Loch Lomond and Mull
May 2026
Late May saw us making the long trip up to Inverary, the gateway to the Highlands. Car sharing with multiple drivers meant we were able to drive it in a day. We stayed at the very well appointed and comfortable Inverary Hostel and on arrival that evening had our meal in the lively George Hotel. This was followed up on the next two nights with delicious self-catering by Ali, ably assisted by too many chefs in the kitchen.
Richard arranged our walks with all of us taking on a Ben Lomond circular on our first day, returning via the slightly trickier Ptarmigan Ridge. Day 2 took us up Ben Narnain with some also doing Ben Ime and The Cobbler. We made the most of the weather with delicious dips in mountain pools to cool off. The views were as stunning as ever and no bogs! Not too many midges either. Day 3 we walked from near Dalmally doing Beiinn a Chochuil and Beinn Eunaich again finishing with a dip at the end. Some opted to do a lower route around Inverary.
We left our Inverary hostel and drove 1 hour to Oban to catch the ferry to Mull where we climbed Ben Buie en route to our accommodation in the Creich Hall Community Bunkhouse for a further 3 nights. The following day some of the group had a difficult ascent of Ben More due to high wind conditions whilst others opted for an easier day. We spent our last day on the lovely island of Iona with a walk to the high point and around the islands' coastline with its beautiful beaches.
As our longer return journey was from Mull, we broke the journey with an overnight stop at the comfortable and interesting Hillside Farm Bunk Barn at Bousted Hill a few miles from Carlisle. We did a short evening walk to the banks of the mighty Solway Firth and finished with dinner in the pub. The lovely bunkhouse owner made us sausage and bacon baps to see us on our way the following morning. Now, where shall we go next year?
Chris
Foreign Trip – Crete
Tuesday 5th - Tuesday 12th May 2026
An early flight from Gatwick took 16 club members to the beautiful Greek island of Crete. From Chania airport we travelled to our accommodation across the mountains to the village of Paleochora. Our accommodation in the apartments at Zygos, just across from the sandy beach, provided a comfortable base to return to after strenuous days of walking. There were plenty of tavernas nearby, serving good quality Greek food and local wine in the evenings where we could reminisce about the days walk.
Thanks to Richard W and Michael, a great walking plan was in place. Day 1 was an acclimatisation walk of about 11Km from Krisos beach to Elafonisi island. Day 2 saw the start of some mountain walking, from the plane of Omalos on a marked path southeast to Koukoule summit some 1629m. From the summit we joined the E4 path and turn west to the Kallergi refuge for our overnight stay. On the second day we indertook the White mountain circuit, with our descent from the mountains taking us from Gingilos to Xiloskala.
Crete has many gorges on this coast, so on day 5 we enjoyed the Katsomatados to Malia-Topolia gorge walk. On our final day of walking, we ambled up the gorge to Anidri village from Palechora, where we had a long relaxed lunch of typical local food and wine before we waddled back down yet another gorge and along the beach to our base in Palechora.
Fine wine, delicious food, and fabulous walking but most of all great company on yet another great club trip.
Debbie Hibberd, Trip organiser.
Snowdonia
16-19 April 2026
Nine club members made the journey to Bethesda, North Snowdonia for a long weekend in April 2026. Our accommodation was a community centre, turned bunkhouse, which we somewhat unexpectedly shared with the local Brownie unit on the first evening! After they had left we had the place to ourselves and having located the greatest concentration of working radiators made ourselves comfortable in one end of the main hall.
On Friday the main group set off for Craned Dafydd under grey skies with the aim of tacking the northern spur. This was abandoned mid-way due to high winds but after a restorative lunch, the group split with four members summiting via easier slopes to the west despite a ferocious wind on top. Fortunately the winds eased and the skies brightened on the descent down the Mynydd Du back to the village. After the obligatory cake, a bulk order of takeaway pizza from the local pizza trailer formed the core of dinner.
Saturday was sadly a damper prospect initially, but hoping for better weather later we drove up to Llyn Ogwen. Some members decided to enjoy the weather below the clouds and had a lower level walk around the lake and down the valley, back to the village. Others decided to enjoy the weather in the clouds and headed up Y Garn via the steep, but very well maintained, Devil’s Kitchen path. The peak was gained and the weather fortunately did improve during the day with summits and skies clearing later. A heavy shower extended the well timed coffee stop at the National Trust’s visitor centre at Ogwen Cottage and also allowed for some impromptu ornithology.
As often for Snowdonia, the day you leave provided the best weather and the three cars each went separate ways depending on the desires of the occupants. Two members could not resist the improved conditions and opted for a frontal assault on Tryfan’s north ridge, gaining the summit in sunny weather after some challenging and enjoyable scrambling. It turns out that new paths have been built between the road and Llyn Bochlwyd which confused on the descent, with map navigating conflicting with the evidence of walker’s eyes! However, a joyful jog down got the occupants of the final car on the road home by lunchtime where working taps (in short supply in our accommodation!) could be relied on once again.
Richard
Isle of Wight trip
March 2026
A select ten members stayed in a very smart Air bnb in Freshwater, Isle of Wight for a nice long early spring weekend this March. Due to high winds forecast, our initial ferry was cancelled and we drove instead to Lymington and took the very short crossing to Yarmouth, from where our accommodation was but a stone’s throw!
Our first morning dawned dry but exceedingly windy and we split into a faster and slower group; intentions being to possibly meet up for lunch. The faster group took a lower level route out towards Shalcombe and Brook Down, where a coffee break with a wide ranging view was enjoyed. Then we turned into the (very strong!) wind along the Tennyson Trail over Compton Down and into Freshwater Bay. We lunched in the lee of a cliff and had hoped to follow the Freshwater way back along flat ground to our base but it was under a good foot of water! After a bit of head scratching Ali led us along a causeway and back to the River Yar which took us home. A good 12 miles or so and very blustery! The other group took our return route outbound and kept relatively low instead of climbing into the gales – they ended up doing almost the same mileage!
Day two saw us following the coast path from Yarmouth past Fort Victoria and on to Alum Chine, where the shorter group caught the bus back to Yarmouth for a bimble around the town. The other group forged on to the Needles for lunch with a view before continuing on to Tennyson Down where we had a serendipitous meeting with Sally, a member of the club holidaying with the husband who was walking her dog – and invited us all back to her holiday cottage for tea and cake! We then took a straight line path back to base for a sumptuous meal.
Our final half day walk started with a drive across towards Fishbourne where our ferry would depart later. We explored Quarr Abbey and all set off together to walk a loop of around 8 miles; however it was flooded in places and very difficult to find a way through, so after lunch we retraced our steps and took a short cut back to the start just before the rain began.
Thanks to Ali for organising and planning the walks. It was the perfect spring weekend, and very comfy accommodation too!
Leader: Ali Edwards
Sue