Private Skye & Raasay Tour for CK and friends

Guide - Johannes
Customers - CK, Vijay, Updesh, Murali, Madhu, Indu
Trip based on the usual Skye Discovery holiday but with accommodation for the week at Raasay, the smaller island off Skye

Big Highland Tour August

Guide - Peter
Customers - Phil, Mary, Dee-Ann
Conditions - Sunny for a few minutes

Big Highland Tour July

Guides: Ali, Jon & Richard
Customers: Connie, Deanna, Michael, Bertus, Robert, Annemieke, Natasza
Conditions: Great on the Cobbler and Ben Nevis, monsoon at Torridon

Highland Railways & Hills June

Guide - Gary
Customers - Eva, Martin, Lesley
Conditions - fine
The group, with a wee bit of advice from Gary, did a different version of our usual trip and went on some challenging hillwalks during the week: Ben Macdui, Blaven and the Ledge Route up Ben Nevis

Ben Nevis Day Tour

Guides - Jon, Stuart
Customers - Scott, Keith, Elise, Sam, Ray and Smashley
Early start for us as this tour included pick-up from Oban - it wasn't too promissing at the start due to monsoon conditions so we had a bail-out option of walking to the CIC hut instead - however by the time we had reached the Half-Way Lochan, everyone was well up for a trip to the summit. We couldn't see anything of course! We also managed to help remove some of the rubbish which the weekend's charity events had left up there (special prize going to Smashley for carrying a half-full bin bag down)

North West Highlands June

Guide - Shaun
Customers - Kate, Maria, Matt
Conditions - Fine (believe it or not!)

Lowther Hill

Guide - Jon
Customers - Mitch, Angie, Clinton & Brock
Conditions - Cloudy and cold (for June) but with great long distance views over to Solway & the Lakes (to the south), Arran & Jura (north west), Ben Lomond (north), Ben Vorlich & Stuc a Croin (north east) - nice meal in the Wanlockhead Inn (Scotland's highest pub) afterwards

Walking Whisky & Wildlife June

Guide - Peter
Customers - Amy, Chad, Kristina
Conditions - usual Scottish summer mixture
This was first ever Walking Whisky & Wildlife holiday - a big Thank You goes to Peter for inventing it

Skye Discovery June

Guide - Ian
Customers - Ineen, Dominique, Julia, Lindsay, Liz, Guddu
Conditions - Remarkably dry!

Three Peaks Four Ladies Challenge

Guides - Jon, Duncan
Customers - Lucy, Lakshmi. Oozma, Reshma
We don't normally do teh popular Three Peaks Challenges as they are a big cause of the crowds on Ben Nevis - however they are great fun and in a small group can be a real, tough challenge - and this one was one of the best yet - good nosh at the Real Food Cafe and Pete's Eats combined with some dodgy jokes from Jon and ludicrous stories from Duncan kept the girls amused on all three hills. Ben Nevis in hazy sunshine and cloud, Scafell Pikes at night/descent at dawn and Snowdon with sun coming out on the summit, we had some great views too.

Heart of the Highlands May

Guide - Geordie
Customers - Helen, Linda, Tim
This trip started with an overlap with the Munros by Train weekend (so Jon & Roberta joined for Ben Vrackie) - the rest of the week was spent avoiding the gales, floods and falling trees of May in Scotland

Bynack Mor - munro bagging

Guide - Jon
Customer - Roberta
Conditions - complete hoolie!

Big Highland Tour May

Guide - Peter
Customers - Ian, Deidra, Kara, Lyn, Karen, Carrie, Matt, Roberta
Conditions - usual May mixture (and a bit wild at the end!)

Ben Vane 14th May

Guides - Richard, Johannes with Robert the bus driver
Customers - Team building event for Eaton Ltd. of Glasgow
The steep ridge walk up to the airy summit of Ben Vane by Loch Lomond followed by drinks and food at the quirky alehouse that is the Drovers Inn

Skye Discovery May

Guide - Ian
Customers - Joyce, Peggy, Jacqueline

Skye Discovery Easter

Guide - Ian
Customers - Azis, Donata, Ahmed, Ayesha, Robert, Veronica
Conditions - Outstandingly sunny all week - the clouds driven away by the Royal Wedding cupcakes from Mackenzies bakery in Portree

Ben Nevis Easter

Guide - Ali
Customers - Isabella, Juliet, Anjali, Vikram, Manu
Conditions - while the rest of the UK had an Easter heatwave, the summit of Ben Nevis was still winter

Lowther Hill

Guide - Jon
Customers - Kate, David
Conditions - despite the heavy rain on the way down from Edinburgh, it had cleared within 5 minutes of leaving the car - it had totally cleared by the time we were at the Golf Ball on the summit - we could definitely see Arran, Ben Lomond, Ben More & Stob Binnein in the sunshine and I'm sure we could see the Lake District but then there was a big black cloud in that direction. Not a soul on the hill but we did have lots of sheep and grouse for company.

Ben Ledi School trip

Guides - Jon, John-Paul
Customers - 21 students and teachers from a school in Luxembourg
Conditions - howling wind with intense gusts on top as well as 5 hours of constant rain - it was good though! We didnt get all the way to the summit - it was just too windy! However, the group did get to experience the wild side of Scottish weather as well as the good and bad side of Scottish hospitality! - The bad side being the miserable manager of Kilmahog cafe who assumed that 18 16/17 years old would be causing trouble, when in fact all they wanted to do was drink hot chocolate and warm up whilst we waited for the bus home. It was hugely refreshing, to pop down the road to the Lade Inn and get invited in to sit by the fire, drink tea and eat chips - a proper Scottish welcome!

Glen Clova Sunday Escape

Jon, Isabelle, Duncan
We are about to sell the Walkabout VW minibus, so we though we'd give it a proper send off with a trip to Glen Clova, which despite being relatively close to Edinburgh, is rarely visited by us as the access is via Dundee and so is off our regular routes.

It is a stunning glen to visit to see autumn colours, even if you are racing the clouds moving in and the early onset of darkness now the clocks have changed.

We walked up Tolmount via Jock's Road, the old drovers route eastwards from Glen Clova over to Braemar. The views from the top were of many familar places from a new angle; the ski tows of Glas Maol (Glenshee), the back end of Lochnagar, the (still green) Glenshee Hills, last visited on touring skis and the bigger hills of the Southern Cairngorms now speckled with large snow patches. You can see the sea from the summit too, which is cool for a hill which has a definite INLAND feel to it!

A great day which ended a pint and chips in the Glen Clova Hotel