James Stone (Clach Liath)

Mountaineering and the Volcanic Seven Summits

  • Home
  • About me
  • Volcanic Seven Summits
  • Top 50 Ultra Prominent Peaks of the World
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
You are here: Home / Blog / The Scottish Mountains really must do better – Part II

The Scottish Mountains really must do better – Part II

18th October 2017 by James Stone Leave a Comment

Some may remember this post on the opinions of certain visitors to Scotland

I thought that two years later I ought to check whether or not things had improved. Having I visited a few websites to see what reviews had been provided by visitors, I am sorry to say that they do not seem to have done so. :?

Visit Scotland and others really do need to get I grip I feel.

My previous post had first looked at Ben Nevis.

“The walk was boring and unimaginative, lacked 4G signal in many places and when you got to the top you couldn’t see anything. Basically this mountain summed up Scotland as a whole! A big disappointment! Also there is snow at the top… I don’t like a snow.” :shock:

Clearly we need annual snow removal and a telecoms mast on the summit. At least the last person appears to have climbed the Ben, unlike the following person.

“One of the biggest hills I have ever seen, but not a mountain for sure! We didn’t even bother getting out of the car. Driving for two days to get there was certainly the better part of the trip. I can guarantee bants in my car, they’re never a disappointment. Everest has nothing to worry about.”

I like his modesty. :wink:

The next (long) comment has some potentially valid points but the hyperbole tend to diminish them. The tourist path obviously needs to be surfaced and the buildings removed from the summit:

“I returned to The Ben for the first time in 20 years. What a terrible mess most of the Tourist Path is in. Most (I don’t exaggerate) of the path is in a terrible and dangerous condition. Repairing miles of eroded and missing path one big rock at a time is a pre-mediaeval approach. The Romans built better roads 2,000 years ago and much more quickly.:clap:

“The dangerous condition is appalling. I reckon at last 2,000 people :shock: climbed The Ben when I went up a coupla days ago. I saw four people fall. Three went down on their backs coming down, slipping on wash-down grit, or trying to find way down sometimes 2ft drops :shock: where the path had totally gone. One was lying down injured, assisted by friends. The fourth I saw being helped down by the shoulders by two other walkers.

“Too much rubbish around too. Empty beer bottles at the summit, which continues to look like a builder’s yard.

“For the premier walking venue in Scotland, this is utterly appalling. If you are keen to bag this one, take another path (I hope the others are better.) Sorry to be so negative, but something serious needs to be done before serious injuries or deaths occur.”

Turning now to Ben Lomond there was no story of an epic climb as last time. The main complaints seemed to be about the path improvements, indeed the path itself. Here is an example.

“Path up Ben Lomond no better than goat track very unsafe and badly maintained needs smoothed out to be more user friendly.”

So clearly it needs the Ben Nevis treatment – a tarmacked path to the summit please.

One of my favourites remains Arthur’s Seat. I cannot work out how many of the following comments might be wind ups. But here goes.

“Not a chair in sight – had to sit on the grass, and was left with an unsightly wet patch so it looked like I had soiled myself.” :shock:

or

“Nothing, just a bleak view of the city and can be dangerous. and never, ever take your dog as there are cliff falls that dogs and their humans have died by falling off”. :roll:

and

“It’s called Arthur’s Seat. No seat at the top or anyone by the name of Arthur. Total rip. If I had paid to go I would have asked for my money back due to false advertising. Luckily it’s free.”

Phew!! That’s all right then.

I am not sure what the next person was on.

“Scotland is renowned for its horrible weather.. it didnt dissapoint.. the paths were muddy and full of stupid tourists could only see [the] castle from the top. They haven’t installed the gondola yet and it was tall but not pointy enough for my liking.. not enough rainbows. Disappointed.”

Solution? Install gondola, reshape for pointy-ness and, er, provide rainbows…

The Fairy Glen and Pools on Skye seem to have become a magnet in recent years. So we have the following comments for this “attraction”.

“…….. this was the most overrated thing I’ve seen in a long while, maybe ever. There are so many fabulous views to see in Skye and so little time to see them, some little green cone shaped hills just don’t do it for me……….

“Any fairies are either hiding under the leaves laughing their wings off, or are long gone.” :lol:

and

“No wifi. The water was a weird colour and it was pretty windy and also there were animals standing about which were pointless.” :shock:

And, finally, still on Skye here are a couple for The Storr:

“… the day in Skye as usual was raining… when we arrive at the beginning of the path to the Old Man of Storr the rain stopped and the sky started to be clear… we started our way and suddenly started to rain as hell… I strongly recommend it if you like to see big stones and get very wet. I give two points as you can swear a lot and with the noise of the rain nobody listen“ :lol:

and

“Talk about foul weather and uninspiring views. Yes it’s rocky and there once used to be trees around but the lack of them now means you get wind blasted from all directions. The foot path is kind of well made but rough and mountain foot wear is required. The climax of the walk is supposedly this large pointed rock called the Old Man, quite honestly I felt like an old man by the time I got to it, it’s really just a large pointy rock not really going anywhere. Good luck, wish I’d got to Wales.”

Best get off to Snowdonia then. Happy climbing!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Humour, Scottish Mountains

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Links

  • Walkhighlands
  • Parkswatchscotland
  • Peakbagger
  • Alan Arnette
  • Mark Horrell
  • Ted Fairhurst
  • Cookie policy (UK)
  • Terms & conditions

Tags

8000m peaks Aconcagua Antarctica Australia Ben Nevis Bolivia Corbetts Damavand Dan Bull David Hamilton Francois Bernard Giluwe Hewitts Humour Iran Iztaccihuatl Katie Sarah Kilimanjaro Kosciuszko Llullaillaco Marilyns Mount Bogong Mount Elbrus Mount Hagen Mount Mukal Mount Rainier Mount Sidley Munros Ojos del Salado Pico de Orizaba Ruapehu satyarup siddhanta Scottish Mountains Seven Summits Taranaki Ted Fairhurst Teide Tochal Toubkal Ultras Volcanic Seven Summits Volcanoes Yorkshire 3 Peaks Zhang Liang

Recent posts

  • Volcanic Seven Summiters – January 2022
  • Mount Sidley – December 2021 (updated)
  • Three Ultras in Crete
  • Top 50 Ultras
  • The Top 50 Highest and the Top 50 Most Prominent Volcanoes in the World

Archive

  • January 2022 (1)
  • December 2021 (1)
  • November 2021 (2)
  • July 2021 (2)
  • March 2021 (2)
  • December 2020 (1)
  • November 2020 (2)
  • July 2020 (1)
  • May 2020 (2)
  • April 2020 (1)
  • March 2020 (1)
  • February 2020 (2)
  • January 2020 (6)
  • December 2019 (1)
  • November 2019 (1)
  • October 2019 (1)
  • September 2019 (1)
  • July 2019 (1)
  • January 2019 (2)
  • December 2018 (3)
  • November 2018 (2)
  • October 2018 (1)
  • September 2018 (1)
  • July 2018 (1)
  • June 2018 (3)
  • May 2018 (2)
  • April 2018 (1)
  • March 2018 (1)
  • February 2018 (3)
  • December 2017 (1)
  • October 2017 (4)
  • September 2017 (4)
  • August 2017 (2)
  • June 2017 (2)
  • May 2017 (1)
  • April 2017 (2)
  • February 2017 (1)
  • January 2017 (1)
  • December 2016 (2)
  • November 2016 (4)
  • October 2016 (3)
  • September 2016 (1)
  • August 2016 (1)
  • July 2016 (1)
  • May 2016 (7)
  • April 2016 (4)
  • March 2016 (3)
  • February 2016 (1)
  • January 2016 (2)
  • December 2015 (3)
  • November 2015 (4)
  • October 2015 (4)
  • September 2015 (2)
  • August 2015 (1)
  • July 2015 (5)
  • June 2015 (1)
  • May 2015 (5)
  • April 2015 (2)
  • March 2015 (4)
  • February 2015 (1)
  • January 2015 (2)
  • December 2014 (2)
  • November 2014 (25)
  • October 2014 (3)
  • August 2014 (1)
  • June 2014 (1)
  • April 2014 (1)
  • March 2014 (1)
  • February 2014 (2)
  • August 2013 (1)
  • July 2013 (7)
  • June 2013 (3)
  • May 2013 (1)
  • April 2013 (1)
  • February 2013 (3)
  • October 2012 (1)
  • June 2012 (3)
  • April 2012 (2)
  • March 2012 (2)
  • February 2012 (3)
  • November 2011 (2)
  • August 2011 (1)
  • July 2011 (2)
  • April 2011 (1)

Copyright © James Stone 2014-2022

Manage Cookie Consent
I use cookies to optimize this website.
Functional cookies Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}