Arran's sale of the century?

While on Arran it became apparent that many people are selling up and moving on. I imagine that most of the homes for sale (and there were numerous on the market) are in fact "second" homes, it was still jaw dropping to see so many "for sale" signs lining the road sides. It could also be that the credit crunch has hit a number of people living on Arran, thus forcing them to return to the mainland for alternative employment.

I had wondered, too, if a declining holiday market had hit people who run B&Bs but after chatting to a couple of islanders it seems the opposite is true. One told me that demand for rooms in B&Bs remains very strong and perhaps backs up the theory that the "staycation" is still on the up.

For so long Arran properties have fetched prices above the national average and rightly so given their often idyllic location. But the number of homes on the isle bought as "second" homes has been a continual headache for islanders who have frequently been unable to compete to buy the houses.

Now it seems that many more properties are flooding the marketplace. I plan to take a closer look at prices to see just whether a more buoyant property market has brought the cost of homes down a bit. Another islander told me that homes were staying on the market for "quite some time" whereas in previous times they would be snapped up almost before the "for sale" sign was erected.

So, if you ever fancied opening a B&B on Arran perhaps now is the time. It's certainly worth a closer investigation in any case. And it might be worth checking out some of the other popular Scottish isles to see if the same is happening there.

I wonder if anyone else has noticed a higher than average number of properties being sold in more remote locations across Scotland?

Second isle of the week - Arran

Back home from the Isle of Jersey I headed straight from the plane (thanks Flybe for your superb punctuality arriving in Edinburgh) to Ardrossan for the Arran ferry, picking up Little Miss Outdoors en route. (While I was on Jersey Little Miss had been enjoying her own outdoor adventures during a school activity trip to Ardmay House at Arrochar.)

We had planned the weekend on Arran with friends as a chance to catch up on our adventuresome gossip and also because we fancied walking Goatfell.

While Arran is another favourite island of mine, it was sadly a tad wetter than Jersey and also covered in a wad of thundery clouds for much of the weekend. Still, Little Miss Outdoors and I were determined to make the most of a not-so-totally-water-drenched Saturday morning and headed to the grounds of Brodick Castle to begin the ascent of Goatfell, the highest summit in southern Scotland. With a peak of 2867ft it also claims its place among the 221 Corbetts, the group of Scottish mountains higher than 2500ft.

And to start with all went well. Little Miss Outdoors was content to amble along, chatting and jumping in muddy puddles and looking around at the stunning autumnal countryside. I heard all about her many fun activities at Ardmay and found out some great new facts she'd learned about Scotland's landscape and nature.

But as we climbed, so the weather deteriorated until we were walking in swirling clouds and against harsh winds. The higher we climbed, the stronger the winds and the quieter Little Miss became. With another 10 minutes still to go to reach the summit, Little Miss finally decided she'd had enough and promptly burst into tears. I easily weigh twice as much as little Miss and I had been struggling for some time to walk upright. For Little Miss it was a battle to stop herself being blown to the ground even while holding on to my arm.

Although disappointed we decided that it would be safer and more enjoyable to turn around and head back to the less windier lower slopes and so missed out on the chance to bag the summit. On reflection, however, it was much better to finish the walk on a high and with smiles on our faces than to plod on grimly just to reach a mountain top. We had still had a great day out on a fabulous mountain and although we can't claim to have reached the top we can claim to have had a another rewarding day in Scotland's great outdoors.

One day, Little Miss and I will return to Goatfell - but most likely during the summer months!

Another "great outdoors"

Hmm. While I'm a little loathed to admit this, I have discovered a great new outdoors playground that isn't called Scotland - instead it's called Jersey. Ha, ha, I hear you laugh, isn't Jersey just for old people and the very rich? Well, yes, the island - just 15 miles from the northern French coast but still a British Crown Dependency – does have more than its fair share of elderly people with big bank balances (plus an amazing number of stunning detached houses) but it also offers a fabulous holiday destination for people like me (ie not old and with little savings).

During a recent trip to Jersey, I found a jewel of an island that while tiny (it measures only nine miles by five miles) manages to pack in a host of attractions, especially if you're keen on the outdoors life. The picturesque isle boasts a stunning and varied coastline, numerous sublime beaches, many miles of quiet cycle paths and roads, wonderful cliff top walks and so many alfresco eating and drinking spots that you could visit a new one every day for weeks.

Jersey Adventures is one of a number of companies that have capitalised on the growth in outdoors adventure holidaymakers, but it is the island's only fully qualified provider of outdoor pursuits and therefore the best place to head for a range of activities. While on Jersey I went rock climbing at a fabulously scenic cliff face and sea kayaking along a gorgeous stretch of coastline on the south-western corner of the island. I also tried coasteering for the first time, and immediately became an addict.

For the uninitiated, coasteering essentially means a traverse of a section of coastline. Wearing wetsuits, coasteerers (if there is such a word!) scramble over rocks, walk beaches, swim coves and sea pools and jump from cliffs into the ocean to get from A to B. It is tremendously exciting and can be geared as an activity to suit many abilities. For example I totally wimped out of a 12m high cliff jump and plumped instead for a smaller leap without affecting the expedition.

Other activities to try included land yachting, bush walks and caving.

Then again if you're looking for something a little more relaxing but still outdoorsy then Jersey also does a great line in old-fashioned style beach days. Even during October, families were taking advantage of mild temperatures and heading to one of the many wide, sandy beaches for a day of sandcastle building, rock pool foraging, picnics and Jersey ice creams.

Many of the beaches were also lined with wonderful cafes, serving a wide range of foods including delicious fish dishes and my absolute favourite, moules et frites (mussels and chips).

Jersey has other holidaymaker attractions ideal for a rainy day or simply because you want to do something different. While on the isle I visited the fascinating Gerald Durrell Conservation Zoo, the Jersey War Tunnels museum and the La Mare Wine Estate. But these were just a few of the highlights that would easily keep a family occupied for a fortnight or more. For further ideas see Jersey Tourism's excellent website.

Accommodation on the isle ranges from beautifully kept campsites and self-catering lets to some of the most amazing hotels I've ever seen. I was lucky enough to be hosted at the Atlantic Hotel. I wouldn't normally be able to afford such luxury but the occasional press trip offers a glimpse of how the better-off might holiday – and how they eat. The Atlantic also boasts a Michelin starred restaurant and the meal I enjoyed was quite simply the best I've ever had.

So, while Scotland is still, in my opinion, Europe's best location for outdoors pursuits, I'm placing Jersey in the top league, too.

11 Munros in 1 weekend

PIc: The Cairnwell. At 933m
this is one of the easiest
of the 283 Munros.


As one of my friends commented after I told him about my recent epic Munro bagging weekend: "That is so typical of you, Fi. You don't just take on the challenge you take it to the absolute limits of your ability."

Ah, but while the weekend was physically exhausting it also proved to be massively spirit-lifting.

The Friday saw me ticking off a round of six Munros (yes, six!) in the Glen Shee area. After the first serious climb to the summit of Carn an Tuirc
(1019m), the route led over a huge plateau of undulating moorland via Cairn of Claise (1064m), Tolmount (958m), Tom Buidhe (957m), Glas Maol (1068m) and finally Creag Leacach (987m). To qualify as a Munro, the summits must have an ascent/descent of at least 500ft (150m) so while this outing might seem like madness it was actually manageable in 7 hours.

Then again, it wasn't easy! Seven hours of walking, albeit mostly on paths, and another hour's walk along the road back to the car took its toll. By 6pm, and after a bottle of beer, I was close to falling asleep at a hotel table.

Then came Saturday. Only two Munros to complete I thought! But I’d forgotten about my tired legs. And the five-mile hike from the car just to reach the base of the first Munro. And the uncharacteristically warm weather that left me feeling boil-in-the-bag over-dressed.

That first ascent of the day, An Socach (944m), proved to be the toughest of the whole weekend. There was no path to follow, instead only deep heather and boulder fields to slog through. The uphill onslaught took at least 90 minutes … before turning back around to retrace my steps and make a bee line for the top of the second Munro.

Carn Bhac (946m) was no big beast but it still involved a long walk uphill followed by another five-mile hike back to the car.

Again, by 6pm and after just one bottle of beer, I felt like I could sleep under a pub table.

And then, on the Sunday, I got up to face another three Munros. This time the outing took only three hours and the three Munros, Carn Aosda (917m), Carn a’Gheoidh (975m) and The Cairnwell (933), were some of the easiest I've encountered but with tired legs and rising winds I can still recall easier walking days!

Driving back towards Glasgow I could only marvel at how much my body can take. Having only recently become a fan of Munro bagging I'm amazed how well my legs and feet keep going. The mental side is no problem as I am totally love being out on the hills.

But still the challenge wasn’t over. I had a friend’s wedding reception to attend on the Sunday evening. Somehow I made it past the first beer this time – and on to several glasses of wine .. before I made thankfully made it to bed to sleep for more than 12 hours! Bliss!

Cold comfort

After 10 days of being laid tragically low by a summer cold (not had one of these for many years) I found I could no longer cope with the lack of exercise and the amazingly good weather... so I decided on a bike ride.

(I'd already tried yoga but the upside down postures just caused the copious amounts of "cold gunge" to go straight to my head almost causing me to drown in snot. And one try-out run was impossibly slow and possibly dangerous.)

Now proper cyclists that I know will probably laugh when I tell you that I "drove" my bike to Aberfoyle for a circuit of Loch Katrine and the Duke's Pass. But I wasn't feeling up to the extra miles from Bearsden. I'd been ill, OK? And I've hardly been on my bike for months. OK?

While I'd heard plenty of people raving about this route I'd never actually got around to doing this ride and, boy, have I been missing out. Undulating in all the right places, with a few opportunities for hill efforts plus the ascent, then incredible descent, of the Duke's Pass, as well as the ice cream stop at the pier and stunning scenery all added up to a fantastic outing.

I was pleased to find that my thighs, which had been burning a little on the uphills throughout the circuit, were almost fine the following day. And the ride seems to have almost completely knocked my cold into touch. Now it’s back to proper running again – and maybe I will throw in a few more bike rides with summer suddenly making an incomprehensible return to Scotland.

You awesome Bealach Mor riders

...So normally I'd be the one up for a mega challenge but the 90-mile Bealach Mor Cycle Sportive is so notoriously tough that I decided to, aherm, marshall and race report at this event! To be honest that was exhausting enough. With a streaming cold and pretty much zero cycle training over the last few months I'd have been lucky to make it through the first 5 miles on the flat, let alone 90 miles with a total ascent of more than twice the height of Ben Nevis. And that included a 6 mile haul up the UK's biggest road pass from sea level to 626m.

Some 380 cyclists set off from Kinlochewe on a mega-raining day on Saturday, most with wide but rueful grins. Of these only around 40 didn't complete, either due to bike failure or exhaustion. The final times ranged wildly from Andy Strathdee's mind-boggling 4hrs 35mins to the final rider at 8hrs 39 mins. As this event is billed as a sportive, it is not a race. But, of course, most riders were out to get their best time. They had battled rain storms, side winds, head winds, thick cloud, terrible visibility and the arduous, mountainous course but still almost everyone was smiling as they finally crossed the finish line.

The comments were all upbeat: "Awesome route", "Amazing course", "stunning scenery", "fantastic organisation", "I totally loved it", "Hard and tough but amazing".

This is another fab event from the highly organised Hands On crew and now that I have seen it in action I might have to get into the saddle for next year. This event is so popular, though, that riders need to sign up within 24 hours of entries opening. Keep an eye on their website. In the meantime there's another awesome cycle challenge to round off the year, the Ullapool Sportives 130 miler or 65 miler on September 26

Summer whizzed by

And so I have been waiting for the rain to stop. And for an Indian Summer to head to Scotland instead of lingering smugly over the south of England. But no such luck. I have also realised that while I've been waiting for the return of summer (didn't we have something that vaguely resembled that concept for a week in June?) that I have been too busy to keep my blog up to date. Shame on me!

So... over the last month or so I have climbed Munros, mooched around with Little Miss Outdoors on her school hols, climbed another Munro, surfed and body boarded in glorious Welsh surf with great pals G&T and Little A, climbed more Munros, run a few smaller hills, climbed another Munro or two, squeezed in some work, climbed more hills, become a yoga addict, summitted just one more Munro - and generally got wet in Scotland's great outdoors.

I'm struggling to recall a day/evening in many weeks when it hasn't rained on me as I've walked, climbed and run but still I've had a fun so-called summer.

This weekend I'm off to do some marshalling and a race report for the mad but popular Bealach Mor cycle challenge organised by the first rate Hands On Events. Then I might take another opportunity to fuel my new Munro bagging addiction.

And maybe, just maybe I'll see some sun before Christmas is suddenly upon us again!