Donald Noble’s Site

Now that a lot of the snow has melted, I got out hillwalking for the first time in a month. Last weekend, Malcolm and I headed up Strathconon, to climb a couple of Grahams either side of the road at Inverchoran.

Beinn Mheadoinn

We parked near the head of the Strath, at the track to Inverchoran Farm, and started walking in that direction, following a good (but steep) track up the coll to the east of Beinn Mheadoinn. Once we reached the coll, we ascended the heathery slopes on the NE of the hill, which were still wet from recent snowmelt. The top was craggy, and rather windswept, with wintery showers limiting the time we spent there.

The views over the Munros to the south would have been rather nice, if it weren’t for the low cloud and driving rain, but were still interesting. The descent was by much the same route, taking just over 2 hours to complete. As we walked down the track, the sun showed through, boosting our sprits, and motivating us not to stop at the car but to continue up the other hill.

Meall na Faochaig

About 200m west of Inverchoran, a track heads northwest, up the southern flanks of Meall na Faochaig, before turning back on itself. Before we got to the end of this track, but still slightly later than we should, we left the track and headed northwards to the summit. The Grahams book suggest following the ridge, but we headed too far east, and ended up with a viewless slog to the top. There we were greeted with nice views of Meallan nan Uan to the north, but the more distant hills to the west were not very distinct due to the cloud. Descent was again by the route of ascent, by which time the weather had cleared again.

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Total time taken: 4¼ hours; Distance 15km; Height Climbed 1050m; Photos Taken 22.

Photos on Flickr

I’ve been tempted to try one of these ‘Multiple-self self-portraits’ where you appear multiple times in your own photo. Last week’s challenge theme was “Dramatic” so as I had no other great inspiration, I thought I’d give it a go.

It’s not quite perfect, but I am quite happy with the overall result. I used an additional source of light on the two figure photos, as it was a bit dark with me wearing black. Unfortunately, this cast unnatural shadows on the background, so I took a third photo of the background lit just by the overhead light. With hindsight, this wasn’t the best idea, as it meant more work in editing the photos due to the disparity in exposure. Nevermind, it was an experiment. Without being able to look through the viewfinder at myselves, it was difficult to compose the shot exactly as I would have liked, so i ended up having to crop a bit tight on my “evil twin’s” back.

I have updated my bookmarklet that dynamically links to the what’s on page on the Eden Court website for the current day.

Drag the following link to your toolbar (you may get a warning regarding scripts) then just click to load. Eden Court - What's on Today

A few of the apps I have found to be most useful for my iPhone.

Byline

If you use Google’s Reader to keep up with RSS feeds from websites such as this one, then Byline is a great companion on your iPhone. It syncs perfectly, and allows for off-line reading of starred items by caching locally when you have an internet connection. This feature is also handy when travelling with an intermittent/slow connection. You can read the headlines, starring those you would like to read as you go, and these are downloaded in the background to read later.

Phantom Fish Website & iTunes Link to Byline

National Rail Enquiries

Quickly look up train times with this, but the best feature is live progress/arrivals/departures for trains — although it only seems to update when the train leaves a larger station. I have noticed recently that, surprisingly, it seems to be more accurate than the notices displayed on the platforms at stations.

iTunes link for National Rail Enquiries

Empire Movie Guide

All of the reviews from Empire magazine in your pocket, in an easily searchable database. Very handy if you’re swithering whether to see a film/what film to see. Plus, it doesn’t need an internet connection to view. One drawback is that it is a bit slow on my 3G iPhone, but not excessively so.

Empire website & iTunes link for Empire app

RadioTimes

Listings on your iPhone. Simple idea, but useful. Although not brilliantly designed, or perhaps it just doesn’t match my mental model, but I sometimes struggle to get the view I want first time.

iTunes link to RadioTimes

With the weather somewhat brighter than forecast this morning, I decided that I needed to get out in the hills. I had not planned anything, the higher tops are covered in deep snow, and a fresh dusting had fallen overnight with more forecast. Therefore I thought it wise to do something local and low.

I opted for two small hills at the southern end of Loch Duntelchaig — Tom Bailgeann and Creag nan Clag.

Tom Bailgeann

The hill has a radio mast at the top, and therefore a track leading up to it on the eastern side, which I followed. However this was pretty steep, and rather icy in places, which made for interesting walking. The track is not that prominent in places, so I ended up taking a bit of a detour, but after about 20 minutes walking I had reached the mast (464m). The views from the top were good, but not spectacular, although it offers an interesting perspective on Dores, the River Ness and Inverness, and south along Loch Ness.

Creag nan Clag

Having moved the car round to the cattle grid to the north of this hill, I followed the fenceline up through the woods, then broke southwards up the shoulder of the hill, keeping away from the conglomerate cliffs. A steep ascent through thick heather, before an easier walk across the plateau to a small cairn (407m). By this time the sun was blasting down on me, as I walked southwards. There were good views across a frozen Loch Ruthven and towards the upper end of Strath Nairn, made more beautiful by the bright winter sun on the fresh covering of snow.

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Total time taken: 1½ hours (~45 min ea.); Distance 4km; Height Climbed 380m; Photos Taken 25.

Photos on Flickr