Billie Whitelaw

I was greatly saddened to hear that my co-star from the 1971 film Gumshoe had died yesterday. I had watched Billie Whitelaw in numerous TV programmes from Dixon of Dock Green, Robin Hood, various dramas on Armchair Theatre and films such as Charlie Bubbles during the 1960's. She had an understated glamour and presence, her principles seemed to be encapsulated in the tough realism of the roles she played.

We were having breakfast in our condemned flat in a flaking Victorian terrace in Liverpool 8 when the two girls in the flat spotted Albert Finney, the male lead of Gumshoe, standing on the vacant derelict land across the road from the flat talking with the director and film crew. They opened the sash window, waved at him and asked if they needed any extras. The director replied saying that they were looking for a young male to play a news reporter and were there any in the flat. Paul and I finished our toast, dawdled to the window, anxious not to show any interest, and were asked if we would like a part in the film they were shooting.

Thirty minutes later I had been hired as the getaway driver for Billie Whitelaw as she ran out of an adjacent building where, in the film, a heroin addict had died. The road had been closed and I was to drive her away at speed. They made eight takes of the scene, it took an hour and a half. I am not normally into celebrity but this was Billie Whitelaw, a real actress. I had the unbelievable pleasure of her jumping into the car, demanding me to drive her off and being told by the director to squeal the tyres of the getaway car. Even in a Hillman Imp this was about as good as it gets for any 22 year old male student.

I did miss a couple of lectures and gave my apologies, the lecturers said they would have done the same. I was paid £20, enough for a 200 pints of beer or my flat rent for six months. The whole scene was edited down to about 15 seconds in the film, which sadly cannot to be found on You Tube. Billie Whitelaw has remained a lifetime icon.

Gumshoe with Albert Finney

Lincoln

West Norman frontage of Lincoln Cathedral

Lincoln Cathedral

Frieze above north west door

Sanctuary

South West window

Top of the Streap

Looking from the castle to the cathedral

Lincoln is the largest UK city that I have never visited. Its position halfway down England on a flat plain never inspired me to make the effort. I even turned down a trial to play county cricket for Lincolnshire in the Minor Counties league after graduation. Aileen had bought a car online and by chance, it required it to be picked up in Lincoln so there was an excuse to visit. The journey to Lincoln after a weekend in London was remarkably cheap at £17 once we had figured out to buy two separate tickets: London to Newark and then Newark to Lincoln. The direct fare bought from the online "cheap rail ticket" sites would have cost £47 but that's what happens when you split rail travel across 26 companies and let the corporate ticket touts enter the fray to (mis)sell tickets.  Station booking staff are far more willing to give the passenger a better deal and they seem equally dismissive of all the ticketing scams.

We arrived at Lincoln in the early afternoon on a cold but sunny winter's day. We walked up the pedestrianised High Street that continued and became the Strait and then Steep Hill to the ridge on which the massive 11th-century cathedral and castle are built. Several locals commented on the fact we were dragging suitcases up the hill, it was a pretty sharp incline making me wish that I had brought a rucksack. The castle was closed following the weekend's Christmas market with over 300 stalls in and around the castle. The market had been a roaring success but the throngs of visitors were described as having to walk like penguins along the narrow streets.

Town Map

Our mission was simple, dump our bags and spend time visiting the cathedral, once the highest building in the world and responsible for the largest diocese in England, established by William the Conqueror in 1072, stretching from the Humber to the Thames. Built on the Lincolnshire ridge at 250 feet, it looms over the vast flat plains of Lincolnshire and was described by John Ruskin as "the most precious piece of architecture in the British Isles". It has suffered a number of calamities from earthquakes, and collapse from poor construction and today, like almost every other large church or cathedral, is undergoing a massive restoration.

It was the scale that impressed us and the fact that one of the four copies of the Magna Carta is held in the cathedral, although at the time of our visit, this was on loan to the Lincoln Center in Washington DC.  The Magna Carta with its message that all free men could not be held or imprisoned without being judged by their equals and that "the King was not to deny, delay or sell justice" were radical concessions by King John to quell the uprising of the barons. Whilst there have been claims that this was the precursor to civil liberties, it applied primarily to the barons and did not extend to the common people.

Magna Carta

We tramped up and down the steep hill several times and discovered that it had been voted the best shopping street in Britain. It was interesting but not that remarkable and the High Street was cluttered with the usual offerings. Brayford Pool and the river Witham provided a linear water feature through the heart of the city and there was an impressive collection of civic buildings.

Apart from its location in the midst of a rich agricultural area, the town is also home to Siemens and has benefitted from a new University which has acquired a good reputation for business studies in its short 20-year life. The outskirts of the city are an ugly addition to a fine city centre and have extended too far into the flat plains, the area is a melange of car showrooms, warehouses and modern housing. As we left the next morning the roads out of Lincoln were at capacity and even the 10 miles on the A46 to the A1 north took a good half hour amidst heavy commercial traffic.

So that's Lincoln crossed off the visit list although I could be tempted back if only to see the cathedral again and visit the castle. I would like to think that the surrounding countryside would be a palette of Lincoln Green in summer but I suspect that yellow fields of rape seed and a smattering of commercial buildings with grey roofs amidst blocks of tarmac would flank the historic city.

London

Brixton Tube Station

Ritzy on Windrush Suare

Electric Avenue

Brixton Market

Santa run from Windrush Square

Bubbling dissent against austerity measures

St Pancras Station: true Victorian splendour and home to Eurostar

King's Cross regeneration

For the first time all year, we caught a flight to London, I had been working during the day and that ruled out the train. The flight tickets from Scotland were cheaper than the train to London but the cost of the train from Stansted to London (36 miles) was almost the same price as the flight and 50% more expensive than our rail tickets to Lincoln (153 miles) at the end of the weekend. It illustrated once again what a nonsense rail franchising has been and how the customer is being routinely fleeced by the operators.

London is never quiet or content, every visit this year has witnessed demonstrations, petitions, heavy policing and edgy incidents. Arriving in Brixton on Friday evening we were harangued by touts selling Kasabian tickets outside the tube station, it was crazy! Did I look like a Kasabian fan with my suitcase and Rab jacket? The streets were thronged with thirty-somethings, nightlife was rife and the hundreds of pubs and restaurants of every ethnicity were sucking in and spilling out crowds.

The next day dawned cold and bright, I decided against the Saturday Park Run in Brockwell park and pottered around Brixton's street markets in Electric Avenue, which had inspired Eddie Grant's eponymous 1982 hit. By lunchtime, the streets were full of mock Santa's outside the Ritzy cinema. I assumed it was just another demonstration - "a living wage for elves" but it seemed to be part of an annual Santa run. Protest and fun are yoked together in Brixton. We retreated down Acre Lane passing a bedraggled student demonstration and ate at the excellent Boqueria tapas bar that had been partly hired by a 'ration book' of retired baby boomers for their Christmas lunch. We were lucky to have an inquisitive toddler granddaughter to entertain us as she sampled the food, lapped the table of noisy baby boomers and entertained the waiters.

I was surprised the next morning to be running amidst a hundred or so primary school children in Brockwell park, there is now a children's Park Run on Sunday. By early afternoon the roads were at a standstill with traffic as we caught a bus to East Dulwich, it took an hour to travel 3 miles and that seems to be typical of most bus trips in London. Transport for London doesn't seem to be making much progress in improving bus travel, which seems to be used mainly by young mums with children, pensioners and young people surviving on a less than a living wage. The journey was worth it as we spent the afternoon in a cosy cafe on Lordship Lane with a carafe of wine and some craft produced cream cheese. Bare wood tables, a clientele that included all ages and races gave an easy atmosphere that was the upside of London displaying the benefits of diversity.

The journey back from London is always made easy by the speedy tube service and King's Cross has trains that depart with a remarkable high frequency. I was disturbed by the claims reported in the London Evening Standard by Mike Brown, the Managing Director of the Tube. He was demanding that as well as HS2 (£42.6bn) and the Crossrail project (£16bn), which is due to open in 2018, that there will be a need for Crossrail 2 to allow mainline trains to run into the centre of London. This is endorsed by London First, a corporate lobby group encouraged by Boris Johnson, which is seeking a further £12bn to be spent on Crossrail 2 for London transport. It is yet another example of London's obsessive selfish demands that seem to find receptive ears in government departments and ministers. It will ensure that Heathrow to Canary Wharf (23miles) can be made in 40 minutes, about the same time as it takes the new Edinburgh Trams to travel 8 miles from the centre to its airport, even the buses in Edinburgh are quicker than this.

I calmed myself down from this latest example of London-centric indulgence by taking a walk around St. Pancras, my favourite railway station, and then observing the regeneration of the area north of King's Cross by the canal. We caught a fast train from King's Cross to Newark and changed to the slow train from Newark to Lincoln. The contrast was marked and fully illustrated the inequality in transport spending, outwith the London commuter belt the country has been starved of investment. The single railcar dawdled across the flat landscapes of Lincolnshire and even that seemed fast compared to some rail trips across the Pennines. 

The sums required to procure and build HS2 plus Crossrail 2 could transform rail services across the rest of Britain, without the expensive tunnelling and land purchases required in London and the southeast. This could ensure that travel times are reduced by up to 50-60% as well as providing comfortable modern trains like those serving the London commuters. Transport for London should sort out priority lanes for buses rather than constantly surcharging the rest of the UK for its tunnel vision. The sooner we have a truly federal Britain the better; the North and Midlands of England have suffered more than Scotland and Northern Ireland in the government's unalloyed prejudice towards favouring the capital. As well as devolved nations, we also need to devolve power to the less prosperous regions of England.

Newark to Lincoln railcar

Ladder Hills

Carn Mor summit

The ridge to Carn Mor

Eastern Cairngorms from Carn Mor

Trying to lose my shadow on Carn Mor

and failing - Ben Rinnes and Corryhabbie Hill from Carn Mor

Carn Mor from Carn Liath

Walking to the Lecht from Carn Liath

Lecht Ski Centre

Osprey Tow, the Lecht

Carn Ealasaid from Carn Mhic an Toisich

Summit, yes that's right, of Carn Ealasaid

Wednesday, 3 December 2014

Ascent:    750 metres

Distance:  20 kilometres

Time:        5 hours 5minutes

Carn Mor            804m     1hr 25mins  

Carn Ealasaid      792m    4hrs  3mins

Day 2 of the Moray Corbetts began with a proper breakfast in the B&B.  The sun had returned with vengeance but without the accompanying wind of yesterday. We drove a dozen miles from Auchbreck in Glenlivet to Tomintoul and then south along the infamous A939 towards Cockbridge and parked by the 'Well of the Lecht' corner. The track to the former iron and manganese mine was frozen hard and when it became an impassable frozen pool we took an old hill path to an illicit whisky still. The path was a stream of sheet ice but fronds of heather and mashed peat from previous footprints made it passable. It climbs steadily to the Carn Dulack ridge by which time we had emerged from the morning shadow into the sunlight  Reaching the ridge opened up tremendous vistas and we followed the ridge as it curved round to Carn Liath. As we reached a fence the short grass gave way to the heather slopes that were deep and difficult to negotiate. We headed to the bealach between Carn Liath and Carn Mor, it was a maze of peat hags that we dodged our way through.

I had stuffed the map in my rucksack as visibility was perfect and assumed the 799m top ahead was Carn Mor, it was about the right altitude for Carn Mor according to my altimeter. Mark continued over the edge of the plateau, at first I presumed he was taking a few photos but he then continued another kilometre to the real summit of Carn Mor. Meanwhile, I was lolling on the tiny cairn on the 799m top eating a sandwich and enjoying the still winter conditions. Fortunately, the route across to the real summit was easy walking over a thin layer of snow and it took little time to reach the summit. We looked across at the views of our hills of yesterday, Corryhabbie Hill and Ben Rinnes and realised that we had been blessed with the very best of conditions for the ascent of these wicked heather-clad hills. 

The route back to the Lecht ski centre was a roller coaster over the Ladder hills with three intervening tops, it was a long and hard six kilometres of hacking our way through snow-coated heather. The ski centre was closed but we took the opportunity to have a quick lunch break before the sun sank behind the hills and then began the steep climb up the heather covered piste next to the ski tows. It is not a big climb (150m) but it was a relief to reach Carn Mhic an Toisich. We looked askance at the tricky route across to Carn Ealasaid. The heather was partly covered by snow but there were 800 metres of peat hags to cross before the final climb. There were lots of new animal tracks following the narrow path tracing its way through the heather, the snow was only a day old, and it looked as if the hares were being tracked by foxes.

The summit of Carn Ealasaid is about as flat and pointless as they come and the descent was not much better - a long traverse to the north of Beinn a' Chruinnich and then a leg sapping descent down 200 metres of deep heather to hit the road at the Bridge of Leachd. The car was frozen up and the temperature was well below freezing even at 3:30pm, we changed and began the long journey home via Cock Bridge, Balmoral, Braemar and Glenshee. Sadly it was too dark to see any of the scenery in its winter finery but at least it was not the A9.

Corryhabbie Hill and Ben Rinnes

Ben Rinnes

Heading up the snow slopes to Corryhabbie Hill summit

Cold and Blue on Corryhabbie

The Barley Mow in the Folds of Corhabbie

Winter landscape Glen Rinnes

On the ascent of Ben Rinnes

Ben A'an and Beinn a'Bhuird at sunset from  Ben Rinnes

Tuesday, 2 December 2014
Ascent:   CH: 560m., BR: 575m
Distance:  CH: 11km., BR: 7km.  
Time:  CH:2hrs 58mins., BR 1hr 59mins

Corryhabble Hill   781m      1hr 36mins
Ben Rinnes           840m      1hr   4mins

The northeast is part of the Scotland area that I know least well, possibly because there are no munros nor is it close to the ever-beguiling west coast. For a year or so I had planned to take a couple of days in winter to climb some of my remaining corbetts near Glenlivet and, when the Met Office predicted two consecutive days of winter sun, I jumped to attention and arranged an outing. Leaving at 7:15am I collected Mark in Callander and drove up the A9 amidst very nervous traffic, everyone was watching their speed following the introduction of the 60mph average speed restrictions. By Aviemore we were driving in a convoy so slow that the average Tour de France cyclist would have been able to break away. Fortunately, I was able to turn off for Grantown on Spey and then enjoy the glorious Moray countryside to Glenlivet and continue to Glen Rinnes.

We parked by an assortment of wheelie bins at Ellivreid to begin the ascent of Corryhabbie Hill. A local lady passing in her car gave us her blessing to park and said it would be wonderful on the hill although she was not tempted to join us. She said she was off to the hairdresser to fill her day but she would watch us climb Ben Rinnes through her binoculars when she got home. It confirmed our perception that not much happened in these parts in winter.

The walk from Ellivreid was in perfect mid-winter light, we crossed a field of grazing sheep and eventually found a way across a waterlogged burn, through the gate and southwards over easy ground to the Hill of Achmore. From here it was a long tramp through deep heather to reach the foot of the steeper slopes leading to Muckle Lapproch. The hard work was over and we were privileged to alight onto a snow-covered ridge that eased us towards the Corryhabbie. We crossed some peat hags and then attacked the steeper and deeper snow slopes to the summit. The sharp breeze from the lower slopes had become a mini jet stream with a chill factor that rapidly extracted all body heat. We took a quick stop to admire the fine vista of the Cairngorms and the pristine rolling hills dotted with wind farms.

We descended to the north, quickly seizing the opportunity to escape the wind as we scattered noisy grouse and flocks of starlings. As we reached the Folds of Corhabbie, the fields of mown barley created beautiful patterns in the sunlight. We crossed a burn and climbed the ridge behind Sheandow before dropping back down the slopes to Ellivred. Despite its reputation as a troublesome hill, Corryhabbie had been a good outing, maybe helped by the sun and the snow on the tops which lubricates progress through the heathers.

From here it is only 5 minutes to the car park on Edinglen road from where a well-made path ascends Ben Rinnes. We made good time along the long flat ridge of Roy's Hill and we arrived at the summit as the sun set over the Cairngorms. The winds of midday had blown themselves out and we just had the sparkling coolness of a clear winter's evening and a nearly full moon to accompany us back to the car. My trusty Olympus camera succumbed to the cold and froze and I am seen trying to fix it in the light of the silvery moon.

It was just about dark by the time we were down and we retreated to a superb Bank House Glenlivet B&B that I had booked the night before. We were made to feel at home, invited to an evening meal as the local pub was closed in winter, enjoyed an open fire, a malt whisky and conversation with the welcoming owners. In 25 years of fairly intensive hillwalking I have spent about 250 nights away from home; mainly in tents, bunkhouses and hostels. This was only the sixth time in a B&B but it was undoubtedly the most comfortable and relaxing night during all my hill walking exploits thanks to Helen and Ruud.

Ben Rinnes man triangulates with the moon

Beinn Teallach and Beinn a' Chaorainn

Loch Treig and the Aonachs from West Highland line

The ascent of Beinn Teallach looking west

The window below Creag Meagaidh and massive bulk of Beinn a' Chaorainn

Beinn a' Chaorainn from Beinn Teallach

Late autumn bronzes 

Beinn Teallach and Loch Arkaig in low cloud from north top

Stob Coire Poite, Coire Ardair window and Creag Meagaidh fromm north top

Late afternoon sky over Beinn a' Chaorainn

Summit of Beinn a' Chaorainn from north top

South West ridge of Beinn a' Chaorainn, Loch Treig in distance

Sunset over Ben Nevis

Looking west over Creag Dubh from flanks of Beinn a' Chaorainn

Tuesday, 25 November 2014
Ascent:       1285 metres
Distance:    21 kilometres
Time:          6 hours 2mins

Beinn Teallach                             915m    2hrs 10mins
Beinn a' Chaorainn n. top           1043m    3hrs 40mins
Beinn a' Chaorainn                     1049m   3hrs 54mins
Beinn a' Chaorainn s. top           1049m   4hrs  1min

November had been a dull month in every sense and in a pique of desperation at my slothfulness I decided to have an adventure in the hills north of Glen Spean. Mark, as always, was a willing accomplice and we caught the train from Bridge of Orchy to Tulloch. Most of the central belt had been wrapped in cloud but there were signs of brighter conditions to the north. After passing Rannoch and Corrour, which were both still enveloped in low cloud, the sun broke through as we began the descent to Loch Treig.  We caught a glimpse of Ben Nevis clothed in early winter snow before trundling down to the low cloud that was hanging in Glen Spean.

We were the only ones to depart at Tulloch, nothing unusual about that, the station is now a very well appointed bunk house and there are only a handful of cottages in the vicinity. On my 1973 edition OS map there is a track going to the north east and we followed it for a couple of hundred metres until it petered out and then crossed a waterlogged field to reach the A86. My map showed no plantations to the north but Mark's more recent map had an extensive forestry plantation to the north of the road and a track shimmied through it leading to a river. Moreover he had taken a look at Google Earth and spotted a bridge over the river at the edge of a plantation that leads north from here towards the Allt a' Chaorainn as it sluices down the deep valley that dissects Beinn Teallach from Beinn a'Chaorainn.

At last we were on the climb, we joined the more usual track from Roughburn and climbed to 400 metres at the end of the plantation. There is a stile here and a path leads directly upwards to the summit of Beinn Teallach. We had also climbed out of the cloud that was now a ribbon of cotton wool obscuring Glen Spean below us. The massive bulk of Beinn a' Chaorainn to the east disappeared into a higher layer of cloud. The ground was very boggy after recent rains although the slopes were a beautiful hue of bronze as the midday sun lit up the slopes. We had over 500 metres to climb and, apart from the grouse that we disturbed, it was free time to reflect on other matters.

The summit was reached before 2pm but was still in cloud. I was halfway through my sandwich when Mark appeared and decided to continue, unusually he had not been galloping round, he was feeling under the weather and wanted to be sure of getting round before the train at 6pm. The descent is fairly steep to the north but there is a reasonable path that meanders through the rocks before the final hundred metres of descent down grassy slopes. The sun had begun to make its presence felt, it was a mild day for late November and it was spotlighting the great wilderness of hills to the north east including Creag Meagaidh.

I stopped for coffee at the bealach but once again Mark marched on up the uncompromising flank of Beinn a' Chaorainn. There were some tracks that soon disappeared as the rocks began and it was a case of head down and slogging up the 455 metres to the long summit ridge with its three tops all of very similar heights. A pair of ptarmigan flew over, their plumage already white, and the skies took on an abstract appearance as the sun sank and the various cloud formations jostled for airspace. It became a perfect walk, the first snow had fallen on the summit ridge, the views were full of early winter surprises and the skies were providing a light show as good as any I have seen.

It was 3:45pm by the time we reached the final top and decided to waste no time, it was a long descent and would be dark in 45 minutes. We negotiated a good line down the south west ridge and recognised the fire break through the plantation where we knew from previous outings that there was a path down to the track leading back to Roughburn. We made the stile as the light finally faded and I retrieved my head torch for the muddy descent. As I reached the track I lost my footing on a mudslip and the noise of my splash landing in the wet peat was only exceeded by the resulting expletive. It is a long and indirect 3 kilometres back to the A86 and then a further 4 kilometres back to the station, we decided to give the waterlogged field a miss in the dark. We arrived back with 15 minutes to spare and once again enjoyed the superb train service across the UK's highest stretch of railway. We couldn't see a thing but Bridge of Orchy was a haven of tranquility as we disembarked at 7pm and home was only an hour away. We had salvaged a wonderful day in the hills from the depths of a dreich November.