2009 comes to an end!

Well, it hasn't thawed out yet, so the ice palace near the cabin site is still impressive. New Year's Eve, was very quiet here, no fireworks thank goodness, Daisy loathes them. Instead, we had the clearest, chilliest view of the stars and a partial lunar eclipse. It looked like a chunk had been nibbled out of the bottom right edge of the moon.

Very best wishes to all for a fun and healthy 2010!

Christmas Day 2009

We were house and cat sitting for some friends in Callander this Christmas. Only just about got out of the cabin site in our van, with the help of a friendly 4x4 driver! We miss our Landie!!

Here's Daisy enjoying opening her favourite present, a squeeky ball of course! Then, wide eyed and waggily tailed, the look of delight before consuming Christmas dinner in about 10 seconds flat!

A Bit of Work, then a Bit of Play

Christmas Eve and we did some ranger walks in the snow. Here's Will, enlightening everyone on the wonderful silver birch on Forest Survival.

Then, a bit of play on the snow tube before my Dusk Watch.

Ben Vane above the Clouds

No wanting a brilliant hill day to end, we reached the top of Stank Glen and sucked in some more vitamin D (we might not get any more for a while) and finished our hot chocolate. Not rushing back would mean finishing our walk in the dark, but we were familiar with the way and we had our trusty head torches. Then, even better than when you find a quid down the back of the chair, Will, remebered that he had packed Christmas cake in his sack! Food tastes so much better after a walk eh, guilt free too :-)!

When we eventually reached the logging roads, we entered the layer of eeery cloud again and entered a magical world of sparkling frost, glittering with the light of our torches. What a magical day!

On the way back to Bealach nan Corp above Stank Glen, we had good views of the snow capped hills to the north and that everlasting sunset above Glen Finglas to the West.

Eventually made it to the top of Ben Vane past the frozen peat bogs. The sun was setting though, so we couldn't enjoy the views for too long. Plus it was ffffreezing if you stopped for too long!

Oooh, look at that view. Above the clouds looking south towards Stirlling and a frosty Glen Buckie looking north. Beinn an t-Sidhein (or faery hill)bathing in the sunshine.

With the prospect of walking above the clouds, we couldn't resist a long winter day walk over to Ben Vane, from the cabins via Stank Glen. Very cold and icy, but surprisingly warmer the higher we went as we left the frosty glen and walked above the clouds, drenched in the orange winter sunshine :-).

Can you spot the stag, and another one? Just a small stag party, but Daisy soon scared them off. Luckily she was on the lead!

It's Getting Chilly!

Brrr, it's colder camped down here than it is high in the hills! We've never seen low cloud hang so much for so many days. It looks lovely though, hanging on the larch across the loch and being able to walk above the clouds is even better.

Tree O'Clock - Strathyre Cabins

Tree O'Clock meant that we attempted the world record for most trees planted in one hour across the UK. We planted 60 Scots pine as there's actually not that many around here, so one a minute.

Keep an eye out on the breathing places link to see if we all did it! http://www.bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces/treeoclock/

White Outs on Ben Ledi

Icy, chilly and can't see a thing, except this 'flying rowan tree'.