A Hectic Week

http://microlodge.co.uk/

Well, what a busy week we've all had here at Microlodge. The 4 units, comprising of a 2 man lodge, drying room & 2 shower rooms for Wales are surging ahead and we are aiming for a Friday pick-up with delivery due for Monday. I can see a few late nights to get them out on time. Today we started to get the doors fitted and the wet-wall installed in one unit.. We are however frantically searching for lights as the supplier had forgotten to order ours in... Oops.

Meanwhile...what a weekend. Gary went to Ikea (oh the excitement), whereas I took Blaze on an adventure.

First we drove to 12 miles upstream of Dunkeld and went canoeing. The weather for early April was magnificent.

Then we returned to town via the river, stopping halfway on an island for lunch.

Jayne with Blaze

Quiet & tranquil, pure bliss

After the river trip, we headed west along to Lochearnhead, and stopped of with Kathy at the post office. The intention was to head North to Buachaille Etive Mor & bag the 2 Munros there.  This was 2 that I have already done, (& fell off of), but they would have been just perfect for Kathys 100th Munro.  As it was, the cloud had came down to 2,000 ft and visibility was rubbish, so instead we headed back south & inland to Killin and decided to do 2 mountains in the Lawers range instead.

These were to be Blazes 1st ever mountains & his 1st ever encounter with snow.

Summit of Beinn Ghlas

At Ben Lawers. (it was freezing...-10)

First snow

It's now Wednesday, and we have been hit by blizzards, so the wood burner in the shop is working overtime keeping us all toasty. Today, we should start getting the roof shingles on the units & have a 2nd coat of varnishing done on the exteriors.   Should be able to get some good photos later for the website.

Welsh Fruit Stocks

http://www.welshfruitstocks.co.uk/

It's been a busy old day in the workshop, what with 2 plumbers, 2 electricians, 3 joiners...and of course the apprentice. We managed to get 2 of the 3 wetrooms finished with the plumbing, and will finish the disabled shower / wetroom tomorrow morning.

Shower room 1

Wet room

The 2 berth Microlodge got the bunks fitted & the shelving units in and the outer log lap skin fitted, so only the door and shingles to finish that one off.

Bunks ready for mattresses

Shelving units at door

Of course, Blaze was amazing with his contributions of collecting up any stray tennis balls in the vicinity, and licking any ear that happened to appear below waist height when we were drilling out the drainage holes.

He did however guard the Mini Microlodge for us during coffee break.

Nobody..but nobody gets to nick Dads drill...

Welsh Fruit Farms.

Well, it's been a good day, with a walk to the workshop via the beach, harbour and park. Blaze as usual managed to drop his ball over the sea wall...and muggins here had to retrieve it...again...

The electricians were in early and had managed to wire up units 2 and 3, and will finish the last one tomorrow, just in time for the plumbers to arrive. Pictures of the units to follow tomorrow.

Once again, it was a cold start to the day, but then the thermometer rocketed, so we went to the beer garden after work. Blaze got himself a part time job behind the bar as we don't pay him enough.

The Adventures of Blaze

www.microlodge.net

Due to unrelenting pressure, I have decided to include the adventures of our new member of staff into this blog.

Blaze joined us 2 months ago as an apprentice 'stick-picker-upper' and lunch sharer. He tends to sleep a lot as he is still young, but we hope that after serving a grueling apprenticeship, he will become a valuable member of the Microlodge team...plus he is cheap...and will work for food and water....

Microlodge, A new Year blog..eventually

www.microlodge.co.uk

So, it's been one of the quietest Xmas periods I've had in a long time, albeit not boring.

Christmas was peaceful, new years night, I was bedded before the bells, and next day, I did the karoke at the local pub, which was a resounding success.

Also, at last, the chance to break my skiing cherry arose, so arising uber-early, I set of for Glencoe for a day on the mountain.  The weather could never have been better, blue skies, and fresh powder from the previous night.

I headed up to Lochearnhead to meet up with Cathy at her post office, then we set off for the short drive to the slopes.  What could possibly go wrong??

Well, if you are one of those rare breeds that actually read my blog, you will be well aware that the potential for 'wrong-going' and 'me' seems to be intertwined rather tightly.

Sure enough, 7 miles from the slopes, the road was closed due to a head-on collision.  We joined the line of traffic at the side of the road, and I went off to see what the damage was. Not good as it happens.

The fire services had arrived by this time, and it was going to be a time consuming and very careful 'cut-out' of the casualty required.  Luckily, an air ambulance was on its way from Glasgow, at which point I offered my services, as ex aircrew to bring it in.  So far, so good, until we realised that the ambulance service radios cannot communicate with the air radios..... What the f...

Therefore, with about 30ft of road cleared, I attempted to hand marshall the chopper in, and all was going splendidly... until 20 ft above the ground, the snow was whipped up into zero vis, and a swift cancellation of that idea was deemed sensible.

Then came an amazing piece of flying (or daft).     The pilot hovered 40 ft above the road, then dropped the chopper like a stone, bang on target.  Considering that the rotor blades were missing the roadside snowpole indicators by just a few feet, this was commendable bravery.

After 3 hours, the casualty was on her way to Glasgow, and we were heading back south, to collect Digger the dog, and went for a walk in the Lawers Range instead of the planned skiing.  T'was still a good afternoon though.

The latest news, is I now have myself a new puppy, Blaze, to accompany me on my hill jaunts, and with luck, to start training in SAR when he's about 6 months old.

Just been blow-dried.

Let's hope I manage to train myself well enough to allow him to fullfill his potential.

Buachaille Etive Beag

www.microlodge.net

So...T'was Saturday afternoon, and the weather forecast said "Go West" young man. The outlook is sunny.

Now, followers of my blog know of my undying, yet sadly misplaced trust in the met forecast.  The next day was to be no exception.

Therefore, the rucksack was duly packed and I headed off to Lochearnhead, with only a slight detour on the way, stopping at ASDA to purchase a flask that was smaller than the welders gas cylinder that normally accompanies me up the hill.    I also had a new bit of gear to try out.  I had been to LIDLs and bought a 2 piece trouser and top creation for wearing below ones ski suit.  I can now testify that this bit of kit works really well and keeps you nice and toasty.  The only downside is that it comes in black with blue deco on it.   Had it been black and red, it would pass admirably for a 'Spiderman' costume and saved me a good deal of cash come fancy dress parties.

Then, Saturday evening, it seems the highlight of the week was to be a disco in the village hall.  Now, having watched "Little Britain" on tv, I had a fair idea of the sort of evening this would turn out to be, so feigning extreme exhaustion, I decided to pass on the winter social event of 2011.

Sunday morning, with Digger the dog in tow, I set off for Glencoe, so sure of the weather that I never took heavy waterproofs, despite the early mornings lashing rain and knowing that the nice girl on BBC would not cheat on me yet again. (would she)...

So, after a quick coffee stop at Glencoe Mountain Ski Resort for coffee, and checking on the progress being made in digging out the banking to site their Microlodges, we arrived at the parking area.  OH JOY...

The 1st view of Stob Coire Raineach

It's funny how the dog seemed delighted just to be out on the hills again, regardless of the lack of visibility, so off we set in the clag, map in hand as it seemed as if it was going to be another of those typical Scottish days.

Then at around the 1,500 feet region...bliss.

Like the parting of the seas...

We quickly made the bealach, and decided to go for the summit of Stob Dubh, the higher of the 2 tops.  Luckily as the weather had cleared, we never made the mistake of assuming the 1st cairn we arrived at was the intended Munro, as the real summit is in fact another 20 minutes haul further along. (and a good climb higher).  

Looking behind us, a braw sight. The Aonach ridge (also known as the 'brown trouser ridge' was in fine sight.

The Ridge

After a quick snack at the top, we descended back to the bealach and set off to the summit of Stob Coire Raineach.  There, I suffered a doubly whammy of unhappiness.  The first was that the top itself was rather uninspiring...and even worse, I opened my tupperware box and my eggy rolls lived up to their name, and promptly rolled off down the hillside, rapidly followed by a big black lump of Labrador.  Him having 4 wheel drive, reached the lunch well before I did...

Is it just me, or is that bu**er grinning??

So, hungry and deflated, it was time to head back down, stopping only for a wee while to watch the SAR chopper across on the 'brown trouser' ridge, either carrying out a rescue or dropping off a family-size pack of Andrex.

We then stopped of at Tyndrum to have a chat with a site owner there before heading back to Lochearnhead and a cuppa with fresh scones. Digger got neither of these.

As it was now dark, I decided to head back down to Fife, and the pub, leaving Cathy to weed her garden.  Yep, you read this right.  She was going to pull weeds whilst wearing her head torch. (and I thought I was stupid).

It's now Monday night and all the varnishing has been completed on the 2 Microlodges in the shop, so just the doors and roof shingles to do, then they will be heading out to the mountains.

Creag Mac Raineach

www.microlodge.net

What a glorious Sunday it was.  The start of the day was a tad hectic as I was running late to catch the coach due to the car being iced up, but eventually made it just in time.

On the basis of the icy weather, I was so well prepared with my kit consisting of battery heated gloves, hand warming gel pads, extra thick socks, 2 woolly hats, a double thick fleeced jacket and copious helpings of piping hot tomato soup.

The reality was, that by 10.30, it was t-shirt weather so a great deal of energy was expended humping severe weather gear and a flask the weight of a welders gas bottle up the mountain.

I managed to arrange for my part-time companion, Digger the dog, to be picked up at Lochearnhead to accompany me for the day. Kathy herself couldn't manage as she's wangled a job that consists of her driving around in Ferraris, Lambos, Porches etc....and gets paid for it.  Luxury.   Still, she missed out on a wonderful day.

We had a group of 30 set off together, but 6 of us picked up the pace a tad and gained a considerable lead and got to the foot of the hill in record time. Then the decision was made that rather than head onto the bealach, we would go a more vertical route to the summit.

Very blue sky and stripping off the extra layers of clothing.

On hindsight, we should possibly have stuck to the intended route as the rocks that had not been exposed to sunlight were a slippery as eels, but we managed just fine as it happens with only a few 'oops moments', and gained the summit so early, we had an extended lunch at the cairn.

Looking behind us to Ben Vorlich and Stuc a'Croin

Digger awaiting more sandwiches from the others. (he'd finished mine by this time).

The views were stunning with the best visibilty I've encountered so far this year, and it felt as if you could reach out and touch the Lawers range and the Tarmachan ridge.  Then it was downhill on the shaded side to head for the coach pick-up point at Glenogle cottages, and this was a bit scary with the ice, although Digger delighted himself by breaking through sheets of it to dive into bracken filled puddles.

Then off for High Tea in Comrie and home.  A damn good day.

Meanwhile, it's now Monday and the next pair of Microlodges are coming on well and we had another press photographer in today, so with luck, some proper pics for the site later this week.