UKC

Ok it's been a pretty crap year for obvious reasons, but I like to remember the best bits at this time of year.

So let's hear your favourite walking / climbing / general outdoors moments of 2021, don't care if it was walking the dog on your local hills or soloing in the Alps, let's have some of the good memories to end the year.

When my 11 year old got a glimpse of the 3005 m peak we were attempting that day and said "we can do that" and indeed we made our first 3000m summit this year. 

Grande Fache?

Mine was a walk up Crib Goch for sunrise earlier in December. Got some great weather for it. Photos at https://www.flickr.com/photos/rockcatch

Late September afternoon, lying in the grass in a hidden gully under Westmorelands crags, sipping a Coke and watching the  Scafells slowly emerge from the clouds that had obscured them all day.

I'd had a great day climbing on the Napes, scrambled up Pinnacle Ridge and finished up on the appropriately named Dad's Day slab.  Just having a moments peace before heading off over the top.

Cracking a VS on Shining Clough after 4 months of physio following a knee op.

Sea kayaking out to Gola island to camp and climb sea cliffs.

Cracking the 10 summits of Macgillycuddy reeks traverse in Ireland.

3 days of cloud inversions, scrambling Torridon.

Despite knee op's and covid, we did well this year. Apologies!

Walking up to Loch Nan Eun near Spittal of Glenshee back in June for a wild camp.

Parked at the hotel and walked up the valley with a big pack and temp in the 20’s.

Camped up by the Loch. Pitched at 1800, walked up Glas Tualichean with my brother in law and collie. 
Back to the tent at 1900 for beers and ball throwing.

Listened to grouse on either side of the Loch apparently telling each other to ‘feck off’.

Watched the mist rise off the Loch like a Game of Thrones scene as the sunset and the temperature dropped. 
Magic it was.

Solo on the Glyders in early morning in April with 24 hours and nowhere to be. Total silence. Me, my running kit, and a ridge to myself. Where to go, nowhere to be. Blissful 12 hours of running.

Made months of teaching from home, bubbles, and assorted nonsense worth it. 

These are all amazing, great to hear them.

Spent a couple of hours sitting in the sun atop the cliffs of Canna in late May watching Minke whale feeding below, really great view of the Cuillin and views over to the southern end of the Outer Hebrides one way and the Knoydart hills the other. Bonus was a Goldie flew out from a little further along the cliffs and circled around for a while before heading out over the sea.

Just being out and exploring local hills on my bike. Very non-specific but massively enjoyed.

This year I had my first ever visit to Skye.

On an incredibly sunny day we stopped off at the Sligachan Hotel and wandered over towards the monument.

We sat on the rocks by the river and gazed at the Cullin. 

Honestly, it may sound strange (and slightly pretentious?), but it felt as though I was meeting a celebrity.

Certainly up there as one of my favourite moments of the year.

That's great!  I felt the same when I first arrived on Skye and set foot on the Cuillin - very special, and a privilege to be there.  

No Zischgeles in Tyrol. At Wikipedia it is quoted as 3004 but on my map it was 3005 m

My 2021 probably had fewer highlights even than 2020, but it could have been a lot worse so mustn't grumble.

The best bit for me was probably a few days sea paddling in N Wales in beautiful July weather.  I usually like it a bit rough but really enjoyed the light winds and millpond seas, and took advantage of the calm conditions for a couple of really mellow crossings.  There were some really unusual atmospheric conditions around Anglesey for a few days, and some full-on mirages looking out over the sea.

I got to paddle across from Cemlyn to the Skerries on flat calm water across weird huge boils of upwelling water from the strong currents, among banks of mist rolling along at water level so the horizon and all the landmarks would disappear leaving clear blue sky above.  It was quite spooky paddling alone with land out of sight and a bit of a relief when the cardinal buoy I was aiming for loomed out of the mist (along with a little group who'd set off before I'd arrived).

Later in the week I paddled over to Bardsey Island in t-shirt weather, passed by flocks of Manx shearwaters along the way, and ate my lunch sitting on the summit of Mynydd Enlli with a pretty clear view over to the Lleyn in a cool breeze gentle enough that you could still hear the seals singing down on the shore to the East.

Edit to add pics.  Coal Rock cardinal buoy as the mist was clearing, and a bizarre Fata Morgana mirage of the Skerries looking across from N Stack (there definitely aren't any cliffs on the Skerries!)

Bouldering at Wolf Edge, some small outcrops back of The Roaches, on a couple of warm spring days in late March: rough brown grit under blue skies alive with the bubbling of curlews and kestrels shaking winter from their wings.

Beinn Mheadhoin, Ben Macdui and a wildcamp at Loch Etchachan in September. Swims at Pattack Falls, Feshie Bridge and the Spey at Newtonmore.

The Neuadd circuit in March. A fairly ordinary walk for a resident of South Wales, but this was my first leisure walk in the hills since the reintroduction of travel restrictions in Wales before Christmas 2020.

My first, too. Unfortunately a series of very poor decisions on my part  found  me at the base of the main mountain but in the wrong country. I always think back of it as  La Grande Fiasco instead of its proper name.

A few memorable moments this year.

The day on Wreckers slab when we bumped into Mark Kemble.  Great climb, Great bloke.

Scrambling Crib Lem in North Wales with my nephew and SMDC. Terrible weather great company.

But Number one had to be finally bagging Porky at Roche rock with Adam from UKC.   A simple route to many, but one I kept thinking was too hard for me.  It's all in the mind. 

After the long pandemic hiatus, several good backpacks in 2021 with two particular favourites:-

A milestone trip on the Taith Ardudwy Way (https://v-g.me.uk/Trips/T1027/T1027.htm) for our ruby wedding anniversary with a couple of superb pitches at Llyn Eiddew-bach and Llyn Irddyn.

A trek of the South Western Arenigs (https://v-g.me.uk/Trips/T1023/T1023.htm) in blistering heat with great summit pitches on Foel Boeth and Rhobell Fawr.

among them would be swimming from Overstrand to Cromer and not feeling at all cold, pausing during an overnight camping trip to swim across Red Tarn below Helvellyn, and then back by way of the centre of the tarn, unbelievable.  Plus still being able to carry my camping equipment on to the tops as I get older, includling my annual walk along the Roman Road from Winder Hall to Troutbeck and back over Place Fell to Howtown.  Somehow I managed to keep clear of people by careful evasion tactics

A difficult year with less opportunities than normal due to the current unpleasantness, but a few things stick out.

January 4th, day the lockdown was announced in the evening. I spent the day on Kinder, scrambled up snow and ice on Crowden Clough, crossed the plateau in deep snow on a bearing, bouldered on ice at the bottom of the Downfall (not stable enough for me to try soloing), returned to the plateau by a grade III tiny, snowed-up rock route, then walked back through the drifts but enjoying the sunset along the Pennine Way.

Mid January, strade bianche Eastern Moors edition. A lightish covering of snow above Sheffield/Chesterfield meant all the tracks on the moors were white but not icy. I could ride my MTB from home and did a big loop over Houndkirk along to Burbage, over Froggatt and Curbar and so on - blue skies, very little mud until the dip back down into the last valley that wasn't so frozen. And super grippy riding on compacted snow, but not ice.

April, visiting Stoney West for the first times and ticking loads of 6a realising I hadn't completely forgotten how to rock climb over the winter.

May - a silly idea that became a great day out, the inaugural "Peak District Bike-to-Climb 6a Challenge" in the sun with great mates https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/fat_tyres_and_quickdraws_mount...

June, 187 km back lanes and off-road ride to my parents in Worcestershire on a sunny day (came back with the rest of the family in the car!).

June, first visit to the Lakes in ages, various routes on Gimmer in the sunshine. And sunny evening visits with good friends to various dodgy quarries around Stoney for sport climbing - onsighting Sheffield Tape Archive (6a+) - my best onsight effort - followed by a pint in the Moon afterwards.

July, an overnight bikepack on all the best gravel trails the South Peak has to offer as warm up for a two night, three day, bikepack from home (just south of Sheffield) - out in to the Lincolnshire Wolds, up to and over the Humber and west along the Humber to the bottom of North Yorkshire, then back home mainly along the Trans Pennine Trail - oddly quite nice, canals, bridleways and so on, considering you are going through post-Industrial South Yorks. 350 kms over all.

August - Murray's Route (S 4a) and Eliminate 'A' (VS 4c) on Dow Crag with Tony, then an excellent 50 km mountain bike circumnavigation of Coniston the next day.

Oct - my friend Dave visiting the UK for the first time since pre-Covid, a great day cragging at Stanage North in the sunshine.

Nov - Crib Lem (II 2) in pretty OK winter conditions, just being out in the snow again was brilliant.

Dec - grabbing a couple of routes in very snowy conditions on Brown Cove Crags, - two winter days out pre Xmas always seems great for those of us not lucky enough to live in Scotland!

Belatedly discovering bivvy bags. Meant several summit camps with great views and a few photos on here.

Wow, I love those photos! And it's also answered the "why does Ailsa Craig seem to be floating?" question I had on the ferry from Arran back in October, never heard the term Fata Morgana before.

Mostly a fairly uninspiring year of simple regular local outdoor stuff (mostly wildlife walks in Surrey, but with less wildlife than the previous year!).

There were, though, a few highlights further afield:

The best was our twice-postponed canoe-camping trip in late May. This took our daft group of kids and adults to A' Mhaighdean and Ruadh Stac Mor by Fionn Loch. Unfortunately, Fionn Loch doesn't reach a road, so first we had to portage. For nearly two days! We love that sort of silliness, though, and with pretty remarkable weather, the whole trip was a proper adventure. https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=107370

Seeing a couple of otters on the Waveney in July was lovely, as I got to actually watch them for a bit from the canoe at sunrise, rather than just the usual glimpse-then-gone sighting.

A return to Scotland in September gave us a more relaxed trip canoe camping on Loch Maree and then on to Assynt. https://www.songofthepaddle.co.uk/beach-holidays-can-be-fun-lochs-maree-and...

Glad I posted now, as it made me re-read my above linked stuff and realise just how special the A' Mhaighdean trip was. I've been feeling a bit uninspired this last couple of months, just dull grey weather and poor photographic reward for my local wanders. Looking back helped me remember there were some fabulous moments before, and re-inspired me to plan for the coming year.