehistoric remains which is another interesting subject if you are interested.  I recommend this walk if you enjoy the silence and solitude of this part of Ireland. Here’s a slide show of my walk, click HERE. Tom Anderson.

Tom Anderson writes: I came across this slide show recently.  Most of the photos are of Sgurr a Mhadaidh and Sgurr a Ghreadaidh from Sgurr na Banachdich.  Apart from it being a good day weather wise!  There are three figures on the ridge, Club Members I think, one is Gareth Llewellyn also Andy Tomlinson.  The third is difficult to recognise so I can’t say who!  All in the 2019 meet.   Trust you all, enjoy the video, you can find it here. Regards Tom

Tom Anderson writes: Being a Hut warden is always a bit of a poisoned chalice.  But I did get a lot of support from members and the committee! This video was taken when I was on a service visit during a good snowy week and was a great day out as snow always enhances the hills.  The route round the group from High Moss is good either way round and does not involve driving.  Being warden was the only job I had that involved work and play and I am glad I did it for 10 years!  My early retirement worked well for me and the Club. Trust you all, enjoy the video, you can find it here. Regards Tom [Web sec note – it may not load instantly]