Lochy Munros and Ben Tee

Looking back to Ben Tee from near the Kilfinnan Falls

The path up the Allt Glas Dhoire

Sron a' Choire Ghairbh from the flanks of Meall na Teanga

Meall na Teanga summit with the Grey Corries looming behind

Ben Nevis shedding its clouds

Meall na Teanga from the stalker's path up Sron a' Choire Ghairbh

Meall a Choire Ghlas and Ben Tee

Looking north west from Meall a' Choire Ghlas

The ascent of Ben Tee through near vertical heather

Leacann Doire Bainneir and the erosion clefts

Head of Loch Lochy at Kilfinnan

Sunday, 25 August 2013
Ascent:       1610 metres
Distance:   20 kilometres
Time:        6 hours 48 mins

m     Meall na Teanga              947m      2hrs 21mins
m     Sron a' Choire Ghairbh    935m      3hrs 31mins
c      Ben Tee                            901m     5hrs 17mins

I was awake early in the hostel at Invergarry and after a pot of tea, I did not have any breakfast with me,  I decided to make an early start on what promised to be fine day. I was away by 7:30am and walking from Kilfinnan at the head of Loch Lochy before 8am. There was an August peace about the day and, apart from two joggers on the track that runs alongside and above Loch Lochy, I saw no one all day. Despite the walking over the past two days, I felt strong and calculated that I should be able to do the walk in six or seven hours. It normally takes me about five hours for the two munros. As I began the ascent of the Allt Glas Doire by the well marked path I could see that the cloud cover was down to about 400 metres but it looked as if it would burn off as the morning progressed. I was almost at the Cam Bhealach before the cloud lifted although it remained on Meall na Teanga.

There is a boggy section on the bealach which you need to cross before climbing steeply for 50 metres up the steep side of Meall Dubh. The path then contours round to Meall na Teanga across some more boggy ground. Finally there is a the steep climb up the north east flank of the hill before the gentle ridge to the summit. As I arrived the cloud over the Aonachs, Grey Corries and Ben Nevis began to lift. It was a tranquil day with the sky increasingly blotted in blue with white clouds looking benign. I was in a T shirt and felt comfortable, there was not a whisper of wind. After a short break I retraced my steps to the bealach expecting to meet walkers on their ascent but there were no takers.

The ascent of Sron a'Choire Ghairbh is greatly assisted by a stalkers path which zig zags through 8 bends before launching you on the final 100 metres of ascent over the accommodating short grass of the summit ridge. I tidied up the cairn at the summit and then enjoyed the beguiling promenade around to Meall a' Choire Ghlas. The views were quite staggering with the entire western highlands on display to the west from Mull through Ardgour, Morvern, Knoydart and on to Glen Shiel and beyond. Yesterday's peak of Ciste Dubh and Sgurr na Ciche in Knoydart stood out. And beyond the curving ridge was Ben Tee, looking like an extension of the ridge but in reality separated by a massive drop of 400 metres.

I began the descent of Meall a' Choire Ghlas to the north west to avoid the rock faces and as I did so three eagles soared above, my third sighting this year. The ascent of Ben Tee will not be easily forgotten, a steep jumble of heather and rocks which was only relieved by the occasional blaeberry. The summit of Ben Tee sports a large cairn which again I tidied up before finishing my sparse supply of food and water before beginning the long descent to the east.

I followed a path for the first couple of kilometres but it disappeared as the gradient lessened and boggy ground predominated. I made for the Allt a'Choire Ghlas above the waterfall but seeing the deep gorge I decided to stay north of the burn.  Progress was by a series of deer paths above the rocky slopes that fall down to the burn. Eventually I came to a deer fence with a decrepit stile beyond which a path descended by a circuitous route down to Kilfinnan.

I was mesmerised by the to deeply cut clefts in the ridge of Leacann Doire  Bainneir on the other side of Loch Lochy which looked as if they had be gauged out by a giant chisel. Loch Lochy was shimmering below and a dozen or so boats were moored as they waited to go through the Laggan Lochs. It was not yet 3pm and the sun and heat over the past couple of hours had given me a sun tan. I  had survived on an apple, banana and a couple of oat biscuits and I felt all the better for it.

Mary's Munro Compleation: Ciste Dubh

Ciste Dubh

Mary compleat with Alan, Ciste Dubh in the background

Mary is a friend of thirty years standing and she was finishing her round of 282 munros on Ciste Dubh. It is a fine hill with a narrow ridge and perched summit above the Cluanie Inn at the head of Glen Shiel. I had not seen Mary or her husband, Alan, since they left Glasgow ten years ago but we received a phone call inviting us to her 'Compleation Party'  Their three children were ages with ours and we had spent time together from babysitting, playing squash, evenings out and even joint birthday celebrations. We had watched the Live Aid concert on a glorious Saturday in 1986 when Alan lubricated the occasion with drink and Irish pride. He shared his nationality and an irrepressible urge to talk like Bob Geldorf although Alan had the humility to laugh at himself as well.

Mary hails from Stathbogie in Aberdeenshire where she had been the county cross country champion. She has a lean fitness, maintained through Jane Fonda videos, squash as well as exercising and nurturing her family, controlling Alan and being a granny of four. She was always organised and dedicated to her family and came to hillwalking later in life. I first realised that she had succumbed to hillwalking when she phoned and admonished me after one of my staff, in his mountain rescue guise, had put her and others in danger during a winter hill walking course. She was at the end of a long queue of complainants. 

Speaking to some of her twenty or so colleagues from the Glasgow Glenmore Club whom she had walked with during her round, she was regarded affectionately as a strong walker and reliable companion, someone who was quite meticulous in her preparation for the more difficult groups of hills such as Fisherfield. She had continued to go on club outings despite moving from Glasgow to the northeast and this was reflected in the fine turnout for the occasion with about 26 of us on the summit. 

There is a familiar story about those who compleat; they need a ruthless streak as well as the stamina and capacity to survive foul weather and dreich days in the hills. There are now 5000 members of this band of masochists and the mutual respect is something which is borne out of hundreds of hours of aching legs, damp clothes, midge bites, blisters, tolerance to ticks and long drives home. We also have a penchant to collect cupboards full of shell jackets, fleeces, boots and shoes, rucksacks, racks of maps, compasses, crampons, ice axes, hydration systems, tents, sleeping bags, altimeters and an unhealthy collection of energy bars but these are just some of the material necessities for continuing, let alone accomplishing a Munro round. 

The track up to Ciste Dubh

Breakfast view from my tent

Ciste Dubh from Alltbeithe

Alltbiethe Youth Hostel

River Affric and Ciste Dubh

Queuing for cake

Bubbles from Mary

Cake celebrations 

Saturday 25 August 2013

Distance:  16 kilometres 
Ascent:     1015 metres
Time:        5 hours 24 minutes

m       Ciste Dubh            979m    2hrs 44mins 
c        Am Bathach          798m    4hrs 19mins    

I had slept fitfully on a warm night in the tent near the Alltbeithe Youth Hostel. It had rained overnight and the cloud level was down to 300metres only just above the camp level. I made a brew and, with a 1pm rendezvous on Ciste Dubh, I had time to spare and read for an hour before packing and setting out. I called in at the Alltbeithe Yout Hostel to return the lighter I had borrowed the night before. I had a chat with the warden who was coming to the end of her second season managing this remote haven. It is only visited by dedicated walkers and cyclists and she enjoyed meeting an amazing set of people who journeyed into this remote highland landscape. Even Steve Fallon had called in over the summer on the way to completing his fifteenth Munro round. He has accomplished this whilst maintaining his company and an excellent website, steven fallon.

I crossed the suspension bridge and admired the isolated splendour of the Youth Hostel with its wind turbine set against the massive backcloth of Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan. And then back over the boggy path towards Cluanie. I met a group of four climbers off to do my round yesterday. They had seen a large assembly of walkers in the Cluanie Inn car park and heard it was a last Munro party. I had planned on getting to the summit by 1pm but they were obviously going to be there ahead of schedule so I left the waterlogged path, crossed the burn and decided to attempt the steep eastern flank of the hill to save some time. I disturbed a herd of deer in the corrie and they raced northwards climbing with an ease that puts us to shame. The summit was still in the cloud so I had to detour to the north to avoid the steep rocky ramparts.

By 12:30pm I could hear the sound of raucous Irish laughter and guessed that Alan had arrived and lost none of his fabled shyness! I hollered and arrived in time to sample the bubbly, cakes, tablet, and various other goodies that seem to be part of the Munro compleation ritual. Alan may have been making the noise but Mary was in control as photo shots were arranged and all food and drink were consumed before bubbles were blown and the summit tidied. The party was mainly the Glenmore club from Glasgow but there were others from Montrose and Mary's sister. I discovered half a dozen former acquaintances and it was good to catch up with them. I had shared a fortieth birthday bash with Alan and it was fascinating to reprise his life over the recent years since he had moved to St Cyrus to run his own business.

There had been clouds on the summit when I arrived but by 1pm the sun had begun to assume the ascendency and we were beguiled by the panorama of splendid views that this peak offers. I had a long chat with Keith who had just returned from a 45-day walk across the Pyrenees and we lingered at the back with Mary who insisted that we follow the top of the ridge rather than undercutting it on the path like all the others. Who were we to argue on her day, she was enjoying every step of this walk and had our admiration on this day of a special achievement.

Mary decided that there was time to take in the adjacent Corbett of Am Bathach on the descent so about 15 of us made the traverse at a gentle pace in the knowledge that we would make the Cluanie Inn for an afternoon pint. The sun emerged fully as we reached the Cluanie Inn and made it a warm end to Mary's day as we lingered on the benches and tables outside the Inn and admired the knife-edge profile of Ciste Dubh.

The bunkhouse at Invergarry had been booked for the party and we returned to an evening of food and drink. It was a feast fit for a Munroist and as the evening progressed plans were made for the next day. No one goes this far north without extracting as many hills as they can. What was really evident though was the adventures and friendship that had been sown and harvested by the simple expedient of Munro bashing. It is a sport that allows you the freedom to follow or lead, to take on the weather, to discover beauty in landscapes and the subtlety of light, to discover wildlife, to burnish self-doubt, to push your body to its limits and finally to conquer an ambition which is achieved by less than 0.1% of the population.

The bonus is that it also provides a fund of memories that can be replayed when limbs and lungs are no longer capable of such adventures. So Mary, when Alan in his dotage indulges you with his finest moments on the golf course, you can nod knowingly and just dream on.

Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan

Five Sisters from the Path to Alltbeithe

Alltbeith suspension bridge and hostel & Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan 

An Socach with Carn Eighe and Mam Sodhail in the distance

Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan from An Socach

Loch Coire nan Dearcag, my return route

Looking south from Ceathreamhnan

Summit of Ceathreamhnan looking to the twin top

Mullach na Dheiragain from Ceathreamhnan

Mullach na Dhearagain looking towards Ceathreamhnan and its tops

Friday, 23 August 2013
Ascent:         1840 metres
Distance:       28 kilometres from Cluanie Inn
Time:            8 hours 48 minutes

Cluanie to Alltbeithe camp          270m   2hrs 47mins
m    An Socach                             921m   3hrs 55mins
t      Stob Coire na Cloiche           915m   4hrs 29mins
m    Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan   1151m   5hrs 17mins
t      Carn na Con Dhu                  967m   6hrs   9mins
m    Mullach na Dheiragain          982m   6hrs 42mins

With a friend's munro completion on Ciste Dubh on Saturday, I decided to go a day early and climb the three remote munros north of the Alltbeithe Youth Hostel by the River Affric. I made an early start and was in Fort William by 9:40am to buy a gas cylinder and some fruit for the next three days. Beyond Fort William, it was a slow journey in the holiday traffic and it was 11:30 before I reached the Cluanie Inn. It started to rain as I began the walk back to the start of the path that leads north to Glen Affric. It was grey and the track became an increasingly boggy tramp along a narrow path, it reminded me of previous tedious walks on this route and to make it worse I had to return tomorrow. I am seldom morose but I was not relishing the next 6 kilometres through the bog and, after pitching the tent, I would have to climb the uninviting grey hills ahead. It would be almost 3pm before I started the serious climbing and it would be dark before I was back at the tent.

My spirits were lifted by a woman from Carlisle who was squelching down the path with a massive smile having already climbed A'Chralaig and Mullach Fraoch-choire. She had enjoyed one of the best ridge walks and after two good days on the Five Sisters and the Saddle, she radiated the joys of Munro bashing having now reached 232 munros in twenty years. Her optimism was infectious and I was stirred to plan how to achieve the three hills ahead. After crossing the suspension bridge over the river Affric I walked about half a kilometre east of the Youth Hostel and pitched the tent by the Allt na Faing where I had camped on two previous visits. I set out immediately and followed the good path to the bealach at 798 metres.

At the bealach, I had to decide whether to make the quick walk out and back to An Socach or leave it as an option on the return when it might be the difference between descending in the light or the dark. I decided to be optimistic and went out to An Socach. Although the hills were out of cloud there was a flat grey light that diminished the views of  Mam Sodhail and Carn Eighe to the east. I scampered back to the bealach and decided to climb Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan next. There are a series of tops along the way but not much height is lost between them. I was surprised at how easy it seemed and I made the summit on the schedule I had set myself. I gave myself five minutes and finished my water and the last of my food. I had inadvertently left most of the food in the tent so an apple had to suffice.

I began the long descent to Mullach na Dheiragain. This must be one of the three or four most remote munros along with Luirg Mhor, A' Mhaighdean and Seana Braigh. There is a bealach at 841 metres and there follows a long easy ridge with a jumble of boulders to cross at the top of Carn na Con Dhu. There is then a steepish drop to another bealach before the final 100 metres of ascent to the summit. It felt remote and it was 7:15pm by the time I arrived. I immediately began the return and met a walker going out and trying to find a way across the boulders, he had his tent with him and was going to camp in the corrie beyond the summit. He seemed concerned that I would not get back to Alltbeithe but I was on a charge and made good time by dropping down to Coire nan Dearcag and then contouring round to the bealach below An Socach.

I was glad that I had climbed An Socach earlier but it was still light at 8: 40pm as I began the descent down the well-made path. I relaxed and began to look forward to some food. Just after the gate through the deer fence at 500 metres, I was striding out down the path when I came face to face with a badger coming up the path. We were no more than 3 metres apart before the badger did a quick whirl and sashayed down the path at a fair pace. It was just about dark as I reached the tent and I settled down to make some food but could not find my matches. I had to decide whether to go without food and a hot drink or walk down to the youth hostel to borrow a lighter. I decided that hunger took precedence and spent ten minutes in the hostel talking to other walkers before the warden reappeared with a lighter. Soup, pasta and a pan of tea followed, although the midges had got into the tent and those that didn't season the pasta made it less comfortable than I would have liked. It had been a successful day and sleep is always easy after 8 or 9 hours walking and the prospects for tomorrow looked good.

Twenty Five Thousand Hits

When I started this blog three and a bit years ago it was to provide some updates of what was I was doing during those empty days of retirement. It was mainly a record of places visited and things that were happening and restricted for immediate family and friends. Three years ago I opened the blog to all comers. Earlier today I had the twenty five thousandth hit. I am not sure whether to be pleased or not by this.

Prior to the blog I kept a written diary of holidays, a running log and word documents of all my hill walks. My photos were kept on various computers or on slides in shoe boxes. In short it was a nuisance trying to access these and certainly near impossible to bring together photos, diaries and logs. So the blog is a record of things that happen, a personal record but infused with the occasional reflection about politics or other events. What is certain is that things are easier to find and probably kept with more discipline than in the past.

The Blog has provided an outlet for other comment about people, politics, places and the occasional rant. Some of these have become widely read, others barely read. When the number of hits reached 25,000 today it surprised me, the growth in traffic this year to over 1000 hits every month has been unexpected. It is difficult to define any patterns to the hits but they can probably be summarised under three headings: volume of traffic, source of traffic, and popular postings.

Volume of traffic

This has only been measured since July 2010 when the Blog was opened to wider use.

• There were 368 hits in the first month but this was largely down to the GR20 post which has remained the most viewed post ever since.
• By the end of 2010 the blog was averaging 421 per month although this included a significant peak with the posts about my daughter's wedding. 
• There was no surprise that this fell 404 a month during the first six months of 2011 but there was a steady increase to 447 for the July to December months of 2011. For most of 2011 I was in Shetland and blogged about some of the wonderful landscapes and events there. 
• In 2012 I began to post about other events and to post my walks in the Scottish hills. The result was a substantial increase to 631 hits per month in the first six months and then to further increase to 786 per month for there second six months of 2012. 
• In 2013 there has been another significant step up with the average monthly hits averaging 1203 and the daily traffic averaging 40 or so hits.

Source of Traffic

The UK dominates with 90% of all hits. There were 44 regular visitors to the site during the last month. This has picked up in recent months which correlates to the increasing number of hits on the hill walking posts. After the UK, the USA has the next most visits to the site although it would seem that quite a few of these are by companies analysing the traffic. The same applies to Russia which is the next highest source of visits followed by Germany, France, Netherlands, Canada, Spain and Romania. There has been a notable increase in hits from China and other South East Asia countries in recent months although these are still well below 1% of all hits

Popular Postings

There have been 270 postings which have been made on a fairly consistent basis of 5 or 6 per month, I have never aspired to do a daily posting and only post when I feel inclined to describe an event or visit. What has become evident is the heavier traffic for posts on places visited like Vienna, Granada, Mallorca, Rousillion and Sheffield.  There are an increasing number of visits to the posts on hill walks now that they are reaching a critical mass, very often these are slow burners.  Just occasionally some posts go viral as with Bidean nam Bian when 6 people were killed in an avalanche or the floods of last November. Surprisingly a couple of posts on the Olympics also crop up in the top twenty posts listed below:

1. GR20 (Walking)                                        
2. Ronas Hill and da Lang Ayre (Shetland)  
3. Top 40 Munros (Hill Walking)                         
4. Vienna (Holiday)                                      
5. Granada (Holiday)                                    
6. Roussillion (Holiday)         
7. West Highland Way (Walking)
8. Wedding Day (Event)
9. Mallorca (Holiday)
10. Bidean nam Bian (Hill Walking)
11. Eagle of the Ninth (Film)
12. Lochnagar (Hill Walking)
13. Aberfoyle Deluge (Place/Event)
14. Inspiring a Generation (2012 Olympics)
15. Beinn Buidhe (Hill Walking)
16. South Shiel ridge (Hill Walking)
17. Thoughts of a Couch Potato (2012 Olympics)
18. Muckle Flugga (Shetland)
19. Up Helly Aa (Shetland)
20. Sheffield (Place)

The next batch which have all had over 100 hits include a number of postings with political comment, more hill walking and Shetland posts and a number of postings about people I have known. Several of these have generated a response and garnered new friends and old acquaintances. One post was used in a funeral Order of Service .

On a couple of occasions I have been targeted by bombers, usually based in Russia but also Latvia, who seem to select a particular post of no apparent significance to divert traffic elsewhere. As soon as I have reported this to Google these bombings have been stopped.

So I have no plans to significantly change the blog, although I am trying to find the most efficient way to included a link to a map for all the walks. Sixty to seventy posts a year seems about right and I now have a good personal record including photographs of the more memorable outings of the year, if it is of interest to others then that is a bonus.

Half marathon redux

Still standing

The start

I set a new PW (personal worst) of 1 hour 40 minutes for the half marathon today but was quite pleased. It was my first half marathon race for ten years and I had lost only 8 minutes from my time when a guest competitor at the World Medical Games in 2003.  I am now running 26 minutes slower than my PB from 1987.  But the rate of decline seems to be less rapid than it was so I might still be able to do a sub-two-hour half marathon by the time I am 80.

Half marathons always seemed a good distance, no long training runs required and recovery measured in days not weeks. I have run about twenty half marathons over the past thirty years, most of them when in my thirties and forties and, unlike marathons, they never felt like they were taking over your life.

I entered on the day, having decided during a 9 mile run earlier in the week that I was going well and should perhaps forget my pride and test myself in a race. I searched online for a half marathon in August, found the Helensburgh one and decided to get it over with. I set myself a couple of targets: 1 hour 50 minutes which I thought achievable from my regular 6 and 8-mile exercise runs, and 1 hour 45 minutes which would push me and I used this target to set my split times. By 5 miles I was 2:40 up on my targets and by 10 miles, I was 4 minutes up. Could I gain another minute on the last three miles which included a hilly mile and a mile into the wind?  If so 1 hour 40 minutes, which was way beyond expectations, was possible. I tried and pulled back a few places over the last three miles but whilst the breathing was easy, the former dependable drive in the legs was no longer there.

When racing regularly my times were very consistent.  After a fast start, I would tag along behind the leading group, I usually had a bad patch between 2 and 4 miles. Thereafter I was metronomic in my running speed and usually pulled back a lot of places. But not today, I started steadily - 7 minutes for the first mile - decided to slow slightly for the next three miles but then could not find my overdrive for the last 9 miles. I lost places until 8 miles and only began to pull back over the last 4 miles as many of the runners began to fade. I was tired and stiff afterwards but, as another older club runner had said sagely at the start, "you will enjoy it better if you forget the fast lane and your old times and start to carve out a new time commensurate with your age."

All the symptoms of racing were still there: feeling heavy-legged before the start, tying shoes once, twice, three times to get the right pressure, listening to all the reasons why people would not go well, struggling to fix the race number with safety pins, deciding what shoes to wear, did I need vaseline because I didn't have any and how much to drink before the start. I was not helped by having to abandon the queue for the toilet because the start was imminent. Finally, I could find no-one I knew to race against. Only near the finish did I see one of my old sparring partners from Bellahouston Harriers.

Nevertheless, I was impressed by the excellent organisation by Helensburgh AAC, registration took less than a minute, the stewarding was spot on as were the mile markers, three watering points were provided and it was a well-signed route with much encouragement from the good citizens of Helensburgh. The real difference from the half marathons that I had done in the past was the far greater proportion of women runners and the high number of runners zoned into their iPods.

Bring me a beer, please