Ben Nevis

I've never climbed Scotland's highest mountain, despite spending years hillwalking in my youth, but our friends Maura and Jerry visiting from Ireland wanted to hike up it and despite a poor weather forecast (is there ant other for this notoriously fickle mountain?!) we set out Saturday to attempt an ascent.

The clouds were actually quite high as we set out around 11.30am with at least the hint of brightness where the sun was lurking in the southern sky. The first stretch is a sustained climb on a well formed path from about 35m (115ft) (according to my GPS) to around 640m (2100ft). Here we split from the main "tourist path" to skirt Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe then follow the contours around the huge buttress of Carn Dearg round to the Mountain Rescue Hut below Coire Leis.

View of the buttresses of Carn Dearg at lunch

The ridge over 500m (1700ft) above us was still visible as we ate lunch in preparation for the long, sustained and tough climb on a rocky slope to reach it... but of course as we climbed the cloud dropped and we were greeted near the top by driving rain and a violent buffeting wind. At least making the ridge cheered our spirits and we soon arrived at the summit cairn of Carn Dearg Meadhonach. From here the ridge gets narrow and rocky and with the wind periodically doing its best to blow us into the valley far below it was a hairy traverse over Carn Mor Dearg... though most of the time we couldn't see the drop (which Tracy claims helps her vertigo!?). A couple of times the clouds did blow off for a few minutes giving us glimpses of the summit and the view east to the Aonachs... but I didn't dare a picture in the wind and rain.

Finally the ridge widened and after another tough slog up maybe 200m (650ft) with the wind at my back the slope suddenly flattened onto a snow field and the GPS revealed I was only meters below the summit. Backtracking to pass on the information I met three bedraggled figures very glad of good news. We were soon on the summit, (which Maura, who'd been up twice in summer, didn't recognise covered in several feet of snow) at around 6pm and after a brief snack (and zero view) we followed the requisite bearings to safely regain the tourist path down, again suffering driving rain for maybe 10 minutes until we suddenly emerged from the cloud for great views of Lock Linnhe and Loch Eil.

Our descent was pretty quick, past a surprising number of people making a late bid for the summit (there is plenty of daylight but some were not well equipped and looked miserable) and we were back at the car around 8pm, soaked and tired but happy that we'd met the challenge. Time to drive back to our hostel in Fort Augustus and hit the pub!

VT Number

Apparently to work in the NHS in Scotland I need a "VT Number". This is what you are issued after spending a post-graduation year in supervised practice as a Vocational Trainee, a scheme that barely existed when I graduated and didn't become compulsory for many years after.

But you say, they'll just grandfather in anyone graduating in pre-VT days. Well the answer is no. OK, but you should be able to present the fact that you spent years as a dentist in Britain after graduation and get a number issued. No again, you can only apply for a number when you go for an NHS job, and then you present evidence of what you have done in the last 5 years and a board decides if a number will be issued.

This may make sense as a way of regulating overseas dentists (who make up a significant proportion of the Scottish dental workforce these days), but is clearly ridiculous for someone like me who would have a VT number now except that I am too old! So I will have to work as an employee until such time (12 weeks they say) as the board make a decision.

Moving North

After multiple issues with getting relicensed (see the post above for a nice bit of bureaucracy) and a short job hunt we are moving north next week to Inverness. This is the major city in the north of Scotland and has grown enormously in the years since I left Scotland.

I'm going to work at a newly set up dental practice subsidised by the local health authority and set up to try and decrease the enormous waiting list for NHS treatment in the city and surrounding area. I'm starting with the understanding I'll interview for a job even further north (which seems to suit my experience very well) but will continue in the Inverness practice unless I get that post. It'll be good to get back into the swing of dentistry anyway.

More Critters

I'm writing this in Rogart, well to the north in Scotland, where I'm being watched by a grouse, with a rabbit hopping in the field nearby. However the most interesting animals today were a crowd of Common Seals basking on the sand bars in the shallow Loch Fleet. On a previous bike trip around the northwest and north coasts of the country we had many hours to gaze at the water without spotting any marine life... we were looking in the wrong place obviously. Didn't see any dolphins yesterday however, though they are often spotted in the inlets of the east coast.

Sonic Boom

One of the features of life in northern Scotland are Air Force planes from RAF Leuchars on training missions. While I've seen planes fly well below me as I've climbed mountains, been scared half to death as a plane flew right over my car in an isolated valley and seen them speeding low over the North Sea I'd never experienced a sonic boom created by the supersonic speeds of the aircraft. Yesterday we were watching a plane doing laps off the coast of Cromarty and several times the boom hit like a distant thunderclap as the plane flew northeast of us. Well, either it was a sonic boom or they were bombing Helmsdale...