The Joy of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Many thanks to the EU for introducing the General Data Protection Regulation. In recent weeks I have received dozens of emails from companies pleading with me to continue as their valued customer. Most of them I know very little about but they appear to have my details. I may have bought a bike tyre, a vacuum spare part, some printer inks or a Christmas present from them several years ago. Just as likely is that one of these companies has sold my email address to other online retailers or services. Try stopping Virgin Trains from harassing you to download their app and book tickets at prices that are as bizarre as their excuses for trains not running. Even the Economist magazine makes it almost impossible to delete their weekly invitation to subscribe.

Like millions of others, I have been inundated with a tide of promotions every day by rapacious companies who are destroying the internet with their unsolicited offers. It has been almost impossible to stop the flow of puerile marketing. And now Halleluya, every day in recent weeks as the deadline for GDPR approaches, I have delighted in unsubscribing from almost all of them as they seek my permission to continue to harangue me with what they think is clever marketing because I once bought something that I probably would never buy again, like a Virgin train ticket.

I now have an almost empty inbox, it has made life so much freer and healthier, it is a 'timesend'. No longer the pinging of unsolicited emails in the early hours or the end of month avalanche of payday promotions. Thank you to the EU for this fine piece of legislation, which has been adopted by the UK government so that in the unwelcome event that Brexit ever takes place GDPR will be retained. It may yet protect us from the marketing of chlorine-washed chicken and other environmentally unsound trash from the USA.

I now have free time to use the internet to search for things that I need and to find information. The things we always hoped that the internet would deliver with reliable efficiency and but it was a naive trust. According to the advertising agencies, the era of push marketing was supposed to be finished and the internet would allow customers to select products and services. The global digital corporations have scuppered this hope by exploiting their vast list of users to sell online adverts that intrude into every online search. GDPR has not stopped the adverts but it has eliminated a lot of the dross that threatened to strangle the internet.

I wish

Beinn Sgriol

Beinn Sgriol from Ladhar Bheinn

Wednesday, 16 May 2018

Ascent:         1095 metres
Distance:      8 kilometres
Time:           4 hours 6 minutes

Beinn Sgriol       974m       2 hours 20 minutes

Leaving Torrin on Skye to get to Glenelg was not as straightforward as I had hoped after getting down from Bla Bheinn. I immediately drove to catch the Kylerhea to Glenelg ferry, figuring that I could eat some lunch on the ferry or during the wait for it. Despite the narrow single track road with few passing places that runs from the A87 at Broadford aerodrome to Kylerhea there were few delays. I arrived just before 2pm as the ferry was on the slipway. Unfortunately, all 6 car spaces had been taken so I was told that it would take twenty minutes for it to return. If only that were the case.

The tide was at its lowest ebb of the year and the ferry had to make a long dogleg across the narrow channel. It took far longer to return than expected and struggled to reach the slipway in low water or to let down its ramp. Three cars and two German bikers with touring BMW bikes were eventually loaded and then shuffled up and down the rotating platform several times before the weight distribution allowed the ferry to reverse off the sea bottom. Its diesel engine was emitting black flumes of smoke and the seabed well and truly agitated.

It was well after 3pm before the ferry reached the Glenelg slipway and the long drive to Arnisdale began, through Glenelg village, past Gavin Maxwell's house at Sandaig (Camusfearna) and on to the remote village of Arnisdale. I parked at the far end of the village at the designated parking place overlooking the shore but then discovered that the start of the path had been relocated since my last visit to the entrance to the village. It took me ten minutes to return and prepare for the walk, changing into an old pair of Inov8 trail shoes that would be scrapped at the end of the walk after five years of good service.

Two ladies talking outside the Post Office pointed out the start of the path. Immediately I was confronted by a narrow boggy path that climbs to about 100 metres before taking a sharp right diversion through a new gate, crossing a couple of burns and then joining the original path from the centre of the village. This is the start of a brutally steep ascent. I had been up this way only once before on a wet October day and I now realised why. It is an even worse route than the steep climb through almost impenetrable vegetation from the road three miles west of Arnisdale that I had endured on a couple of occasions. On a warm sunny May afternoon, it was going to be a long sweat inducing slog.

I met a young couple from Ambleside, they complained that even descending the path was hard work and so much more difficult than walking in the Lakes. They did acknowledge that the views from the summit were worth it. This part of the climb continues to Bealach Arnasdail at 604 metres where there is a turn to the left and then another energy-sapping climb up the east ridge. There is a path but it meandered into a scree slope at 750 metres. Then another 150 metres of trail dancing on boulders to reach the top at 906 metres.

Suddenly the views were spectacular in all directions and the walking became enjoyable as I ambled down and across a grassy ridge to the summit about a mile away. It was 6pm as I reached the broken cairn and languished for ten minutes in the glorious evening sunshine. As I had hoped the views to Knoydart and along Loch Hourn were stunning whilst Skye glistened beneath the sinking evening sun in the west. I figured that it would be almost 8pm by the time I was back down to the car.  I needed to decide whether to drive home, 4 hours at least, assuming I could stay awake at the wheel, or return to Lochcarron for another night. It was a no-brainer, I phoned my brother and by 9pm I was drinking a bottle of Red Cow bitter from the local Strathcarron brewery and enjoying a ham salad. Sleep was assured after 9 hours of walking and 2100 metres of ascent.

Glenelg ferry

Huts at the start of the walk in Arnisdale

Steep or what?

Beinn Sgriol from 906m top

Summit looking over Knoydart

Loch Hourn and Knoydart

906m top from Beinn Sgriol

Arnisdale Bay

Main street

Bla Bheinn

Bla Bheinn approach via Torrin

Wednesday, 16 May 2018

Ascent:         1011 metres
Distance:       9 kilometres
Time:            4 hours 31 minutes

Bla Bheinn        928m   1 hour  58 minutes
South Top         926m   2 hours 23 minutes

A rare spell of good weather prompted me to head to Skye to climb Bla Bheinn and Ben Sgriol over the sea on the Glenelg peninsula. Time was precious as we are moving house in a fortnight. I drove up the night before and stayed with my brother and his wife at their cottage at Lochcarron. It allowed an early start, although they thought it a bit much to attempt the two hills in a day. My mindset was that I had always climbed Ben Sgriol along with another hill: Bla Bheinn in 1992, Maol Chean-dearg in 1998, Gairich in 2004 and 2008. I liked the crazy logic of fitting disparate hills together and why should age get in the way!

I left at 7:30am, the day looked promising with a white overcast sky threatening sunshine later. Going over the Skye bridge I was disappointed to see the erection of a Marine Harvest fish processing plant reaching for the sky. It is a harbinger of what is happening to Skye as it overloads with tourists prompted by the tired language of Visit Scotland advocating it as 'home to some of Scotland's most iconic landscapes'. Skye is now suffering all the indignities of an overpromoted tourist destination: no bed spaces, crowded tourist destinations, high prices, a surfeit of camper vans, road rage on the now overwhelmed single-track roads and an influx of the wealthy retirees dotting the landscape with new houses. Only the midges, weather and remoteness are there to counterbalance the reckless pursuit of tourism.

Nevertheless, the single-track road to Torrin gave inspirational views of the ever-magnificent Bla Bheinn. I parked at the car park at the foot of the climb and prepared for the walk, it was not yet 9am. I set off at the same time as a recently retired teacher from Hexham and we walked together. She was a hill runner and mountain lover but slightly apprehensive about tackling the climb on her own, it involves some route finding and scrambling to reach the summit. The path along the Allt na Dunaiche is delightful and has a gradient which is perfect for limbering up. It steepens on crossing the burn and climbs to about 400 metres into Coire Uaigneich, which exhibits a magnificent erratic boulder amidst the rare oasis of green flat land.

We decided to take the direct route to the summit rather than the less steep climb via the South Top. It was a good decision and although the going was steep over gabbro boulders with some loose scree in a gully, the concentration and continuous conversation hastened the climb and we made the summit in under two hours. Although the sky was mainly white clouds, the views of the Cuillin ridge were excellent. We enjoyed a 15-minute break for photos, drinks and gawping at the vistas before deciding to extend the walk by scrambling over to the South Top. It had not been my original intention but I was well within my schedule to be down in time to climb Beinn Sgriol in the afternoon.

It is a short distance with minimal descent between the twin summits but there is a scramble up a gulley to reach the South Top. I took a higher line at first along some broken rocks but the footholds eventually gave out and my companion was not comfortable so we retreated and dropped down some scree to find the start of a gulley of loose rock but soon popped out on the top. The views to the small isles were better from the South Top although there was a slight sea haze. We lingered to look at the splendour of the Skye Ridge and Loch Coruisk. I spotted the weather station which explains why I can get a forecast for Bla Bheinn from the excellent Met Office website. As we began the twisting descent down the loose rock we met a party of young Dutch walkers who had spent several days walking down the west coast of Skye. They had enjoyed the best of weather and exuded a happy countenance, they were mesmerised by Skye's scenery but then Holland is very flat.

We reached the large boulder having passed two parties of Americans struggling up the rocky path without much enthusiasm but at least they were out of their cars. The contrast with the Dutch walkers could not have been more pronounced, elated Europeans against downcast moaning Americans, c'est la vie! And then we were left with the pleasant walk out as the heat of the day began to rise. It had been a wonderful walk in good company out but was still only 1pm, leaving plenty of time for the next outing. 

I still felt full of walking and left immediately in order to reach the Glenelg ferry as soon as possible. The journey back along the single-track road back to Broadford was slow with a great deal of tourist traffic interspersed with agitated locals coming the other way. Reaching Beinn Sgriol was another adventure but that's for another post.

Red Cuillin from below the summit

Skye ridge and Vanessa trig point

Maybe the last time, I don't know

The Skye Ridge from Bla Bheinn

From the South Top towards Eigg

Skye ridge and weather station below South Top

Boulder in the Coire

Path along the Allt na Dunaiche