The weather is going to delay my trip to Scotland, I really don’t want to spend my holiday trudging along in torrential rain and struggling to sleep. Luckily I have taken 2 weeks leave, so I’m hoping the weather will improve.

Instead of going to Scotland tomorrow I’m going to do some jobs around the house and start work on zippymap again. It’s about time I stopped thinking about it and got on with it!

I’ve spent hours researching mountains I’d like to walk and other places to visit while back in Scotland next week.

One route I have wanted to do for several years, each time I have hoped to do it something has prevented me. The route is Ben Nevis via the CMD Arete. I’ve been up the Ben twice via the tourist route. This time I will be alone and hopefully will have the opportunity. I just hope the weather is kind to me.

Photo by Bazril

Another on my wish list is Suilven. I have seen many pictures of this beautiful mountain and finally managed to see it first hand a few weeks ago, although I had no walking gear with me. This mountain is probably the main reason I am returning to Scotland rather than staying more local in the lake district.

Photo by swan-scot

While I said Suilven above was my reason for going back to Scotland, the next mountain is even more beautiful and each time I’ve travelled up to Fort William I have nearly crashed staring at it. Buachaille Etive Mor stands guardian near the entrance to Glen Coe.

Photo by Colin Milligan

The next are the Five Sisters of Kintail, just look at them they look amazing:

Photo by Bazril

When looking at the mountains of Scotland, there a couple that both claim to be the hardest ridge walk in main land Britain. This is the first and its also a nice pint – An Teallach

Photo by nineonesix

The best mountains in Britain are in Skye, I have never been there but hopefully I will make it on this trip. The mountain I picked out is Bruach na Frith. From the top there are supposed to be spectacular views of the Cuillin ridge and it can be done without climbing skills. As well as the difficulty of the actual routes up the Cuillin, compasses also don’t work very well due to the magnetism of the rocks. Bruach na Frith is to the right of the spikey ridge (Sgurr nam Gillean) on the left.

Photo by Hannah Swithinbank

An area that constantly pops up in my research is Torridon, there are some beautiful mountains here and I think this will be an area I will return to for Sea Kayaking and wildcamping. On this trip though I will only be there for a day so, I have chosen Beinn Eighe, originally intended to do Liathach but after seeing pictures like the one below I changed my mind.

Photo by andyspictures

The final moutain I may not have time to do and also sounds quite scary is Aonach Eagach in Glen Coe, this is the second mountain that is claimed to be the hardest ridge walk in main land Britain along with An Teallach. Although it sounds like there is no easy get out once you have started on Aonach Eagach. The picture below shows the drop from the ridge.

Photo by Andy H. McDowell

As well as the mountains there are a few other places I would like to visit but I only have about 10 or 11 days. So may not have time.

Sandwood Bay – photo by Amy Palko

Cape Wrath – photo by Bruce McAdam

Oldshoremore Bay – photo by Fernando

There are so many beautiful places in Scotland, it would be quite easy to never return home. While the list above is where I would like to visit, walk, relax and roam. I know that with the Scottish weather I am unlikely to do all of them. From experience I know I would rather not walk a mountain, than to spend all day in cloud and not see anything. The mountains will always be there for another day, although I may not be.

The main reason for going on holiday is to get away from everything, there are so many things going through my head at the moment. While I’ve creating this blog post, I’ve realised just how much of a monstrous undertaking I am taking on trying to do all these mountains. Yet what I really need to do is to relax and do some thinking. So it’s quite possible my plans could change along the way.

Hopefully I will post some pics from the iPhone while travelling, with better photos from the camera on my return.

Testing the WordPress app on the iPhone before hopefully using it next week while in Scotland.

The picture above shows lava from Anak Krakatau taken by Marco Fulle. Please check out more pictures at full size either in the daily mail article or on Swisseduc.  There only appears to be a couple of articles about the eruption, so people can’t be very concerned at the moment. As a coincidence I just watched the BBCs Supervolcano , a 2 part factual based drama for the second time. If you can find it, watch it.

Who knows maybe were are going to have a Supervolcano eruption in 2012, when the Mayan calendar ends?