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| Colin Auld | David Hunt |
Join the Queensferry Select Walkers on their mid-summer night walks into the wilderness areas of Scotland,
June 2006, Oykel Bridge to Cape Wrath
June 2002, Ullapool to Alness
May 2002, Ballater to Basin View and
Ballater to Linn O'Dee
- September 2001 from Dalwhinnie
to Fort Augustus, 50km enjoyed over 20hrs
- the 2001 mid-summer walk from
Ballater past Braemar to Aviemore, wandered 91km in 45hrs
- the 1999 mid-summer walk along the Old
Thieves' road from Dalwhinnie to Fort William, 67km trekked over 25hrs
- the 1998 mid-summer walk from Braemar
through to Dalwhinnie, 56km in a couple of days, some 24hrs
- the 1997 mid-summer walk from Aviemore
through to Braemar, 40km in a single overnight journey of 15hrs
Total to date 367km.
The
Spey walk took us from Braemar to Buckie or David's
4 day Asda trip.
or the Precised version. At the
start of 2001 we completed the last section to open -
Ballindalloch to Aviemore.
A future walk along the Great Glen Way 117Km.
We're not fast, averaging some 2.5km per hour over the journey depending on terrain or weather. We are always prepared to abandon a section or walk if the conditions are poor. We like to enjoy the walk and actually see the area that we are passing through, not just battling on for the sake of it. The route is always planned out well in advance and a full route card prepared. This and the navigation has become David's speciality and as he is a good judge of pace, the actual journey times tend to be close to the predicted times. Keep a good idea of the overall plan in my mind while retaining my map as a backup, though I'm quick to use the GPS to confirm David's georef figure. As David is constantly following the route and recording leg times, it would be rare to find an error.
While David always took a photographic record of the walks, I initially felt that you could not fully capture the breath taking vistas effectively on a small snap. Though having actually been there and experienced it, I now find that a simple picture serves as a great reminder of the actual journey. Even better when the conditions were good.
The early walks were just mid-summer night affairs and were short. It involved just one overnight on the hills and one or two days walking. More recently it seems to involve a journey of over 60km, while the longest was the 116km of the Spey walk.
As you browse through the word and pictures, I do hope that you too are able to appreciate just a fraction of the enjoyment that we have gained from our simple journeys in the wonderful Scottish countryside, that we are lucky to call home.
