Whin Rigg and Illgill Head

Wastwater from Illgill Head

Monday, 27 June 2022

Ascent:     652 metres
Distance:  14 kilometres
Time:        2 hours 54 minutes

Irton Fell       395m   40mins
Whin Rigg    535m   58mins
Illgill Head   604m   1 hour 20mins

Whin Rigg and Illgill Head are two of the more inaccessible Wainwright hills. They hover above Wastwater in Wasdale but best accessed from Eskdale Green. They were some of Gregor's final Wainwright hills so we planned to do them sometime during the Langdale week. The showers that had been with us ever since arriving on Saturday afternoon finally ceased on Monday afternoon and gave way to a brief sunny interlude. It was game on as we drove over the Wrynose and Hard Knott Pass and along to Eskdale Green. During the many years driving over these two Lakeland passes with a maximum gradient of 1 in 3, I have never known them in such a poor state of repair. The potholes were ferocious and the patching poor. As a deterrent to motorists, it was an unintended but effective measure. In reality, it was a result of Council road budgets being hammered by 12 years of austerity by the government. We headed up a narrow lane to Porterthwaite in Miterdale where we parked on a flat grassy area by the beck. It was 5:15pm as we started the walk over the bridge and back along a forest track to reach the steep path through the forest to the Irton Fell ridge. 

I had had two lazy days since arriving whereas Gregor and Emily had already had a 13-kilometre walk in the morning. I thought it might slow them down but they forced the pace on a non-stop ascent but I hung in and arrived at the ridge only a minute behind them. After two days of rain, the path up the ridge from here was quite boggy in places but, with the breeze behind us, it was an easier climb to Irton Fell cairn at 395 metres and then on to Whin Rigg. It was a pleasure to drop down from the summit and witness Wastwater framed by scree and rock faces with the views up to Great Gable and the medley of Wasdale hills.

I had not been up these hills since the 1970s when it had been a wet dull day when no views were visible.  I had climbed the hills north of Wasdale during a field trip to the Nether Wasdale school camp in 1965. They had provided an introduction to long days on the hills with a couple of similarly inclined older boys, and in the full flush of youth we then spent a couple of hours in the evening playing football. My geography teacher asked me why I wasn't in the football team and I replied that he would have to ask the Head of PE, which was his substantive post. With Brian Hall, a year older than me playing on the right wing, my position, there was no way I could have made the team.

The walk along the ridge to Illgill Head was easy-going although there was no sense of slowing our pace. Emily and Gregor have a penchant for taking Strava Crowns. After another short stop at the cairn on Illgill Head, we continued to the northeast to make a descent whilst enjoying the views of the Scafells and Great Gable. By 350 metres the path curved back towards Burnmoor Tarn and we followed the narrow path through the sturdy bracken ferns with Herdwick sheep and lambs dispersing from the narrow path as we approached. 

It was a long 7 kilometres on the return passing Burrnmoor Tarn and eventually dropping down into Miterdale. It was after 8pm when we arrived back at the car park. We had captured the best weather of the week. Evening walks are always inspiring as the winds drop and shadows lengthen.  Even the reverse journey over Hard Knott and Wrynose passes seemed more enjoyable with the evening colours on the fells and less traffic on the crumbling asphalt. 

Wastwater from Whin Rigg

The path from Whin Rigg to Illgill Head

Scafells from Illgill Head

Descending from Illgill Head

Burnmoor Tarn and Harter Fell

End Game for Johnson?

Last roll of the Dice

The staying power of our prime minister, Boris Johnson, is one of the great mysteries of our time. He was crucified by the public and press and almost eviscerated by losing 148 of his own MPs in a vote of confidence but had the impudence and outright bloody-mindedness to continue. Our absence of a constitution means that there is no way of ridding ourselves of this uncaring, self-centred expropriator of people and places. He has fractured the nations of the United Kingdom and demeaned the UK's credibility in the eyes of other global leaders.

Tarnished Britain is at breaking point and he continues to improvise with ideas that fail the test of practicality and lack the authority of wiser counsel. It is not that Boris Johnson's moral compass was never calibrated to the magnetic north, it is set permanently on his self-interest. His cabinet was constructed in his own image so we have the double jeopardy of being governed by junk politicians who speak duplicity to power. 

Replacing him is part of the problem, there is no sense that there are any obvious candidates in the cabinet who would command the respect of the Conservative MPs let alone the country. The factions in the party outwith the cabinet are not at one with each other. The Brexiteers, One Nation Tories, the executive of the 1922 committee, the northern research group, tax-cutters and the net zero group would have to find common ground. There is little evidence that they can discover this, let alone agree on a manifesto for action when the country is being ripped apart by so many centrifugal forces.

The latest example of the Prime Minister's morally corrupt mind was served last week when he attempted to send a near-empty plane of asylum seekers to Rwanda. Their asylum claims could be dealt with in Rwanda by what Priti Patel claims is "a modern democratic country." This view is not shared by Human Rights Watch, the United Nations, the European Parliament or Prince Charles. The earlier Israeli attempt to send asylum seekers to Rwanda was voluntary but collapsed after a year when most of the asylum seekers left and found their way back into Europe. 

Later this week the PM is due to attend a G7 meeting in Germany and then a NATO meeting in Spain. It is the way for all scoundrels, to disappear when the going gets tough and be seen with world leaders or better still President Zelensky. What a Bamboozler! It feels like we are nearing that eureka moment, his days of leadership are surely numbered. We must just wait for the next indiscretion when even the cowardly Tory MPs will decide that enough is enough. They will finally find the courage to junk him on the altar of his disastrous poll ratings and run a lottery to decide on which of the deranged members of the cabinet is next to scuttle the sinking ship. The jeopardy of junk politicians will not end with the demise of Johnson, he has assembled a legacy that is full of them.

Sgurr Dubh Mor - Keith's Fifth Round of Munros

Keith compleating round 5 on Sgurr Dubh Mor

Sunday, 5 June 2022

Keith has been a friend and regular hill walking companion for over thirty years. He is one of the most accomplished hill walkers in Scotland with 3 Corbett rounds, a Graham round and an almost complete round of the Scottish Marilyns. Today he would be finishing his fifth round of Munros and fourth round of Munro tops, including all the ones that have been deleted from the current list. He is a hill runner, has completed many long-distance trails in the UK, Europe and beyond and has competed in numerous long-distance mountain marathons. 

I had met him through a running club at work, we had half a dozen races each year and he was part of the Strathclyde team in the Nalgo national cross country championships. We hosted these in Strathclyde Park in 1990 and won the team prize. Keith asked me after the event if would I be prepared to partner him in the Scottish Island Peaks Race, a yacht and running event of two or three days, depending on tides and winds. Each yacht has a team of three sailors and two runners involving 65 miles of running including Ben More on Mull, the Paps of Jura and Goat Fell on Arran. Keith lent me a video of the previous year's race and, initially, I thought you must be joking. I had started climbing the Munros in 1989 and was a reasonable road runner with a sub 33minute 10k  but I had never done any hill races. Keith persisted in persuading me. After we ran a trial 19-miles hill run to  Ben Lomond and back after work one evening, I decided to give it a go. The Island Peaks race was a seminal event and we came sixth out of 57 starters. 

I began to do hill races and we partnered with each other in the International Mountain Marathon. Although Keith had already completed a round of Munros, he was well into his next round and he helped John and me as we gained traction in our attempt at the Munros. He had hill wisdom and would push us to do an extra hill on long days out and in winter conditions he would be a reliable guide as we pushed the length and boundaries of our expeditions. Four years later in 1993, we had finished the first round of Munros. This was in no short measure because of Keith's sage advice and encouragement. Thirty years later, he is still pounding round the hills, competing in the occasional trail race, cycling and he remains a veritable source of encouragement and support.

He has guided dozens of others from his walking clubs towards their Munro compleations. In short, he is a totally reliable, knowledgable, thoughtful and ultra-safe companion. He has been nudging towards his fifth round for several years as he focused on Grahams and Marilyn hills. Skye, as so often in people's Munro rounds, was the place of his final Munros. When I contacted him about finishing the Corbetts, he mentioned that he was only two short of finishing his fifth round of Munros. We decided given the price of fuel to combine the two events. John and I had the privilege to climb Sgurr na Eag and Sgurr Dubh Mor with him and although we slowed him down on the scrambles it was a good way to pay respects to our mentor and good companion over the past thirty years.

Ascent:       1759 metres
Distance:    20 kilometres
Time:          9 hours 29 minutes

Sgurr nan Eag                                924m    3hrs 38mins
Sgurr Dubh an Da Dubh Bheinn   938m    5hrs 10mins
Sgurr Dubh Mor                            944m    5hrs 45mins

After two long days in Torridon and Skye and not having walked on three consecutive days since Covid interrupted life, this was going to be a big day. We dawdled a bit at breakfast and it was a slow drive across to Skye and down Glen Brittle that was bristling with camper vans. We had to park half a mile short of the normal parking spot and the campsite that had served us on dozens of occasions was now filled with camper vans with only a few tents to be seen. We wasted no time heading up the steep path that heads towards Coire Lagan and turned right at the first junction to cross a burn and begin the long path that circles around Sron na Ciche to Coir' a Ghrunnda. We passed 8 other walkers on the ascent and had the usual trouble tottering across the boulder field before climbing through the bolsters of gabbro that protect the beautiful Loch Coir' a' Ghrunnda. 

We halted at the Loch to have some food and top up our water, the day had heated up and there was no breeze to cool us. After taking an anti-clockwise route around the loch we found the steep rocky path that heads towards the Sgurr an Eag ridge. Finding the right route to clamber through the rock outcrops and boulders requires a bit of care. There is then a path along the ridge to the summit and as I found out it is better to keep to the right when the path splits. It is about a kilometre from the bealach to the rocky summit that overlooks Loch Coruisk and Rum. It was time for a break and to replenish our food,  rehydrate and absorb the spectacular views of the Cuillin ridge.

The walk, scramble and climb to Sgurr Dubh an Da Bheinn is a complex route finding exercise, but ultimately not too difficult if you find the right lines. We undercut Caisteal a' Garbh Choire to the right before being slightly delayed by following a couple of climbers who had a detailed climbers handbook but kept getting it wrong. When they peeled off for the Thearlaich-Dubh gap we thought that "using ideas as our maps we'll meet on edges soon". We did edge our way to the top and settled our nerves before dropping down to the bealach before Sgurr Dubh Mor. The route from here is notoriously tricky as it corkscrews upwards by chimneys, ledges and rock bands but, with Keith in a determined mood, we made the summit without too much hesitation. I felt a bit guilty about having nothing but a handshake to offer Keith. It was 5pm and we lingered awhile reflecting that this could be the last time on this Munro, which is one of the hardest Munros to reach because of the long walk in and then the complexity of the topography. John and I were anxious to make the downclimbs from the summit before any false sense of feeling that we had done it seeped in.

We still had a long and difficult ascent over Sgurr Dubh an Da Bheinn and then down to the Loch. Our earlier ambitious thoughts about climbing Sgurr Alasdair had receded given the time. We made the mistake of attempting a fairly direct descent through the rock bands instead of heading towards the T-D gap and finding a more relaxed route down from there. By the time we reached the Loch and gorged ourselves on water from the burn, it was 7pm with another 7 kilometres to get back to the car beyond the campsite. 

A party of four, three Irish and one French, who had ascended Sgurr Dubh Mor from Loch Coruisk via the Slabs and who had topped out a few minutes after we left the summit found a better descent route and caught us as we descended the gabbro boulders below Coire Ghrunnda. When they heard we were a group of seventy-year-olds they began to hare down as we sauntered on. The evening light was perfect but by the end of the gabbro and the start of the vegetation at 500 metres we had reached the midge level. The midges were out for vengeance after two years when they had missed their victims. The seventy year olds had caught up with the Irish/French party by the time we reached the campsite. It was full of people moving gingerly whilst wearing midge nets whilst their dogs were chasing their tails in vain attempt to escape the beasts. As we reached the car a welcome sea breeze scattered the midges and we were able to change shoes and socks, remove unwanted clothes and start the 90-minute journey back to Achmore. 

Arriving at the cottage at 11:30pm meant that I was too tired to be bothered with a meal. A celebratory beer with Keith and a shower were my only activities before turning in. Three long days on the hills had taken their toll and we had agreed to make a leisurely journey home tomorrow. Yesteryear we would have been plotting another few days of hill bashing but we were so much younger then, we're older than that now.

Keith and John on the path from Glen Brittle

Ascending the brutal Gabbro boulder field below Coire Ghrunnda

Coire Ghrunnda and Sgurr Alasdair

Coire Ghrunnda and Sgurr na Eag

Summit of Sgurr na Eag

Looking north to the Cuillin Ridge from Sgurr na Eag

Coir' a' Ghrunnda from Sgur na Dubh Da

Keith on Sgurr n his final top

Climbing Sgurr Dubh Mor

Bruach na Frithe to Sgurr nan Gillean

Sgurr na Eag

Sgurr na Eag from Sgurr Dubh Mor

Rum on the descent

Coire Lagan peaks in the late evening

 

Am Basteir and Bruach na Frithe

Sgurr nan Gillean to Bruach na Frithe

Saturday, 4 June 2022

Ascent:         1250 metres
Distance:      19 kilometres
Time:            6 hours 52 minutes

Bruach na Frithe     955m        2hrs 40mins
Am Basteir              933m        3 hours 54 minutes

The second day of our hill bagging was to the Skye ridge. John had wanted to climb the three Munros, the two above and Sgurr nan Gillean from Sligachan in order to complete a fourth round of the Skye Munros. Gregor had to get back to Glasgow for an event on Sunday and the last bus from Sligachan left at 3:55pm. Keith's completion of his fifth Munro round would have to wait until Sunday. We were slightly late starting and were lucky to find one of the last parking places just beyond the Sligachan Hotel. The weather was perfect again and we began by following the wonderfully clear waters with inviting translucent pools of the Allt Dearg Mhor towards the supposedly easiest peak on the Skye ridge, Bruach na Frithe.

After the first kilometre Gregor took off, we made steadier progress on the path and enjoyed the scramble up the narrow rocky northwest ridge. As we arrived a large party from a walking club who had taken a route up the Coire emerged at the summit and gave it the appearance of Snowdon but without the railway or the litter. Gregor had been here for almost an hour so we did not spend long before dropping down and around the rock face of Am Basteir.

It is always a long steep detour and an equally steep climb to reach Bealach a' Bhasteir. There were quite a few climbers on the second day of a Skye ridge traverse and we chatted to them before starting the scramble to Am Basteir. We decided to avoid the bad step by cutting down a gulley to the ramp that leads to the final summit section. It is a tricky scramble and a guide told us it was a lot more trouble than the bad step but he had ropes to haul his charges up and down the 4-metre rock face. The summit is very exposed and the Baisteir Tooth is just twenty metres away, a rock climb, although there is a way up from the south that requires a long scramble down from Am Baisteir and a climb up again. We did not stay long and retreated to the bealach where Gregor left us to head back to Sligachan to catch the bus to Glasgow.

We had some banter with two of the pairs of climbers who were nearing completion of the Skye ridge over two days. One pair set off for a "fast and light" ascent of Sgurr nan Gillean ie no ropes or equipment. WE deliberated. John was very keen to attempt it, we had climbed it twice before without ropes and decided to go as far as the chimney. I was less keen, I had no intention of another round of Munros and at the top of the chimney, there is a bad step across a chasm that leaves no room for mistakes. John and Keith continued and were helped by an off duty Mountain Rescue team leader who talked them across the gap. I returned to the bealach and began the walk out to Sligachan.

I was joined by the two climbers who had done their fast and light climb and had therefore completed their ridge. One from Aberdeen and one from Lancaster, they had considerable experience of climbing in Europe and beyond. We walked and talked until they felt compelled to halt and take a bathe in one of the pools to remove two days of sweat, and grime and soothe their aches and pains. I made the hotel just after 5pm and bought a beer to drink. I took it to a distant bench that looked towards the Cuillins. It was one of those magical evenings when the two days of exercise had been hard but rewarding and what better than a pint.

I was joined by a History Professor from the University of Nevada who told me that drinking beer outside the bounds of the hotel would not be allowed in the States. He was joshing but I told him it was a pity they did not take similar measures on gun control. For the next hour, we discussed everything from the Gini coefficient to a Trump comeback, the surreal beauty of Lofoten Islands, whether Boris Johnson was as much a sociopath as Trump, the collapse of the UK economy and the appalling driving habits on Scottish single track roads. He was surprised that Scotland had such brilliant weather, he had only been here three days, but he had 360 days of sunshine a year in Reno and had hoped for some rain whilst in Scotland. 

We were still in full flow as John and Keith arrived back from Sgurr nan Gillean, John delighted at the capture of a tricky Munro. We drove to Kyleakin where my friend Mark had just arrived for a week's holiday and spent 20 minutes catching up on life. It was 9:30pm before we made it back to Achmore and began planning for the next day.

Looking south from Bruach na Frithe north ridge.

Bruach na Frithe summit

Sgurr na Gillean and Bad Step from Am Basteir

Starting the next leg to Am Basteir

 

Am Basteir and Tooth

Am Basteir summit towards Sgurr na Gillean

Bhaistir Tooth and Bruach na Frithe from Am Basteir

Beinn Dearg (Torridon) Last Corbett

The Final Corbett

Bein Dearg and Stuc Loch na Cabhaig from the south ridge

Route Map

Friday 3 June 2022

Ascent:       970 metres
Distance:    17 kilometres
Time:          5 hours 31 minutes

Stuc Loch na Cabhaig       889m      2hrs 19mins
Beinn Dearg                      914m      2hrs 40mins

This was the long-awaited attempt to finish the Corbetts on Beinn Dearg, the highest Corbett at 914 metres. The impressive Beinn Dearg hides its rugged Torridonian beauty behind Liathach and Beinn Alligin.  It was a mountain that had inspired me in 1989 when I started bagging Munros and I was disappointed to find that it had been demoted from Munro status by a surveyor's measure of just 20 centimetres. When I retired I decided to complete the Corbetts and attempt another Munro Round. Corbetts had always been an occasional appendage to climbing Munros, apart from the classics like Foinaven and Arkle, the Arran hills and local hills like Ben Ledi and the Cobbler that were regular outings long before 1989.

I had arranged for my most regular walking partners to accompany me and it would require an early start for the drive to Torridon, I had arranged to stay at a cottage in Achnore on Loch Carron. Keith, my old hill running partner, arrived at 7:30am, he would be completing his fifth round of Munros on Skye, and that would be our second objective of a three or four-day trip. John and Gregor arrived on Thursday evening to complete the party and we shoehorned ourselves and the usual bags of walking equipment and food into my car. The weather forecast was perfect for the next four days although the journey as far as Dalwhinnie was in the early morning cloud. By Aviemore, we were in the sunshine and we stopped at the Tarvie cafe just before Garve, a locally run roadside halt that sells coffee and snacks at reasonable prices. 

We made it to the start of the walk by the bridge over the Abhainn Coire Mhic Nobuil by 12:30pm. The car park was full, something I had never witnessed in 7 or 8 previous visits. It was the bank holiday for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee and ideal walking conditions provided a good excuse to escape the wall to wall coverage. With SUVs and camper vans so much more evident nowadays, the capacity of car parks is much reduced. We squeezed into a place a hundred metres back along the verge behind a row of other cars that had been forced out of the car park.

I had been warned that the steep climb to Beinn Dearg and the tricky south ridge made it one of the harder Corbetts but the experienced company and weather allayed any worries. We reached 450 metres at the top of the path that follows the gap between the Horns of Alligin and Beinn Dearg and stopped for some food before starting the 400-metre relentlessly steep slopes to Stuc Loch na Cabhaig, the northern top of Beinn Dearg. The views of Liathach, Beinn Alligin and the Flowerdale Forest were mightily impressive. We dallied for a while, days like this are for savouring and time was on our side. 

It is an easy walk over to the summit, a drop of 70 metres to a bealach and a climb of 100 metres with Liathach, my favourite Munro, providing the backcloth. The flattish summit was bathed in the warm June sunshine, a few photos were taken and we spent 15 minutes before Gregor set off to retrace the ascent route and climb Beinn Alligin via the Horns. Keith returned that way to the path a few minutes later to look for the sunglasses that he had lost on the ascent. 

John and I continued along the south ridge towards Beinn Eighe to sample the grade 5 scramble down three chimneys. In the warmth of the day, they provided pleasant exercise. I had wanted to continue to the end of the ridge at Carn na Feola but John was not keen, so after passing the steepest rocky slopes we found our way down the flank of the hill alongside a burn, it probably would have been easier to have continued to Carn na Feola to find a less leg jarring descent. We arrived at the good path that runs alongside the burn around the back of Liathach, I had used it twice before after climbing Liathach in order to reach Beinn Eighe and the magnificent Triple Buttress in Coire Mhic Fhearchair. This time it was in the opposite direction, a 5-kilometre walk back alongside the rippling burns and waterfalls on the Abhainn Coire Mhic Nobaill. We met Keith at the confluence of the two paths, unfortunately, he had not found his sunglasses. We arrived back at the car exactly as Gregor ran over the bridge having completed the Horns of Alligin and the two Munros since he ran off the summit of Beinn Dearg. 

It was approaching 7pm and we had a 90-minute journey to the cottage at Achmore on Loch Carron. We attempted to get a meal at Lochcarron but the hotel bar was stowed out so we returned to cook some food. Gregor, Keith and I celebrated completing the 224 Corbetts with a beer. We would be having a long day on the Cuillin Ridge tomorrow and agreed to make an 8 a.m. start.

Start of the Path at Torridon House

Path along Coire Mhic Nobaill

Looking east from Stob Loch na Cabhaig

The ridge to Beinn Dearg, Liathach behind

The last few steps to Beinn Dearg summit

The rest is history

Keith and Gregor at Summit

Horns and Beinn Alligin

Liathach

John descending the chimney on the south ridge

Flowerdale Forest

Liathach

Waterfall on Abhainn Coire Mhic Nobuil

Beinn Alligin, Beinn Dearg and Liathach over Loch Torridon