Meallan Liath Coire Mhic Dhughail

Ben Stack and Loch Stack from the summit

Thursday, 28 April 2021

Ascent: 1033 metres
Distance: 16 kilometres
Time: 4 hours 53 minutes

c  Meallan Liath Coire Mhic Dhughail    801m   2hrs 58mins

Day 3 of the great escape and it was with some reluctance that I decided to climb this niftily named Corbett. The cold northerly winds were still bringing in snow showers on the hills and there would be low clouds for much of the day. The main purpose of the trip north was to climb a few Corbetts so I could not back out. Aileen had decided to walk out to Sandwood Bay and would avoid the worst of the weather that seemed confined to the hills. I was up early and left the AirBnB at 7:30am for the half-hour drive to Kinloch on the A939. 

There were showers for much of the journey but they abated as I set off on the 2-kilometre track alongside Loch More to Aultanrynie from where an old stalkers path zig-zags up to the end of the long broad ridge of Meallan Liath Beag. The rains started as I began the ascent and it was time for waterproofs. Several young stags watched my progress, the gradient allowed good progress to the top of the track that had been well constructed and kept in use by a quad bike. The rain had turned into sleet by 300 metres and snow by the time the track petered out at 500 metres.

The hills ahead had been blasted with a veneer of snow but there was an interlude of blue sky, a peek of the sun and a realisation that the day was not as challenging as I anticipated. The long broad ridge undulates as it heads towards Carn Dearg. The final 200 metres of ascent is steeper and cuts through several rock outcrops. The northerly wind made walking more of a problem as I reached the apex of the exposed ridge and immediately began the descent of the rocky ridge to the bealach. The cloud was concealing the slopes ahead but the direction to the summit was obvious and progress was reasonably quick. 

The trig point is surrounded by a shelter and it provided my first stop of the walk other than for putting on waterproofs. It coincided with a brief spell with fleeting visibility to the adjacent mountains including Arkle and Foinaven to the northwest was possible. Photographs and a drink gave me chance to gawp at the wilderness in all directions. It is a fine viewpoint but I doubt if I will have the pleasure of seeing it again. 

I was slightly ahead of my hoped-for schedule as I began the descent to the south, keeping to the east of the summit and finding a very accommodating line towards the boggy looking ground alongside the Allt an Reinidh. I crossed the rushing burn at 500 metres and descended down a series of peat banks until joining the track at about 300 metres. There was a brief but welcome period of sunshine as I strolled down to the Aultanrynie track and then back to Kinloch. A couple of scarecrows had been erected next to an old stone building by the loch but seemed to have no impact on the group of young stags. I was down before 1:30pm and had to kill some time as Aileen would not be back from Sandwood Bay until 3pm. It gave me chance to visit Oldshoremore Beach before collecting her at Blairmore and to make the best of the day we drove to the end of the road and explored Sheigra beach.

The walk to Meallan Liath Coire Mhic Dhughail had always worried me as a tricky walk but it is not as difficult to negotiate as its name. Even in the poor weather, it had been an enjoyable walk with a sense of remoteness and wildness that gives an edge to any adventure. 

Ben Stack from the track by Loch More

The track to Aultanrynie

Rainbow over Loch More

Snow on Carn Dearg

Cloud on MLCMD

The final approach to MLCMD

Arkle and Foinaven

Ben Hope and Ben Loyal to north-east

Summit of MLCMD

Can Dearg ridge to the east

Loch More and Ben Stack

Scarecrow influenced by Wicker Man

Cranstackie and Beinn Spionnaidh

Cranstackie in cloud

Tuesday, 27 April 2021

Ascent:        1060 metres  
Distance:     12 kilometres
Time:          5 hours 48 minutes

Cranstackie              800m    2hrs   5mins
Beinn Spionnaidh   770m    3hrs 23mins

The escape from lockdown on 26 April provided the chance for a trip to the far north to climb some Corbetts that have been put on hold for three years following a house move, a new garden and Covid. We had travelled up on Monday, I had hoped to climb Ben Hee but the good weather of the past week had broken and the hills were lost in grey cloud and the rain would have meant Aileen having to wait in the car for 3 hours. I had factored this in as we left in the morning so we drove on to our Airbnb in Oldshore Beg. The prospects for Tuesday were not much better but I needed to get on with things after failing to climb Ben Hee so I left at 10am to climb the two most northerly Corbetts. I was not really looking forward to the day, I found a parking spot just a few yards down the track to Rhigolter. The easy walk along the track gave a false sense of what was in store.

A rough track climbs steeply from Rhigolter and ends at a fence beyond which a steep boggy slope has to be climbed for a couple of hundred metres. The sort of climb that questions the very concept of hillwalking: steep, rough, boggy, unrelenting and no doubt swarming with ticks. Eventually, a corrie is reached and provides 20 minutes of easier walking until it ramps up climbing to the bealach between the two hills. At least it wasn't raining yet but the hills were lost in cloud. 

From this point, the north-easterly wind kicked in and after the initial grassy slopes, the final pull towards Cranstackie was over a massive boulder field with the wind making balancing on the rocks somewhat precarious. There was nothing to see in the grey of the summit so I returned immediately. I was facing into the teeth of the wind and a heavy sleet storm had set in. I am normally comfortable walking over boulders but the wind and wet provided double jeopardy and it took a lot longer than normal to reach the bealach between the two hills. 

The early part of the ascent of Being Spionnaidh was on easy grassy slopes and good progress was made until I reached another boulder field for the last 75 metres of ascent. A cairn at the south end of the ridge was deceptive, it didn't seem quite right so I was pleased to discover on my OS maps online that the trig point was a further 400 metres to the north. As I was walking across a figure appeared out of the gloom, a hill runner from Skipton who was not only attempting the two hills but hoping to get across to Foinaven, I was impressed. After a couple of minutes of conversation, he had to leave to stop getting cold, he was in shorts and had only a flimsy rain top.

I found the summit and then started looking for a reasonable descent route through the rock field to the west of the summit. It was slow going again and I was down to 600 metres before I finally escaped the rocks. Thereafter it was a romp down the long grass with a surprising number of sheep on the hillside. I took a direct route down to the farm and cluster of buildings at Rhigolter. Hills of the north, rejoice was not a suitable epitaph for a day like today.

I met the farmer who had just returned from moving some sheep, he seemed keen to talk to someone after the months of lockdown in a solitary place in a solitary job. Apparently, lamb prices were very good but his biggest grouse was about the behaviour of people in Durness who had partied and spread Covid and this had reached Kinlochbervie. He was also concerned about the number of designer dogs that had been brought into the area, they were untrained and had killed some of his lambs. He had threatened to shoot these dogs and had taken his rifle out to deliver his promise but there had been children nearby so he had demanded payment for the lambs that had been killed. He was keen to explain the importance of dogs to the working farms and he bred collies for this purpose. 

After about half an hour he was still in full flow, it is good to talk post-Covid, but I excused myself and returned to the Airbnb where the beach provided an alternative way of enjoying this wild country.

The corrie between the two hills

Cranstackie summit

Cranstackie route to the summit

Beinn Spionnaidh trig point

Descent from Spionnaidh

Oldshore Beg beach

Sutherland Calling

Arkle and Ben Stack from Kinlochbervie

After 183 days we were able to escape home territory (the Council area) and stay away. As soon as I heard the date was 26 April, I searched for somewhere in the far north (Sutherland) to give us chance to recover from the stultifying numbness of the lockdown. 

We were away by 9:30am on a wet day, my plan of climbing Ben Hee in Sutherland on the way to Kinlochbevie was already abandoned because of the heavy rain. We dawdled up the A9, dualling of the carriageway was still under construction north of Perth and then there were sections being resurfaced. It cost us more time so we decided to call in at Aviemore to see our niece and her newborn, she was out so we trundled up to Boat of Garden and stopped at the hotel for some coffee. We were the first customers since lockdown so were treated like royalty, if that is still a valid concept. The coffee was extended to a smoked salmon sandwich and salad and, after a long chat with the owner, Cranachan was served to us on the house.

It felt like a holiday and the occasional heavy shower made me feel good about not walking. Traffic was light on the A9 as we travelled north to Inverness, Bonar Bridge and Lairg. It is many years since I have travelled on the long lonely road from Lairg alongside Loch Shin. As we passed Ben Hee, I was pleased that it was still raining and smothered in grey cloud. We had a brief stop at Kinlochbervie, there were only two fishing boats in the harbour, fishing had been in the doldrums since Brexit, and then followed the narrow road to Oldshore Beg where we found our Airbnb cottage. There was no one around so we went for a walk on the nearby beach and onto the headland where we met a local who had moved up to Sutherland from Balfron to enjoy a quieter life than is possible in the central belt. We had not yet got into our accommodation but it seemed we were already well into the holiday. Different places, different people, time to talk and time to play.

The week continued in the same vein for the next few days, It was cold with sleet and rain showers, a northerly wind, extraordinary light and kindness on tap. I managed 3 days on the hills, ticking off some of the remaining Corbetts. We visited Scourie and Handa Island, Aileen walked to Sandwood Bay and on most days we pottered down to the beach at some stage. It felt that we had been released and discovered a life that whetted our curiosity again.

Polin Beach, Oldshore Beg

Kinlochbervie looking south-east

Inshegra scrapyard

Kinlochbervie cottage

Oldshoremore Beach

Oldshoremore 

Rocks on Sheigra Beach

Point of Stoer from Scourie

Ben Stack and Scourie

 

An Caisteal and Beinn a' Chroin

An Caisteal from Twistin' Hill

Beinn a' Chroin from An Caisteal

Friday, 16 April 2021

Ascent:     1184 metres

Distance:  14 kilometres

Time:        4 hours 58 minutes

An Caisteal                        995m         2hrs  1min

Beinn a' Chroin                  942m        2hrs  56mins

Beinn a' Chroin, east top   940m         3hrs 19mins  

Another fine day and the first day that we are allowed to travel outwith our Council boundaries as Covid lockdown is eased. I didn't take advantage but travelled to Crianlarich to climb An Caisteal and Beinn a' Chroin. Others had had the same idea and the large lay-by on the A82, two miles south of Crianlarich was almost full by 8:30am, a sign of what is to come as people catch up on all the lost time on the hills. The path drops under the railway line and then a track follows the river Falloch in a southeasterly direction. 

After a mile along the track there is a gate and immediately afterwards a narrow path strikes up the slopes towards Sron Gharbh. It is a fairly stiff climb and in the still air it was too hot for a jacket. Despite the dry conditions over the past week, there were still boggy sections that sucked in the shoes as the path searched for the most nimble way to reach Sron Gharbh at the  northern end of the fine ridge leading to An Casteal. 

I had made reasonable time and closing in on the two walkers ahead of me. The ridge walk from Sron Garbh up Twistin Hill to the summit of An Caisteal is delightful with twists and turns, and a couple of easy scrambles before landing on the surprisingly flat summit. I had caught the walker ahead, a young police officer, and we walked together for the rest of the day. It was his day off between a change of shifts and he had seized the chance to escape from his largely urban Council area and get back to the hills. Like so many, he had lost fitness during the lockdown with no team sports, gym closed and unable to enjoy his hobbies of mountain biking and hill walking. 

We discussed the possibility of popping over to Beinn Chabhair but the prospect of 700 metres of descent and re-ascent was not appealing so we ventured on to Beinn a' Chroin. The steep scramble to reach its flattish summit was enjoyable in conditions that were perfect for walking. We passed the summit and went to the eastern top where we met a couple of other walkers and engaged in more banter. I had decided to descend via the ridge to the north. I had once climbed the 4 munros on the river Falloch skyline on a Friday afternoon after school with my 10 year old son and his friend. We had taken this route down and camped at the bealach below Stob Glas Bheag on a glorious summer evening. The next morning we had climbed Beinn Tulaichean and Cruach Ardrain and had finished the walk by lunchtime. 

The descent was at a good pace and discussion flowed as we related our experiences of lockdown and ambitions for the months ahead as we could return to the hills. I was pleasantly surprised that I could keep pace with thirty,  forty and fifty year olds and still talk at the same time but it was downhill. I felt slightly envious of them as they had yet to sample the delights of Knoydart, Fisherfield and Glen Affric. It was almost 2pm by the time we reached the road. I had now managed three days on local munros in the past couple of weeks, the daily walks up local hills had given me a modicum of fitness that should help as I begin to tackle the remaining Corbetts. 

On the return home I had expected the traffic to be heavier as people headed north for the weekend but it was comparatively quiet before the "wagons roll" as Ward Bond used to holler in Wagon Train.

Tuning Fork at the start of the walk

Looking across the river Falloch to Ben Challum

Twistin Hill towards An Caisteal  

An Casteal summit

Beinn a' Chroin summits

An Caisteal from Beinn a' Chroin

Social distancing from 3 random amigos on descent

 

Tarmachan the Tenth

Mam nan Tarmachan from the return track

Tuesday, 13 April 2021

Ascent:     870 metres
Distance:  11 kilometres
Time:        4 hours 18 minutes

Meall nan Tarmachan, south top     923m     1hr  8mins

Meall nan Tarmachan                    1044m     1hr 36mins
Meall Garbh                                  1026m     2hrs 5mins
Beinn nan Eachan                         1000m     2hrs 42mins

The weather patterns have been unusual over the last few days, overnight frosts and cold northerly winds but sparkling clear mornings before cloud cover in the afternoons. I had planned to take a long walk on the Munros near Crianlarich but on checking the weather prospects looked less enticing, cloud was expected by 10:00am. I decided instead to head for the Tarmachan, just 4 miles across the border of the Council area. I tried to remember all the times I had climbed this hill since my first venture here in December 1973 on a cold day with high winds and snow. What I most remember was a severe chilling in outdoor clothing that was bulky and lacked the insulation of today's equipment. A stiff rustling red cagoule from Nevis Sport, some leaky, leather boots that guaranteed blisters and a pair of corduroy breeches. I made a couple more visits in the 70s and 80s before I started climbing the Munros seriously and then made two visits during my fourth round. Today would be my tenth visit, which is probably more than any other Munro other than Ben Lomond.

The roads were still quiet as we approach the big escape from lockdown at the end of the week. I was walking before 9:00am from the higher car park at the start of the path to the summit. There were some icy sections on the path and a mountain bike with extra-wide tyres had left deep tracks that had been frozen into the ground. The cold air took my breath away and slowed me down but I reached the south top after an hour, took some photos and then dawdled up to the summit across a couple of sections of residual snow. The wind had abated and I stayed for 15 minutes, looking at the map, eating and drinking before deciding to continue along the ridge. A rather noisy group of walkers with a couple of dogs were just below the summit and on days like this, solitude is preferred. I had loaded an old playlist onto the phone and it brought back memories of walks from the past.

It is a fine walk over to Meall Garbh, which is a more impressive summit than Meall nan Tarmachan. There were no difficult sections other than the patches of icy snow that were easily crossed with the help of my walking pole. The descent was a different matter, the rock band that provides a steep climb down was encased in ice and I spent 10 minutes inching my way down to avoid any slips. There was no sign of anyone else making the trip along the ridge, the parties that had reached the summit of Meall nan Tarmachan had returned down by the direct route. The climb along the undulating ridge to Beinn nan Eachan was an enjoyable canter and I was there by 11:30am. 

I spent some time at the top, eventually, a father and son arrived from the west and we chatted for a while about the chance to get out walking again and the curious way in which the Scottish Government had restricted hill walking, even when sports like golf, fishing and other less socially distanced activities had been allowed. 

I had decided against continuing to the final top and returned to the bealach before Meall Garbh where I found a good route down. I was able to run most of the way to the track that leads to an old quarry at 650 metres. From there it is about 5 kilometres along the track to the road and in the spring sunshine, it felt that we had entered a new era where the restrictions of the past 12 months were finally going to be lifted. There were few other cars about at the end of the walk, the roads were quiet and Killin looked like a ghost village despite the sunshine. 

Stob Binnein and Ben More from the ascent

Loch Tay and Ben Vorlich

Lochan na Lairige Dam

Meall nan Tarmachan from south top

Meall Garbh and Meall nan Tarmachan

Meall Garbh

 

No Sunday Paper

Ben Ledi

Sunday is normally the only day I buy a newspaper nowadays. After two days of the news and with virtually all TV programmes focused on the life of the Duke of Edinburgh and having scanned the papers online, I decided against wading through more of the same. I would give the Sunday paper a miss and go for a walk instead. It was well below freezing for the third morning running and there was not of a whiff of cloud so I drove the 4 miles north and climbed Ben Gullipen. 

I must have been disillusioned by the overload of news because for the first time since lockdown, I took some earphones and listened to an old playlist. There was no one else on the hill, highly unusual given that the clarity of the views was as good as I could remember. The upper part of the track was frozen hard but the morning sun gave an illusion of warmth despite the sub-freezing air temperature. 

I made it up in under 30 minutes, pottered around for ten minutes before starting the trek down, running most of the way. Two couples were full of smiles as they headed up. On days like this, Ben Gullipen is a good alternative to Lime Craig. Did I miss the Sunday Paper? No, not really, for the first time in years I can hardly be bothered with the news it is so depressing with Brexit, Covid, a tedious election campaign in Scotland and yet more corruption scandals in government, the UK is really going to the dogs. It is too depressing to pay money to read about all these blunders and the squabbles about the arrangements for  the Duke's funeral.

Loch Venachar

Stuc a' Chroin and Ben Vorlich

Frozen hard