Neilston Quarry - climbing with Valerie

Nice evening so headed to NQ with Valerie, my beautiful daughter, and Mark the offio photographer for a spot of climbing and abseil.

Val was unimpressed I left the lids and quickdraws behind...doh...but always one to improvise, she got Mark's lid and we made draws from the slings.

Nice climbing on dry warm rock was good fun for Val's first trip on rock for some time. She really enjoyed it tho and wants more :)

That was music to Dad's ears.

Neilston Quarry with Valerie from C Coid on Vimeo.

Loch Ard and Lewis - Downhill superstar in the making

Good night out with Milgavie Youth Cafe followed by a day out with Can You Experience at Loch Lomond.

Great time and Lewis, downhill WC racer at Fort William recently, was on tow to show off his considerable skills on the bike. Super skills at the stairs and the kids stood in awe.

All in a great day and what a bike carrier Can You have...Bill and I looked at it with envy!! :)

Untitled from C Coid on Vimeo.

Cobbler - in the cold

Summer should be for climbing in shorts, bitten by midges and nice warm rock to shake off winter chills.

On the other hand, this is Scotland...so a late planned trip up the Cobbler on 16 June saw us on the rock at 830 pm. Windmills with the arms to get blood back in the fingers did not harbinge summer thrills.

Frozen fingers and more at the first belay was not expected and Mark, fast approaching with every piece of clothing on, compounded my thoughts of an early bail.

Mark pulled over the lip on p2 and we set up the abseil, avoiding the crux final pitch in probable rain and deeper cold...JUNE...SUMMER...ur havin' larff!

Interestingly our tat from last year was still in place; so we cut it out, put new stuff in and off I went. A slip on the way down shifted the tat over a sharp edge and cut the sheath on it...aaargh - altho it was fine, it was backed up and so never in danger :)) Mark did a quick repair on it and down he came for a sprint back to the car in 46 mins from the bealach; that's fast!!

Should have shared ur crisps earlier!! :))

Great night out; good exercise, nav and two top pitches made it worth the 2 days of gardening revenge Fiona punished me with :)

She's a star for letting me go tho :)))))

Agag's Groove & January Jigsaw; Glen Coe

Great day's climbing with Mark and Paul - our resident Top Gun - on the Rannoch Wall for fun and games. Mark and Paul took us up Agag's and I topped out - the whole final 7.5m of the thing - thanks guys.

Ab'ed off the top of JJ to the base of the route and climbed JJ in two pitches; Mark leading off, linking first two to half way point on Agag's and Paul taking the last two pitches to the top with...well virtually nil pro, but he's young and confident...and very good.

Another ab down saw us having sandwiches in the sun, and helping a total novice start up Agag's after his experienced partner climbed the first pitch and told his second nothing of what to do or what his shouts meant!!! He didn't know how to strip his anchors nor what his partner was shouting at him...no helmet, no climbing shoes, no clue...some people!!!?!!!

Anyway, we had a ball and Paul is going to get some sun in the Med soon, so enjoy and keep ur head down.

Great Simply Epic day :)

Wee video of the day;

Agag's Groove and January Jigsaw - Glen coe from C Coid on Vimeo.

Curved Ridge and Mountain Flowers

Simply Epic crew went climbing but ended up on a wet Curved Ridge in Glen Coe. It is always fun and taking the hardest line makes it good fun.  Micro-nav to the foot of the ridge worked well and a quick trip to the top of Easy Gully and we down climbed with three abseils to add interest.

Beautiful Butterwort

Plenty of folk on the way up; some better dressed for the beach :( but it was clear by the time we got down, and if we hadn't had an alpine start, we could have climber...hey-ho; always next week.

The mountain flowers were out in abundance and the carpets of Roseroot were beautiful; plenty of Thrift too and the usual suspects of Bog Myrtle, dwarf willow, hare's tail cotton grass and one or two unknowns.

All in, a great day in the hills and time for a coffee and scone at the Green Welly Stop.

Wee video of the day

Curved Ridge and Mountain Flowers!!! from C Coid on Vimeo.