Longboarding; by Abbie Duffy

On wednesday the 17th until Friday the 19th July Stevie took us up to Strathyre for a residential. On the thursday we decided to go longboarding, we first loaded the van with all the gear such as helmets, sliding gloves, elbow and knee pads then set off to Loch Katrine. After arriving we got all geared up and took a look at the path we were about to longboard. It was a 80km road which circled the Loch and it was really busy so we had to be extra careful. The first block of the road was really smooth but as we went on it got really worn away and was a lot harder to control the board. That longboarding session was more about cruising at our own paces, it was far too busy to do board sliding or anything. The best part of that session was seeing the amazing views of the loch in the sun with the mountains in the background. The views were definitely the highlight of the trip. 

Hill walking on Ben Lawers By Jaimie Currie

We started of with climbing Ben Lawers in the blistering heat, not soon after we started i was already sweating a lot. taking the heat into consideration i was determent not to get dehydrated.

One liter down and we reach our camping spot and begin to set up are tents and start cooking.

After a bit of energy we start to walk to the summit. the wind was strong and the air was and cool, walking on the rocky path with mountain sheep parting as we walk past, we begin to start the last push.

Walking up the steep rocky path was not easy and i was grateful for the cold breeze keeping me cool.

visibility was about 15 meters, we were right in the clouds, temperature was dropping and visibility was degrading.

Finally i can see the Cairn marking the peek, we climb on to it, holding on because the wind was that strong!

Taking as much photos as we could feeling euphoric with a hint of achievement we get together for a group photo and start to make our way back down.

Ben Lawers was my first Munro and a great experience, and I am looking forward to my next one.    

   

  

Ben Lawers 2013

Ben Lawers

We started at the bottom of Ben Lawers at the car park. We all had a bag pack each full of our tents, sleeping bags, roll mat, stoves, pots, food and extra clothes. We went through a reservoir to begin with. It had amazing scenery but it was extremely difficult as it was a big step every four feet. We got about halfway through the reservoir and I realized how hard and how far it was going to be. It took us about an hour from the car park to find our camping spot. Once we found a flat surface we set up our tents. We then made some food over the stove which was filled pasta. Once we had finished some of us had a little explore around the area we were camping. When everyone was ready we continue to walk up Ben Lawers. After a while we came across a little fast flowing stream. We all had a drink. We then continued to venture up Ben Lawers. We then realized we started climbing into the clouds. It took is about one hour and a half from the camping spot to get to the peak of Ben Lawers which was 1,214m from the car park. We stayed up for a while and took a few pictures. We then climbed the second Munro. Once we were at the top we took some more pictures. Stevie showed us some navigation and bearings which got us back to the camping sight.

Loch Voil by Nick Galloway.

On our second day in strathyre we went to Loch Voil and made our way to a view point that looked out over the Loch.

The walk up the hill was fairly laid back and the weather was stunning which made it that much better. As you reach the view point the woods fall away and you walk out onto the clear patch of grass with a bench and a cairn looking out over Loch Voil.

The Loch was beautiful and went for miles with mountains surrounding it from every side. The water itself was like a shimmering carpet of blue with the sky changing from beep blue to bright orange as it hit the top of the mountains.

On the walk down the hill we walked through the grave yard of Rob Roy and his family which was very cool too see. The view of Loch Voil is a sight that will stay with me forever.

Longboarding by Gavin McManus

Since the start of the summer the  coastal communities group started doing longboarding training. We started by being taught the different techniques of what to do as well as contributing what we already know. We started with basic skills such as balance, hill bombing and foot stopping. once these were taken on board we learned more advanced skills such as press up slides, power slides and learning to Coleman. We all helped each other passing on tips we had, especially to members of the group who were struggling more than others. From the day we started to now everyone has upped there game as well as pushing ourselves to high levels. Hopefully in the near future there will be a longboard expedition on the cards.

Coming down Ben Lawers

When we setup camp in the Ben Lawers we decided that we would climb to the top of Ben Lawers. Once we had climbed to the top of Ben Lawers we decided that we would take a different route back down the mountains back to Camp. We had to use our navigation skills and the equipment we had on us such as maps and compasses so we could get back down the mountain safely. We had to use these two items to navigate our way through the wind and mist. It was really windy and misty when we we're coming back down the mountain.