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 guide book 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 were 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 was 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 and from here 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 guide book time. The views were good in all directions and it was good walking across the eroded granite plateau.

There was no rush and I decided to take a different and longer route down descending south-east over the heathers to meet the path that skirts below Creag Ghleannain. The path made for easy walking and Loch Alvie ahead sparkled 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 and I still had plenty in the tank, perhaps I should spend Friday walking when I return from Orkney. I also had plenty of time to travel to Inverness for an afternoon flight.

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.