West coast wanderings with Scott

With the extra Friday off for the "wedding" which to be honest I was not interested in, Scott and I thought we would throw the tents in the car and head up north and over the west coast of Scotland. We met up after Scott had finished work he drove over to Leslie to pick me up before heading north to Inverness.We knew it would be late in the evening getting up there so had booked a room for the first night which also so happened to be a pub which we took full advantage of that night.
After breakfast we set for Gairloch which we had agreed on as the camp site looked ok and had a pub close to it.We were in no rush and took a steady drive over to the west coast enjoying the views and the fine weather.

Silioch and Loch Maree

Loch Bad an Sgalaig

Over the sea to Skye

We lost no time in pitching the tents and planning the next part of the day a walk was picked out starting from the loch we had stopped at not far from where we were camping ( Picture above )

Grabbing some rolls crisps and snacks we headed off in the car to the start of the planned walk. A few cars were parked up and we just managed to squeeze into a space , it looked like a few people were taking advantage of the weather to some walking of their own.
Heading off up a very good estate track we did a nice steady walk out towards the hills ahead enjoying the sun and the views which changed at every turn on the path.

path to the wilds

After a few a couple of miles of steady walking on the good track we gained some height and even more views. It was a strangle landscape and very brown and dry and lots of evidence of the last ice age with odd rocks perched all over the place.

Large boulders left by the ice

Scott and I split up at this point he was going to try his "injury" out and have a run up the Corbet " Bienn an eoin" at one side of the glen while I walked along to the Loch that ran along the glen floor.

Scott photo from ridge

Wild walking country

Eventually Scott made his way off the hill with a smile on his face as he could still manage to run up hills.Meeting  up at the boulder field we turned to head the few miles back down to the car after a very pleasant walk in the hills still commenting on how brown it all looked in fact Lanzarote was mentioned it was that type of landscape. Making our way back to the camp site and dropping our bags off we were into the pub for the evening for beer and food to round off a very good first day.

View from the camp site

Saturday our plan was to have a slow drive down the west coast and do lots of stops and snacks driving relays of 15 miles each. After some oats and coffee packed up the tents and we left the camp site and headed off down the coast.
We headed back down Loch maree and turned off on the Torridon road driving past Liathach which looked majestic with the sun lighting up it's slopes.

Liathach

Loch carron was our next stopping off place but we could not resist the views to be had over looking Upper Loch torridon so we had a couple of stops and took the chance of some more photo's.

Over looking upper loch Torridon

A chilled out Scott

This was turning out to be a fantastic day, the weather fine , the roads quiet, relay driving so we took turns rubber necking at the great views. Loch carron Spar shop was our next call in point and we drove over to fill up with more snack foods for a picnic by the loch. The family had stayed there last year in a holiday cottage and it was nice to be back in the area again remembering the times we'd had.After a coffee break near Attadale Scott wanted to visit Plockton as he had heard how much we had liked our stay there a few years ago.Arriving in Plockton as expected on such a nice day tourists were out in force but then again I suppose that's what we were anyway.

Plockton sea front

Views down to the Loch

view over Plockton

After a nice break and walk round we continued our travels heading over to Shiel Bridge and took the opportunity to check out the campsite there for future use. Sun still nice and warm so we were both tempted to have ice creams at the shop which went down very well. Traffic had built up more now but our relay policy was working well all the way to Fort William which as usual was very busy and took a while to get through. Food was on the mind so we were looking for a spot to get the stove on heat up some soup and tuck in with loads of bread. We chose to stop at the picnic area on the banks of Loch Linnhe another one of those spots we had used before the views were  great but the traffic noise would take some getting use to. Leaving our rest stop we then bit the bullet and drove through Glen Coe among the caravans and biker groups to arrive at the Ben more lodge where we had a room booked. Another night of cold beer and food talking about next days activity.
Sunday was going to be a run / walk day for Scott and myself but no running for me.Scott fancied going up Beinn Challum as it was a Munro he had not got round to doing yet and as for me I did not know how I would get on as the last Munro I did was a good few years ago. The plan was to walk together for the first bit before Scott would set of running and I would plod on behind. He would be running back to meet up with me and I would make the call to carry on up or just head back to the car. It was another glorious day though a bit on the windy side which did feel a bit chilly on the exposed hills.

who's this poser ????

Beinn Challum in the distance

After walking for just short of a mile Scott and I parted company as he set of on his run and I walked on behind. I still did not know what I was going to do but managed to maintain a slow progress up the first ridge. The higher I got the more the horizan opened out and you could see for miles with all the hills spread out with speckles of snow scattered over them.At around 2000 ft I was starting to get the rubber legs feeling and played the mind game about going on or turning back. Scott appeared bounding down the hill still enjoying himself and I said I would try going on some more. Scott was going to chill down fast after running then slowly going along with me so my flease and gloves were put to good use by him.

slow plod up but great views

part way up still not the top

Legs were now complaining and I was starting to chill down so another layer of clothing was added before going on.

Scott with dad's coat

Distant Munro's

I was very slow getting up to the first top and Scott had run down to find some water but soon caught me back up.From the first or South top as it's called the true summit is to the North but you have to do a dog leg west before getting on to the ridge to the last dip then steep climb to the large summit cairn.

Hands out of pockets for little ridge walk

Looking back from final climb to the top

Summit Cairn

We met up with some other walkers at the summit and had a quick chat before heading off the ridge to get some shelter from the wind. We found a dip to shelter in from the wind and sat having a good look round picking out other hills we could see in the distance. I was very pleased as it has been a few years since I had managed to walk to the top of a Munro and who knows it may not be the last one yet.
Our day ended with a nice steady walk down off the hill passing the time of day with other walkers who were heading up and meeting up with the other group who were still taking their time going down.It was back to the car and a drive back home to Leslie  for a nice hot bath and to reflect on a brilliant few sunny days in the west highlands of Scotland. Yes we will have to do this all again. J

 
                                             



                                                          

Jocks Road

To give myself a challenge and get out walking again I thought I would give Jocks road a go this Easter weekend. It does look like my attempts to get back to running have come to and end so have reverted back to wondering the hills of Scotland.
Scott had offered to drop me off some where as he is on the injured bench and our Upland way saga is on hold. It was Scott who mentioned Jocks road and it is a walk I had thought of doing in the past but never got round to it so that was to be the target this time.The weather which had been great for the last few days was looking a bit dodgy for the Saturday but then if I was going to get out there now was the time.
We had gone to the caravan in Blairgowrie on the Friday so we could get an early start in the morning as I had no idea how long it would take me to do the 15 miles to Braemar in fact I did not know if I would manage the whole way!. I had thoughts would I be capable of doing the whole walk ? would I run out of daylight, would my legs hold out ?
We got up to Saturdays weather damp and misty when we headed off hoping it would improve as the day went on. Scott dropped me off at Glen Doll and wished me luck and drove off so with a little apprehension I set off to the start of my walk.

start of track

 The first couple of miles are along a well established path up through the forest which form part of a circular walk in Glen Doll. It was a nice introduction to my "adventure" and I headed off up the track glancing up at the low clouds. I had only been walking about 45 minutes when the rain started to get heavy and so I took off my fleece and put my water proof on as it was not cold at all in the shelter of the trees.After about one hour plus I came out of the trees and into the open which meant I could at least see some of the way I was heading. Took the chance to have a short break and a took a couple of photographs looking up the glen into the distant hills which i could not make out for the mist.

looking up the valley

It was at this point that I met a couple of walkers heading the same way who after exchanging greetings and commenting about the poor visibility ahead left me behind as they set off at twice my speed.I did a slow steady climb up the track for the next hour feeling a little sad about the lack of views available but took a couple more photographs looking back down the way I had came as ahead was just mist.

the way ahead

looking back down the Glen

I was heading for the top of the Glen and the start of the plateau and had targeted the shelter as my next rest stop and  get more to eat.The old legs had complained a bit as the steepness increased but finally I came across the shelter and had a break.

shelter entrance

 The shelter is very misleading it is built like a dry stone wall with a tin roof covered in soil heather etc but the walls are thick and although the roof is low it goes back at least 20 feet so a few people could squeeze in if required. There is a plaque near here commemorating the five walkers that lost there lives walking Jocks road when the weather turned against them and sadly they perished.
After a good rest and food I was about to set off again when the walkers I had met before came by heading back . They said they were not doing the full walk just came up the glen but were disappointed that the weather had not cleared up. (they said it was forecast to clear but obviously it was not going to ). They set off back down and I was left to myself on the hill.I was still feeling good and I knew that the main climb was over but had a few miles walking on the plateau . I do admit that when I looked round and could only see about 30 yards before the mist closed in I realised what a challenge I had set myself. I was very glad I had come prepared had map / compass and best of all my Garmin which I had set a few way points set to help me out. This was going to prove invaluable as I bit the bullet and headed off into the mist as after a few hundred yards the faint track disappeared into bog and heather.

No views but enjoying myself

I spent the next few hours dodging bog and peat hags rocks in heather and undulating terrain. I was so happy to have my GPS as to be honest i would have been completely lost without it. I was heading for the highest point which i had hoped to get some good photo's of the cairgorms but stood no chance. So had to settle for a few misty shots on my way .

The invisible man

heading to the highest point on the route

coming out of the mist

the way down no track

I waited for a while and had a snack while waiting for a clearer view and some sign of a track down the very rough moraine. The burn I needed to be on the right hand side of just showing up out of the mist. If I got it wrong it would be very wet feet time.
I can't say I walked down to the glen floor more like slid / stumbled and tripped my way for over a mile. On the way managed to see more of the wild life smooth back lizards and frogs both dark and light in colour. The best sight I had was when I scared up a mountain hare it still had most of it's white coat while the rest of it was turning to the summer brown .It was far to fast for me to try and get a picture but it did take my mind of the aching legs jarring my way off the hill.I finally got off the steep side and just had to contend with the tuffty boggy ground and many small burns to get across and at last I could see a reasonable distance.

the picture does not do the waterfall justice

A trail at last

 I picked up a trail which people have used to come to see the waterfall and enjoyed some easy walking for a change. The time was not bad either and I knew now that there was no danger of me running out of daylight so with Mp3 playing I headed off down to the Loch only 7 more miles to go.

Glen floor with loch in the distance 

 

Loch Callater

Making my way down the loch I arrived at the "lodge" where some of the estate workers had a fire going and a couple of people who were camping were gathered having a chat. I still had another 5 miles to walk before reaching Braemar but now it would be land rover tracks down to the main road.I was offered a lift from the main road to braemar by the couple who were wild camping if I would wait for them at their car at the end of the track as they would be down shortly. I must admit I was very tempted but after another three mile hike down to where the car was parked among a few others the heavens opened again so I went on.

the Glen in the distance is the start of the old road

I crossed the main road and picked up one of general Wades old roads on the other side of the glen to walk up to Braemar. I met up with Olga and Scott as they were walking out of Braemar to meet me and guess what the bloody sun came out and the sky was blue. They had booked a B&B for the night and had a change of clothes for me but first things first went to the pub and had a nice cold drink. On reflection I had walked my 15 miles in crap weather, been over 900 mtr, had not seen any good views,had sore feet and very tired legs but had I enjoyed myself You bet I had . I had laid a few ghosts to rest about being capable of doing solo walks and although had been well out of my comfort zone I was a happy 70+ year old bunny .

Old Man on a hike (re publish)

Old Man on a hike

A change from the bike for Scott we planned a walk on the wild side with Scott's friend MC. The choice of where to go was debated and we agreed that glen finnan would be a good starting point and then head north twards Knoydart.I was quite pleased about this as 25 years before myself and three friends had started this walk but had to abort due to illness so to me it was an unfinished walk. Planning food for a five day trek and what to carry keeping our eye on weight was half the fun in preparing the outing. As we were all leaving from different locations we agreed to meet on the train to Mallaig on the Saturday which proved to be an eventful experience for Scott who managed to miss his train and with (someone up there likes me ) managed to get other trains to meet the connection from Glasgow. This is one of the few times that mobile phones were handy planning alternative meeting places if required.

Day One

Glen finnan

We arrived Glen Finnan lunch time and after failing to buy whisky (purely for medicinal purposes) we headed off under the viaduct following the very good track up the Glen. Arriving at the Bothy 2 miles up the track we stopped for a lunch break. Now this bothy is a wee bit unusual as it had electricity, kettle and the grass cut for pitching tents near the river. I could not remember it being like that 25 years ago (how times change). The problem being as there were a few tents pitched already with no sign of the occupants. It reminded us of a holiday camp and not what we were looking for on our trek so we headed on up the track planning to camp higher up. This proved to be harder than we thought finding room for three tents among the boulder strewn hillside. Pushing on up the steepening track (which was still good going) it was obvious with the black clouds rolling up the Glen behind us we were in for some rain. We reached the bealach and splashed our way down the other side still looking for some where to camp by now we were well and truely soaked.

 Both getting a soaking in heavy rain


Eventually we had to take what ever we could find and made camp in the pouring rain.It was not a social evening as we each crawled in to our tents some of us spending a cramped wet uncomfortable night ( MC's tent being the envy of Scott and myself ) he could sit up and spread out changing out of the rain. After a night of rain hammering down on the tent and strong gusty winds very little sleep if any was had (for me anyway).The next morning I crawled out of the tent into a bright dry day with no wind and wall to wall midges.

Day two Sunday

After cooking oats, drinking filter coffee (thanks Scott) the one luxury we had with us and fending off midges with any free hand we broke camp.

                                            Morning camp my coffin on the right

We headed off down the glen twards Strathan enjoying the warm sun a nice change from the last few hours.The faint track was lost due to erosion by the burn and a few detours had to be made during one crossing Scotts tent fell off and floated merrilly down the burn. One wierd event of the day occurred while we were resting by the burn. Scott had left his spoon in the bothy the day before and while sitting on a rock by the burn without moving bent down picking up spoon .(spooky). After a rest in the sun (we didn't know it then but this was to be our last day of blue sky),we continued down to Strathan and one last ford over the burn reached start of glen pean.

                                              Scott keeping feet dry

Heading away from glen pean twards Strathan and glen Dessary we were now on a forrest road which made easy walking on the south side of the glen.Still having some sunshine we stopped above the bothy and out of the trees for another "coffee" Scott spread his tent out on the hillside to dry it out after its swim in the burn.

                                              A'Choul bothy

At the bothy we met a german guy and a party from Glasgow,the glasgow party were just packing to leave and as they had driven to Strathan had a pile of goodies which they left for us! (who brings dips and bread sticks for a bothy trip?). The german was interesting from the point that he carried no tent or stove and was the main man for lighting and cooking over the fire.After we settled in Mc went for a walk and swim in the river, Scott put his running shoes on and set off for a 90min training run, me,well I just sat outside the bothy resting.At this time the sun finally gave up and the rain swept into the glen. Later Mary and jane ? arrived they were planning a munro bash the next morning and very kindly gave us all a tot of whisky each which went down very well reminding us that we failed to bring some along. Apart from Mc we all slept in the bothy that night listening to the rain again.

Day three Monday

The next day after breakfast we had one of those do or don't we moments as bands of rain were still pushing down the glen, do we go or do we stay. (sounds like a song title). Finaly we thought it was set in for the day so we geared up for the weather and walked out. The first couple of miles we were on the forrest track so the going was good although a bit wet.

The main track ran out and we had to pick our way through knee deep bog which wasn't very pleasant,(thanks to all the rain we'd had).Leaving the tree line we climbed over the bealach still in pouring rain and going was hard picking a route over the top through bog after bog.

                                          Trying to find a dryer way over

A soup break was taken near the Lochans on the way down and sure enough our midge friends found us as we brewed up.Slipping and sliding our way down twards Loch Nevis MC enquired if this was the river or a path !. We had missed the crossing point of the river and couldn't be bothered retracing our tracks so as we were soaking wet anyway just walked accross the thing. At this point we could now just see through the weather Loch Nevis down in the distance its a pity the weather was so bad for any decent photographs but we our best.

                                            Loch Nevis in the distance

I knew from reading other journals that the Sourlies bothy could get busy at times but we were suprised when we eventually aproached it that a pile of rucksacks in rain covers were piled up outside. It turned out that a party of Americans had walked down from the north and after a very wet night were drying out in the bothy.The group was made up of two adult leaders and the rest were mixed sex teenagers and the bothy was full. The leader promptly said to his group that some would be in tents again to make room that night and not one complained. Scott and MC also put there tents up to make more room as our german friend arrived a little later.Give him his due he was carrying DRY wood wrapped in a waterproof and got a fire going so he was allocated the nearest bench. The bothy was full of smelly wet clothes hanging from every available point .

                                                        Not much room in bothy

Again very little sleep was had by most of us in there we were just lying listening to the rain hammering down on the roof dreading needing a pee!

Day four Tuesday

The americans packed up and headed off in the direction of Glen Dessary.I don't know why but they all filled there water bottles added iodine (yuk!) to carry up the pass. I'm sure they wouldn't have a shortage of water off the hills as it was still raining! Anyway that left our german friend complete with fire and ourselves alone in the bothy for now.

                                                   Sourlies bothy

To-day had been scheduled for a drying out and rest day I needed to give my leg a rest as it was still playing me up and I was not used to lugging a full pack on my back over the hills. After a lazy day dodging the odd shower and watching the tide going in and out we were joined in the bothy by an outward bound group, one leader plus three girls and a guy. They had had a rough night before and there main tent was too wet to use so we had a social night in the bothy in which we all slept apart from Scott and MC who retired to there tents. Again it was a night of heavy rain and wind and I was glad I wasn't in my little bivy tent which I had put up in case it was required. In retrospect I had bought the wrong tent for this weather and I felt very confined when I used it, it was more for emergency use than normal camping out. It was an early start 6am for the outward bound group so again little sleep had, it had stopped raining for now although it was very overcast and dull start to the day.

Day five Wednesday

After our usual hot oats and fruit breakfast washed down with Scott's filter coffee and a clean up of the bothy we set off on our final leg to Knoydart and Inverie. The old forge was the end of the rainbow and we had promised ourselves a few beers at the end of the trek. We headed along the Loch shore before negotiating the bog on the way to the ruins at Cornish.

                                              Finding our way over the bogs


From Carnoch the track zigzag'd up the steep slope 560mtr to the bealach. I found this to be my hardest time of the walk, I was tired after a few days lack of sleep,hauling a heavy pack over mostly slippery boggy tracks and blew up trying to get the climb over with !.Scott came to my rescue and led me up at a steady pace which kept me from blowing up again and to my suprise I managed almost none stop to the top.There was a very strong wind at the summit so a brisk walk over the top and down into shelter from the wind was completed.

                                               Inverie in the distance

I was glad that the main climb of the day was over and was looking forward to a gentle walk for a few miles down to the PUB !. The "few" miles went on and on and tiredness realy set in I don't know if we had all switched off by then but heavy legs were the order of the day.

                                                     Closer still

After what seemed for ever we reached the outskirts of Inverie walking down ever improving "roads" we tramped down to the shore.

                                                    MC on country road take me home mode

We arrived at the "old forge" for our much lookforward to pint and looked for somewhere to stay. The only choice was the hostel a mile back down the road where we could try for a bed or camp on the beach next to the hostel. I think we all felt an anticlimax at the "old forge" and just sat contemplating our next move. MC said the Mallaig ferry was due in ten minutes and as one we all agreed Mallaig was the prefered option to staying where we were and a brisk walk to the pier followed !.
On arrival at Mallaig we needed to find somewhere to stay I had booked B&B for the friday and we were two days early.All B&B's were full and desperation was kicking in when Scott spotted "Shoona's hostel above the tea room right on the main road.With luck they had three spare beds which we quickly took and settled in. It was only a small place with two rooms of six large bunk beds, a neat kitchen and comfortable sitting room. After a quick shower and change into the only clean dry clothes we had we went down stairs for a meal and it is to be recommended the food was excellent.Then a move to the pub for a well deserved pint and rest.

                                                       A very tired but happy old man

Well that concludes the walking part of the trip to Knoydart, we did spend a couple of days based at Mallaig before heading home on the Saturday.A trip to Rum on Friday was again spoilt by low cloud and we didn't get to see much of the island. Scott managed his "training" run among the clouds while MC and myself chilled out for a couple of hours before the return on the ferry.One last meal was had at the tea room before we said goodbye to Mallaig the next day.

Post script :- this blog was originally on geocities but was lost when they shut down thanks to MC who kept a copy I have republished on "grey hair" blog to keep a record of our efforts.