Colonsay

Scarasaig on arrival

Paps of Jura from Oronsay

Priory at Oronsay

Peacocks strutting with peahen at Oronsay

Colonsay hotel

Balnahard beach

Kiloran Beach

Jura from Carnan Eoin, the highest point on Colonsay

Kiloran Bay from Carnan Eoin

Colonsay House

Blue stripes and infinity pool

 This is our "secret beach" said the man in the pub

Secret beach

A beach to ourselves

Over the strand with Jura in background

Colonsay is one of those islands that evoke positive memories: the soft sea air, cuckoos competing with corncrakes for air time and the only consumer goods on sale are home-knitted. Many years ago we had a family holiday on Colonsay and were blessed with several days of fine weather. We spent most days on the beach at Kiloran and enjoyed exhilarating cycle rides to all other parts of the island on the less sunny days. We returned at the end of last week for 3 nights and 4 days made possible by the early morning and late evening ferry crossings by Calmac. The portents were not good with high winds and rain predicted before we left. We arrived in Oban on a dull grey general election morning and ran into four old friends at the ferry terminal. The journey across passed in no time as we caught up on the past thirty years, ate bacon rolls, talked politics, and lamented the negative vibes of the general election campaign. There was no great optimism about the outcome under a first past the post electoral system that heavily favoured the Conservative Party.

We had booked a room at the hotel with a voucher that was a Christmas present. We dumped our luggage and we were ready for action before noon. We hired some bikes from a local called Archie, mine was at least twenty five years old, and set off for Oronsay, the island that is attached to Colonsay at low tide. It took half an hour to cycle down the road to the Strand, the tidal flats that separate the two islands. We dumped the bikes on the shore and began the walk over the shallow film of sea as the tide was receding. It took half hour to cross to Oronsay and, although we had wet feet, it felt a suitable sacrifice for the joy of reaching Oronsay on foot. Last time with three under tens to protect we had hitched a lift across the Strand on a tractor and trailer.

It is 3-kilometre walk from the Strand to the priory on Oronsay, the track curves around the rock outcrops and provides excellent views across to the Paps of Jura. The fields were full of spring lambs and the skies echoed to the sound of lapwings. We lunched in the priory grounds and watched three peacocks strutting their stuff around a peahen. We had to leave sooner than we would have liked so we could beat the incoming tide. There is about a four-hour window to cross and return across the Strand but we had started an hour later than would have been possible. We cycled back to Scalasaig feeling pleased to have reached Oronsay, freewheeling at speed to the pier where we celebrated with a cake in the Pantry, a cafe that was run by a women's co-operative on our last visit but now seems to be privately owned and has lost its ambience. The day had turned from a wet cold grey day on the mainland when leaving home at 6am to a bright spring day on Colonsay. Holidays are meant to be like this.

In the evening we met our friends for drinks and entered the pub quiz before watching the exit poll predictions. They generated heated debate with previously passionate socialists no longer certain of their political allegiance and having a general disdain for the three main parties. For the first time since 1983, I was not involved in the running of the general election so I retired to bed before midnight.

The next day promised more dry weather but the cloud cover remained for much of the morning as we cycled to Port Mor and then along to Kiloran Bay. We stopped at the excellent unmanned Heritage Centre with an open door that locked you in if it blew shut. We walked the length of the beach at Kiloran Bay and I climbed Carnan Eoin, the highest point of the island to capture some photos. We visited Colonsay House for afternoon tea and to recollect our previous stay with the children in a flat in the house. On the cycle back we ran into various folk whom we had met in the bar last night. We had a raucous meal with our friends, eating and drinking more than normal as we were carried along by the extravagance of the group. An 'A' list actress arrived for a meal in the hotel much to the delight of one of our friends.

Much to our surprise, the next day dawned bright and improved as the day progressed. We cycled down to the Strand and walked from Garvard over to the next bay and then to the raised beaches of Ardskenish. We had some lunch on the highest point and on the return found an exquisite beach, all white shell sand with the azure seas lapping the rock bands as the tide retreated and the seals lolled into the water as we passed. The locals later told us that this is their secret beach but we had it to ourselves. We sat and listened to the oyster catchers and I had a snooze on the sand dunes before heading back. The tide was out so we were able to take a short cut over the tidal sands. They were rippled by the outgoing waves and pockmarked by worm casts. The cycle back gave us the chance to work up a thirst that was quenched as we sat in the hotel garden enjoying the warm late afternoon sunshine. Our day was made complete when mussels and then fresh halibut were on offer for the evening meal. This had been a 'given day' as they say in Shetland.

True to the forecast, Sunday arrived with a strong breeze and rain. We decided to ditch the bikes and walked across the island. We rescued a sheep that had its fleece entangled in brambles, walked round the airstrip and visited three beaches. They looked less enticing than the day before, grey rather than golden sand and green rather than blue seas. The tide was still in and the rain began to fall as we headed back spending two hours walking in the soft island rain. We finished with an afternoon of animated conversations in the hotel lounge with fellow guests before catching the boat at 8:10pm. It was well after midnight before we arrived home after negotiating flooded roads around Loch Awe.

Colonsay remains a totally relaxing retreat with the hotel welcoming and providing good food and the focal point for the island, which has only 140 residents. This population swells in summer with the estate letting out cottages and there have been a fair number of new houses built since our last visit. It lacks the vitality and string of magnificent beaches of Coll, but we did find a perfect beach, enjoyed the company of old friends and tired ourselves out each day in the mellifluous sea air.

Reasons to be cheerful, or maybe not

The last rites

For the last forty years it has become an assumption by politicians that Rupert Murdoch through his control of much of the media has been the king maker when it comes to elections. (It was the Sun wot won it!) To such an extent that Blair and Brown courted Murdoch to gain his endorsement during their years in office. But Murdoch's papers do not win elections they normally support whichever party the polls say is ahead and then claim to have shaped the result. This is why the Sun has put an each way bet on this election backing the Tories in the English edition and the SNP in the Scotland. There is another reason: Murdoch's papers, together with the Telegraph and Mail all fear that a Parliament which has a clear majority of pro- Leveson parties would introduce an effective press regulation, and finally eliminate their influence over Britain’s democracy.

On these ground alone there is sufficient justification for wishing and hoping that Cameron and the Tories fail to finish the job they have started but the electoral arithmetic is fickle and even with two thirds of the voters against them they could emerge as the largest party. Moreover older voters tend to be registered and turn out to vote unlike many of the young, the dispossessed and the more progressive voters.

There are many other reasons why a Tory government would damage the quality of life for many hard working families in the UK although these have seldom been discussed in the tedious election campaign. They include the further erosion of public services, the creeping privatisation of education and health, the selling off of Britain's assets and companies and the protection of privilege and wealth. The much vaunted increase in employment must be considered in the context of a decline in GDP, no real wage increases, the explosion of part time and zero hours work and the huge reduction in company pension schemes. It has been a period of not just prolonged austerity but also a lack of vision about the future of the UK both at home and on the international stage.

It is notjust the satisfaction of putting Murdoch in his box that suggests that Cameron should not be elected to finish the job by a voting system that is no longer for our time. There are a ream of other reasons.

• The loss of influence on the international stage, whether in Europe, where the PM has lost the respect of his peers; or on the world stage where the PM has been notably absent apart from the ill thought out foray into Libya, did he learn nothing from Iraq?
• The grossly expensive and damaging re-organisation of the NHS, which has undermined the significant progress made by the previous government that invested heavily in hospitals and new facilities, reduced waiting times and both set and met health improvement targets. We now have an NHS on the brink of collapse and a Health secretary who, in 2007, advocated the demise of the NHS.
• The legacy of Michael Gove, who abandoned the inherited school building programme, closed many sure start centres and devoted all the effort of his department into creating free schools and academies whilst neglecting existing schools and the standards of teaching. He lost the trust of the teaching profession to such an extent that he had to be removed from office and replaced by a more emollient minister before the election````
• The abdication of any pretence that local services are important with local government losing a million jobs, over 20% of its budgets and no longer given any status in determining priorities. The only attempt at localism was to delegate the blame for the budgetary cuts made by parliament onto councils. The sooner that local government is entrenched into a new UK constitution the better.
• The sell off of British companies from Cadbury to Centrica with over half of the Financial Times 100 companies now owned by foreign investors. This is matched by more than half the premier league teams now owned by foreign companies and the Chinese are building the next nuclear power station. This sell off has huge consequences for the UK and even the Mail says "we are all paying the price".
• The skewed investment in infrastructure which has seen London boom on the back of transport investment with HS2 and the London airport expansion set to further reinforce the London centric obsession of Cameron and Johnson. The Chancellor talking up the northern power house is a shameless gambit unless investment in the high speed train network radiates out from Manchester and Leeds to Newcastle, Sheffield, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Glasgow
• Cameron was happy to take the kudos for inherited successes most notably the 2012 Olympics, but also the booming arts and cultural activities that had been heavily backed by the previous government.  Meanwhile his government have stripped sport and culture of any new investment.
• The failure to tackle the shortage of housing in both the private or public sectors and instead pumping money into the banks that has resulted in more mortgage led housing inflation in London and the South East.
• Imposing a wage freeze on public sector jobs and a benefits freeze at the same time as allowing massive pay increases for the corporate and financial sectors and reducing taxation for the highest paid.
• Swapping one million jobs in the public sector that were fairly paid and with pensions for new jobs that are part time, zero hours and lacking pensions and then claiming an economic miracle when the GDP is still not back to the pre-recession level.
• Failing to reform the governance arrangements in Westminster despite the loss of trust in the institution. And then campaigning against House of Lords reform, fairer voting systems, reducing the voting age whilst maintaining the ancient rituals of Parliament such as passing through the lobby to vote.
• Cameron's speech on the steps of Downing street the day after the referendum calling for "English votes for English Laws". It was a guarantee that the turmoil of the last few years running up to the referendum would erupt again but if this meant the Conservatives obtaining the greatest number of seats in the new parliament then his strategy will have worked and the union would be less likely to survive.

So there are lots of reasons to be cheerful if this duplicitous government is evicted this Thursday. The prospect of Murdoch having called it wrong and to finally have his baleful influence removed by a more progressive government would be the icing on the cake. Unless of course he has called the result right again. (And sadly he did!)

Glen Lyon Munros

Carm Mairg and Meall nan Aighean from Carn Gorm

Meall Garbh summit

Looking back to Carn Gorm from Meall a' Bharr

Carn Mairg summit

The Lawers range from Carn Mairg

Carn Mairg from Meall nan Aighean

Schiehallion from Meall nan Aighean

Monday 4 May 2015
Ascent:      1480 metres
Distance:   19 kilometres
Time:         5 hours 21 minutes

m      Carn Gorm             1029m    1hr  39mins
t        An Sgorr                   924m    2hrs 01mins
m      Meall Garbh             968m    2hrs 25mins
t        Meall a' Bharr         1004m   3hrs 03mins
m      Carn Mairg              1042m  3hrs 39mins
m      Meall nan Aighean    981m  4hrs 21mins

A typical bank holiday weekend. It had rained all day on Sunday, and the prospects in the hills were not promising for Monday, with strong winds and a wind chill factor at play. Gregor had come home for the weekend in the hope of a day on the hills, so we decided to climb the Glen Lyon munros - not too far away from home and a relatively short day - even though I had already climbed them on this round. We picked up Mark at 8:30am and drove via Killin and the Ben Lawers single track road to reach Glen Lyon, and then drove down the glen to Invervar. There were only two other cars in the small parking place.

We set off at the same time as two Geordies and struck up the new track that had been built to serve the micro hydro scheme on the Invervar burn that was under construction. We began to pick up pace after crossing the rickety footbridge and started the steepish path that curves round to Carn Gorm. There were snow patches from about 750 metres, but we had made good time in reaching the summit. We took a short break and then a 200 metre drop before beginning the ascent of An Sgorr, the top that stands proud at the head of a glen. We were moving well and reached the strange cairn of Meall Garbh shortly after noon. The phalanx of old iron fence posts surrounding the loose jumble of rocks gave us some shelter from the cold southwesterly wind, where we consumed all our food.

The walk to Carn Mairg is a long march with a short descent followed by a steeper climb and then a longer section along the ridge to the top of Meall a' Bharr. Again, we had to work our way through several large patches of fresh snow. There is an easy walk towards Carn Mairg until it reaches a rocky ridge crest and turns southeast for the last half kilometre. The cloudy weather of the morning had graduated into sunny periods. The views were quite good towards the Ben Lawers group and Schiehallion, although it is not the best profile of it from here.

After a short stop at the summit, we found a long patch of snow to descend. It was steep enough to ski down in boots, although Gregor chose to sledge down and reached a good speed before the flatter col towards Meall Liath was reached. None of us could be bothered climbing the adjacent top of Meall Liath, so we headed south and across the boggy bealach at 840 metres before starting a slanting climb to Meall nan Aighean. It was plastered with snow, but nothing required ice axes or crampons. The sun was now in ascendency as we reached the summit.

We finished our water and admired the surrounding views before setting out on the path down the ridge to Invervar. We followed an old track curving round to the south and then east before finding an excellent path that had a perfect gradient for a fast descent to the glen and then through the gates and back to the car. We had easily beaten the 6 hours for the round, and we would be home just after 5pm. It had been a comparatively easy day, although it was no stroll following Gregor; he certainly is retaliating for all those days when I dragged him round the Munros when he was a boy.

In praise of doubt: the election

Would you doubt what they say?

So the election manifestos are all out and what a bookshelf of pulp fiction they are. The claims and counterclaims being made by the parties are a game of smoke and mirrors. The tactics are full of bluffs and double bluffs, even the perfidious Albion card is being played by the Prime Minister. His announcement the day after the Scottish Independence referendum to introduce English votes for English laws reinvigorated the SNP and damaged the union but the Tories have nothing to lose in Scotland. The real damage has been to Labour in Scotland and has greatly increased the likelihood of a Tory or Tory-led coalition government.

The latest Lib Dem accusation that the Tories would reduce child benefit has created counterclaims by the Prime Minister but he cannot insist on £12bn of welfare cuts without raiding the living standards of the most vulnerable. Labour is walking the tightrope between claiming to be financially prudent in deficit reduction whilst minimising the austerity measures. The third parties have launched an avalanche of proposals in their manifestos secure in the knowledge that they have no chance of being implemented. It allows them to wallow in the satisfaction of being the good guys.  The Tories and SNP have a common interest in full fiscal autonomy for Scotland: the SNP would have their hands on the financial levers and the Tories would get rid of the Barnett formula that rewards Scotland to the tune of £1623 per head (19%) more public spending than in England. This could provide more dosh to reduce the need for tax increases in the rest of the UK and deliver a proportion of the public expenditure savings.

Last night's TV debate between the three main party leaders was most notable for how the Leeds audience doubted the leaders, challenging them on their well-practised cliches and calling them for concealing their intentions on what they would really really do. The whole charade rekindled my memory of a book of Bertold Brecht's poems that I was gifted by a politician whom I had worked with for many years. He was scholarly and held principled views on localism and democracy. One of Brecht's poems, In Praise of Doubt, we had used as a key quote in a major policy report we had written. Brecht was writing in 1932 but his reflections seem entirely applicable as the disillusioned electorate takes on the discredited politicians as they strut their stuff.

The most beautiful of all doubts
Is when the downtrodden and despondent raise their heads 
and stop believing in the strength
Of their oppressors

There are the thoughtless who never doubt
..They don't believe in facts, they believe only in themselves
When it comes to the point
The facts must go by the board

The thoughtless who never doubt
Meet the thoughtful who never act.
They doubt not in order to come to a decision but
To avoid a decision
Bertolt Brecht 

What most concerns me about the election diatribes is the lack of debate about modernising our governance structures or the failure to recognise that 5 years of austerity has had a devastating effect on local services and undermined local governance.

There has been a remarkable reluctance of the parties to commit to changing the way government works (or doesn't) despite the dire lack of trust in Westminster politics. House of Lords reform, voting systems, and the age for voting are left to the Greens, whose only MP, Caroline Lucas, has written a deft critique of her 5 years in Parliament. 'Honourable Friends' identifies the absurdities of life in Westminster and is more readable than any of the manifestos. The Lib Dems who were the champions of reform in 2010 were completely shafted by the Tories in their quest to change some of these matters during the last Parliament. They reciprocated by refusing to change parliamentary boundaries thus denying the chance for the Tories to gain an extra 20 or so seats. Another goalless draw in the annals of the coalition.

Surely it is time for a proper Constitution for the UK. All parties, as well as civic society, should be part of a convention to properly consider this. It is more important than either redrawing parliamentary boundaries or House of Lords reform. Local democracy needs to be embedded and thus relieved from the iniquitous interference from central government. When we marvel at the product of Victorian inventiveness, we often forget that it was the untrammelled municipalities that were often at the forefront of the most radical and creative use of scientific advances to improve the quality of life of citizens. Water supply, sanitation, electricity and gas production, policing, universal education, hospitals and infrastructure were all initiated and delivered by local government. Best practice was shared from the bottom up not the top down, unlike today when diktats and austerity leave no room for local innovation or creative adaption of new technology and processes.

The absence of any recognition of the damage that the government has wreaked on Councils is palpable. Far from rectifying it, the last budget suggests further cuts of 23% on Councils and the Tories would also make them responsible for funding the replacement of the right to buy Housing Association houses. The Prime Minister has also committed to giving all public sector workers 3 days of volunteering leave, paid for by Councils and other public agencies, needless to say, that this will require further cuts in services costing Councils 1.4% of their budgets.

I heard David Blunkett yesterday saying that he has started "shouting at the radio" now that he has retired as an MP.  Join the club mate, at least the good folk of Leeds were able to doubt the leaders last night. Cameron gave his impression of a bar of soap in the bath as he evaded questions, Milliband struggled to convince people about financial prudence and pacts with the SNP and Clegg just threw in the towel. Thoughtless or thoughtful, they are difficult to believe, the doubters are right to doubt.

Meall a' Bhuachaillie

Meall a' Bhuachaille

The path to Ryvoan

An Lochan Uaine

Ryvoan bothy

Interior of Ryvoan bothy

View of Cairngorm plateau from summit

The path down to Loch Morlich

Friday, 24 April 2015
Ascent:          510 metres
Distance:       9 kilometres     
Time:             2 hours 12 minutes

c    Meall a' Bhuachaille    810m      1hr 20mins

The climb up Ben Wyvis in the morning had gone a lot quicker than expected so there was time to visit this Corbett which overlooks Loch Morlich and is overshadowed by the massive Cairngorm plateau to the south. The drive from Ben Wyvis had been quick, the A9 quiet before I turned off at Aviemore and took the road to Loch Morlich. I started the walk from the informal parking verge beyond Glenmore lodge. The dull weather north of Inverness had transformed into a bright afternoon with a perfect gentle cooling wind - T-shirt time again.

I had decided to make an anti-clockwise circuit of the hill beginning along the beautiful path to Ryvoan and then ascending up the steep path climbing westwards from Ryvoan. There were lots of young families enjoying the walk and several groups of mountain bikers whooping it up as they raced each other on the descent. After 2 kilometres I reached An Lochan Uaine, a turquoise lochan set like a jewel amidst the caledonian forest and the glittering screes of Creag nan Gall. There were several more families on the stony beach below all bellowing and laughing at their luck at being in this quite magical landscape. It is just another kilometre to the Ryvoan bothy, which I had never visited on previous walks to Ryvoan as I have always been on a mission to climb Bynack Mor and the path turns off before the bothy. Ryvoan bothy is allegedly haunted and a poem was written and left in the bothy by A M Lawrence in the 1950's

...I shall find once more alone
The dark water of the Green Loch, (An Lochan Uaine?)
And the pass beyond Ryvoan.
For tonight I leave from Euston
And leave the world behind;
Who has the hills as a lover,
Will find them wondrous kind.

The path from here is well constructed and climbs steeply including a couple of sections of rock steps that have been built recently. I reached the summit as three adults and a one-year-old child were leaving, the mother was carrying the sleeping child and one of the others a buggy. I assumed they were Polish and, despite the carrying difficulties, they were happy and making good progress when I passed them on the descent. I spent a bit of the time at the summit admiring and identifying the Cairngorm peaks and the splendour of  Loch Morlich with its sandy beach. I had first visited here on a family holiday as a teenager when the climbers in the next tent had offered to take me up Cairngorm. It was my first sortie into the Scottish mountains.

The descent was by a good path, steep in parts but taking a fairly direct line to the jumbled settlement at Loch Morlich. The forestry commission was in the process of timber operations harvesting the crop of non-native trees and the promise is to restore the original native caledonian forest. From the Reindeer Centre, where one of the women was sunbathing in the garden in April, it is a mile back to the Glenmore Lodge on a good path. I was on my way home by 4:30pm very pleased with my haul for the day. I had walked briskly on both outings as my fitness returns.

Ben Wyvis

The well-constructed path from the car park

An Cabar - into the sun and cloud

Summit in cloud

Looking west to the Fannaichs

Friday, 24 April 2015

Ascent:       985 metres
Distance:   14 kilometres
Time:         3 hours 36 minutes

t    An Cabar                       946m     1hr  29mins
m  Glas Leathad Mor        1046m    1hr  57mins

Ben Wyvis has never been a favourite hill, massive though it is and with an excellent path to the summit. I have climbed it twice in gale force winds, once in an electrical storm and once by coupling it with Little Wyvis, an outing that rates high on my least enjoyed walks. After a good spell of weather this week, today was the day for it to break. I stayed in Strathpeffer overnight on my way home from Orkney so that I could have another bash at Wyvis and set out early in the hope of catching the best of the breaking weather.

It was sunny as I parked a mile south of Garbat, had a quick discussion with the couple in the camper van who were having breakfast in the sun and then began the walk along the superb path that climbs through the forest next to the burn. I was walking well after some recent excursions and with my running getting back to normal. The gradient on the early part of the hill is only moderate and allows a steady pace. Once out of the forest at 400 metres the gradient begins to ramp up so that there are 300 metres of very steep ascent. Fortunately, massive blocks have been built into a giant stairway but  I seemed to flow over them without any great effort. By 800 metres the early morning sun was hidden and I was in the clouds.

I stopped briefly at the large cairn of An Cabar to put on a jacket and gloves before marching along the short grass and mossy ridge to the summit: Glas Leathad Mor. It is an easy walk over the 2-kilometre ridge with no steep sections. The SMC guidebook talks about the ridge being delightful but as on my previous visits, there were no views to be had. I paused briefly at the summit for water and some nuts and raisins and then returned by the same route. Dropping down from An Cabar, the views to the west opened up and the first walker of the day, a lady about my age, was making good progress. She was waiting for her husband who was a good 150 metres further down the hill on what from his demeanour he thought was the 'staircase from hell'.

I skipped down the final steep section and then walked swiftly down the forest track. I had hoped to break 5 hours for the walk but I was well under 4 hours, better than the two other occasions when I did this exact route, admittedly in gales. After the last couple of months, it was good to know that I was recovering.

Gael-charn Mor

Above Lynwilg  looking east to the Cairngorms

Gael-charn Mor from north-east

Top of the track at 700 metres

Summit looking south

Summit plateau of eroded granite

Ballinluig and Loch Alvie

Wednesday 22 April 2015
Ascent:       610 metres
Distance:     12 kilometres
Time:          2 hours 45minutes

c    Gael-charn Mor     824m   1hr 23mins

Another trip to Orkney and, owing to all the flights from Edinburgh being booked for a festival, I had to travel via a flight from Inverness, so there was a chance to catch a quick hill on the way north. Gael-charn Mor is a shy Corbett to the west of the A9, just south of Aviemore. It is not a hill to rave about, but it was just the thing: 4 hours, said the guidebook, although I noticed that others had done it in 3 hours. It was another sparkling April day, still and remarkably warm, a T-shirt was sufficient for the entire walk, and I had 10 minutes of sunbathing at the summit.

The route up is from Lynwig, a small cluster of houses where the Allt Dubh enters the river Spey. There is a turnoff from the A9 just before the exit for Aviemore, and there was a parking place for 3 or 4 cars. The walk to the hill follows the Allt Dubh through attractive birch and pine forests, to begin with, and then ascends to open moorland beyond the Christian outdoor centre at Alltnacriche. The track so far was tarmac, and the usual cluster of minibuses was parked at the centre. I had walked into the centre having mistaken the proper hill track for a drive to a house, but a member of staff showed me a shorter, steeper route back to the track. There were then 3 kilometres of steady climbing to 700 metres on a tedious, unmetalled track. There is a large cairn at the summit of this track from where a path climbs southwest to the summit.

I had been admiring the views back to the Cairngorms, but the light was slightly hazy and the sun was at the wrong angle for photographs. I could see another walker ahead; he was approaching the summit but by the time I reached the summit, he had headed south across the pink granite plateau. I had walked steadily and was surprised to make it an hour ahead of the SMC guidebook time. The views were good in all directions, and it was good walking across the eroded granite plateau.

There was no rush, so I decided to take a different and longer route down descending south-east over the heather to meet the path that skirts below Creag Ghleannain. The path made for easy walking with Loch Alvie ahead, sparkling in the sun. There is a bit of fence climbing at Ballinluig and thereafter a pleasant 2-kilometre walk back to Lynwig. The noise of the traffic was squeezed out by the bleating of the spring lambs on the flat grazing lands that stretch along the Spey valley. I was back at the car by 1pm after a near-perfect walk; I was in good time to travel to Inverness for an afternoon flight.  I still had plenty in the tank and decided that I should perhaps spend Friday climbing Ben Wyvis after returning from Orkney.

Stob Coire Easain

Stob Coire Easain from Stob a' Choire Mheadhoin

Snow-laced Mamores and Grey Corries

Saturday, 18 April 2015

Ascent:      1355 metres
Distance:    21 kilometres
Time:         8 hours 1 minute

m     Stob a' Choire Mheadhoin           1105m       2hrs 35mins
m     Stob Easain                                  1115m       3hrs 12mins
c      Sgurr Innse                                    809m       5hrs  7mins

At last a glorious spring day, I had missed the chance to walk on the previous two days but this was the best day of all. Not a cloud and the air was still, crisp and cool with visibility near perfect. I had decided to make a longish day trip beyond Fort William to collect these two fine but rather inaccessible Munros and, if time permitted, to consider two nearby Corbetts. Mark as always was ready for an adventure. I left home at 7:30am and after the almost routine pleasure of a drive through Glencoe in the early morning blue skies, we headed for Spean Bridge, Roy Bridge and then along the single-track road to the scattered settlement of Fersit.

The first part of the walk is the most difficult, a two-kilometre walk to Loch Treig and then a steep rising traverse aiming for the 808-metre top from where there is a far more walker-friendly ridge. We sweated our way up in the morning sun and reached the remnants of snow just before reaching the ridge. There must be a path but as on my two previous ascents by this route, we didn't find it until on the ridge. The joys of hillwalking then opened up more with each step and it was a stroll to reach the first summit of Stob a' Choire Mheadhoin. 

The views of the Mamore and Grey Corries were of intricate snow-laced ridges stretching endlessly. We continued across to Stob Easain, marginally the highest of the two, there is a stiff descent and ascent of 140 metres between the two. I had once camped at the col between the two hills at midnight after a late evening start from Tulloch over the Easains, before completing the Grey Corries and Ben Nevis the next day. It was late April and bitterly cold in the clear night skies. The site of our tent pitch did not even look promising on a glorious day such as this.

We lingered over lunch admiring the views and sunning ourselves in the early afternoon sunshine. We could see Ben Wyvis and the Strathfarrar hills in quite excellent visibility. The whole of the southern highlands was in view and the Ben stood like a sentinel beyond the Grey Corries. It was decision time, did we stay longer and retrace our steps or take the far longer route over the Innses. I was anxious to do the latter and for once Mark hoped I would take the shorter route.

The descent to the 551-metre bealach is aided by an obvious path, with sections of loose scree and then a meander around some hillocks before starting the south face of Sgurr Innse. It looked like a difficult ascent and it was harder still in the heat; three or four ramps separated the rock faces and we angled our way up. It had taken longer than I hoped and we knew it was a long way back to Fersit over the rough hillside. We finished our food and then debated the next step.

We knew it was well over 2 hours back to the car and we would need to add another hour and a bit to take in Creag Innse as well. For once, logic entered the fray and we headed back. The initial descent to the north was steep and then there was a couple of kilometres fighting our way through the heather until we reached the Allt Laire. We crossed the river and followed it down until we reached the forest and an old railway embankment that curved round back to Fersit. By our standards, it was not that late, about 7pm but we had a 3-hour drive back, a fact I had considered when deciding to give Creag Innse a miss. It had been a brilliant day on some very good hills. If only we had found a path up from Loch Treig up to the ridge.

On the ascent

Loch Treig

Stob Coire Easain and the Mamores

Arriving at Stob Easain

Stob a' Choire Mheadhoin from Stob Easain

Mark at ease with life on Stob Easain

Sgurr Innse and Creag Innse from Stob Easain

Skiing the Easain way, one pole and two boots

Looking back to Stob a' Choire Mheadhoin and Stob Easain

Fraochaidh

Fraochaidh

Aonach Eagach and Bidean from the 626m top

Beinn Bheithir

Fraochaidh and the loch an  below the 626m top  

Fraochaidh summit

Friday, 11 April 2015
Ascent:     1300 metres
Distance:  20 kilometres
Time:        6 hours 40 minutes

c       Fraochaidh      879m   3hrs 38mins

It was the last of three days of fine weather, I had been rebuilding a garden wall demolished by the feral goats and digging the garden for the last couple of days. I have struggled through February and March with a viral infection and have been unable to run with any regularity so I thought a longish day on the hills might help me recover some fitness. Fraochaidh is a comparatively remote but distinguished-looking mountain from the surrounding munros of Beinn Fhionnlaidh, Sgor na h-Ulaidh and Beinn a' Bheithir and I had cast admiring glances at it during recent ascents of these hills. And at 75 miles from home, it was the second nearest unclimbed Corbett.

I was under no delusion that Fraochaidh was an easy hill, it is a long walk from Ballachulish and the path once you cross the river is muddy and waterlogged, assuming you can find it. I drove past the school to find a parking place that I had used a few times when climbing Beinn Bheithir in winter but new developments had removed the places so I returned and followed the road past the St Munda church and a clutter of new houses and found a spot beyond the turning place. I then followed the track southwards through the forest until I came to the local archery club from where there is a rough descent to the river Laroch. The crossing was not easy but with some help from my walking pole and some precarious leaps onto wet rocks managed to reach the other side with still-dry feet. I climbed 70 metres to the track above and began the long 3.5 kilometres on a gently rising path.

The map and the SMC guidebook show a river crossing and a path up to the Mam Uchdaich bealach at 390 metres. I crossed at what I took to be the right place but could find no path. Instead, I set out on a rising traverse for the 626m top. It was the sort of ascent that is dispiriting, wet long grass, unkempt heathers and dwarf birch and alders making every step difficult. My default style for such climbs is to make direct for the summit and not to take the enticing simpler less steep traverses. It was an unmitigated slog with the odd crag to bypass and a couple of fences to contend with as well. Arriving at the summit, I needed some food and drink before I took photographs in all directions. The hazy sun of the morning was giving way to a more subdued light and a front seemed to be moving in from the southwest.

The wind had picked up and it would be in my face for the next 4 kilometres as I followed the long undulating ridge round to the summit of Fraochaidh. I found the last 150 metres of steep ascent hard with the wind as strong as I could recall on any walk in recent years, the path zig-zagged upwards next to the fine remains of the cornice. There are a few hundred metres of fairly level walking across the summit plateau to reach the summit cairn. It had been decorated with old fence posts, so I added one to the collection. There was a chance to hunker down and get some lunch, it had taken over three and a half hours for what the guidebook sets out as a 4-hour walk. I normally manage to walk at 25% - 35% quicker than the guide time so this had been a slow ascent but I was relieved to have kept going after my layoff.

The return journey was not much easier despite the wind at my back, there were a lot of minor ascents on the return and the day had become changeable with spots of rain and grey skies. At least on the descent from the 626m top, I found the path to the bealach separating the Glen Creran from Glen Laroch. Then a slippy descent down a muddy path during which I had a couple of banana skin moments and lost my prized Stirling Cycle Club litre water bottle that I had been gifted and has been my companion for the last 6 years. I did not realise this until I crossed the river Laroch and then stopped for a drink from one of the many fast-flowing burns that cascade down Beinn a' Bheithir. I was too tired to climb back and attempt to find it.

The path back down the glen and beside the river, Laroch was reasonably quick, I had gravity assistance.  The only diversion was when a young lamb decided to come and play with me; well it was election time. I decided against crossing the river again to get back to the car and walked past the school over the footbridge and then back up to the car, which added 10 minutes to the outing. It had been a tough day but I was walking well by the end and undoubtedly it was the sort of outing that I needed to break out of the lethargy of the past two months.

Election Wars

Fat Cats on exodus to tax havens

 PM realises that Michael Gove's legacy is failing

There she blows - the Miliband deterrent

The 2015 General Election is beginning to become a real fight between strongly divergent political parties after the years when parties converged on neo-liberal economics and the privatisation of public services The Labour Party promised to scrap tax privileges for the non-doms and to increase the higher rate of tax whilst eliminating zero hour contracts and increasing the minimum wage is shifting the polls.

Even the Telegraph acknowledges that Labour is now 2% ahead in the polls whilst at the same time defending the tax concessions for non-doms and offshore tax havens such as those of its owners, the Barclay Brothers. The press probably realises that they don't have the influence of yesteryear as voters are increasingly forming opinions from social media. The Tories have also realised that their preferred issues of tax and spend are not cutting it with the electorate so they have tacked away to create a new front on defence. The scurrilous story about Miliband being untrustworthy because he had the temerity to stand against his older brother to win the Labour leadership is the nadir of the campaign so far. According to the Tory attack dog Michael Fallon, the Defence secretary, Trident would be sacrificed by Labour in creating a deal with the SNP.  To add insult to the story the Telegraph also claims that President Putin wants Ed Miliband as PM.

No doubt there is a lot more nonsense to come, the Tories had expected to open a 4% or 5% lead over Labour by this stage of the campaign as they targeted Miliband, blamed the banking crisis on the previous government and claimed only they could be trusted with the economy. Instead, it is Cameron who is branded as a coward for not participating in a debate against Milliband, stalling the economic recovery and being out of touch with the impact of his Education and Health reforms; even the schoolgirl in the picture above seems to get this.

The PM needs to calm down and realise that the last five years have not only led to a far slower economic recovery than was being achieved by Chancellor Darling but also that sacrificing public services is not very popular with the majority of the population. It is hoped that the other parties will resist the temptation to indulge in personal abuse.  After the shameful tactics of today, the Tories have won their status as the nasty party but that could become an advantage in these crazed days.