Breaking The Law - Update

The campaign to free our Wild Camping Southern cousins from the bonds of oppression continues apace with 540 signatures, last time I checked. Updates are available over at www.outdoorbloggers.com where various folk are working their arses off to push this through. They deserve your support so, if you're a British Citizen & haven't signed, please do so now. It takes 2 minutes. 2 minutes to dispel the FUD* surrounding the activity that hunners, if not thoosands, of folk enjoy.


You too can be like us Scots, and you know you want to, and enjoy the freedom of an overnight in the hills without fear of being moved on.

*FUD - Fear Uncertainty Doubt
Or, a Scots term for those who want to keep things as they are. ie a fanny.

Edited to add tip o' the hat to Duncan for the graphic. Nice one.

Glumness on Glas Maol

Before posting about the Tallacs, I'd hunted through our photies for a shot of them in action. I knew there had to be some and I eventually found one today, on an old PC up in the loft. It was taken on Glas Maol back in September 2005 and if I don't look happy, it's because I wasn't.

The author, looking down in the dumps. Note footwear, stealthy garb and pre-Carbonlite Leki's.

It sums up, for me, everything that's wrong with "bagging" Munros for the sake of a tick on a list. Firstly, it's a dull hill. There's nothing remarkable about it* but I'd set off to climb it as it was one of the last two Glenshee Munros that I hadn't done.

Outside of Winter, when a good dump of snow can hide a multitude of sins, the Glenshee Ski Centre is a mess. It's horrible. To get there, I'd taken a day off work, driven for nearly 2 hours and passed many other fine wee hills on the way. There were other people about but they were, with but one exception, to a man and woman, Ignorant Bastards. My cheery "Hiya's" brought forth scowls and, happily, a fair bit of shame-faced discomfiture. There were red lugs aplenty.

I've always maintained that you meet nicer folk on Corbetts and indeed any hill that disnae appear in the Reverend's Tables and this day proved it. In fact, it was nearly 2 years before I set foot on another Munro and in that time I had many a cheery encounter with folk who's opening gambit wisnae "How many's that then?".







*Except of course for the Mountain Hares which are huge and numerous. Oh awright, and the views. Sometimes.

A splash of colour

A bit of banter over at ptc's the other night got me thinking about the lack of bright colours in my wardrode. All my stuff is either Green or Black or Charcoal or Graphite or whatever. I thought at first that my Aspira Jacket in Red (sorry, Fire) and Black was the sole exception and then I remembered these babies.




The Nike Tallac. I've had them for a few years now and I've done more miles in them than I can count. I think that's why I forget about them; they're my footwear of choice. It's a no-brainer. They're too hot for warm weather and I still prefer my Hillmaster GTX's for snow (or the La Sportiva Makalu's, if I'm feeling particularly masochistic) but, 9 times out of 10, it's the Tallacs.

They're light, waterproof and so damn comfy that I forget I'm wearing them. My only gripe is the weedy tread pattern on the sole. Give them something a bit more aggressive and they'd be perfect.
Plus, they look weird. Even a tad garish. The plasticy exo-skeleton is a bit mental but, considering the abuse they've had, it's held up well. And they don't really "go" with anything. Or they didn't until I bought the OMM packs. That black dyneema looks awfy familiar.

I've never seen anybody else wearing them either so there's an exclusivity factor. Or maybe everybody else thinks they're crap. Who knows or indeed cares? They work for me. My feet love them and when my feet are happy, I'm happy.