Post number 12 (Onich)

Gulvain - 12 miles. 3908 feet of ascent.

Monday 22nd June 2009

A useful cycle ride takes you right to the foot of the mountain on a quite decent Land Rover track; the last quarter mile was a bit rough. The ascent is very steep and unrelenting but on a good path. There are two subsidiary summits on the way, the second with a trig point and a kilometer from the proper summit with a considerable height loss in between the two. I found this one of the toughest ascents I can remember. I was out for seven and three quarter hours, and without the eight or so miles done on the bike this would have been a much longer day. It rained most of the time and all the tops were covered with cloud and views were minimal. I do seem to have had some rotten weather for the last three Scotland Munro visits in a row.

The pics: The start. Looking back to where bike was left. Rainbow. Gulvain summit ridge. Gulvain cairn.

I'm off to Roy Bridge tomorrow where there is no internet so no posts for a bit.

Post number 11 (Onich)

Beinn Mhanach. 10 miles – 3807 ft of ascent.

This was done yesterday, Saturday 20th June.

On the way, travelling south on the A82, and after Glencoe but before Bridge of Orchy there is a very popular lay by with a food wagon. I don’t know how many times I have driven past this and I have never stopped there, but on this morning I needed coffee and decided to stop. Although the coffee was only what one would have expected there was a point of interest in the form of a cairn erected in year 2000 to commemorate perished mountaineers and also Sir Hugh Munro (see the pics).

The ascent of Mhanach was interesting because of its reclusive nature. A long ascent up a glen with a variety of quality waterfalls leads to a col, and even at this point the objective cannot be seen. From the col an excellent path contours perfectly behind and below the summit of the mountain on the left of the col. After about a mile the path descends gently to col number two from where a steep climb leads to col number three between Beinn Mhanach and Beinn a Chuirn, and this is the first sight of your peak. Drizzle at the outset had cleared and the rest of the day improved. The pic from the summit looks east with Loch Lyon in view. By Munro standards this was a medium length trek, but I was still out for seven and a half hours.

Only six to go now!

Post Number 10 (Onich)

Beinn Dubchraig and Ben Oss.
12.5 miles 4232 feet of ascent.

This round was completed yesterday (Thursday 18th June) in appalling weather. It rained nearly all the time and the rain was driven by very strong winds. I was blown off my feet on several occasions. Despite all this the clouds were relatively high and I did have some decent views. The SMC guide recommends returning by the same route, that is back over Beinn Dubhchraig but I decided to descend from the col between Ben Oss and Beinn Dubhchraig. This is quite a steep pathless grass descent and some care was needed and the old knee was quite painful by then. The advantage of this return route was a walk out of the glen of about three miles on a Land Rover track instead of the rough muddy, tree root strewn woodland track of the ascent. The disadvantage was the need to cross the river in the glen; here I did a Nicholas Crane – that is I just waded across boots and all, and surprisingly the remaining walk out was no less comfortable with the wet boots.
My caravan has blown air heating and I can direct all of this into the toilet compartment and this makes a very efficient drying room. As I write next morning everything including my boots is now dry. I have decided that I will have rest days in between to give the knee some chance of recovery, and in any case the weather is still foul, although the forecast for next week is good.The first two pics give some idea of the amount of rain that has fallen in the last few days. Number three shows the summit of Beinn Dubhchraig sticking up above the summit cairn on Ben Oss. Pic number four shows the col between Beinn Dubhchraig and Ben Oss which I descended (Ben Oss is the one on the right). The statistics at the top of this post are taken from a route plot on Memory Map.

Post number 9 (Onich)

Arrived Onich 2:45 pm yesterday. Stunning summer evening, but rain started in the night and has not stopped since. It is now 2:00 pm as I write. Brightening was forecast after midday so I motored the three quarters of an hour to Tyndrum to put myself in place to do Ben Oss and Beinn Dubhchraig weather permitting. I waited until midday which I reckon was about the latest I would have wanted to start on this round, although it hardly gets dark at all at this time of year up here.
The rain never stopped so I am now back at the caravan reading A Buyer’s Market (the second in the Anthony Powell twelve volume set called A Dance to the Music of Time.

Post number 8

I've had enough of the garden and decking!

There is still the planter under the trellis to finish. I intend to clad it in slate. Then there will be a need for some expensive garden furniture.

I'm booked onto the Caravan Club site at Bunree twixt Glencoe and Fort William from Tuesday 16th June for seven nights. My plans are fluid, and all will depend on the knee. I think it may be possible to have an Internet connection on the site so I may be able to blog with my laptop.

Remaining Munros to do are:

Ben Oss and Beinn Dubhchraig - from main road near Tyndrum(Dalrigh)

Bein a Chuirn - from main road near Tyndrum (Auch)

Gulvain - from Fort William/Mallaig road

Carn Dearg and Sgor Gaibhr - from The Corrour Halt on the West Highland Line

Meall na Teanga and Sron a Choire Ghairbh - from north end of Loch Lochy

Sgurr Mor (Loch Quoich) - from end of Loch Arkaig via Glendessary

Post number 7

Decking progressed again at the weekend with inclement weather.

Finishing off the edges with half round logs was the objective. These were nailed into the edge of the decking, but with a further noggin/spacer nailed on at about half height, and sawn to fit up against the joist under the overlap of the decking planks.

The corner was cut to a curve. After much deliberation and erroneous application of "O" Level geometry it was finally done by eye freehand , and cut with the jigsaw. Note the plastered thumb in the pic.

Some length cutting of the noggins was required and we used the circular saw bench seen in the pic. This was a cheap DIY machine bought a few years ago which has had a fair amount of use, but on this occasion it burnt out.

Looking on the Internet for a substitute I decided to go for a hand held circular saw, and after looking at the choices settled on a DeWalt D23650-GB shown on the Screwfix website at £139. I then Googled this item and found it on offer at B and Q for £109 with free delivery next day (Monday) and as I write I am awaiting the delivery. There are still some edging posts to finish off and a back rail to fix.

I am planning to go back to Scotland next week to see if the knee will allow me to do some more Munros, so I hope to make more interesting posts soon.

Post number 6

Well the main part of the decking is now finished. Edges will eventually be finished but materials and design have not yet been decided upon; I am awaiting the return of High Horse at the weekend. We are also considering cladding the planter under the trellis, perhaps with slate.

I attended my hospital appointment yesterday for a knee review. My appointment was for 10:00 am and they were already running forty five minutes late, so I suspect those with appointments for 4:30 may still be waiting?

The doc. told me to leave it to settle down for another four weeks, but gave me little hope of them being able to make any further improvements. Apparently they do not consider it bad enough for a replacement joint. Having digested all this I am now considering a trip to Scotland before the end of June to see if I can nail some more of the remaining nine Munros before the knee protests too much again.