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| Buchaille Etive Beag - Stob Dubh |
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| Buchaille Etive Mor from Stob Dubh |
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| Gregor on Buchaille Etive Beag - Stob Dubh |
I had always intended to retire at some stage between 2008 and 2010. After a difficult year in 2008, when my father had died, work had become increasingly stressful. The multi-member wards had created tensions in the Council ad a new administration in April 2008 had exacerbated the stress at work. I had spent a day in London as a witness at an Employment Tribunal a couple of days before Christmas. The claimant accused the respondent of giving me a damaging reference that led to her not being offered a senior post following an interview. The new administration had decided not to appoint her but to ask for a reference before confirming their decision. The reality was that she did not have sufficient experience and had performed poorly in the group exercise given to the candidates. When her previous Chief Executive (the respondent) had indicated that there was a settlement agreement that did not allow him to give a reference. She lost her case, but I had spent days dealing with the case, requiring me to read a 500-page report of her claim before the Employment Tribunal and spend 2 hours in the witness box. It had to travel to London the afternoon before for a 9am start, and I did not get home until 1:30am on the Saturday.
It reinforced my decision, made over the Christmas/New Year holidays, to retire in late June 2009. I had felt tired by the long hours of work and frustrated by the ever-increasing edicts and inspections from the Scottish Government. I had also been diagnosed as having atrial fibrillation by the GP over the holidays, which made me think that 70-hour workweeks were not helping my health. I drafted my retirement letter and gave 6 months' notice when I returned to work on Monday, 5 January. After 38 years of uninterrupted service, with only a week off for a broken leg in 1977, it felt more like an earned freedom than a resignation.
Saturday, 3 January 2009
Ascent: 970 metres
Distance: 9 kilometres
Time: 3 hours 12 minutes
Stob Dubh 958m 1hr 25mins
Stob Coire Raineach 924m 2hrs 19mins
It was a perfect morning as Gregor and I left Aberfoyle at 9:00am, and the views on the drive to Glencoe were outstanding in the early morning light. Unfortunately, by the time we reached Bridge of Orchy, high grey clouds had begun to fill the sky, but the visibility remained good. It was a crisp winter morning with no wind as we started the walk at 10:45am with the temperature at -4°C. We followed the good path up the Lairig Eilde; there were patches of hard ice, but it presented no problems. We climbed at a good pace to the bealach at 760 metres achieved in just 45 minutes. We had overtaken a dozen walkers and Gregor had charged ahead, arriving 6 minutes ahead of me. We headed south for the summit of Stob Dubh first; it was hard-packed snow frozen hard, but we were able to use previous boot steps to climb the excellent ridge that gave stunning views across to Buchaille Etive Mor.
We had some coffee at the summit and soaked in the excellent views in all directions. We returned to the bealach and ascended the northern top, Stob Coire Raineach, which provides a balcony view over Glencoe. Gregor was charging ahead again, and we passed another 7 walkers by the time we had jogged down to the bealach for the third time and began the descent to the Lairig Eilde. Several difficult patches of black ice slightly slowed progress. We were down by 2pm and called in at Tyndrum for a roll and some chips to bring in the new year and celebrate my pending retirement.
I wanted to spend more time on the hills and less time trying to fight the tentacles of Scottish Government controls and political shenanigans in the Council. I wanted to be in fine fettle to enter the next phase of my life, and I could sense that continuing on a diet of 70-hour weeks was not helpful.
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