Easter Meet - Inverardran Cottage, Crianlarich 29th March

[Huw]

*BOOKING OPENS ON THUR 14TH MARCH AT THE PUB (10pm)*
Deposits not required. For those that live in London and Bristol etc, can you email me on this address before 4pm that day if you want to put your name down, and I’ll add it to the mix.

Hi All

This years Easter meet is at a great location for mountaineering and I’m sure cross country biking too, and is one of the nearer Scottish huts. The hut website lists five Munros and Corbetts which can be walked from the cottage, plus the West Highland way passes through Crianlarich, and it may well be the first rock climbing meet of the year with Glencoe, Glen Etive and Glen Ogle within reach.

I'm also told kayaking is available in the loch, and for those that don’t see enough of trains in the week, Rannoch and Carrour are worth a visit via the nearby rural railway station. Finally, most importantly, good pubs (with bar staff that can add up!).

Hut details are at http://www.ochils.com/content/view/6/25/.

Price is £10pp per night, and there are 18 spaces on the fri, sat, and sunday night.

**Let me know if you'd like to stay there on thur night, i think J and I are considering going up after work and getting there late.

Cheers
Huw

People down so far:

1/ Huw (& Thur night)
2/ Julie (& Thur night)
3/ CJ (& Thur night)
4/ Sarah (& Thur night)
5/ Chris B (& Thur night)
6/ + friend (sun night)
7/ Jodie (& Thur night)
8/ Simon (& Thur night)
9/ Beth H (& Thur night)
10/ Tom M (& Thur night)
11/ Matt L + (& Thur night)
12/ Tanya (& Thur night)

[Huw]

On the biking front, i've looked at the following link:

http://www.trailscotland.co.uk/category ... al-trails/

And there's a fewf XC rides on there. I think it could be worth a tweak using some walking maps though, from previous experience.

Hopefully the map showing their locations is below. H

[Sarah Mac]

Huw

If there are spaces after the pub tonight can you put me and CJ down for the meet please?

[Tom]

looking like a snowy 10 days in the highlands could be some classic Easter skiing on offer. We're only half an hour from Glencoe!

[chrisBissell]

@Huw Mountain Biking

Some of those trails are a bit far and wide from Crianlarich and I'm not sure I would recommend trekking that far for what would mostly be XC exploring and not trail centre tracks. There is good biking on the A9 at Dunkeld and Pitlochry and that's about as far as I would recommend going or perhaps Queen Elizabeth Forest park but that is a bit of a roundabout trip past Loch Earn, (I used to head West Dundee to Loch Tay, Crianlarich, Loch Lomond quite a bit in my first year Munro Bagging).

You might want to consider a detour to Glentress or Mabie on the way up/down as another option for biking.

In any case I'm not biking this time round and I'm desperate to start bagging more Munros and really looking forward to that. Parker (dog) is coming as well this time round.

Chris

[Huw]

Oh yeah some of those are definitely too far away i agree, i perhaps didn't clarify that. I've just put all the rides for 'central scotland' on the map so i could work out how far things are.

I would also say that from experience of following XC routes from books and websites that I always try to have a look at an OS map and check and tweak them. Julie and I have had to do that both times we've followed suggested routes. We've quite often found them sending us up the fun bits and down the fireroad in the past.

Thanks for the suggestion, and a seven staine on the way home sounds like a great idea. H

[Huw]

And snowboarding in glencoe is definitely piquing my interest!

[Simon]

Can you put Jodie and I down for Thursday night also please?

Looking like it's going to be more wintery than it was in Feb

[Tom]

Man the conditions are looking off the chain. If folks are going up Thursday night I'd be keen to jump in if possible

[Simon]

Sorry my car is full already (Jodie, Matt and Tanya)

Conditions are certainly looking up... More snow than Feb I predict!

Simon

[Tom]

hmmn so's Huw's apparently. That's Matt "just got a new car" Lewis is it? I'll have a word...

[Huw]

I can see the new 1 series gathering some high mileage.. Its a good few miles to the car wash.

Really hope the snow conditions hold out!!

[Matt]

I can confirm the new 1 series doesn't like the snow

[chrisBissell]

Not sure if this is particularly helpful to anyone for transport but I will be setting off from Bedford around 10am on Thursday - potentially could pick up from the M6 but the current plan is to go via my Sister's (South of Edinburgh) and hang out there late afternoon/eve and then continue to Crianlarich a bit later. You'd also need to be prepared for Parker panting in your ear all the way. Oh and at the moment I have Huw's dodgy brake issue on the front right. Busy day Wed fixing that I think.

[Matt]

Anyone interested in group cooking for this meet? My offering is a beef stew/caserole on Sat night. Please let me know if you want in.