Probably but you said force 8 and horrendous wind chill, so you’re talking about a Scottish summer then!
Sorry Gerald, I was sniggering at the thought of Brian’s impending reaction to being called a shandy drinker.
I think you are too hard on Scottish summers, they aren’t that bad! Winters now, that’s different! I remember one Xmas climbing Ben Challum near Crianlarich, in those eery conditions where your companions vanish below the waist in spindrift. At the summit I took my gloves off and put them on the trig point then got my thermos out and poured a cup of hot coffee. I put the cup by the gloves and put the thermos in the rucksack, then picked the cup up to find the coffee was already cold! I drank it quickly and put the cup back on the thermos, then found I had to chip my gloves off the trig point with my ice axe! Before I could put the gloves back on I had to thaw them out under my armpits beneath my coat - talk about discomfort! Actually that was a fairly successful week, we did Beinne Laoigh, then Ben Oss and Ben Dubhcraig, then the weather started to deteriorate so I did Beinne Chuirn and Meall Odhar, then the monsoon set in and removed all the snow below about 900 metres! So yes, you can’t exaggerate Scottish winters, but in general the summers are really not that bad.
Stop it Brian, next thing you know we will be inundated with tourists; and we had almost trained the midges to keep them south of the border!!
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Glad you liked it Tom, hopefully it inspired a few to try portable operating. This was always the intention, to try and encourage amateurs to take a rig outside, once they do this they’ll discover the beauty of the hills by themselves. I think for most of us here, it’s a happy coincidence we can combine two things we love at the same time!
73, James M0JCQ
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I simply don’t believe that Scotland ever has bad weather!
Here’s my son back in April 2007 on a Mull beach
Here’s my son this August bank holiday on Mull
Here’s my second son on Iona at the beginning of April 2015
My second son in Tobermory this August
My expedition to the Isle of Coll this July-
Calgary bay, August this year -
I think the midges are made up too! Don’t believe these Scots - they tell us stories about biting beasties and bad weather so they can keep wonderful Scotland to themselves!
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To paraphrase the old rhyme - when its good, its very very good, when its bad its horrid!
I went for a midweek stay at Wemyss Bay caravan park, overlooking the Firth of Clyde, in April this year. Wall to wall sunshine and shirt sleeve weather was not quite what I expected but it was hugely enjoyable! Just for the record, Pauline and I have been taking a Sun holiday in Scotland every year to get to know the areas that we bypassed in our younger years as we headed for the Highlands. Cheap and cheerful, these trips confirm for us that Scotland is the most beautiful country on Earth (in our opinion, of course - YMMV!)
Brian