Could it really have been 2 months since my previous Munro
sojourn to Beinn Mheadhoin? What’s going on? I had pencilled in this weekend
for a trip to the edge of Knoydart and had some unfinished business with Garbh
Cioch Mor and Sgurr na Ciche. Almost a year ago, I set out to do these two in
conjunction with its Munro neighbour, Sgurr Mor, Beinn Fhuarain and two other
Corbetts, which I did manage (5 out of 7 ain’t bad). However, I experienced
cramp like never below and was extremely hyponatremic. This was a good learning
point though and since then, I have really watched my water intake.
I was probably as fit as I’ve ever been, after recently
training for the Lairig Ghru race and I decided (perhaps unwisely) to trade my
boots for my running shoes, in the hope that I could run back out, even with
the heavy pack. I arrived at Strathan at 1845 on a Friday night and was amazed
to see only one parked car, and a van. The sun was shining but perhaps more
welcome was a breeze which kept the insects away. I absolutely tore along the
land rover track past Upper Glendessary and proceeded to make good progress
along the still splunging path. I noted a couple of tents in the glen further
along just below the starting point for Bidean Chabair, which looked a very
nice hill. I pushed on past and rather than follow the path up to the bealach,
I started a fairly direct route up towards Garbh Cioch Beag – I figured
anywhere at 650-700m would provide me with a potential signal to phone home
(and allay fears) and give me a good start for the ridge in the morning.
Although steep, progress was good and I got a nice spot,
albeit quite precariously perched on a rock outcrop, which gave stunning views
as far as Eigg. However, it was 2130 by the time I had set up the tent and I
headed for the ridge to phone Em – despite 4 bars with Vodafone, it didn’t
happen and I ended up emailing my soon-to-be brother-in-law to let Em know I
was ok. This worked but I didn't know that and I knew she'd be worried. I saw the sun go down over Knoydart, which was lovely but
I was starving and it was getting dark. I got back down, had some shepherd’s pie
and got into bed, listening to my tunes. In short, I never slept a wink and I
got up at 0215 to see how dark it was. Far too dark to pack up and head for the
ridge. I waited until 0315, packed up and was off by 0330, with head torch.
I reached the ridge at 0400 and could now see my view ahead.
A pink glow began to form over the clouds over Loch Quoich and for the next
hour, I was privy to a lovely sunrise, while taking in the dramatic peaks of
these two Munros. It is a very odd (and tiring) feeling to have summited 2
Munros by 0500 but it meant that my walk back to the car, was still cool and
ahead of the heavy downpours, which were forecast later that day. I got back to
the car for just before 0800 and felt very relaxed. The going on these hills is very tough - easy to see why they verge on the Rough Bounds. The long drive back was of
interest because I picked up a hitch-hiker with a huge pack – a loon fae Dundee
who had the broadest accent I have ever heard from that area – “I’ll hae twa
meat pehhhs and an engeen een in a”. He tended to walk from Dundee to hill-walk
and while I admired his tenacity, I did wonder about him. I dropped him off in
Fort Bill and bade him farewell. An enjoyable experience albeit trying to stay
awake on the way home was the biggest challenge.
