RH33 Posted August 9, 2020 Share Posted August 9, 2020 7 hours ago, Day of the Lords said: The Central Highlands have been generally busy the last few years, though definitely exacerbated by the sorts of antisocial wankers who'd normally be getting pished in Benidorm on shite lager buying cheap tents, disposable bbqs and leaving the place a pure state. These wankers are now frequenting the previously quieter places like Torridon, Assynt etc. Hopefully once foreign holidays are without issue they'll f**k off again. I usually don't bother with Glencoe etc in summer anyway. Too hot, too many midges and too many wankers. Durness is mobbed with the Benidorm tent lot. Literally pitching on verges and then dumping it after final night. Golspie Community Council has hired a couple of portaloos. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swello Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 10 hours ago, RH33 said: Durness is mobbed with the Benidorm tent lot. Literally pitching on verges and then dumping it after final night. Golspie Community Council has hired a couple of portaloos. It'll be interesting to see what fallout there is from this summer. Scotland's tourism marketing feels like it's been a victim of its own success over the past few years as it has undoubtedly become busier but this summer might be a tipping point because of the extra publicity over the issues around car camping (and camper vans, although that seems more anecdotal) - and it has definitely highlighted the crap level of infrastructure that we are basing a multi-billion industry on. On the car camping stuff, I'm completely torn on the issue. The pictures of festival camping gear left abandoned next to a mountain of carry-out tins and some truly shite bonfire efforts give me the rage but I'm concerned that this stuff is used to roll back access rights by way of hundreds of local by-laws of the type they have in Loch Lomond NP. Although it's not something I've done very often, car camping is a halfway house between campsite stuff and "real" wild camping that hill types are familiar with - and to me, it would be shite if responsible folk are stopped from doing this as getting folk out camping is a positive thing overall. I'd be interested to know how many "legitimate" camp sites are accepting tents this year as I think that will be a contributory factor. As an example, I had planned to take my kids to the Kintyre peninsula for a few days and there were literally no sites that would accept tents - so my option would have been car camping or giving it a miss entirely (which I did). There are obviously also people who don't want to/can't pay the comedy prices that some sites charge for a patch of grass and a lukewarm shower and I wonder if having a network of informal sites with nothing more than a compost toilet, a tap and a place for camper vans to empty their crap legitimately would allow folk that want to "wild camp" to do it - and reduce the pressure on other places. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH33 Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 Part of the issue with the NC500 was it was marketed by a company not actually based there but offering tours. The knock on effect esp this year is an area with single track roads and few amenities has been overwhelmed. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AL-FFC Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 1 hour ago, RH33 said: Part of the issue with the NC500 was it was marketed by a company not actually based there but offering tours. The knock on effect esp this year is an area with single track roads and few amenities has been overwhelmed. Thing is the NC500 was intended for bikers to equal route 66 in the states enter folk with camper vans, caravans etc which causes the problems. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH33 Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 2 minutes ago, AL-FFC said: Thing is the NC500 was intended for bikers to equal route 66 in the states enter folk with camper vans, caravans etc which causes the problems. It started with bikers but developed from there. That said fair number bikers been scraped off the tarmac too. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Futureboy Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 6 hours ago, Swello said: On the car camping stuff, I'm completely torn on the issue. The pictures of festival camping gear left abandoned next to a mountain of carry-out tins and some truly shite bonfire efforts give me the rage but I'm concerned that this stuff is used to roll back access rights by way of hundreds of local by-laws of the type they have in Loch Lomond NP. Although it's not something I've done very often, car camping is a halfway house between campsite stuff and "real" wild camping that hill types are familiar with - and to me, it would be shite if responsible folk are stopped from doing this as getting folk out camping is a positive thing overall. That's my worry too. I've seen examples of no doubt well intentioned people pick really shit pitches during the current situation. The best (worst!) examples were within the Lawers nature reserve, a few metres from open hillside and in Glen Doll directly under no overnight parking signs (which you could argue about the legality of, but that's a different argument). Hopefully a broad brush isn't used to tar the majority who camp responsibility. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invergowrie arab Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 The NC500 is basically a scam where a private company who invest nothing into the area have managed to monetise an intangible asset. They tried to do a heartland 500 in Perthsire and the Trossachs and the locals told them to f**k off. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microdave Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 I did the Tarmachan ridge today. Just as I was thinking it wasn't as hard as my recent walks, my legs started to hurt[emoji23]. Pretty straightforward tbh although there was a downward scramble to negotiate which left me with quite a dry mouth. I was pleasantly surprised by how quiet it was. In the 5.5 hrs I was out, I passed a grand total of 7 people. Visibility was poor along the high points but pretty good views under the cloud. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinatoon Bairn Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 9th and 10th munros dusted yesterday. Ben Vorlich and Stuc A'Chroin. Absolutely cracking day in terms of weather and other than a 60-90 minute period when I was walking on the bealach towards Stuc A'Chroin there wasn't a cloud in the sky, forgot to lift sun cream before I left in the morning so I took an absolute scudding from the sun and am well and truly feeling it today. Ben Vorlich absolutely heaving which was to be expected to be fair but thankfully not as many people went over to Stuc A'Chroin. Stuck behind a big group of what could have easily been 40 for a part of the Ben Vorlich ascent but passed them fairly easily. Overheard comparisons of local Lidl shops and decided that was enough and bombed forward quite a bit so I could avoid that for the rest of the walk. Glad to finally see some improvements fitness wise on this walk after struggling a lot on my first couple post-lockdown walks. No football until at least October for us so planning on continuing battering the munros out until then or the weather changes for the worst. The nick of where I parked on the banks of Loch Earn was horrendous, cars abandoned everywhere with bins filled to the brim with more rubbish lying around those bins. Tents propped up on every small space where you could fit one as well, if you're thinking about heading up to that area I would avoid it or try and time it well. 9am when I arrived was bad, 3pm when I was back down was somehow worse. Here's hoping that the numbers of people in these areas die down soon before there are any lasting effects on both the law and terrain front. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin_Nevis Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 The car-camping thing is fucking mental this year. There are even 15-20 tents pitched around Loch of Lintrathen ffs, with all the attendant rubbish and human waste. My pal helps run the fishing there and had a boy carrying an axe threaten him at the weekend whilst on his rounds. The sooner these vermin f**k off back to shit package holidays in Spain the better. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUFC90 Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 Nothing wrong with car camping. It's the dirty b*****ds that don't know how to put their shit in a black bag and fling it in the boot that are the problem. Cnuts to man. In 20 years we'll be lucky to be able to camp anywhere without a permit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeWhoWalksBehindTheRows Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 On 10/08/2020 at 13:58, RH33 said: It started with bikers but developed from there. That said fair number bikers been scraped off the tarmac too. Organ Donor Season. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Le Tout P'ti FC Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 One of the best things about WFH has been getting out into countryside after work. Tonight ventured over to Peebles and up Cademuir Hill. Three hours around. Excellent walk. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swello Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 39 minutes ago, Le Tout P'ti FC said: One of the best things about WFH has been getting out into countryside after work. Tonight ventured over to Peebles and up Cademuir Hill. Three hours around. Excellent walk. My back yard - and I was also out that way on my MTB tonight (assuming you came up the John Buchan Way path). That no-name hill next to Cademuir is great - my default camp when it's good weather and I've got no time - from a couple of years back looking over from there to Cademuir: 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microdave Posted August 12, 2020 Share Posted August 12, 2020 Meall Greigh, Meall Garbh and An Stuc today. Very steep, extremely tiring. The ascent to the An Stuc summit was like nothing I've ever done before as it wasn't far off a rock face imo. I also missed the cut off a track for the last leg, so just kept going down a farm track and ended up a couple of miles from the car when I finally made it to the road. I think I probably added five more miles on to the walk. I'm burnt to a crisp and absolutely shattered but I absolutely loved that walk. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinatoon Bairn Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 (edited) Got plenty of holidays to take since the majority of the ones I had in I got back due to lockdown so thinking of a couple days up north possibly climbing Aonach Eagach on one of those. Has anyone on here done it? Got some very basic scrambling experience but know the fundamentals. How much experience is actually required? Edited August 13, 2020 by Chinatoon Bairn 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUFC90 Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 Anyone know good places to wild camp on Skye ? Torn between Mull and Skye for my 30th. Upshot of Mull is I know where to go. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunfermline Don Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 Meall Greigh, Meall Garbh and An Stuc today. Very steep, extremely tiring. The ascent to the An Stuc summit was like nothing I've ever done before as it wasn't far off a rock face imo. I also missed the cut off a track for the last leg, so just kept going down a farm track and ended up a couple of miles from the car when I finally made it to the road. I think I probably added five more miles on to the walk. I'm burnt to a crisp and absolutely shattered but I absolutely loved that walk.It’s a great walk. I did it on Saturday. There was no breeze at all on the summits and the views amazing. It’s was quite easy to miss the turn off near the end but luckily it was probably busier on Saturday so we all followed the groups ahead of us. I take it you were parked at the Lawers Hotel. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invergowrie arab Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 5 hours ago, AUFC90 said: Anyone know good places to wild camp on Skye ? Torn between Mull and Skye for my 30th. Upshot of Mull is I know where to go. A lot of farmland on Skye. Surprisingly difficult to get off the beaten track and when you do it's lumpy and soaking. I have camped at Camasunary and Talisker though. Coastal and hope the midges get blown away is best. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul-r-cfc Posted August 13, 2020 Share Posted August 13, 2020 Going up Ben A'an early doors tomorrow. Seemed to be a popular one amongst the Instagram walkers over the summer. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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