I miss the hills. Didn’t realise how much I miss the hills till I couldn’t visit them anymore due to an enforced break.
There I was standing on the edge of a cliff on the far northern tip of the beautiful Isle of Skye in the beautiful North Highlands gazing over a beautiful calm sea, looking out for beautiful whales. Unfortunately we didn’t see any beautiful whales, or any ugly ones for that matter but when you lose yourself in such a beautiful place this didn’t seem to matter.
Whale Watching, Rhubha Hunish, Isle of Skye 28.9.13
It was truly an amazing spot, silent & remote with only the darting flashes of Cormorants and Gannets breaking the beautiful stillness. Whilst taking a picture with my beautiful phone I noticed a missed call from my Dad and discovered he had fallen dislocating & breaking his shoulder. Not on a mountain of course but on a ground level kitchen.
I had to go home and help Mum & Dad so I’ve been commuting from Newcastle to Manchester for the last few weekends with more to come. There’s no time or opportunity for hills, these things happen, there’s no other choice and that’s fine. But driving down tonight in the darkness of the boring flat A1 I realised how much I miss the hills.
I need them in my life, the anticipation, the waiting, the uncertainty of the weather, the route, the light, the wind, even the rain, the steep stomach hurting ascents, knee aching descents, the sense of being high in the hills, the views, the wonder.
The situation is slowly improving and normal service will be resumed.
My name’s Mart and I miss the hills.
Rhubha Hunish, Isle of Skye talking to my Dad 4.20pm 28th Sept
MART IN THE HILLS 
Hope things improve soon and you can return to your favourite places. For info – I am in the process of looking for a publisher, a soul-destroying activity. I will probably end up self-publishing which was always the plan anyway.
Thanks, it’s a slow process gradually improving 🙂 Haven’t a clue about publishers but there’s a few on Twitter who might be able to recommend someone? Good luck.
Reblogged this on Wild Wales and commented:
Reblogged from Mart in the Hills
Hi Graham, I never said thanks, so one year later…thanks 🙂
Was even worse for me as I was the one who’d had the falls. First one, I fell just after I’d come back from the Cuillin – walking to work of all things! Then I broke my big toe in the house. Was out of action for most of 2011 – nearly went bonkers!
Much safer in the mountains eh 🙂
Falling after the Cuillin is very unlucky, was it an exposed ridgy pavement?
Nope, it was a mud banking. I felt really stupid as I was just on my way to work and half of work had sponsored my peaks in the Cuillin so knew all the ‘dangerous’ stuff I’d been up to a couple of days before!
Ha well at least you got your sponsored walking done. How did you find it on the Cuillin, I’ve only done the 2 easy ones?
I got better at the Cuillin as I went on but only really started to enjoy the spiky ones on my last 2 – the In Pinn (which I loved) and Am Basteir. Of course, now I’ve got all the tops to do there – and they’re a lot tougher with much more exposure 😮
Did you have a guide & ropes for the spiky ones?
Yep – the only ones I did on my own on the ridge were Bruach na Frithe (an easy gem) and Sgurr na Banachdich…
And the only 2 I’ve done 🙂 What did you find was next easiest?
Hate to advertise but my post:
http://mountaincowardadventures.wordpress.com/2013/09/24/skye-cuillin-a-summing-up/
will explain all (of what I thought to them) – most people have found it useful reading
Yes very interesting and useful, I’ve emailed a link to mate Alan for him to study too.
Course we might just end up driving past and do a coastal walk instead 🙂
Don’t blame you. And for all they say about the lovely grippy gabbro, very many of the peaks seem to be basalt which is not only friable and drops to bits as you climb, but is also lethal in the wet. It rains a lot in Skye…