Benarty

David Kaye

20 January 2017

Six intrepid souls took advantage of Global Warming to visit the Kingdom of Fife for the ascent of the mighty Marilyn – Benarty.

No – not the Canary Isles, merely the view over Loch Leven from the balmy heights of Benarty.

The Team thought it would be a jolly wheeze to get a train to the top..

..but sadly Mike (right) lost the top half of his body in an argument with some barbed wire.

However, we sellotaped him back together, and the full squad did indeed make it to the summit, despite the Forestry Commission pretending that the path was closed..

..where the re-assembled Mike’s right foot was savaged by a dead sheep.

The Team continued on to the next ridge, which is the site of an Iron Age fort. This turned out to be nine meters higher than the trig and therefore, unbeknown to mankind, the true summit of Benarty. We are claiming this as a First Ascent!

Thanks to Izzy and Jim for their superb organisation of a super walk. Most of us vowed to return with family and friends.

For our February Outing Mike (as good as new) is going to lead us on a tour of the Innerleithen Alps, which he tells me includes a number of surprises plus the connoisseur’s summit of Lee Pen. Please ink Friday 17th Feb into your diaries (yes Jack, I’m talking to you). The date has been specially selected to avoid clashing with Marion’s Pilate class, Izzy’s walking groups and Sandra’s working commitments, so a good turnout is confidently expected.

The meeting place is the car park by Leithen Water, heading north on the B709 just after you turn off from the Innerleithen main street, at 10am.

We hope that the March outing will see a return to bigger (but not necessarily better) hills.

Cheers,
David.