sunday,  16 | 10 | 2011 - cairn gorm mountain We arrived at the mountain rescue car park just after 9.20am, owing to my late departure from Motherwell, as always, well not quite! Billy (as always) was ready (yeh right), we had arrived after a quiet trip along the A9 where we, sorry I, had watched a documentary on Sir Hugh Munro which served only to enthuse us both further to complete our task of 'bagging' all 283 (not the 530 actual Munro's! As we just learned), a long story but one that we will discuss at a later stage. Start - Mountain Rescue Station Station As we ascended the Carn, the temperature was struggling to raise it's neck above 6 degrees C, with 700 meters ahead of us it was clear that it would be cold up there, so gloves and warm layers were order of the day as you loose 1 degrees C for every 100 meters you climb, the weather report was for clear views with rain at midday, the wind was around 20 mph, again this rises as you climb. It is obvious that the history of ski management has scarred the lower and mid landscape with it's bulldozed roads and numerous ski fences. Discounting this the obvious and well signposted route is very accessible and easy to follow, it rises sharply behind the Ranger Station and winds it's way through a newly planted 'woodland project', this doesn't look very impressive at the moment and the projected woodland image portrayed on the sign post looks like a work of fiction. The 'vehicular path', their words not ours, winds its way up the Carn, at the early stage it has a selection of interesting posts that lets walkers know their progress and some interesting facts about the vegetation and natural surroundings. We continued on this path as it climbed steeply at points, there was a constant threat of rain from the west which wasn't going to dampen our spirits. As the path splits we felt the wind really stir and by the time we reached the Ptarmigan Restaurant, the highest in Britain, we the full bite of the icy wind, it was 0 degrees and the wind was blowing me off my feet, let's face it, that takes some doing, I I'm not going to say anything else!! The last part of the walk is a sort of cobbled walkway up behind the restaurant, I say sort of, because it's large boulders, looks good, and on the way up it's fine, the final ascent is as usual, looks easier and closer than it actually is; as BK says, "she was showing her knickers", says a lot about his life when he can even see a big lump of rock with knickers on. But just as we thought it wasn't the end and the wind was taking our breath away, literally, every step was chillier and windier, worse than me on a Sunday morning after a night on the wine as BK will vouch. There was a line of cairns to follow all the way to the summit, after the the scarring of the lower and mid range, the views from of the top were superb, a full 360 degree, and my favourite, 'Martian' landscape type of view. However the wind was so strong that the wind chill factor was freezing us to the core, so much so that even BK wanted to forego our usual mountain top lunch, not the photo call of course, these are below and show the beauty of this mountain. The descent showed that the cobbled section is a nightmare to walk down, it takes so long to come back down this small section and your feet are constantly being battered against the front of your boots. However the rest is as easy as the ascent, the welcome at the Ptarmigan Restaurant left us feel as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit. We couldn't even get out! As we got down we stopped for an Irn Bru and a roll and sausage, as we should! However no sausage! The girl was lacklustre and not interested, then served the staff in front of us who came in after us,  we opted for bacon and egg, bad move, especially on the journey home, however these were the highest prices we have ever paid for a roll, god we sounded like a couple of grumpy old men, one of us was old and one was grumpy! We leave it to you to decide, see you next time.  Robert Monday,  1 | 03 | 2010 Eiusmod anim aute ut velit anim consectetur adipisicing excepteur aliqua occaecat mollit laboris, voluptate laboris cupidatat et. Labore ea dolor eiusmod nostrud minim sint in anim tempor qui dolore nostrud. Fugiat nisi fugiat eu. Aliquip qui ut qui, commodo culpa in tempor culpa. Cupidatat veniam laboris veniam culpa sunt reprehenderit ullamco excepteur culpa tempor nisi. Made with Xara © the munro baggers 2012  sunday,  6 | 11 | 2011 - ben vorlich 1 What a morning! running on time as usual (my internal clock is at least half an hour behind the rest of the world!!) I eventually arrived at the company brief, covered in frost and just visible through the fog, however we had checked the weather and the sun should be shining today, so I was happy to be eventually under way. The trip was only to Lochearnhead, however the fog was like pea soup, with my impeccable advanced driving skills (Billy was bricking it!!) we arrived a little before 8am. The sat-nav took us exactly to the start point, along the single track road where the pheasants were doing a suicide mission in front of the car. Start Point ???????? 8am The temperature reads minus one, Billy is worried when we leave the car that it would be a long and quiet trip because of the weather. The location is stunning and mixed with the weather helping to create a stunning backdrop for our walk. Before we left we decided that the cold would be the challenge on this walk, so suitably booted we headed up the path towards the hill, passing the farm and heading up the winding Landrover track through the three gates. Keeping to the main path we continued over a couple of small streams and over a footbridge, the Landrover track changes to a path after this and through open heather slopes. The path changes once again and the incline increases, the view ahead and behind starts to open up and show us the reason why we do this, mist lifting from the loch behind and the three visible peaks just appearing above this, the way ahead shows the extent of the the Ben, we are early so the sun was rising leaving us in the shade and showing the way ahead in all it's glory. The cold really wasn't an issue in the early part of the walk but as we rise through four hundred meters the chill starts to bite at my fingers, we are climbing to the first of three plateau sections, we ascend and suit up again, hats and outer shells ready for the cold of this shaded section of the walk. During this we devise the first method of scoring our little outings, the KA star award, or should I say I have! This would be a score based on the amount of 'Kemmett Abuses', above 10 hard walk; above 20, serious walking; above 30, bloody hard walk, above 40, hard on my ears!! It does have to be said that Billy is suffering from a cold, so the KA will be higher for this hill than it really deserves, as Billy points out he is feeling like shit, which is fine as at the time he really did look like it as well! However I am now also been informed that Billy has had a chilli yesterday and his mum has discovered chilli flakes, believe me the ozone layer has now got to worry! After peppering the layer again he asks if I could give him 20 star jumps, cheeky fecker!! I'm not that old apart from the hip replacement and grey hair! The climb bites harder after this and as we get to the the second plateau the view here is stunning, I arrive just ahead of Billy and the photos attached prove how lovely this hill is, the view ahead of the final climb pulls half left and at least a forty five degree climb, the temperature is now about minus six or below and plummeting, I can't wait to get to the sun at the top. We start the last part of the climb and because of the falling temperature I need to keep going while Billy adds a few KA's to his tally. At this point it gets tough, which is another point for keeping going because if Billy gets a hold of me he would kill me for dragging him out of his chariot to climb a hill!! The final scramble is all but forgotten as you ascend the last part and see the trig point and the view, uninterrupted in all directions, possibly our favourite so far, it makes it worth while for us, nothing but the view, the cold and the wind, however Billy does have to be reminded about his earlier statement with regard to the "quiet" walk, it's like Sauchiehall Street! So I welcome him to the summit doing star-jumps. After a brief lunch and a decision (wrong one) not to attack Ben Chorin we press downwards. (only kidding)      At this point I need to point out my small affliction, a trapped group of nerves that run from my back to my left leg, this the leg has lost 40% of its power at the moment, not Billy's reported hip,replacement. This is significant at this point, as after Billy skids down on his arse, I have a good chuckle at the "whaaaaahey" Eric Morecambe impersonation. I am sure you can tell whats next, because of my caring and compassionate disposition I am bound to get my comeuppance.  Yep your not going to be disappointed, a full jump and a high pitched Michael Jackson yelp and I go down arse over tit! One look to Billy and the tone for the rest of day is set, full and unadulterated slagging. Cool. It's amazing that you really don't remember how steep the climb is until you start the descend, also the heat appears again as soon as we get around the half way mark. As we return to the car we see a grouse up close and a seaplane land on the Loch, a good little day, oh and the 37 cars! full of people who were on the hill, quiet my arse! We don't really tell you know about our journeys home as we are usually recovering, however as we drove through Callander, Billy's cough goes south and the noise of a dying water buffalo ensues, knowing how my compassion to his plight will result he tries to compose himself, however it's too late, I'm in convulsions behind the wheel, this is the hardest I have laughed for ages, tears the lot, none of us saw Callander!! Fab walk and day out FK FK FK FK FK (but worth it)         P.S we will be giving you our own view on kit as we get it and use it, then you can let us know how we should use it on Twitter!