Maps don't tell the whole story

Blonde Two's last post talks of gorse problems; I have had my own.

It seemed like a good idea at the time (2002).

Lurgh Mhor and Bidein a'Choire Sheasgaich (Lurgh Mhor is often mentioned as one of the most remote Munros)

SMC guide to the Munros, "...there is very much the feeling of a real expedition to climb them, some may prefer to take two days..."

By my route the distance was about 18 miles there and back of very strenuous hill walking.

The conventional route started by crossing the railway near Gerry's Hostel (where I later stayed on my LEJOG walk).

I had looked at the map and also viewed the river from the road just to the east of Achnashellach station and it looked shallow. I took trainers to wade across the river thereby saving myself about six kilometres there and back on the track starting near Gerry's hostel.

From memory, the climb over the fence or whatever to cross the railway was not easy. Next I found myself in total swamp often up to my knees, but boots were being carried so remained dry. The river was waded fairly easily, but the far bank was guarded by solid gorse over six feet high and twenty or thirty feet deep. I hid my trainers and had no alternative but to force my way through that gorse which was very close to impossible. Sweating and shredded I was faced with climbing a deer fence (they are about ten feet in height), into a wood. The wood was strewn with felled trees and thick undergrowth, the trees having being felled at right angles to my direction of travel necessitating climbing over and negotiating the mass of twisted branches, brambles, hidden holes and other evil ankle twisting horrors. Another deer fence was conquered to land me on the track of the conventional route. That was a distance of about half a kilometre from the car, but the worst half kilometre I can ever remember.

The rest of that day was brilliant, but on the way back descending steeply a few hundred yards from the point where I had gained the track from the second deer fence my knee suddenly suffered the most excruciating pain. I was staying with the caravan at Kinlochewe and the previous day I had by some strange prescience bought a single walking pole at a small outdoor shop there which has since closed. Why I bought that pole I have no idea - I had scorned them in the past and seemed to have no reason for the purchase, but it it turned out to be a lifesaver.

I think that was the start of my knee problems which resulted in several arthroscopies and replacement knee surgery in May 2012.

Of course I had to re-negotiate the obstacle course providing a final challenge for a very long day.

CLICK TO ENLARGE
The thick brown dash/dot line is part of my LEJOG route from 2008 - the tent symbol indicates a night stop at Gerry's hostel

Pride comes before derailment

On Thursday I took the Claude Butler Voyager on her/his/its maiden voyage. I put the bike on the train at Arnside, there was just one coach - only two cycles are permitted. There was already one on board. My journey was one stop, across Arnside Viaduct to Grange-over-Sands - six minutes and £2.50 (I think the bike went free).

Cycling back round the bay the sun was shining.The 28 inch wheels promote that sense of superiority gained riding in a 4 x 4, and the Voyager rolled along so much more freely than the old mountain bike which set me thinking about its recent sale. 

I had Googled the Ebay purchaser, revealing him as a “systems developer” at Lancaster University. Some of his research had related to emotions transmitted by the skin with connotations for marketing. This sounded interesting. Various scenarios flitted through my mind: a car salesman having a gismo telling him your true feelings about the car being viewed when you touched it, or when you shook hands with him, and other potential applications too intimate to articulate here. I tried to promote conversation when I delivered the bike, but I was cut short, and the guy just wanted to be off somewhere else.

I suffered some nostalgia parting with the Terrago. It had been a part of my Munro endeavours over the last few years. One troublesome memory of derring-do occurred on my ascent of An Sgarsoch and Carn an Fhidhleir, remote Munros southwest of Linn of Dee. I met two guys on the first summit, and they beat me to the second by taking a shorter route. I was nettled.

Back at the bikes I saw the young duo some distance down the track. I was determined to restore pride by beating them back to Linn of Dee, a ride of about 10km.  I was inspired, and at one with the bike, born along by the gods. I passed the junior-hards at great speed in a whirlwind of rattling stones and dust, heightening my senses yet again, and I pressed on.  Three kilometres out from Linn of Dee I was abruptly stopped by a loud cracking sound. My rear wheel had submitted, but with clamorous protest, to a large stone, and it now looked like something out of a Salvador Dali painting - all bent and droopy.

My journalist brother exhorts me to photograph dramas, "more interesting than pretty landscapes". I always forget - this one is thanks to Google Images

The two Munro usurpers arrived, and were able to interpret the scene instantly. There was no conversation between us, they just passed by. I squirmed as I imagined their conversation, and pushed on with my wounded mount back to the car, a sadder and hopefully wiser egoist.

The eclectic mountaineer

This post is really for http://phreerunner.blogspot.co.uk/  (Postcard from Timperley), in response to his post (12th March 2012) which included a photo of an unidentified mountain. Identification was invited.

I can rarely remember the Scottish names, but when I learned the mountain was Stob na Broige it sounded familiar, and I predictably, but wrongly assumed it would be a Munro. After some research I found I had climbed Stob na Broige at Easter 2006 whilst gatecrashing a Yorkshire Mountaineering Club meet. The previous day I had climbed Buachaille Etive Beag and this photo of Stob na Broige was taken  during that ascent.

The next day I returned to Glen Etive with my old friend Malcolm (Sol) Lomas, and Jane Wainwright, long standing members of the YMC, and we made the ascent indicated on the photo.

We only carried ice axes (no crampons or rope) and there were a couple of tricky sections.  On the first one I borrowed Jane’s ice axe and used that as well as my own.

That was an enjoyable outing, especially as our route was direct to the summit.

Another pleasing factor is the dispelling of a myth directed at Munroists of being unimaginative list-tickers - I still had plenty of Munros to do at that time, but was just as willing to go off and climb other peaks.

Photoshop painting - Sgor na h-Ulaidh

The idea for this Photoshop painting came from my friend John Proud who said he would like to have a picture just showing the colours  and texture on a Scottish hillside without it necessarily having any other objective. When I was browsing through my Munro photos I came across this pic which I thought may be along the lines that John was thinking of. The Munro in the background is Sgor na h-Ulaidh which lies hidden behind, and to the south of the hills seen on the left descending through Glencoe, as well as being hidden by cloud on the day. My ascent on 8th October 2008 accessed the hill from Glen Etive.

Others may disagree, but I found it interesting that a somewhat nondescript photo could provide a more interesting painting.

Post number 21 Worst Munro experience

Bidein a Choire Sheasgaich and Lurg Mhor
15.5 miles. 7078 ft. of ascent – climbed in 2002

Lurg Mhor is another competitor for the most remote Munro. I think this was perhaps my longest ever Munro day. I seem to remember it was well over 12 hours and although it included an unpleasant start and finish the rest of it was a magnificent walk with the knowledge of being a long way from civilisation.

Looking at the map I decided that I could save about two and a half kilometres each way (five kilometres in all) by starting from a lay-by on the road well to the west of the official start, and going directly south to join the path leading to the territory of the two Munros. I reckoned the only problem would be crossing the river and I decided to take some trainers thereby keeping my boots dry. All this turned out to be a monumental error of judgement.

First of all, from the road I had to climb a fence, cross the railway (illegally I suppose) then climb another fence. It was now several hundred yards to the river and this turned out to be an area of total swamp so my feet were wet before I even got to the river, but in denial I donned the trainers and waded across the river and hid the trainers for my return. Looking back on the event I don’t think anybody else would have been coming that way to find the trainers! What the map did not tell me was that an impenetrable gorse thicket about thirty yards in width bordered the riverbank on the other side. There was no option but to force my way through which was excruciating. Believing the worst to be over I now found myself faced with a deer fence – these fences are about nine feet high and quite demanding to climb, especially with a rucksack. Overcoming this obstacle I was now in a mature wood where a large number of trees had fallen horizontally against my desired route, and with everything overgrown it was impossible to avoid descending into holes and dead branches and climbing over the fallen trunks. This was the most difficult three hundred yards I have ever negotiated, and of course to get out of the wood I had to climb another deer fence.

I had now joined the path and the correct route leading into wild country, crossing a high bealach followed by a long descent then crossing a sort of river delta. From here there was a steep ascent to the first Munro. The second Munro, Lurg Mhor, was a continuation of the same massif, but with a substantial loss of height in between. Somewhere along this stretch I met a fellow Munroist who was surprised at how quickly I had got to this point from my start. We carried on to the summit of Lurg Mhor where the sense of isolation was quite marked. We returned together as far as the col between the two summits (my return was by the same route as the outward journey), and I remember seeing my acquaintance disappearing far below as a small speck in the distance along his own route as I neared the summit of Munro number one for the second time.

On arriving at a point on the path within a few hundred yards from where I had joined it after my river crossing I felt the most violent pain in my knee, and I think this was the start of the whole of my knee problems – I could hardly walk. By some inexplicable prescience, the day before, I had bought a single walking pole from an outdoor shop (now defunct) in Kinlochewe. I had never used these aids before and I can’t remember why I bought this one, except that I had seen a picture of Alan Hinkes using poles during his unbelievable feet of conquering all the fourteen peaks over 8,000m which reversed my previous opinion of poles from one of disdain to one of undoubted macho connotation. The pole was indispensable. I managed to reverse all the horrors of the outward journey in much pain. I think that fortunately that was the last planned day of this trip to Scotland.

However good we think our 1:50000 OS maps are they do not tell the whole story and even the shortest distance can turn into a nightmare. Cameron McNeish says in his guide to the Munros “By the time you have completed the round you will be well prepared for almost every eventuality you can encounter in the British hills”. I’m not so sure about that.

Post number 20-The Best Munro

At the suggestion of Barrett Bonden I now plan to do a few posts singling out particular Munros. No doubt The Worst Munro will shortly follow, but this needs a sort of map drawing and I have now done an experiment proving that I can do this in Photoshop then save it as a JPG and then get it into Blogger like a normal photo.

The knee is still painful and a recent visit to the surgeon who did the arthroscopy did not give me much hope of being able to do serious walking in the future and there was very little he seemed to be able to offer. He said that a replacement knee joint would not be any good for me at the moment and it would not stand up to the kind of walking I want to do. Yesterday I had an appointment with the physio which was more constructive and I have been given exercises to do so we shall just have to see.

The Best Munro Day

Eidh nan Clach Geala and Seana Bhraig
17.8 miles 5624 ft. of ascent

The latter of these two has a claim to being the most remote Munro, but this is debatable, although that aspect certainly contributed to its high place in my memory. These Munros are situated in the huge wilderness of Easter Ross to the east of Ullapool, and the walk starts from near the southern end of Loch Broom at Inverlael.

First of all, some years before I climbed these two Munros, my friend and neighbour Dan in Preston, with whom I have shared various outdoor adventures on land and water, invited me to go and search for Dotterels. Dan had heard that these rare birds stop off on the summit of Pendle Hill in Lancashire only for a day or so within a small time frame as they are returning north from their migration. They stop to feed on the specialised vegetation on this hill before continuing to Scotland where they breed. Although I said to myself we would have little hope of seeing the birds I humoured Dan and off we went. On approaching the summit of Pendle Hill we saw a group of half a dozen people with tripods and other ornithological gear, and as we came close we saw that there were several pairs of Dotterels only a few yards in front of these spectators unconcernedly nibbling at whatever it is that they like up there – they were quite tame, and I was somewhat confounded by our easy good fortune.

The two Munros in question were ascended on 21st May 2002. It is a long hard march to the summit of the first one and it was a cloudless and hot day of extraordinary visibility, which I have often found at that time of year in Scotland.

Just after the summit on Eidh nan Clach Geala I noticed some birds in the heather a few yards ahead, and of course they were Dotterels, so not counting seeing these birds wintering in Africa or wherever, I had now completed a sort of circle from my previous viewing several years before, and I found this particularly satisfying.

This was a very long day, and I was still six kilometres or so from Seana Bhraig, which is located on the far side of a U shaped glen with very long sides reminiscent of High Cup Nick and the route follows the rim of this feature. The views from Seana Bhraig were stunning – I could see The Summer Isles about thirty miles away, and the feeling of remoteness was heightened by not seeing another person all day.

Last year my Land's End John 'oGroats walk took me through Inverlael along part of the route for these Munros then further to the north. I could not say this was nostalgic because I saw nothing. I walked all day in the most apalling wind and rain relying mainly on the compass before finally arriving at the very welcome Knockdamph bothy.

I saw Dotterels again on Beinn Bhreac in the southern Cairngorms on 9th June 2006.

Post number 19 (salmon fishing)

On the evening of my celebratory meal after completing my last Munro I overheard bits of conversation from a table to my rear.

There were two men talking about salmon fishing. They were well spoken and probably fairly highly placed business executives (just guessing) and very serious enthusiasts of their sport talking with an intensity appropriate to a multi billion pound takeover deal. After a while they were joined by two other gents who were again well spoken country types and from ensuing talk I deduced that they were probably agents or very senior keepers for the estate where the other two intended to pursue Salmo salar at vast expense, and there was no doubt the keeper types were operating on a very smooth p.r. basis, going along with and humouring the others.

The original two, it transpired had come from fishing The Tweed where they had had little success. They were complaining about trout fishermen who had been catching sea trout and having good sport at far less expense. They then started name dropping to the two smoothie keepers mentioning well known personalities in the exclusive world of Scottish game fishing, and a fair amount of dirt dishing followed from both factions of this quartet. I got the impression that the keepers were not confident that our two heroes would have any more success on their water than on The Tweed, and they were making veiled preparatory statements naming weather and lack of water and other phenomena as culprits that may provide them with some excuse on the day of reckoning.

What amused me about all this was that I could imagine a similar future scenario with two new “heroes” and the same keepers where the keepers were telling the new guys about the two pains in the bum that they had to nanny a couple of weeks ago.

By the way, I had smoked salmon as a starter.

Post number 18 (Roy Bridge – Glen Spean) Last Munro

Sunday 28th June 2009 – Sgurr Mor – Glen Kingie- 11.4 miles – 4482 ft of ascent (my last Munro)

The big question was whether the knee would let me finish my last Munro or leave me stranded in the middle of nowhere, but inspiration was to hand from the old Ballad of Chevey Chase (Anon), commemorating The Battle of Otterburn, 1388:

For Witherington needs must I wail
As one in doleful dumps
For when his legs were smitten off
He fought upon his sumps.

What a great day! I set off at 7:00 am from the end of Loch Arkaig. The last time I was there was in 1984 when I did Sgurr na Ciche and its two neighbours with Tom. Weather then was appalling and we retreated immediately after the walk instead of staying in the tent because of the worst midge plague I can ever remember. What a contrast today with blue sky and sunshine. It was all very nostalgic walking up to Glendessary, and then into unknown territory over the pass to Glen Kingie. I went straight up the steep south face to the eastern col of Sgurr Mor. I was attacked a bit by normal flies and some biting horseflies, but not enough to spoil things.

The return journey over the pass was very sapping (nearly on my stumps)in great heat and humidity. I was back at the car for 4:00 pm, so 9 hours in all.

I went for a meal at the pub across the road from the caravan site which was quite decent. Draught Theakstons as an aperitif (I was a bit thirsty), followed by smoked salmon, then battered haddock etc accompanied by a couple of glasses of sauvignon blanc, and then some orange treacle tart and ice cream – not haute cuisine but as this was Hobson’s choice it was fortunately satisfactory.

Post number 17 (Roy Bridge – Glen Spean)

Saturday 27th June 2009- rest day.

Despite the forecast of a perfect sunny day it was raining this morning, and at midday it is totally overcast.

Post number 16 (Roy Bridge – Glen Spean)

Friday 26th June 2009 – Meall na Teanga and Sron a Choire Ghaibrh – 18.5km – 1190m ascent.

3.5 km each way are cycled. A long climb up to a col on an excellent path is followed by ascent of these two Munros in turn from the col, and again on very good paths. The weather was perfect and I reckon the views are as good as from any Munro. In particular you can see the whole length of The Great Glen, and the view of the north face of Ben Nevis must be the best available short of a helicopter ride.

Post number 15 (Roy Bridge – Glen Spean)

Thursday 25th June 2009 – rest day

During this trip I had developed a strange problem. On both ankles I had sustained circular horizontal scratch marks resembling the broad threads on a screw-top bottle. This must be something to do with my boots, but despite detailed investigation I could not analyse the cause, and thereafter resorted to fixing large bits of Elastoplast for protection, and this has generally been successful. The boots are well past their best and really need replacing – they have been resoled and one of the soles had become detached which I had fixed with No Nails, screws and staples (very satisfactorily). I had a similar problem on the LEJOG walk which is detailed in the journal. All in all I have had bad experience with resoling boots which is bad news because the soles seem to wear out long before the uppers. Anyway on this rest day I decided to go into Fort William and look for new boots. Ellis Brighams had only one pair of all leather, Gortex lined lightish boots – they were Scarpa GTX and looked ok but I felt I wanted to have some choice so I declined these and went to Nevis Sport: I think that is what they are called, but they didn’t seem to have a sign up. There was nothing worth considering there, and nobody came to ask if I wanted any help so I gave it all up as a bad job. On return to Cumbria I will go to Ambleside where there are more gear shops than people, and I know I will have plenty of choice (I bet I end up with the Scarpa GTX).

Post number 14 (Roy Bridge – Glen Spean)

Wednesday 24th June 2009. Carn Dearg and Sgor Gaibrhe – 22km – 790m of ascent.

The caravan site is about 300 yds. from Roy Bridge Station on the West Highland Line, which in turn is only two stops away from the Corrour Halt. Corrour is remote in the middle of Rannoch Moor with no vehicular access and exists only to service the Corrour Estate and its visiting deer stalkers and the like as well as Munroists. There are three Munros available here, one of which I did last summer (Ben na Lap) during my Land’s End to John ‘o Groats walk after which I stayed at the very good bed and breakfast located in the old station house.

Today I was doing the remaining two Munros. On boarding the train with my bike I was told by an officious guard to go to a particular end of the train. When the ticket man came round he told me I would not be able to disembark from that end of the train at Corrour so I then had to wheel my bike down the whole length of the train (two or three carriages) with people moving dogs and themselves out of my path.

The train deposited me at 8:30am and the return train was at 3:20pm, the next one being after 9:00pm, so I was under some pressure to complete the round in time. It was hot and sunny and having to hurry promoted a good deal of perspiration. I was able to use my bike on about four km each way of pleasant Land Rover track along the shore of Loch Ossian. This was an enjoyable trip and somewhat nostalgic with views of my route on LEJOG walk last summer.

In the end I got back with forty minutes to spare.

Post number 13 (Roy Bridge – Glen Spean)

Tuesday 23rd June 2009

The Caravan Club site at Bunree could not accommodate me any longer so today I moved to a very good, previously visited private site at Roy Bridge in Glen Spean which in any case is more conveniently situated for my remaining Munros. I reckon you could tick off more Munros from this site than any other in Scotland. Of course the weather was brilliant on a day when I was not going into the hills.

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 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 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.

Post number 1

As an introduction and a starting point I will go back to 16th April 2008 when I set off and walked from Lands End to John 'o Groats in seventy seven days (no rest days).

For anybody who wants to plough through the seventy odd pages of my journal from this walk I would be happy to email this on request.

In December 2007 I had an arthroscopy on my right knee. This stood the rigours of LE/JG and on my return I went back to Scotland where I still had thirty or so Munros to complete. I had to come home early from this trip because my left knee became unbearable; I had an arthroscopy on this knee in December 2008. After careful nurturing of the supposedly mended knee I started doing modest walks in the Lake district using The Wainwrights as a sort of target and focus (I recommend Walking the Wainwrights by Stuart Marshall as a good guide for anybody wanting to undertake Wainwrights completion).

Although I have climbed many of these hills in the past I decided to start counting again from my most recent Ennerdale Horseshoe round which I think includes over a dozen - this was on 5th June 2007, and I have now climbed 59 of the 214 Wainwrights

The newly serviced knee was still niggling but did not seem to get any worse, so on 22nd of April 2009 I set off for Munro country again with my caravan having at that stage only 18 Munros to do. I stayed on The Loch Lomond Holiday Park site at Inveruglas, and below is record of my activities.

Thurs. 23/4/09 Ben Vane
Fri. 24/4/09 Beinn Bhuidhe
Sat. 25/4/09 Beinn a Chochuill, Beinn Eunaich
Sun. 16/4/09 Rest day (knee hurting)
Mon. 27/4/09 Beinn Achaladair, Beinn a Chreachain
Tues. 28/4/09 Rest day
Wed. 29/4/09 Ben Mor (Mull)
Thurs. 30/4/09 Rest day
Fri. 1/5/09 Rest day
Sat. 2/5/09 Ben Lui, Beinn a Cleibh


The rest days were partly because of weather and partly because of increasing trouble with the knee.

Ascent of Ben Lui and Beinn a Cleibh.

The highlight of this trip was the ascent of Ben Lui and Beinn a Cleibh. I cycled the four miles or so from Dalrigh and set off up the hill in rain with clouds down on the tops. I could just see into the lower part of Ben Lui's corrie. Halfway to the corrie a snowstorm developed giving a covering of new snow on old. I pulled out onto the ridge and met a young couple there and we proceeded together.

There is a section of about 150ft of very exposed and steep pathway on rock ledges with a grade 1 scramble halfway, and with everything covered in snow this certainly concentrated the mind. Next there was a steep twenty foot bank of snow which required step kicking to gain access to the summit plateau. The couple went off to the left to do Ben Oss and its neighbour whilst I went straight ahead to descend to a col and then climb Beinn a Cleibh.

My intended return was by the same route as the ascent but there was no way I was going to reverse that ridge in the prevailing conditions. After Beinn a Cleibh I descended back to the col and then skirted right round the lower bulk of Ben Lui to arrive at a point well below the serious ridge. It was on the descent from here that my knee became unbearably painful, and it took me quite a long time to get back to the track where I had left the bike.

The cycle ride out was magnificent - downhill nearly all the way.

After all this I had to come back home because of the knee still leaving nine Munros to do.

Sgurr Mor (nr Loch Quoich)
Sron a Choire Ghairbh and Meall na Tanga (west of Loch Lochy)
Gaor Bheinn (Gulvain) (off Ft. William to Mallaig road)
Carn Dearg and Sgor Gaibhre (Loch Ossian - do from Corrour Station)
Ben Oss and Beinn Dubchraig (nr Tyndrum)
Beinn Mhanach (nr Tyndrum)

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Having some enforced rest, and browsing about on my pc I rediscovered the blog site of a young couple I met on my Land's End to John 'o Groats walk (Mick and Gayle), and I discovered that they are seven days into the TGO (The Great Outdoors magazine Challenge). This is a challenge walk across Scotland with various optional starting and finishing points. They had started from Oban, and by coincidence they had ascended Ben Lui on 10th May and I had been there on the 2nd. I have shown a link to their blog here.

So that is an update of my recent history, and hopefully more focused blogs will now follow.