Description: Hillwalker with dodgy knees, waffling about the great outdoors and stuff
Probably the greatest influence on our early Highland trips was Irvin Butterfield’s book, ‘The High Mountains Of Britain And Ireland: A Guide For Mountain Walkers’. Full of superb mountain photos that would inspire many an adventure for years to come. Ben Alder was a typical example, a huge upland area in the Central Highlands looking invitingly wonderful with it’s sweeping ridges and nearby Culra bothy. For some reason one image lodged in the memory, two grey figures like astronauts on the moon, simply ti
Not that we had any intention of ever trying this in bad weather as in addition to it’s featureless plateau Alder is one of the most remote Munro’s with a lengthy approach making a day trip long and arduous. Most do it from Culra, a near 11 mile circuit with 3,350ft ascent, however Culra is another 9.5 miles from the nearest road at Dalwhinnie. For years Alder was on the wish list but deferred, until one fine day a plan came together.
The year was 2001 nearly 20yrs ago, before 3G and wireless, Windows XP had just launched, as had Shrek, Lord of the Rings and the first Harry Potter film. We had friends in Edinburgh and took ridiculous advantage by all too often establishing base camp in their spare room. For this trip we were offered something making Ben Alder do-able in a day…bicycles!