Braeriach was looking lovely today. Light was poor in general but the heather and water compensated. Still surreal to see the nascent River Dee literally spout out the ground at 4,000ft.

A worrying trip today to the heart of the Cairngorms to see the last snow in that range. The Sphinx patch at Garbh Choire Mòr is now critically small and liable to melt completely. If it does, it will be the third year in succession.

Absolutely unprecedented.

Is there a finer sight (or sound)? I grew up watching this steamer pass by and have a large soft-spot for it. I suspect I’m not alone.

Nine years ago today fresh snow fell on the summit of Ben Nevis. Admittedly not much, but one of the earliest falls I’ve seen.

Absolutely staggering.

Finlay Wild completed all 10 Mamore Munros yesterday in 4hrs 38 minutes. When I did the round a few years ago it took close to 18 hours.

It’s hard to put across just how remarkable this time is.

Veteran snow patch spotter Mick Mckie was on Ben Macdui yesterday and managed to get a couple of photos of the last two patches of snow in the Cairngorms, at Garbh Choire Mor on Braeriach. Neither seem destined for a long life.

Quite a crowd in this morning for BBC’s Out of Doors on Radio Scotland. Do tune in now!

There are as of today just two patches of snow on Ben Nevis, both high on the north-east face around Observatory Gully. It is highly likely that these will be gone by the end of August. Very rare for the UK's highest peak to have no snow so early in summer.

📷 Chris_Speight

An almost volcanic quality to Ben Vorlich this evening from the summit of Ben Cleuch at sunset. Its near-neighbours, Ben More and Stob Binnein, also looked fine.

This is really, really sad. Three hillwalkers on the Aonach Eagach found dead after failing to return yesterday. It’s a narrow ridge for sure, and folk have died on it before, but three in one incident? Horrendous.

Just so good to see the UCI Men’s road race come through Camelon. Police motorbikes from Yorkshire, Devon & Cornwall, and Wales joining the Scottish ones in marshalling the roads.

Five years ago to the day I spent my first night in the newly-refurbished Garbh Choire refuge in the very heart of the Cairngorms. Any hike to this marvelous little bothy is a long one, no matter what direction it's approached from. But it is more than worth it.

A 16-hour fast hike around the beautiful corners of the Lake District over the last two days. Some very tough climbs and descents. But what an event the Lakeland 50 is. The equivalent of walking from Edinburgh to St Andrews with two ascents of Ben Nevis thrown in.

A woman got stuck on the cliffs of Glyder Fawr in Wales yesterday after she went up some very steep ground to retrieve her parrot(?), who'd flown up there after being attacked by a peregrine falcon. Some proper news at last.

📷 Ogwen Valley MR facebook.com/OVMRO/posts/pf…

I had to turn the notifications off on this as it fast became a joke. I've learned one thing, though. There are many drivers in the UK who still believe that the car is sacrosanct, and that pedestrians should yield at every turn, lest they delay them for more than three seconds.

The ski season in Scotland isn’t quite finished… Yesterday at 3,600ft on Cairn Gorm young skier Campbell got a few well-earned turns in.

📷 Colin Hutt

Widespread ignorance of this new rule has nearly got me into several ‘altercations’ with drivers when out on my regular running route.

I copped a mouthful from a BMW driver the yesterday, whom I replied to with some *choice* language of my own.

Rule 170, Highway Code.