Aussie's enjoy Hadrian's Wall

Miggs & Keith Coggan had this to say abouth their recent Hadrian's Wall holiday with Macs Adventure.
"Dear Neil,
Keith and I would like to say thank you for such great organisation and flair. Our Hadrian’s Wall path walk went well and to plan, with excellent accommodation, which you organised. The variety was perfect, with its mix of small B&Bs, pubs, farm stays etc. The distances each day were just right for us and didn’t stretch us overly, yet gave us time to look around and absorb the history and scenery we were passing through.
Having the bags carried on (which is a first time for us) made a big difference, especially for me as I didn’t carry anything! Keith carried a pack with our wet and cold gear and lunches, and he didn’t find that too onerous. The company who did that was spot on, with the bags at our destination each day- a very reassuring sight!
On the accommodation- our favourites were The Old Rectory at Bowness; Willowford Farm; Centurian Inn; The Corbridge diversion;Vallum Lodge; Heddon lodge at Heddon-on-the-wall. The final one at Wallsend, the Hadrian Lodge Hotel, does not serve tea on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but did allow us to get a takeaway and eat it in the bar
The weather was quite reasonable, with only a couple of days with some rain, but that was not constant nor heavy.
So- all in all, it was a very enjoyable walk, and, as it turned out, well timed. When we got back to Kelso on the Sunday, our daughter’s baby was not yet born, so we were present for that when she arrived on the Tuesday, with both mother and daughter doing well. The grandparents, of course, are fit and well and ready to be of assistance.
Thank you once again, and we would certainly recommend your organisation to friends who are planning to walk in the UK.
I am sending this from my daughter’s email, so that is why the different email address.
Kind regards, Miggs Coggan"

Thanks for choosing Macs Adventure and congratulations to the new grandparents!

Susan & Robyn Enjoy the West Highland Way

Susan and Robyn enjoyed the West Highland Way in and also included a break on Mull in the middle of the trip. Here is what they had to say about their self-guided trip on the West Highland Way with Macs Adventure:

"Hi Neil,
Just to let you know Robyn and I had a great walk. What magnificent scenery you can see on a relatively easy walk.
We had good weather with very little wind, although, on the first day it was snowing when we woke up and I wondered if we were doing the right thing!!!
The transport of our bags worked brilliantly and the accommodation was great. Although I must say we were very grateful you had booked us in to the Bridge of Orchy as Tynndrum Lodge was definitely below the standard of all the others.
As it happened the day we were to walk to Bridge of Orchy it snowed again so we were grateful for the shorter walk.
We really enjoyed our rest day and had lots of fun on train, bus and ferry rides. We did get to the Isle of Mull, but grey weather didn’t show it off to its best
The weather for Ranoch Moor was grey but no wind. Just near Kingshouse we got a little sleet so we could imagine what it would be like if it was bad weather the whole time, but didn’t actually have to experience it.
Thank you for all your organization, it really was a memorable trip

Regards
Sue Ebeling"

Carl, John and Stephen clean up the Coast to Coast

Carl, John and Stephen flew over from their normal stompng ground in the US for a raid on the Scottish Coast to Coast and were rewarded with an outstanding week of riding with not a drop of rain in seven days.

Check out their photo diary of the Coast to Coast here:

Winter Conditions Persist on Ben Nevis

Despite the daffodils appearing winter is still very much in control on Ben Nevis. We had a great day on Saturday in periods of glorious sunshine interspered with blizzard conditions, which are fairly unusual for this late in the winter.

The snow cover was down to 300m and large areas of consolidated snow remain from 750 metres upwards. The depth of snow on the summit in currently at about 10 feet so it looks like winter conditions are going to be in firm control until the end of April.

Follow this link for photos from Saturday which will give you a good idea of what to expect on the summit plateau for the foreseeable future.

Our summer Ben Nevis weekends are filling up very quickly so if you are thinking of tackling Ben Nevis with us this summer please do book your place soon. Full details here: http://www.macsadventure.com/bennevis.htm

Macs Adventure featured in BBC Books "Unforgettable Walks to take before you die"

Unforgettable Walks to Take Before You Die is the latest in a series of books by the BBC to inspire you to visit the world's most beautiful landscapes.

Macs Adventure was pleased to assist the authors Clare Jones and Steve Watkins with their research on the West Highland Way chapter of the book last year and have been featured as the recommended holiday supplier for the West Highland Way. Again underlining our position as the leading supplier of guided and self-guided walking holidays on the West Highland Way.

Clare had this to say about Macs Adventure after completing the walk "The trip lived up to everything you suggested and certainly proved that it ranked as a truly 'unforgettable' experience. Your choices of accommodation really added to the experience and special mention should go to the staff at The Bridge of Orchy Hotel and George at Tigh-na-Cheo for their memorably warm welcomes."

The book is lavishly illustrated and truly inspirational so I have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone who enjoys travel and walking. It will certainly keep you occupied and inspire your future walking plans. The book is available to buy from Amazon here..

If you are inspired to tackle the West Highland Way you can of course find full details of our west Highland Way walking holidays here: http://www.macsadventure.com/Walking_holidays/WHW/West_highland_way.htm

Enjoy

A Fantastic Achievement by Paul Bloe

CMT United Kingdom - The "Ben Nevis" Challenge - Click here to read the full story>>
I am sure that many of you considering Ben Nevis as a challenge will be inspired by Paul Bloe's account of his successful ascent of Ben Nevis in August. Paul makes light of what was a huge personal challenge and in many years of working with clients in the mountains I have never seen anyone dig so deep to achieve a personal goal.

It was a great honour to help Paul and his friends achive a seemingly impossible goal. When we started the climb I thought it was highly unlikely that we would summit (I didn't share this with him at the time) and it was only through Paul's bloody mindedness and his friends unstinting support that we were successful.

I found it hugely inspiring to be involved with Paul's Ben Nevis Challenge and I hope that we can team up again soon for some further adventure. Until then!

West Highland Way Photos from Alex Elrick

Photos
Alex Elrick was kind enough to share his photos from his recent West Highland Way trip with us. He walked in early October this year and as you can see from the photographs he was blessed with absolutely lovely weather.

I hope that you enjoy viewing Alex's photos as much as I did and it gets you inspired to get training for your next adventure.

For more info on our West Highland Way packages visit our website here..

Happy Viewing.

Challenging & Successful Coast to Coast

A big thank you to all who made the May/June Coast to Coast such a success. With a truly multi national team and some hugely varied weather this made for a memorable trip.

A couple of good days to Laggan where followed by two spectacularly wet days - just how wet can be seen from Crispin's photos which are linked to elsewhere in the blog.
Flooded rivers, tracks that looked more like rivers and some truly character builing riding.

As always our perseverence and after changing all our brakeblocks in Tomintoul three days of glorious weather followed as we headed to Ballater, Edzell and then to the coast at Montrose.

In the end all 13 riders made the complete crossing and it's certainly a trip I won't forget in a hurry. Thanks to all of you for making an outstanding trip. I can't wait for the next one in July. We are now also running the Coast to Coast as a self-guided trip so if you and some mates would like to tackle the ultimate Scottish Off-Road Trip give us a shout. (Check out the photos here>>)

Happy peddling.

Intermediate Trail Riding in the October Sunshine

 

What a great weekend! Two days of Intermediate Skills in the October Sunshine. Check out the pictures now and get yourself ready for your winter riding.

Here's what Paula had to say:

Neil,

We really enjoyed our skills course last weekend! Thanks.
A couple of comments for you - just so you know...

1. Keith did a great job as our guru. He pitched the skills teaching and riding spot on.

2. The website got you our booking - clear, informative and, most important, up-to-date with current availability.

I won't hesitate to recommend you!

Paula Mayland

Winter Mountaineering in the Cairngorms

Cairngorms Weekend 4 March 07

The Cairngorms delivered its best and worst winter weather as last weekend saw Peter, Ali and I head to the Cairngorms for a weekend of Winter Mountaineering.

Saturday was one of those truly glorious days which make you happy to be alive. The sun shone all day, the condiitons were perfect and we enjoyed an awesome day of climbing in Fiacaill Couloir in Coire an t-Sneachda. The Cairngorms just doesn't get any more spectacular than this and there were plenty of walkers and climbing teams out enjoying the spectacular conditions.

Sunday showed the other side of the Scottish Highlands. After struggling against high winds on the walk in to Coire an t-Sneachda we were finally turned back at the rescue box when storm force wind made mobility impossible. Most climbing teams seemed to suffer the same fate as we had plenty of company on the walk back to the car park.

Overall the weekend was a great success and I'm looking forward to getting back into the hills again soon.

Winter is Here!

Winter is certainly here! Just back from a successful weekend in Lochaber with a great group. Saturday was spent on Aonach Mor learning essential skills. The morning was extremely windy but we managed to find some shelter tucked in behind the Nid for those essential self arrest skills and snowpack analysis. Afterwards we popped over the top to face the full force of the wind and perfect our crampon technique.

An early start on Sunday was rewarded by low wind speed and plenty of new snow which continued to fall throughout the day. The deep snow made for hard going from about 800m upwards and the summit plateau was pretty wild with full whiteout conditions. A northerly wind brought far colder conditions on the descent. Our whole party summited in the tough conditions and this made for a very successful weekend. Thanks to all those involved. Neil