Article for 2012 Apr 11

2012

2012 Apr

Apr 11 Wed

When my dad asked me if I’d like to accompany him on a walk in Newtonmore Glen, I agreed. After all, a glen is a Scottish valley, so we’d be staying at low-altitude, most likely strolling alongside the river Calder, with the bumble-bees bumbling, the hover-flies hovering, and the grass-hoppers grazing contently nearby.

Or so I presumed.

Up on a mountain some-where, in a blizzard, we found shelter in a bothy (a very small hut where members of the mountain-walking public can shelter for a few minutes) with an amusing notice pinned onto a table with a spoon. Click on the photo to read the message (if you don’t want to hike to the bothy yourself). I presume that the notice was written by the Mountain Bothies Association; this presumption is probably more correct than my previous one.

Up on a mountain some-where else, in another blizzard, we found shelter behind a large stone. Below us were some mountain hares, a bird which I believe to be a meadow pipit, and, some-where in the distance, Loch Gynack, and some-where even further in the distance, our accommodation in Kingussie.

Down off a mountain some-where, out of the blizzards, we found shelter inside a house, a house which I believe to be our accommodation in Kingussie. I can’t be certain - it might turn out to be perilously close to the river Calder, with the killer bees and flies hovering ominously overhead.