I had a great wee wander in Braemar yesterday, the village was looking festive in the frost and the Christmas tree looked fab with it's woollen decorations! A double shot coffee in the Bothy helped warm me up too, minus 8 degC wakes your senses in the morning.

I've been itching to get up to the Cairngorms after watching the justified social media buzz from last week. The weather last week was amazing, with blue skies, fogbows, brocken spectres and unicorns (joking) I couldn't wait to get into the higher hills.

Hill of Fare, just up from Banchory, is an ideal venue to teach hill and navigation skills.

I had a superb 4 day trek around the Lake District in August, thanks to a route suggested by Peter Dixon (@munro277) on twitter!

Such a stunning weekend had to be finished off with a family walk up a hill to take in the sunset.

It was far too bright and fresh today to sit inside typing emails and doing chores so I headed for a hill nearby. Carnferg up the Fungle road from Aboyne is a great wee walk, with the sun beaming through the trees and crunching iced turf below my feet, a pleasant 3 hours it was!

It was 14degC when I went up my first hill this morning, Scolty Hill near Banchory. It wasn't long before Sarah and I had our coats off as we walked along the quiet path, away from the main route, walking on top of a blanket of Larch needles.

A loo with a view! Corrour bothy in the Lairig Ghru, Cairngorms.

What's your oldest piece of kit? Mine is a trusty mug that I've been using for quite a few years now....since 1983 to be exact!

Last year I completed my first TGO Challenge, the across Scotland backpack hosted by The Great Outdoors magazine.

Yesterday I decided to dig out my winter gear and go on a test run up Morven. I'd been watching the social media frenzy about snow on the hills and I was beginning to feel the need for some of that fresh cold air on my face!