Adrenaline adversity..? 19 11 4 (10) 2025 2 4

Since writing my last blog I have been reflecting on the guy who took young John to task over his use of a hammock instead of a small tent, the use of lightweight boots instead of the much sturdier calf-length boots which were John's preferred footwear, reflecting also on other conversations that same day, the ones with the German guy Daniel, the Scot Andy whose chosen day out was taking the white plastic deck chair up to the Hutchinson Memorial bothy just below Loch Etchachan, a very generous act on his part, and towards the end of the day when my two nephews returned all pumped up from their day out climbing Carn a' Mhaim, Ben Macdui and the Derry Cairngorm.

They hadn't been returned long before the whiskey bottles came out for another celebration: for them two perfect days of exceptionally good clear weather whilst I was quite content with my rest day when I got to meet so many interesting people, plus my two hills of the day before and when I could also be content with the fact I had climbed their subsequent 3 more hills in my not-too-distant recent past. 

Then we were visited by Guy and Lesley, a man and wife couple, who were on their way home but who decided to stop at the bothy to have a meal in the knowledge that if there wouldn’t be any midges about so they could escape them whilst they ate. Now as luck would have Guy, who was a much taller guy than his demure wee wife of more slender construction, proceeded to treat her very disrespectfully, apparently wishing to impress the three of us with his superiority in all things and most particularly with the meal he was fashioning for his wife, which behaviour failed patently to impress any of us, to the extent it didn’t take long before each of us began to make fun of him, not in a heavy-handed fashion, just in the sense that we made sure he got to understand how much we respected his long-suffering wife: Lesley spelt with an "ley" she noted when we were going through the earlier introductions...  

As is my custom writing these blogs I don’t necessarily have the whole thing sorted out in my mind before I put pen to paper but rather as I go about my usual morning activities like peeling and eating an orange, as at this particular moment in time, before preparing another cup of coffee and eating my two slices of toasted whole wheat bread in an open cheese onion and tomato breakfast sandwich, I’ll mull over the content… And so it came to pass that I began to connect “adrenaline” to some of this unusual behaviour: recounting amongst other things how upon reaching my first summit of this last holiday, Carn an Gabhar, to complete my ascent of the Ben a’ Ghlo, I too was pumped up with adrenaline by the time I completed my 4 hour ascent, and when I met 3 young guys on its summit, two who had walked together, plus a third man who they had overtaken on his ascent but probably only because he was carrying a full pack including tent etc., etc., etc. And when the conversation I was about to launch into was cut short by one of the two guys walking together because they were so much more interested in the what the guy with the full rucksack had to relate, to the extent I felt somewhat deflated and nonplussed.

In fairness to the first guy in recommending the high altitude tent over John’s hammock was not devoid totally of merit because with the high winds he also experienced at such elevations he succeeded in totally escaping the midges, whilst John had related how his escaping the midges necessitated lighting a fire on a rock beneath his hammock, a somewhat hazardous undertaking, together with the use of netting above his head which was an altogether less efficient procedure…

Interesting too how things are always so straightforward as they first appear if you can accept my summary. For me a more serious problem with the flood of adrenaline I get on the hills is the way it can sometimes sweep my appetite for food clean away, when I then have great difficulties to titillate it to get food into my stomach to continue walking. Have a good day everyone and be careful with your adrenaline pump, hahaha!!!