Are you comfortable?
Then we'll begin.
I'm not going to do the normal.
Normal meditation.
Concentrate on the breath Concentrate and get internal.
Thinking about describing a day I had last week with my older son.
Be there for the walk.
Up in the house.
A couple of weeks before the two of us had shared videos of.
.
.
Big glacier features and snow tunnels.
Of so much more.
In Scotland.
It's a phenomenon.
Especially if you have a warm winter there's never normally any snow this time of year but if you get a couple of big dumps Bye.
Is worthwhile going up for a wee.
A wee look about,
See what's up there about this time of year.
We headed towards the camp grounds.
King Kong's Massive plateau.
Northeast of Scotland.
It's got a second high to old Ben Macdui.
Bye.
If we're lucky,
We're going to reach somewhere.
If the whale played ball.
Cause on the plateau.
If the cloud comes in.
I can get a wee bit gnarly.
A wee bit dangerous,
Especially when you're hunting for snow.
Grumping about crags and stuff.
It's easier to lose your bearings.
But the weather report said it should be fine,
So.
.
.
To grab the mobs.
Uploaded some information onto their phones and headed towards the house.
We left early doors.
Drove up a couple of hours.
A new north is formed.
Driving in Scotland,
This team is just amazing.
I need some more time.
It's the start of July just now,
Isn't it?
The song is just incredible,
Like.
.
.
It's just like,
The sum.
The rain.
That thing where in Scotland you get four seasons in a day,
In fact sometimes you can get four seasons in ten minutes,
It just makes everything really green,
It's just like lush,
It's just incredible,
It takes your breath away,
Especially in the drive up north.
Every time you go into a coma,
Yeah.
You just.
.
.
Witness some other like hundreds of trees or just a big huge hill just coloured and just green it's just brilliant aye.
It's just incredible.
A couple of hours up north we got to Garba,
The car park.
It's normal in the winter,
It's normally full of people putting on skis and changing into ski suits.
I'll be back more.
A wee bit more friendlier clothes.
But in the summer,
The car parts will be a bit quieter.
We hated it all.
On the windy ridge path.
Aye,
I wasn't telling any lies that day,
We were certainly buffeted about as we climbed up the hill.
Aye,
The two of us were reminded maybe we should be going to the gym a wee bit more often,
In that first half an hour as we climbed up the hill.
Aye,
There wasn't much chance of a break,
It just seemed to zoze like,
Constant,
Straight up the hill.
That was grand.
And the wind in your hair.
Seems to blow the cobwebs out of your ears.
That's grand.
You didn't get much time for an internal dialogue.
You're no sitting dreaming or regretting walking up a hill when it's buffeting about.
Bye.
Close the tool We cut off from the main path and we skirted round the summit.
There was several groups heading up on it this summer.
And we made the wrong path.
Go ahead.
We're heading for a place called.
.
.
Oh I see.
Locally known as Margaret's Coffin.
Nobody actually knows why it's called Margaret's Coffin.
Will explain thee.
Witness mad colosseal features.
A big huge.
.
.
Formation is no ober.
All we got was that last meadow.
I was nearly disappointed by the lush meadows,
Didn't I?
You couldn't contain a smile,
Even with a lack of snow.
Bloody yellow flowers.
Blue flowers.
It's just incredible.
We're about 400 meters above Loch Evin,
Right in the east end of the loch,
Looking down on it.
It just looked amazing,
So inviting.
Bye.
But we had a wee skirm up there.
And see if there's any snow for any ridges but no it all seemed to melt So we'll be heading along the contour.
Head and waist to one ear,
The end.
Of the law.
We're heading towards a place called.
.
.
And breathe.
By huge granite slabs.
In the summer of Scotland,
There's always people out walking.
The vast majority of folk always stay on the path,
Especially on the plateau.
I mentioned it gets kind of dangerous.
But for the few that venture off the path,
There's treasures there,
Eh?
Solitude,
For one.
It's just incredible,
Eh?
Aye.
There's only a few million people staying in Scotland and if you're in a hallway with a few bodies sometimes it can feel a wee bit crowded so getting some space to yourself is just incredible.
There was some rock climbers there and there's Just a couple of groups having picnics.
It was grand,
Aye.
Still enjoying.
The Scottish weather.
Aye,
It was sunny.
I think last year's summer was a Tuesday.
Aye,
This year's summer seemed to be a Friday.
My nose is certainly bright red for it still,
Even after a few days of being back.
Aye,
I'm still feeling the benefits of the sun.
I never took a peak cap with me because I thought it'd be too windy.
I kinda wish I did take it,
Or even some sun cream for my nose,
But no.
So by the time we got to the West End and that,
We had booed.
It's big granite slabs and big rock ridges,
Big crags,
And we're glad we had the mountain bike shoes on.
Might not be your perfect hill-walking boots,
But when you're on big granite slabs,
You're held steadfast on the rocks.
Just like the sticky rubber soles are just like suction to your feet and you can just bounce a bit,
Jump over the rocks,
It's amazing.
Somewhere beside the big huge piles of snow,
And I say piles of snow,
It's like a,
Not a field but by it was a substantial amount of snow.
Not as much as we were hoping right off,
But it was enough to raise a smile.
We're soon joined by a couple of girls just older than my oldest son in their 20s.
And the Floreas all giggled as we climbed under a tunnel,
A snow tunnel.
We all ended up getting wet,
Wet knees and bums as we slid underneath the tunnel.
All our backpacks and jackets got wet off the snow above us,
Aye.
We all merged on the other side of the snow with our big grins,
It was grand.
It wasn't as much snow as I was expecting but it was certainly enjoyable.
Another side of the snow.
We were discussing our plans.
The girls were going to head back down to the car park.
I was discussing the fact that our plans were to head up onto the summit.
There was meant to be another couple of places that held the snow,
But the snow didn't look that great.
We decided this like a summer.
And head down to the beach on Lockhaven.
Aye,
That was a steep climb down.
And these certainly felt it by the time we were on the beach.
In a balmy loch even.
On the way standing or here.
The wall was so clear.
The loch was covered,
Was filled with recent snowmelt and it certainly took our breath away when we jumped in the water.
It definitely didn't take our smells away,
We certainly enjoyed it,
It was brilliant.
Aye.
They weren't in too long though.
The path,
You could see the path up the vertical slope.
It was kind of daunting knowing that we had another couple of hours march back towards the car park.
We feel bad for it.
Hi,
So a couple of hours later we got back to the car park,
Swapped out the shoes for dry boots,
So I got my boots back on.
I was glad you were there.
The day I promised.
Black walls is snow,
Black tunnels is snow.
It just seems to me he's standing on water.
We never saw them.
There is no feature.
But we did have lots of experiences that day that made us go,
Wow.
And make us appreciate life.
Appreciate being as God.
I appreciate it being my family.
It was an amazing day.
I don't get often to spend time with my son.
Especially EGS.
He's always there enjoying himself.
It was a grand day.
Just a wee reminder.
Life doesn't always give you what you promise.
And you may be.
May be disappointed sometimes.
But sometimes,
Life just.
.
.
Makes you appreciate it.
I mean,
Things happen,
You just smile.
He's just love it.
What if it's the same?
Hey,
Take a big breath in.
Sayonara I hope you understood my mumbles.
I know my voice,
My accent isn't the easiest to understand.
But,
Like the day in the hills,
If you persevere the treasure's about.
The Bee.
Is to be found there.
Thanks very much.
