TGO CHALLENGE 2011: VETTED

I have been told that some of the TGO Route Vetters occasionally swing by this blog and so I shall be all sweetness and light in my appreciation of their sterling efforts.

Theirs is a thankless task of trying to decipher the illegible scrawlings and horrendous mis-spellings of unpronounceable Gaelic hills and place names all written down by the illiterates of the walking world. The only reason the Challengers go hill-walking is to avoid holidays that include museums (that would only reinforce their cultural deficiencies amongst polite society) and fancy French restaurants (that would finally prove that they were utterly hopeless at mastering a foreign language, let alone their mother tongue.)

I of course include myself in this band of brothers. It’s the glue that holds the Challenge together, coupled with the social whirl of the inevitable soirees along the way. Lying in your Wendy-house, staring into the misty bog whilst reading the contents of your packet of freeze-dried food is infinitely preferable to gawping at a Mondrian and wondering what Cervelle d’Agneau could possibly be.

It was with deep shock that I received an email from Uncle Roger, the Lord High Protector of the Challenge, earlier in the week, letting me know that my Vetter, the aptly named Mr Grumpy – the Brutal Roundhead Captain of the Challenge - “had been so complimentary” about my route! I had to re-read the email several times to check if I had read that correctly: Sarcasm isn’t one of Uncle Roger’s traits.

Not only that but upon reading Mr Grumpy’s notes on my route I was surprised and pleased to learn that he was concerned that I might not be well rested enough with just the two days off in Braemar. He suggested that should I have an upstairs room I should make every effort to hold myself back in order to conserve my energy for the last gasp effort to haul my sorry carcase up to my resting place.

Of course there was the usual helpful guff about torrents and river crossings, missing bridges, terrifying snow and ice fields that will require a team of Sherpas to carry me up or down: In fact all the usual stuff that you think “I must write that down on my maps” and then promptly forget to do so until you remember it when facing a horrendous river crossing with imminent fear of death and crushed skulls as you are flipped over the teetering waterfalls a few months later in May when all hell is going on in the icy wind with hail like grape-shot peeling your face away from its fine high aristocratic cheek-bones.

And not content with supplying these pearls of wisdom he goes on to tell me that someone has stolen one of my Munros! Apparently some thieving bastards have made off with Car Ban Mor in the night so it is no longer a noble Munro and has been demoted to a slightly more prosaic “top”.

But Good Ol’ Mr Grumpy is nothing if not helpful and has very kindly suggested I bag Sgur Gaoith in it’s stead.

All heart, are our Vetters.

THE BBC AT ITS WONDERFUL BEST!

Its true! I know I bang on every now and then how the Beeb has dumbed down to even greater depths but just occasionally they come up with the goods. Hidden away on BBC4 yesterday evening was Episode 3 of “Mozart Uncovered.” Symphony No. 40 in G Minor. I quote:

“Conductor Charles Hazlewood rehearses and performs some of the key works featured in the BBC series The Genius of Mozart and analyses them in more detail. Mozart's Symphony No.40 in G minor, K550 is examined by Hazlewood and his specially-formed period orchestra, the second of Mozart's three last great symphonies written in an extraordinary burst of creativity in just six weeks.”

It’s available on iPlayer until next Friday, when I shall remove this post. You can find it HERE.

And if you enjoyed that you could also try this wonderful piece on Elgar: “Elgar: The Man Behind the Mask” (another bit of wonderful telly hidden away on BBC4) Unhappily this one is only available on iPlayer until Monday evening (24th Jan). Anyway, HERE it is.

WATERWORLD II

At this time of the year the River Meadows are partially flooded and the geese have taken over the grazing from the sheep and cows. In the evening they fly low over the cottage in flying V’s – their wings hissing in the darkening damp air.

A walk to St Ives this morning found me standing on the riverside path staring into the sky’s reflection in the Great Ouse. She was moving strongly, rolling along with giant swirls and tiny whirlpools faster than my walking pace. The old river mill stands mid-stream and the huge flow pushes around it with deep troughs around the corners of the mill with a deluge forcing beneath the sluice gate into the foaming stilling pool. The power of this river in spate is something to behold.

TGO CHALLENGE 2011

(Click picture to enlarge)

I have had a busy week with quite a bit of travel, some lovely walks and getting quite a lot of things that had been put on the back burner finally done. Having said that, there is still a mountain of things still to do but at least a start has been made.

This afternoon I finished tweaking the Challenge Route Sheet and have sent it through the ether to Uncle Roger. He is a good chap and has emailed back to say he has received it. So – that’s a major item on the list that has now been ticked. And one less thing to worry about.

So it’s up to the Route Vetters now to cast their gaze upon it and let me know if I have missed anything from a safety point of view or if they need any clarification. This is always useful so I shall wait and see what they have to say.

It’s 171 miles with 33,000 feet of ascent, walked over twelve days. I am taking two days off in the middle.

SOME GREAT LINKS

Cameron McNeish has hit the headlines today in the Press & Journal (front page in the Inverness edition). You can see the article HERE. It is also reported in HeraldScotland, HERE

Young John Manning has rumbled into life over at his blog, HERE which also includes some excellent photographs of what is about to be sacrificed to Power Plants.

A very thoughtful three piece article has been written by the long distance walker, David Cotton, which covers the background to our nation’s energy problem as well as some very useful information on energy costs of production. You can find Part 1 HERE and then work up to his newer posts for Parts 2 & 3.

Amongst a host of highly respected outdoor groups and individuals,The John Muir Trust, The Ramblers and the MCofS have signed a letter to Alex Salmond: You can see that letter HERE. It must have taken a huge amount of time and organisation to to get all these bodies on board to unite together to write this. I just wonder how much time and attention he will afford it? Any guesses?

Ooh – I have just heard that I am in the Inverness Courier today as well (I don’t have a link for that)

Oooh! BREAKING NEWS….

A journalist friend of Cameron McNeish rang me the other day wanting to know about the unrest amongst hill walkers about the threat to Wild Land in Scotland.

He’s a great chap and already coverage has been in the Scottish “Sunday Post” yesterday and today an article has appeared in the Press & Journal.

You can see that article for a while HERE.

Many thanks to Cameron & Iain.

The Human Race and it’s Stewardship of the Environment

For the best article I have seen yet on the campaign to save our wild land then please go over to Andy Howell’s Blog for a magnificent article.

Well done, Andy.

KISS THE MONADHLIATH GOODBYE

After my previous post Val Machin has commented about a new wind farm proposal for a 105 MW wind factory above Kincraig; the Allt Duinne Wind Power Station, comprising about 35 turbines. If you look at the map above you can also see where the Dunmaglass Wind Factory is located to the north west of this proposal. Of course you should then add in the existing forty-plus turbines at Farr, directly to the north of the Allt Duinne scheme, also in the Monadhliath. This means that in effect the Monadhliath will become one giant Wind Factory.

So – who is going to stop this? Not the Scottish government; that’s for sure. Not the Highland Council. The usual set of bribes financial incentives are being offered to the local communities.

You can find all about it from the Developer's own website HERE

I recommend that you read the article that Marcus Petter has pointed to from the Times Online HERE to find out the true appalling extent of what is to become of Scotland’s Wild places.

AWake4TheWild: THE PROTEST GROWS

Isn’t it wonderful how, with a good idea, momentum can build.

As well as two excellent posts from Cameron McNeish and Chris Townsend, New Year’s Eve saw support coming in from Darren Christie. New Year’s Day brought Alistair in with a great piece that made you feel like standing up and shouting “Halleljuah!” and today has seen some fantastic writing coming in from Andy Howell, Byways, and Janet Donnelly.

I would commend you all to have a read of each one as each has their own take on the protest and is very well thought out.

We also have two excellent chaps investigating the possibility of getting a coffin and getting us a website with all the artwork and literature designed for free. We will need a techie chap to put the website together… I just need more hours in the day…

Thank you everyone.

10:40pm: EDITED TO ADD: And this fine post this evening from Bearded Git. (quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson, no less!)

A WAKE FOR WILDERNESS: THE BONES OF THE PROTEST

I suppose I should start by clearing up a misconception: The protest I am trying to organise is not specifically about the Dunmaglass decision – however disgraceful I think that has been. I am certainly not trying to get the Dunmaglass project stopped as that would be totally unrealistic.

The idea is *not* to protest particularly about Dunmaglass but about the siting of these Wind Farms in obviously wild land in general. In Scotland the Greens are propping up an SNP Party in order to get their hands on the levers of power. The Green Party has managed to paint a picture of anyone who doesn’t want these turbines as being Anti-Green, which is patent nonsense. The purpose of the protest is to bring this to the fore and make people realise that the value of wild land is significantly more than just an empty space suitable for wind farms. The JMT writes eloquently to expound these views.

I quote: “ The JMT supports the development of small-scale, sensitively sited renewable energy schemes, in areas adjacent to existing settlements, which demonstrate that renewable energy may be sourced without significantly impacting on "wild land" (1) or wildlife. The JMT, while generally in support of the development of renewable energy systems, opposes new developments where they significantly threaten "wild land".

The great majority of proposals to develop renewable energy schemes in Scotland have, to an extent, avoided the most iconic areas of wild land. The Dunmaglass proposal is blatantly irresponsible in that regard. To place the significance of this scheme in context, it should be noted that of the many schemes proposed in the UK in the last five years, the John Muir Trust has formally objected to only four: Shieldaig and Slattadale hydro, Lewis windfarm, Eisgein windfarm and now Dunmaglass.”

It’s early days yet but I am trying to gather quite a few walkers together to walk a coffin right past Dunmaglass Lodge’s windows and take it to the spot of the highest turbine (at about 750m contour) where we could set it on a funeral pyre (the materials having also been carried up) and then possibly set the thing alight, (need to think about that – don’t want to torch the Monadhliath!) whilst holding a Wake for the Wilderness. (Cheese & Wine, naturally)

I will try to get the JMT and MCofS involved as well as Sigrid Rausing (the owner of Coignafearn and quite an amazing woman) as well as a few high profile media figures as I am well aware that we need high profile support for a protest to be picked up by the general media. At the moment I am putting it all together as an approach document for them all – none are likely to agree unless there is a good plan.

So – I need to get busy and finish the document and start to mail it out to everyone.

As to getting large numbers of TGO Challengers there – I realise that that is a non-starter as most will have already worked out their routes and be in the process of submitting them to be vetted. No: I am appealing to a much wider congregation of every hill walker who loves the wild places.

It’s been suggested to me that this might politicize the TGO Challenge. The Challenge has been supported by TGO magazine since its inception back in 1981. TGO is a magazine that campaigns for walker’s rights and the wild places. Both Cameron McNeish and Chris Townsend have written to me supporting my idea of a protest.

I should stress that this is not a TGO Challenge event. However, if people who participate in the Challenge want to take part then that is entirely up to them and their consciences to do so. If other estates believe that this sullies the name of the Challenge, then they are estates that we should be actively taking on to challenge their views about access and conservation. The Letterewe Accord was a benchmark of collaboration and enlightenment and this should be the basis of talking with landowners. A huge amount of effort went in to persuading errant estates that hill-walkers were actually good for the Highland economy and this is the message that should be pressed home at every available opportunity.

I believe that not to do anything condones the Highland Council’s and the Scottish Government’s dreadful decisions about siting more and more turbines on wild land and if we sit on our backsides being polite and not involving institutions that we have come to think of as comfortable old friends then we are condemning the rest of the Scottish uplands to more and more turbines.

For Dunmaglass, the building of Wind Turbines at 750m above sea level, on top quality wild land will only diminish the reasons for walkers to visit these places. In addition to the turbines, 20km of NEW tracks will be built to maintain these monsters (as well as upgrading a further 12 km of existing tracks). This is industrialisation of wild land on a massive scale. No amount of financial benefits from the energy companies will make up for the shortfall in the “Hillwalking-Pound” and the tourism organisations were against the Dunmaglass Project for exactly this reason.

This issue of totally screwing up the wild places IS important. It IS worth ruffling a few comfortable feathers. If we don’t then we will lose the rest of what we visit Scotland for – a sense of freedom; a place to be refreshed emotionally. What has been built up to now is only a fragment of what is proposed. There will be many times more of these factories in more and more of the wild places.

I am not setting out to be confrontational – but I am setting out to try and change the Green Movement’s mind – It is not acceptable, it is not “green” to urbanise our wild places. Once this message is received only then will planners and government take the wild places true value into account.

AN UNUSUAL REQUEST…

A slightly unusual request this: Can any amongst our noble congregation help me out?

I would like a coffin – a real one would be pretty handy. The snag is, it isn’t going to be something I am borrowing – you won’t be getting it back, you see… (not that you would normally get coffins back of course….)

I need it for a date in May.

Could you scratch your heads, wrack your brains and think of all your friends and acquaintances who might be in that line of work? It’s going to be used in a good cause. Can’t say any more than that at the moment.

Thank you.