Thursday, September 21, 2006

Bidean nam Bian


16th September 2006
Weather looked promising as we left the Loch Lomond area and it held up too! Turning in to a fresh blue sky day.
It was a bit blowy at the car park in Glencoe but it was bright and looked promising.
At 10am Niels, Bob, Jonathan, Louise and myself headed up toward the Hidden Valley. Dropping in to the gorge at the start of the walk we entered the shadows. It was a cool and pleasant walk up between the first 2 of the 3 Sisters.
Climbing over boulders and streams we entered into the valley basin an hour or so in to the walk. This natural amphitheater was truly impressive and crossing to the North side we entered back into the sun for the path that leading to the head of the valley. After stopping for a snack Jon headed back down with Louise who had had enough.
Niels, Bob and myself continued toward Stob Coire Sgreamhach. The gradient increased dramatically and the going became extremely tough on the loose scree and soil. Niels steadily increased his lead up this face. I was struggling. Must get out more.
With Bob in front of me, loose stones and rock would occasionally fly past. At this point it must be said that it was less of a walk and more of a scramble. The saddle was just beyond a narrow chute, once this was negotiated the vista ahead was breathtaking. Blue sky and not a drop of wind. Then I realised just how knackered I was. We took a breather then headed along the ridge toward the peak of Bidean nam Bian, stopping for lunch about half way.
A slow and steady ridge walk saw me eventually catch up where once again we could take in the view. This gave Bob another chance to loudly exclaim regarding the spectacle - "Boring!".
Another brief rest and we head down Stob Coire nan Lochan and took a rather precarious goat path down back toward the Hidden Valley. This was really sketchy and hard going on tired legs.
Once we had negotiated boulder fields on the descent we decided to open the bottle of red we had relieved Jon & Louis of earlier. We felt it rather foolhardy to try higher up. Wine drunk we headed back to the valley basin down the steep valley wall. I must say it was a relief to get back on the footpath, even with cramping thigh muscles (note to self-must exercise!) We retraced our steps down through the valley back to where we started, although for me at a rather slower pace than before. We finally were reunited at the car around 5.45. A long walk!
Very knackered we headed to Oban where an Indian restaurant had been booked and a night in the pub was ahead. Needles to say, I sailed through that exercise.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Tony Wilson at The Arches

Saturday night saw Norm, Bob and myself watching Digital (Joy Division/New Order cover band) and the legend that is Mr Anthony H Wilson (DJ-ing) at The Arches in Glasgow. Earlier support band sounded good and loud but I can't remember what they were called. Rumours abounded that Tony was playing his DJ set in 20 minutes, this proved to be untrue and we found ourselves stoating about inside the empty venue in which he was due to play. This meant we missed Digital coming on. We soon realised the growing crowd was congregating around something and eventually we too shuffled through to the other 'arch'.
Now! I've always been dubious about so-called 'tribute/cover' bands. But my inquisitive nature, and having never seen J D in the flesh meant I had to see them. I knew I'd be critical but I did actually enjoy bouncing around to J D tracks I'd never heard played live. The singer was a bit weak, not sounding particularly like Ian Curtis or Bernard Albrecht (as he probably thought of himself) & the Bass/Peter Hook guy was a real tosser by the look of things. The music itself was fun though.
After Digital, the DJ set by Tony Wilson started. Mostly full of ageing Factory-philes like myself. As was kind of expected he pretty much stuck to a greatest hits of the Haçienda days, although not exclusively Factory by any means. He even played some Stone Roses!
Norm didn't quite enjoy the old geezer playing his own record collection on stage and left early. Bob and myself however stuck it out till the end - 3 a.m.
Bob did manage to add a great name to his list of camera-phone piccies of him with celebrities. I got in there too for a little memento. I'm not sure if it tops Leo Sayer but definitely a keeper. As soon as we work out how to get the pics off the phone, we'll have them here.
On the listings promoting the event it said revellers could win a Peter Saville designed badge. Posters at the event however informed us that they were not ready on time. No doubt a deliberate nod to the notoriously tardy graphic designer from the start.