Took the chance of what might be the last decent day
for a while to climb Merrick, the highest point in Scotland
south of Loch Lomond. Wouldn't really call it a mountain,
as only around 2800ft, and more of an enormous
rolling hill, but a strenuous 6 hour walk if you do the full
circuit. The clarity of the air was unusual for the summer
months, with Ben Lomond to the north, Mountains of Mourne
to the southwest, IoM to the south and Moffat Hills to
the east all sparkling clear. Rather breezy and chilly at the top,
but made up for by plenty of sun. It wasn't just that the visibility
was excellent but the clarity of the air seemed unblemished.
Also visible (I think) to the east was Cheviot, and it struck me
that current conditions to climb it might be ideal. Normally it is
a miserable struggle through thigh deep peat slurry, but I
reckon that at the moment you might just make it with dry feet.
Had a couple of A.W. moments when we were surprised by
fellow walkers, but nowhere near as bad as it will be next week
with the school holidays starting.

Jim

On Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:53:17 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

...
Normally it is
a miserable struggle through thigh deep peat slurry, but I
reckon that at the moment you might just make it with dry feet.

You can make it with dry feet by following the route of the Pennine Way
from Cairn Hill as we did in September 2004.

See http://windycroft.gt-britain.co.uk/Dsc00112.jpg

--
Alan White
Mozilla Firefox and Forte Agent.
Twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, overlooking Lochs Long and Goil in Argyll, Scotland.
Webcam and weather:- http://windycroft.gt-britain.co.uk/weather

On 16 Jun, 19:53, wrote:
Took the chance of what might be the last decent day
for a while to climb Merrick, the highest point in Scotland
south of Loch Lomond. *Wouldn't really call it a mountain,
as only around 2800ft, and more of an enormous
rolling hill, but a strenuous 6 hour walk if you do the full
circuit. *The clarity of the air was unusual for the summer
months, with Ben Lomond to the north, Mountains of Mourne
to the southwest, IoM to the south and Moffat Hills to
the east all sparkling clear. *Rather breezy and chilly at the top,
but made up for by plenty of sun. *It wasn't just that the visibility
was excellent but the clarity of the air seemed unblemished.
Also visible (I think) to the east was Cheviot, and it struck me
that current conditions to climb it might be ideal. *Normally it is
a miserable struggle through thigh deep peat slurry, but I
reckon that at the moment you might just make it with dry feet.
Had a couple of A.W. moments when we were surprised by
fellow walkers, but nowhere near as bad as it will be next week
with the school holidays starting.

Jim

Excellent visibility dowm in SW Cornwall - Lundy easily visible from
the back of St Ives (around 100km?)

When I used to live out at Sennen, Scilly (around 30 miles or so
offshore) was often clearest under the high cloud of an approaching
warm front, at times the Islands looked remarkably close.

Graham
Penzance

On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 at 01:32:31, Graham Easterling
wrote in uk.sci.weather :

Excellent visibility dowm in SW Cornwall - Lundy easily visible from
the back of St Ives (around 100km?)

I don't think the curvature of the Earth even allow visibility over that
distance.

I tried plugging some numbers into this :

http://www.ringbell.co.uk/info/hdist.htm

.... and you'd need to 800m up for the horizon to be at 100km - and I
know there's no land that high around St Ives.
--
Paul Hyett, Cheltenham (change 'invalid83261' to 'blueyonder' to email me)

On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:08:45 GMT, Paul Hyett
wrote:

I don't think the curvature of the Earth even allow visibility over that
distance.

Atmospheric refraction?

--
Alan White
Mozilla Firefox and Forte Agent.
Twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, overlooking Lochs Long and Goil in Argyll, Scotland.
Webcam and weather:- http://windycroft.gt-britain.co.uk/weather

In message , Paul Hyett
writes
On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 at 01:32:31, Graham Easterling
wrote in uk.sci.weather :

Excellent visibility dowm in SW Cornwall - Lundy easily visible from
the back of St Ives (around 100km?)

.

I tried plugging some numbers into this :

http://www.ringbell.co.uk/info/hdist.htm

... and you'd need to 800m up for the horizon to be at 100km - and I
know there's no land that high around St Ives.

Wouldn't it depend also on the height of land at the distant point?

I was on a ferry returning to the Isle of Man from England last
Thursday, 12th, in a very clear northerly air flow. The high ground of
the Isle of Man - say above about 1,000 feet - was clearly visible and
my handheld Garmin indicated it to be still some 58 miles (about 90km)
away.

--


Jim

On 17 Jun, 18:08, Paul Hyett wrote:


I tried plugging some numbers into this :

http://www.ringbell.co.uk/info/hdist.htm

... and you'd need to 800m up for the horizon to be at 100km - and I
know there's no land that high around St Ives.
--

But Lundy is not at sea level. At least, the top of it isn't (just
under 150m according to the map).

On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 at 18:40:04, Jim Kewley
wrote in uk.sci.weather :

Excellent visibility dowm in SW Cornwall - Lundy easily visible from
the back of St Ives (around 100km?)

I tried plugging some numbers into this :

http://www.ringbell.co.uk/info/hdist.htm

... and you'd need to 800m up for the horizon to be at 100km - and I
know there's no land that high around St Ives.

Wouldn't it depend also on the height of land at the distant point?

Maybe - how high is Lundy?
--
Paul Hyett, Cheltenham (change 'invalid83261' to 'blueyonder' to email me)

Paul Hyett wrote:
how high is Lundy?

142 metres (466 feet)

--
Neil Sunderland
Braunton, Devon

Please observe the Reply-To address

On 17 Jun, 18:08, Paul Hyett wrote:
On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 at 01:32:31, Graham Easterling
wrote in uk.sci.weather :



Excellent visibility dowm in SW Cornwall - Lundy easily visible from
the back of St Ives (around 100km?)

I don't think the curvature of the Earth even allow visibility over that
distance.

I tried plugging some numbers into this :

http://www.ringbell.co.uk/info/hdist.htm

... and you'd need to 800m up for the horizon to be at 100km - and I
know there's no land that high around St Ives.
--
Paul Hyett, Cheltenham (change 'invalid83261' to 'blueyonder' to email me)

Well you'd be wrong. remember the moors behind Penzance are around
600', and Lundy's pretty high. Through binoculars it's even possible
to see the top of the lighthouse in the right
conditions.


Graham
Penzance