Fife Out and About
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2019 - 2020 Accounts

17/4/2020

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financial_report_2019_-_20.xlsx
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File Type: xlsx
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Scottish Parliamentary Reception

30/1/2020

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Fife Out and About Walking Group was invited to send guests to a reception at Holyrood on Tuesday 28th January. The reception was organised by Scottish Mountain Rescue with assistance from Mountaineering Scotland and was titled "Delivering World Class Mountain Safety and Rescue". It was hosted by Liz Smith MSP.
​Four of our members were able to attend, although some of us were representing other organisations. We were entertained with a number  of speeches including one by the Chair of Scottish Mountain Rescue on what could only be described as an unusual rescue! After the speeches was the all important networking time and Dave T did us proud distributing our advertising cards to MSPs and other guests.
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Scotland's Mountain Landscapes: A Geomorphological Perspective

4/12/2019

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Members of the group were invited to review a copy of this new publication "Scotland's Mountain Landscapes : A Geomorphological Perspective" by Collin K Ballantyne, published by Dunedin Academic Press November 2019.

​This hardback lavishly illustrated book is aimed at the reader with an interest in Scotland’s landforms rather than the academic. The author himself, in the introduction states that it aims to cover the middle ground between academic / professional scientific texts and “dumbed down” approaches. The introductory chapter includes a definition of the rather intimidating “geomorphology” term used in the book’s title, making it easy to appreciate it as a branch of the wider fields of geology and earth sciences. The introduction also takes the reader through the underlying geological processes and timescales used later in the book.

Picture
Chapters of the book then focus on
  • The geological origins of the rocks and landmasses that form today’s Scotland
  • The formation of Scotland’s pre-glacial landscape
  • Effects of the ice age and glaciers
  • Effects of frost and freezing on mountain summit areas
  • Landslips / rockfalls
  • River and water erosion and the impact of human activity on landforms
The final chapter is a tour though the landforms of some of the key areas in Scotland including Torridon, Trotternish Peninsula, Cullin Mountains. Glen Roy, Glencoe, the Cairngorms and even Tinto Hill.
The book makes understanding the shaping of the landscape accessible to the non-geologist with good explanations of concepts and processes. It is illustrated throughout with diagrams and a multitude of colour photographs. Frequent references are made to real life features and areas that will be familiar to the regular hill-goer thus bringing the subject to life.
 ​
For more information and ordering see the Dunedin website.
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Harris (and St Kilda)

4/6/2019

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 The group's Spring getaway was to the Isle of Harris this year (having been to the Uists and Barra over the past two years). What a trip it was!!!! It worked out cheaper to take a self catering property for a full week than to stay in a bunkhouse for a long weekend, so that's what we did. Our accommodation was the wonderful Bayhead property near Rodel. Although there were 8 of us staying in it, it was very spacious for us all (a big improvement on club huts!!).

We had a full week of walks which went something like this:
Saturday - short walk at the Fairy Glen, Uig on Skye whilst waiting for the ferry
Sunday - Part of the Hebridean Way at Scarista. The return was meant to be on a path marked on the core path map but the path didn't actually exist!
Monday - Isle of Scalpay for moorland and coastal walking out to the Eilean Glas Lighthouse
Tuesday - Fantastic day weather-wise so it was off to the sea-side at Luskentyre Beach for a walk out on the sands.
Wednesday - A bit wet with low cloud so we opted to head up An Cliseam the highest hill in the Outer Hebrides. You expect a hill to be wet and cold with no views, so it was a good use of the day!!!
Thursday - 4 of us had a day trip out to St Kilda with Sea Harris. Absolutely amazing experience! Bit of a rough crossing though.
Friday - Short walk to the Eagle Observatory but didn't spot any eagles. Some of the group had to leave on the afternoon ferry.
Saturday - ferry home for the remainder of the group

​Isle of Lewis next year?
​
View from somewhere near Horgabost
View from somewhere near Horgabost
Luskentyre Sands
Luskentyre Sands
Luskentyre Sands
Luskentyre Sands
Isle of Scalpay
Somewhere near Scarista
Isle of Scalpay
Isle of Scalpay
Macleod's Stone, Horgabost
Bayhead
Bayhead
Eagle Observatory
An Cliseam
St Kilda
St Kilda
St Kilda
St Kilda
St Kilda
St Kilda
St Kilda
St Kilda
St Kilda
St Kilda
St Kilda
Fairy Glen, Uig, Skye
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Third Time Lucky

18/3/2019

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Well it was 3rd time lucky with the Pentlands Two Cairns walk. We turned back on our 1st attempt due to high winds and our 2nd attempt never even saw us cross to the south of the Forth (we ended up at Blairadam the weather was so bad). Fortunately this time we were blessed with a cold, dry, breezy day, though recent snow melt meant that the underfoot conditions were soggy to say the least. 
We started from Harperrigg Reservoir and headed round the reservoir and then up the Thief's Road (now called the Cross Borders Drove Route) to East Cairn the highest summit in Edinburgh. At 567m its is also one of the highest of the Pentland tops. Amazing cairn structure at the "not quite the summit" which gave us some shelter from the cold north wind. The actual summit of East Cairn was exceptionally unremarkable with not so much as a pile of stones! We then headed across to West Cairn, the highest summit in West Lothian. It's summit was crowned with a cairn and a trig point. Off path descent off the hill and across tussocky moorland back to Harperrigg.
Not quite the summit of East Cairn
West Cairn
Descending West Cairn, East Cairn beyond.
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