UKH

Anyone fancy helping me do a clean up at North Third tomorrow (Friday 26) afternoon?

Loads of rubbish all along the shore. We are sadly back to a abandoned tent season along with piles of cans etc. With the water now being so low there is a lot of shore line for people to dump stuff on. Someone has had a go at putting stuff into piles which will give a head start. 

I think there will be many shuttles out to the road with stuff, but I can have some tonne sacks in the van to dump stuff in and then hope the queue for the tip isn't too bad!  

If anyone fancies joining me for my fun (?!) day out, give me a shout. I hate the way people feel it's ok to trash it.

Great idea; I'm up for helping.

I'll need to bring the girls (aged 10 and 12); they can help a bit and/or have a splash and a wee swim. It looks likely to be a bit wet, but warm and bright with it, so that should be fine.

Do you want me to bring anything in particular? If your van isn't big enough, I have a good-sized boot (Skoda Octavia estate, as I believe is compulsory on here).

What timing?

Nice one. I'm too far away to help. We need to cut off the source of the rubbish!  

Super, thanks. Yeah, kids of course more than welcome. I was thinking maybe around 1.30, probably parking initially along at the nearest spot to the fisheries car park, by the bridge. I imagine we will want to move vehicles along when we get to the dam end. 

I can bring spare gardening gloves and litter pickers. Probably line a large rucksack with a rubble sack as it will be easier to carry stuff out like that?

I'm not quite sure where you mean for the parking - here?

https://www.google.com/maps/place/56%C2%B004'07.0%22N+3%C2%B059'56.4%22W/@5...

I'll try to pick up some rubble sacks today. We have gardening gloves, but not litter pickers - those could be handy, especially for the girls.

Yes, there's usually space for a few vehicles around there, so should manage to get in

Grand, see you there 13:30 tomorrow.

Think I can manage too - I have a litter picker (much used along Ladysneuk Rd eg 15 mins ago). Will communicate further later - must dash for now.

Fab, sounds great. Thanks

See you there

I'm hundreds of miles away but, honestly, well done you lot for getting stuck in. An example to us all  

Probably a little too far away for me to justify, and more to the point I have too many meetings tomorrow afternoon so I can't duck out of work.  Good on you for organising this though and I would be more than happy to come and help another time when I can get away!

Unfortunately i'm working tomorrow, otherwise id have headed up to lend a hand too. Lockdown has been bad (worse than usual) for folk dumping stuff at their arses, and the north third has been no exception, with virtually every layby and passing place left with some detritus.

Infamous up there for gentlemen looking for a certain kind of fun with other gentlemen, so be careful what you pick up!

We have litter pickers and gloves, will keep things at arms length! Lol

Barring complications I'll be there just before 1.30pm. Will be in a blue Polo if you're looking for me. Pleasant wander round Myreton and Colsnaur from the wilds of Menstrie at lunchtime today - warm but enough of an easterly breeze to make it tolerable.

It's, what, 25ºC out there? If I wanted that sort of nonsense I'd go to the Pyrénées! Well, theoretically, anyway.

We're going for an evening swim and picnic dinner tonight, none of that hillwalking malarkey.

See you tomorrow.

Well at least it was better than going to Bournemouth...

The met office is currently suggesting thunder in the afternoon. If it materialises, maybe we could do another day? I suspect it won't come to much though

As you'll know Stirling has a real weather window, often escaping the rain - but maybe this stuff is going to bubble up in the heat of the day.

So, up to you. We don't mind getting a bit wet, but we're also around most weekdays just now.

I don't mind wet, it's the flash bangs that would make me hesitate! As you say though, it often passes by. Will see how things shape up. My mum will join us too

Had a very nice socially distanced visit from Mr and Mrs Skog and the girls this evening. Will try to swing by NT tomorrow afternoon. If you're not going please remember to post here.

I will do. Thunder no longer on the forecast! I suspect it might change a number of times between now and then! Lol. Hopefully it should be fine

I've been watching the forecast this morning, and whilst it keeps changing, the following is clear:

- there may or may not be showers, which might be heavy at times. There's a real chance of some sunshine, and also the possibility of some more sustained rain. Some thunder could happen, but also might not.

Slightly more usefully, it looks as if we're stuck right in between a band of heavy rain and thunder sitting over the west, and drier brighter weather to the east. I think the forecast keeps changing depending on whether the models put us just inside the trough's weather or just outside it in the high pressure.

I suspect it'll be bright with the odd heavy shower, but who knows?

What are your thoughts? I'm still happy to do it today, and happy to do it a day next week instead; we'd probably be best making a decision by about 12:00 though.

A good Scottish forecast for most days!! lol

Agreed!

I reckon we go for it, and if it turns foul we bail. 

I am taking a midge net and repellent too!!!

I've just been for a 20-minute walk along the road (with the litter-picker!) at the east side of town: dry for 18 minutes, tipping it down for the last two...

Ok, let's go for it.

See you there!

Yep, it's on and off here too; we're 3-4km from North Third as the drookit corvid flies.

Latest theory:

Everyone at the Met Office has been put on furlough, and the forecasts are now provided by a random number generator; they're waiting to see whether anyone notices.

Again, several hundred miles away but a massive thumbs up for the effort

As long as the showers are more than two metres apart it'll be OK.

Ha ha, yep! That looks likely!! I have stopped looking, I think it's a turn up and see what happens kind of day. Even if we just get a little removed before it gets too bad then it's better than nothing! There will be enough of us that even just one or two trips out to the van should get quite a bit lifted.

Top effort, setting an example for us all. Hope it went well between the showers!

It did go well thanks, and it wasn't even all that wet!

https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/off_belay/there_are_some_wonderful_people...

Well, on my visit today to Waulkmill Glen Reservoir (part of Dams to Darnley Country Park) I filled three shopping bags of rubbish from the reservoir. All fresh, not there on my previous visit Sunday. I've taken to carrying a refuse bag with me when I go there. Its a party zone. This time I was able to use discarded 'bags for life' fished from the water. Empry bottles of 20:20, Buckfast, vodka, cans of Dragon energy drink...

Good effort! I guess the next stage is to work out how to stop people doing it in the first place!

Allow gatherings in people's houses / gardens? Its got worse under lockdown as yoof seek monitored locations.

We are allowed gatherings in gardens!

Yeah but not more than 8 or two households. Not 10-20 teenagers from multiple households ignoring physical distancing

It's two *other* households now - ie three in total - has been for a couple of weeks. When I went up Colsnaur from Menstrie the other day it was with two pals who had never met each other before and we were legit! (We all got there in separate cars.)

Whether you think the rules are proportioate or not is nothing really to do with littering, it just means it might move it into our environment. The problem is the underlying attitude. I presume these are the same people who throw their McDs wrappers out the car window in the retail park, or the people who fly tip. The problem is that there is a sector of society who seem to think that it's ok to make their rubbish someone else's problem.  Would love to know what prompts that type of thinking and what we can do to change it.

I made no comment on the proportionality of the rules. I'm looking for cause and effect. There's more rubbish than usual and in places I've not seen it before. What has changed recently, what may be stopping yoof drinking in large groups at home, in their gardens...

There's been an increase in litter seen on the central Ochils these past three months - which is curious given that numbers were unsurprisingly down during the actual lockdown period. Not messy stuff - bottles (plastic and glass - mainly plastic) and cans, so easy enough to bring down. But more of it than in normal times. Certainly not left by groups of youths unless they've been hiding somewhere. If I have any theory about it, it's along the lines that (a) quite a few locals who don't normally climb hills are going out - which is a good thing; (b) they're leaving cans and bottles for whatever reason; and (c) a lot of the hill regulars who would normally bring these things down haven't been going out. But that's just a rather speculative theory and could well be wrong.

Today's retrieved/recycled item was a bit of an oddity: an empty Newcastle Brown bottle found at about 550m on the way up the Law. I then got over Cleuch/Ever before being caught in a proper deluge although thankfully the thunder was away off to my right - but it was close enough for me not to stay on the ridges but to angle down into the glen even though this meant a longer walk out. Met a mountain biker in the glen who was descending at high speed  - quite alarmed as he'd seen lightning at close quarters - said he'd almost been hit.

I've removed a few bottles and so on, but wouldn't say it has been too bad - looks more like carelessness than mindless littering really. 

Have you met the teenager from Tillicoultry who is biking a Ben Ever/Ben Cleuch/AG/KIngseat round every day for thirty days? I've met him seven or eight times, the last time on top of Ben Cleuch late Thursday evening on round number 27. It could well have been him you saw running away! 

Such observations are always anecdotal, but I've been up there an average of more than once a week since 1997 and this feels like the worst spell I've seen for litter, particularly on the Law slope. Not terrible, but something to bring down almost every time.

Could well have been him - the age profile fits. Hadn't met him before, at least not knowingly, but from our brief conversation (it was still siling down) I think he said he'd been to the top of the track and heading for Ben Cleuch then retreated when the lightning came close. So on that basis he would likely have been doing Buck-Cleuch rather than Ever-Cleuch today. Excellent effort to keep doing that kind of thing day after day, even in good conditions. I also met my Dunblane pal again at the top of Cleuch - he must be closing in on 100 Blairdenon ascents during Covid-19 and had again come that way today. However the five minutes I spent chatting with him felt about four minutes too long, as conditions were failing fast and we were at the highest point for miles around. He sat down for his lunch at the top as did a couple I'd overtaken at the top of the Law and who now arrived. Back at the car in Tilli I met the couple again - they'd reversed the Law (not what they'd intended) and were fine although the woman said it had been a bit scary. Hope my Dunblane friend is OK - I asked the couple about him and they said he'd set off west along the fence, which would have taken him into the worst of it.

Impressive colours on the rainfall radar for the Stirling/Ochils area at 2.20pm:

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/observation/rainfall-radar#?map...

Round 2 tomorrow morning if anyone is keen? I took the dog for a walk out to the (used to be) island today and it's properly disgusting. I managed 4 bags and it doesn't even feel like I have scratched the surface. So Skog and his daughters are keen for tomorrow morning, so anyone else fancy joining us?

Don't think I can manage tomorrow, sorry - a bit too much on generally. (Could manage Friday however.) What's your start-time, anyway?

Meeting at 9.30. I'm afraid I can't do Friday, finally starting this new job then!! However, I would be surprised if we manage to get absolutely everything still so I'm sure you could still find something to clear up on Friday if you want to! There are people camping near the broken bridge today, so who knows what they will leave!!

Think I can manage across at 9.30 for an hour. Where are you parking - same place as last time?

Great! Yes, first parking place we met at. Ground was pretty wet today, wellies or walking boots might be worthwhile (or dry shoes for after!)

OK, will aim to get there for 9.30. Will bring a change of footwear! Busy day tomorrow, that's now four different things on, culminating in the great excitement of an online chess tournament in the evening.

PS - Please say to your mum that I saw Anne C in the street today and she sends her regards.

Fab, see you there. Will mention Anne C to my mum 😊