Quinag, fun in Assynt, a quick mtb ride home and thoughts on learning from UCLA

 

                                   

Just home from a little work and play in Assynt. I took Rosalind and co. for a walk on Quinag with a little navigation work thrown in. The weather was mixed; some brightness, some views, some drizzle and some mist. This was fine for our purposes as we visited all 3 tops looking at setting the map visually and with the compass-  to determine direction, distance- and how it relates to duration of the leg and what all those contour lines actually mean on the ground. Throughout the day we also discussed the amazing geology of the mountain as we passed through a landscape of gneiss, sandstone and quartzite and the variety of flora on show: butterwort, alpine and regular ladies mantle, lady bedstraw, yellow and starry saxifrage, thyme (anyone else noted how well its doing this year?), lousewort and common orchids. The chat ranged from dentistry to education, travel and trekking to walking clothing and equipment. Thanks for a grand day out folks.

Since then Jane, Sandy, Kaye and I have stalked red deer, paddled on Loch Assynt, cycled, looked at frogs and crawled around the Bone Caves. a nice we family break. Thanks to Inchnadamph Lodge for the cottage and a warm welcome.

On the way home I got dropped North of Lochy and had a good fast blast on the bike for 20 miles down the Great Glen Way. Now that bridges have been replaced in the woods north of Gairlochy there is a great wee bit of single track to do before the flat blast down the canal.

The filming is one handed... and that's the hand doing the gear changes!!

Finally a nice wee article published by UCLA on learning challenging some conventional thoughts.