Penultimate Munros

Heading towards Carnmore at the head of Fionn Loch 

The weather forecast was favourable on Tuesday 14 August as Pete and Lyn set out early to take on the challenge of the two most remote Munros in Scotland...A'Mhaighdean and Ruadh Stac Mor, deep in Letterewe Forest, above the head of Dubh Loch, 16km SE of the village of Poolewe. We took our mountain bikes on the rough track as far as Kernsary, from where we walked the remaining 9km on good paths with full packs to Carnmore, at the head of Fionn Loch, where we planned to camp.  

The causeway between Fionn Loch and Dubh Loch.

Beyond the causeway is grassy platform above a stony beach on the north shore of Dubh Loch which offered a couple of flat pitches for our tents, just beyond the "No camping" notice.  However Pete knew about this interdiction from a previous visit and had permission from Barbara at the Letterewe Estate Office for an overnight camp by the loch side.
 

Here be Midges.

It was a warm evening without a breath of wind, ideal conditions for the inevitable midge attack. As the sun began to lower in the west they massed their forces then assailed us in clouds forcing a retreat to the tents where we sat out the attack. Not until after midnight dared we so much as pop our heads out of the tents. In the morning the coast was clear and a welcome breeze greeted us as we emerged from our hideouts. We packed a day-sack and made an early start at 6 30am. Our route follows a diagonal path along the hillside to the "v" shaped notch in the horizon just left of centre.
Pete's tent is a Hilleberg "Acto"; Lyn's is a Vango F10 Helium 100.

  

Heading SE beside Lochan Feith Mhic' Illean at 500m.

The summits of Ruadh Stac Mor 918m, on the left ,and A' Mhaighdean 967m came into view as we approached the outflow of Lochan Feith Mhic'Illean. These two Munros are the western pair of the so called "Fisherfield Six", the other four lie beyond Gleann na Muice to the east of our objectives of the day.

Fuar Loch Mor nestles between the steep flanks of Ruadh Stac Mor and A' Mhaighdean

The path above Fuar Loch Mor traverses the steep flank of Ruadh Stac Mor to the Poll Eadar dha Stac at 750m, a high bealach between the two Munros.

A chance encounter on the ascent of A' Mhaighdean

These two stags displayed no timidity and allowed me plenty of time to photograph them as we climbed the steep NE slopes of A'Mhaighdean.

Heading along the summit plateau towards the top of A' Mhaighdean.

It was breezy on the top of A' Mhaighdean, we reached the summit in good time just after 10am. It was Pete's second ascent of this Munro and today the weather was even better than the first time and the view, often rated as the best view from a Scottish mountain, even more spectacular.

View towards Poolewe from the summit of A' Mhaighdean.

This may indeed be the finest view from a Scottish mountain summit. Dubh Loch and Fionn Loch, set amid the wilderness of Letterewe, are seen far below, separated by the causeway where we left our tents. Beyond Fionn Loch, to the north is the sea and Gruinard Bay. Ben Airigh Charr, 791m, rises above the loch to the west, our return route to Poolewe lies below her eastern flank and the village itself some way beyond.

Rhuadh Stac Mor from the summit rocks of A' Mhaighdean.

The ruddy top of Ruadh Stac Mor can be seen to the NE, just over a kilometer, as the crow flies, from the top of A' Mhaighdean.

Trig Point on Ruadh Stac Mor 918m.

We made the summit of Ruadh Stac Mor in less than an hour but didn't tarry long as the wind was strengthening. The ascent through the crags and boulder field that defend Ruadh Stac Mor's SW flank was rough and Pete had spotted an easier descent route so we walked NW along the broad ridge then descended steeply on grass to the path alongside Fuar Loch Mor, which was our return route.

The Glen of the Alt Bruthach an Easain

This is the return path from the Lochan Feith Mhic'Illian, in the bottom of the glen is the outflow of the lochan, the Alt Bruthach an Easain. Beyond the lip of the glen, far below, lies the Dubh Loch and our tents, about an hour's walk away.

The last mile to the causeway camp.

As we rounded the corner out of the glen of the Alt Bruthach an Easain, the Dubh Loch and the causeway where our tents waited came into view, it was a welcome sight. We were back at camp inside an hour, packed our tents and gear and were away by 3pm heading back along the long path to Poolewe, which skirts the bottom of the hills in the distance. The walk back from camp took us four hours, it was a windy return trek, we had covered 32km on this, our second day of the expedition and we were rather battered, midge-bitten, tired and thirsty. It had been a great adventure and we were both now on our last Munro. This will be Ben More on Mull and we plan to go to Mull early in October and are looking at the logistics now. So if you fancy coming along, and you're welcome, let us know.    

Seana Bhraigh - Thursday 10th May

We camped at Ullapool on Wednesday night knowing that we had only one chance at Seana Bhraigh as we knew that the weather would be reasonable for most of Thursday but was going to take a turn for the worse later in the afternoon, but would we reach the summit first?

We made our preparations and went to bed in our small mountain tents (Lyn shared with Bella) and snuggled down. It promised to be a peaceful night and we dropped off to sleep only to be rudely awakened at 1.30am when four drunken Scottish peasants stumbling back from the boozer kicked over their stove as they groped noisily around their tent looking for their beer. The hubbub continued for an hour until the beer was gone..."One for the road" shouts Jock at 2.30am, then at last... silence. Lyn and Bella had just dozed off when all hell broke loose over by the Ferry Terminal. It was the 3am Ullapool ferry coming in to dock. Did you know that it takes about an hour for a ferry to unload with lots of grinding and metallic banging noises? Then just as you're dropping off again the whole business goes into reverse and the ferry noisily loads up and leaves. At 4.30am the shrill trilling of a blackbird heralded the dawn, a cuckoo cuckood, wood pidgeons cooed, an owl hooted  and every feathered songster for miles around joined in the chorus. It was a relief when the alarm rang at 7am and delivered us from the cacaphony of the night.

Despite the disturbances of the night we stuck to our plan and set off at 8am for the car park on the A835 at Inverlael. Seana Bhraig is a very remote Munro, perhaps the most remote of them all and it is a long walk in from Inverlael. Snow covered the tops of the nearby mountains and we had packed our Kahtoola crampons just in case. The track through the forest soon climbs steeply out of the woods onto the ridge of Druim na Saobhaidhe then a good stalkers path goes east at 450m across the barren moorland towards the distant west ridge of Eididh nan Clash Gaela 928m.

Lyn crossing the Allt Gleann a Mhadaidh with snowy Clash Gaela in the distance.

Two hours later and we were still plodding on a stalkers path through rough moorland dotted with streams and lochans. We stopped for a break and sipped a warming cup of tea as we surveyed the scene.  But no time was left to ponder for long as this was a tough mountain.



Coire an Lochan Sgeirich

 Our stalkers path took us past the tiered string of lochans in the Coire an Lochan Sgeirich, below the precipitous north face of Clash Gaela, towards the 750m col just beyond  the horizon which would give us our first view of  remote Seana Bhraigh.

The summit of Seana Bhraigh comes into view.

We passed the coll and headed down through pathless boggy peat towards Loch a Chadha Dheirg which nestles at the foot of Seana Bhraigh and marks the start of the climb to the summit far above.

Cliffs above the Cadha Dearg with the summit of Seana Bhraigh in the far distance

View east from the summit over Loch Luchd Coire towards Creag an Duine.

 The views improved as we gained height and we could see over the top of the cliffs down to the valley floor 2800 feet below. I was struggling to keep up because the wind was strong. Pete was ahead as we neared the top and I shouted and asked him to wait because I wanted Bella to have her coat on which was in my rucksack; she needed it now the cold was intense.

Bella in her coat with Pete on the summit of Seana Bhraigh 927m; Pete's penultimate Munro

We reached the summit in just over 5 hours at about 2pm as the clouds were darkening... soon the first icy snowflakes hit us, there was no time for more than a quick photo and a slurp of tea and then it was. "Let's get out of here". We returned along the way we came in a snowstorm and took no more photos.

End of the trail, with Seanna Bhraigh and Bella "in the bag".

 Bella was tired on the return, so we decided it was time for her to go in my rucksack. We emptied my stuff into Pete's and swopped sacks as she is slightly heavier than all our gear put together and set off again. I took my Buff off and put this 'bonnet' on her head to keep her warm against the snow which was blowing horizontally now.

We'd left the snow behind by the time we reached the forest road again. We had been fully ten hours on the hill and walked the best part of eighteen miles...this had been a hard Munro and one we were well pleased to have got in the bag.

Lurg Mhor

The shapely peaks of Bidein a'Choire Sheasgaich 945m and Lurg Mhor 986m grace the skyline high above Loch Monar in NW Scotland. This view was taken from the steep southern slopes of Sail Riabhach above Creag Dubh at about 700m. These remote Munros are best approached from Attadale from where it is a two hour bike ride to the foot of the mountains.

The summit of Bidein a'Choire Sheasgaich reflected in one of the numerous lochans scattered along the ridge between the Munro and Sail Riabhach.

The summit cairn on Bidein a'Choire Sheasgaich with Sail Riabhach beyond and below a glimpse of Loch Calavie which lies between Bidein and the Corbett, Beinn Dronaig 797m.

To the east of Bidein beyond the 740m bealach which seperates the two mountains is one of the most remote of all Munros; Lurg Mhor.

The bothy at Bendronaig Lodge, where our bikes were left, is in sight half a mile away and so are the hills in the background over which we still have to ride on our return to Attadale.

View from the top of the pass on our ride out. Beyond Pete are the two Munros that we've just climbed. The weather's glorious now...only an hour more to ride to Attadale and all downhill!

Fisherfield in May

Early in May Pete was in NW Scotland to walk the Fisherfield Six, some of the remotest of all the Munros. Fortunately the weather cleared as the summit of A'Mhaighdean 967m was reached, revealing the astonishing view towards the Western Isles.






Rhuad Stac Mor 918m was the second Munro of the day; seen here from the slopes of A'Mhaighdean on the descent towards the bealach separating the two mountains.





And here's A'Mhaighdean again this time seen from the summit of Rhuad Stac Mor, with rain threatening from the west.

This view was taken on the descent from Rhuad Stac Mor, just before a heavy downpour came in from the west. The return route lay between the two lochans below, then left down the valley to rejoin the path taken when approaching the two Munros in the morning. On the distant skyline is mighty An Teallach.

Shenaval bothy shelters below the SW slopes of Sail Liath beyond which lies An Teallach, there's room for a few tents beside the bothy too. The evening sun lights up the bothy, it's a welcome sight at the end of a long day on the hill.

As the shadows lengthen the bothy dwellers and the campers chat in the last of the sunlight outside the bothy. In the early days of May, before the midges hatch, and when the weather's kind, Sheneval is an idylic place.

Remote Scotland

Once again our Munro Bashing intrepid trio from Keswick Rambles (Pete, Lyn n Bella) ventured forth to conquer another one. But where? Ah you might well wonder, not many are left........Well I am not one for verbosity ah  hmm, so without further ado......and just to keep you in suspense......here is a clue.

I am sure you will recognise many features which will be familiar...

Grass perhaps?  A stream, or could it be a Scottish bog? The odd rock to fall over..Ah but what is that on the skyline? Scotch Mist. No it is not the name of a whisky, at least I do not think so. But look further, there is blue sky....Yes could it be a temperature inversion? All might be revealed soon.

Meanwhile, we have posted up a programme of walks on the Keswick Mountain Festival site and you might like to go there and see what we are offering in May 2011. Not all of our leaders have finalised the walks yet so keep returning, you might find more walks to your liking soon. Bookings are starting to come in so don't be the last to make your mind up. I have a feeling that 2011 KMF is going to be a scorcher! Here's the link.

http://www.keswickmountainfestival.co.uk/programme/hike/

Stob na Broige

Last Sunday was a warm sunny day, a summers day in fact and we've not had many of these this summer. We were camping in Glencoe for the weekend and started off down the Lairig Gartain just after 9am, heading for Stob na Broige 956m, which you can just see peeping out behind the conical peak of Stob Coire Altruim, one of the tops of Buchaille Etive Mor in the distance. The path up the Lairig Gartain used to be a very boggy but the NTS have recently improved it so we made good progress towards the Coire Altruim where the ascent began.




Phew! It was warm work toiling up the steep path up the Coire Altruim, there was no respite as to stop was to invite the attention of the midges, they were out in force and voracious.



Here's Lyn on the ridge leading from Stob Coire Altruim to Stob na Broige beyond, we semed to have left the midges behind, there were non on Stob na Broige



Pete and Lyn on the top of Stob na Broige, Bella doesn't seem much interested in posing. Behind us are the tops of Buchaille Etive Mor, the most prominent one is Stob na Doire, and just glimpsed behind is Stob Dearg 1022m, the Munro at the northern end of Buchaille Etive Mor and the highest point on the ridge.



Stob Dearg again here behind Pete who's heading back towards the cairn on Stob Coire Altruim, returning the same way as we came.




The view from the cairn on Stob Coire Altruim looking west over the hills on the south side of Glencoe; nearest is the ridge of Buchaille Etive Beag beyond which rises Bidean nam Bian and the peaks of Beinn a Bheithir above Ballachulish.

More interesting transport last week

The peaceful scene at Loch Mullardoch where the locals leave their transport.  Our conveyance last Thursday up the loch to the start of a long hard day climbing 3 Munros was the white boat on the top left.  This is the end of the day when the sun came out and we returned to our car after 9 hours on the hills.

When we arrived at our venue in the morning at 9am, our skipper was there along with his young aid all ready to launch the boat, and this next photo shows how it was done.

Yes Karl used a large red tractor to move the boat into position and then once it was afloat the wheels at the back retracted onto the decking at the back of the boat.  Even cleverer was the way the lid hinged up so that I did not have to get my feet wet as I boarded. Once on board though the motor refused to engage into gear, it started ok and ticked over but as soon as Karl tried to use the throttle it would not go. So we all jumped off again and just as Pete and I were looking at the map for another route up the hillside, Karl managed to meddle with some wires and got it going. Well that was lucky and so we boarded again and set off up the loch. 
It took nearly an hour to reach the beginning of the walk but on the way Karl gave us loads of information about his days hunting the red deer and the local goats. He and his companion had a pair of powerful rifles with them and they were going to drop us off and then try and bag a deer or a goat for the freezer. The goats had apparently swum ashore from the stricken Spanish vessels of the Armada in Elizabeth 1's reign and they had taken up residence on the hills one of which was our last Munro of the day called Carn nan Gobhar (Hill of the Goats) at 992 metres. I will not go into detail about the day here as Pete will be posting about our excursion soon.
I will show you one last photo though as this was our first trial of a new tent we purchased at Ultimate Outdoors in Keswick. We had bought the tent so that when we camped for longer than a couple of days we could do so with more room for our kit etc. It's all very well camping wild with small tents but when you want to stay longer it does mean you soon become exasperated with the lack of space for all the clothes and food you need to take. Hence the need to admit that our camping was a little too uncomfortable sometimes and that Bella needed more space and a play area for when it was wet. She is two and a half years old now but still insists on playing ball games and tug of war whenever she can enlist one of us to comply with her wishes ;-)   Of course the funniest thing about the new tent was the way she stuck her head out of the side door and kept a watch for anything which moved......Well she was in luck because at Tyndrum there were rabbits.......We had to make sure she was well tied up or there would have been a heck of a disruption on site if she set off after them.....She did watch one for quite a long time whilst we broke camp and lay there quivering with excitement to be at the chase.
This last photo shows Bella at the side door looking for trouble. Note I have her on a tight lead.

The photo was taken at Cannich where we stayed for the first 3 nights and then we had 2 at Tyndrum.

Me enjoying a cuppa on Skye

This was a photograph of me on the Skye ridge leaning against the summit cairn of Sgurr nan Eag our first Munro. The rather bewildered guy behind me kept popping up out of nowhere and asking our guide for directions. He was told the way but seemed either not to move very fast or to be taking in the scenery and just ambling along. I am partaking of a well earned cuppa from my flask because we had been scrambling along some pretty rough stuff for about 4 hours by then and still had 2 more summits to do that day.

The weather was simply glorious and it stayed like this for the entire day with no wind and wall to wall sunshine; it was magic. Pete and I will be putting some more photos of the Skye adventures on the blog in the future as soon as we have sufficient spare time to make a good job of it.

We were back in the Keswick recording studio today as we had both been asked to write and record another 5 day diary for 'Little Cumbria'.  Some of you may recall that we did a similar recording back in November. Anyway, all went well and Pete's is being broadcast next week with mine the week after. As before I will place a link to each session once it is broadcast on this blog. So if you want to hear us talking about our recent forays into the wilds of Scotland, then watch this blog for the links. Failing that you could tune into Radio Cumbria and listen to the live show, again I will give you details as soon as I have them.
They must like us on Radio Cumbria because they have asked us if we will both be willing to do another one soon, and of course we said yes.

I have also put Alison and Halle's walks all on this blog now under the relevant months so they should be up to date. David Ferguson has said he wants to offer some more walks too in some of the gap days, so as soon as I have updated the main website and had feedback from David I will put them on the blog too.

Meanwhile, Hamish and Angus (Tibetan terriers) are here for a fortnight so Bella is very pleased. She was out with them yesterday and came back very tired indeed. Pete came back with 2 magnificent trout from John so thanks so much we had one for dinner tonight and it was superb.

CPD or Continual Professional Development

Well it was time to dust off the harness and do some climbing again and what better place than Sgurr Dearg on Skye? The exposure was tremendous and although the climb was about a Mod/Diff it was thrilling all the same because there is a long way down if you care to look....I decided it was best to concentrate on the holds and they were there in plenty. There was a heart stopping moment though when my harness velcro decided to rip apart on the crux move but luckily this is not what keeps it together as it has a webbing strap too. None the less it did give me a fright hearing that tearing sound on the one place I needed to feel safe!

Ok the piccie does not do the climb justice I know because we did not have a camera with us, but this is after I have abseiled off the short end and come back down to the beginning for a nice rewarding cuppa. The guy in green is just setting off on the climb and I am standing with Tom the leader.

A Scottish Adventure

Monday May 10 at o900, the Fort William bound sleeper drops Pete, Lyn and Bella at Corrour Halt on Rannock Moor. The railway provides the only access to the station, which stands about a kilometer from the West end of Loch Ossian; there's no motor road...it's a lonely spot.


It was a seven kilometre walk along the track beside Loch Ossian to Corrour Lodge at the far end of the loch. In the far distance on the right, still patched with snow, you can see the hills towards which we're bound. The walk out and back over the two Munros to the south of the loch was twenty kilometres in all and we knew we had to be back at the station for the return train before half past six...It was a cold crisp morning and there was no time for dawdling, it was a good track so we stepped out and reached the foot of the far hills in an hour and a half.
Six hundred metres above Loch Ossian; Lyn approaches the crest of the ridge of Meall Nathrach Mor which means "hill of the big adder"; she didn't dawdle when I told her that!
From the cairn on Meall Nathrach Mor the ground rises towards Sgor Choinnich 929, in the background, this is a top rather than the Munro itself which lies beyond.

Looking SW towards Carn Dearg 941m from the upper slopes of Sgor Choinnich.
View from the summit cairn of Sgor Choinnich with Schiehallion in the distance to the SE, beyond Loch Ericht.


From Sgor Choinnich we descended to the 800m Bealach nan Sgor before climbing to the summit of the first Munro of the day...Sgor Ghaibhre 955m "Peak of the goats".

View NE from the upper slopes of Carn Dearg with Ben Alder seen beyond between the twin peaks of Sgor Choinnich and Sgor Gaibhre.


We descend the W ridge of Carn Dearg through the snow flurries towards Loch Ossian far below.


We're in plenty of time for the train and the sun has returned to warm us as we stroll along the old track that leads west towards Corrour beyond the head of the loch in the distance.
The "Corbett" Leum Uilleim 906m forms a backdrop to the last mile of the walk...Corrour station is just out of sight round the last bend in the road.
Corrour Station 5pm. The Scottish Youth Hostel Association have recently re opened the Station House at Corrour; this is on the left out of the picture but don't expect a cup of tea there on a Monday, as we did, it will be closed all afternoon!