My Last Climb of The Clisham

On a day in March 2004 Gaz and I had planned to climb The Clisham: the highest mountain in the Outer Hebrides, at 799 metres (2,621 ft) the archipelago's only Corbett.   Not long previously we had climbed Ben Lomond: at 974 metres (3,196 ft) and situated on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond, it is the most southerly of the Munros.   My photos, however, show the former on one of the most glorious of days.  

For Gaz, who the previous week had climbed Mont Blanc, this was just a  stroll in the park. 

Thankful Thursday

I may well have posted these photos before.  Then again I may not have done so.  Unfortunately memory is not one of my strong points.  In fact I can't even remember what my strong points are or were.  However as this is about being thankful I will explain the relevance of the two photos.  The mountain or hill is The Clisham.  It's a Corbett at 799 m or 2621 ft.  This photo was taken in 2004 which is the last time I climbed anything significant.  Recently I have been feeling a bit sad that I am unlikely ever to be able to climb such a hill again.  Actually I probably could climb up it with some difficulty but I would be unlikely to be able to get down again.  Why?  Well if I tell you that I sometimes get comments on the noise my knee sometimes makes when I walk across a room you'll get the picture.  This is not a 'poor me' post.  I can get on perfectly well with my knee as it is and I'm not in significant pain most of the time.  But it does have its limitations.

However this is a Thankful Thursday post and looking back at all I've done and all the hills I've walked I am very thankful that I had those experiences.  There are a great many people who have never been able to walk at all; many who have been injured and cannot walk now; many who are just getting older.

Yes.  I am very thankful.

Gaz, laid back as ever, just ready for a stroll up The Clisham having climbed Mont Blanc a few weeks previously.

On top of The Clishsm

The Clisham

L'Archiduchesse made a comment on the last posting about sliding down the hill. The 'hill' is the Clisham (Scottish Gaelic: An Cliseam) which is a mountain on the Isle of Harris (which, with Lewis where Eagleton is, forms the northernmost of the Outer Hebrides). At 799 metres (2,621 ft) it is the highest mountain in the Outer Hebrides and the archipelago's only Corbett.

Gaz at the bottom before the climb - or, in his case having climbed Mont Blanc a few weeks previously, the gentle wander.

Views from the top. It was one of the hottest days that year and the heat haze was not good for photography

And just to prove that I was there too.

Followers

I've not commented upon followers up until now and perhaps that was very remiss of me. I suppose because when I started blogging the idea that anyone but a few friends reading what was essentially a diary didn't occur to me. Yesterday, however, two new followers arrived: Deedee and Synflame. They followed Adrian who joined a few weeks ago. I knew Deedee through Scriptor's blog and because I'd visited her blog, 'though never commented on it. Because I rarely venture outside the safety of a small number of bloggers whom I have come to know it didn't surprise me that I was only acquainted with Adrian through seeing his comments on Scriptor's blog and that I didn't know Synflame at all. But there was something rather familiar about the name Synflame and when I looked closely there was something even more familiar about the person in the tiny thumbnail. And so there should have been. I suddenly realised that I recognised the name in another context and that the photo - taken on top of the Alps - was of my own son, Gaz. I was really pleased and somehow following and being followed has become even more meaningful.

Synflame, by the way, is defined as an intellectual but dark being with sub edged knife like intent. Hmmm. I'm not sure I know what that means. But, hey, it sounds good anyway.

The photo above is of Gaz when he and I walked up the Clisham on the Isle of Harris a few years ago. Sadly whilst I might be able to get up such a hill these days I'd be very hard pressed to get down again. Sadly my fencing days (with a foil not a sledgehammer I would just add) have taken their toll on my right knee.