Tag archives for Scottish - Page 2
Beinn Ghlas and Ben Lawers [Munro 4 & 5]
Earlier today I walked up Beinn Ghlas and Ben Lawers with my brother and son. On the new count Beinn Ghlas was number 4 and Ben Lawers the fifth Munro. Only another 278 to go! It was a two hour drive from our house, but we had an early start and got there just before 10. The car park had a £3 parking fee, although free for members of the National Trust for Scotland. We started off at 10:05. You can see the detail of our route on OS Maps - I plotted this one using the aerial photos of Beinn Ghlas and Ben Lawers because the footpath was suspiciously straight and it suggested three hours was enough to do two munros! Beinn Ghlas Translated from Gaelic this is Grey Mountain. It's in a nature reserve, although we didn't see…
Driesh and then Mayar [Munro 2 & 3]
Driesh is the closest munro to our new house in Scotland, and Mayar is only a couple of miles on the same ridge from it. So on Saturday 22nd July Alex and I went for a walk to bag two more munros by doing Driesh, and then Mayar. We did them in that order because of the proximity, even though most of the guides have the walk in the opposite direction. Our route was up the Kilbo path on the side of the Shank of Drumfollow to a saddle between Driesh and Mayar. We then detoured East for a mile to the summit of Driesh, and then back to the same point to approach the summit of Mayar from the East. We then turned North and walked to the source of the Fee Burn and then descended into Corrie Fee…
Moving North
I haven't written for a while, and there are good reasons behind that, we're moving North! Until February all my spare time was spent online looking at houses in Scotland that we could move to. Moving North Finding a New Home in the North The February half term week was spent with a massive driving expedition across Scotland. We stayed at Blackridge, between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Over the course of the week we saw several houses on both coasts of Scotland and both south and north of the central belt. In the end we chose a fab house outside the area we'd been expecting, in NE Scotland between Dundee and Aberdeen. Preparing to Move The living room in the old house being packed ready for moving north. (Photo: James Kemp) Since then it's been a mix of packing books, of…
Milmud – Guest Post today about 1689 Highland Battles
Today's blog post is a guest post on Military Muddling, AKA Milmud. Milmud is the blog and club newsletter for Chestnut Lodge Wargames Group (CLWG). CLWG are a group of activist game designers. Most of the Megagame Makers designers belong to CLWG, including Jim Wallman who brought us the Universe roleplaying games and Watch the Skies. I'm a member of CLWG and have been for about 20 years. At the 2015 CLWG conference I ran a session on the Highland Battles of 1689. This is going to form part of a 1689 Megagame planned for late 2017. You can read more about my game design efforts over on Hot Blood and Cold Steel. Link to Milmud Here's the post on milmud Highland Battles 1689 - onside report. I found the session very useful and I learnt a lot from it.…
L/Cpl William Kemp – Killed in Action
Lance Corporal William Kemp of the 2nd Scottish Rifles was killed in action one hundred years ago. I grew up seeing his name on the local war memorial, as did my father who was also named William Kemp. My dad was keen on family history, he could tell me all the living relatives and knew their exact relationship to us. He believed that all the Kemps in the Old Kilpatrick are were interrelated. So I've always seen L/Cpl William Kemp as part of my family, even though I cannot directly connect him from further research. William was almost certainly a regular soldier before WW1, either that or a recalled reservist. The Scottish Rifles were a regular battalion and started the war in Malta. However they were recalled and sent to France arriving in November 1914. William's Medal Index Card shows that he…