Sutherland (in summer)

It’s the time of year when the mind turns to what to do in summer.

This year is a little strange because Kirstin will be away for a while with her mum and sister in Canada so the opportunity for a family holiday is diminished. So I’ve been wondering about whether I’ll have opportunity to get away for myself for a week or so.

There are two or three things that I’ve been planning to do for a while but for one reason or another have never got around to.  One is to walk the Pennine Way up from Derbyshire to Scotland and the other is to get out to the Western Isles of Scotland and wander about a bit.  Since I’m not getting any younger I really need to get cracking on getting outdoors again soon and in this instance I am toying with heading up to Harris and spending a week or so walking with a lightweight tent and a camera.

And it is the Hebrides which are calling since the Pennines would take a couple of weeks and anyway I need to regain some fitness before I contemplate them.  This means some planning and, alas, some gear aquisition.

Sutherland beach

I am not a gear fetishist and whenever I see something described as “technical” I immediately assume that it will be substantially overpriced as a matter of course. Nonetheless, as the photographs here from our trip up to Lochinver in 2010 indicate, Scottish weather can be a tad unpredictable.  It can be lovely with deep blue, wide open skies or you can have substantial volumes of the Atlantic dumped unceremoniously on your head for days on end. So gear is important.

Expect to read more about this should I actually get round to planning it properly.

At present my loose idea is to spend a week on Harris/Lewis although I haven’t entirely put ideas of Colonsay or the Inner Hebrides out of mind. My thoughts are mainly with Lewis and Harris, though, because Harris has hills.   In any event I plan to take the minimum necessary to stay clean and dry together with a couple of books, a camera (or two) and midge cream.  I have no current intention to take anything especially high-tech.