From Tarf to Beinn Dearg

Having had little sleep, copious Highland Park and a good breakfast, we cleared out of the Tarf hotel at 0900. Initially, we weren't sure what we all wanted to do. I should have insisted that Janet and I head out along the glen as it had been a tough day the day before but the lure of a Corbett or a Munro tempted me on with the rest of the group. We walked a good bit along the Tarf river and with Graeme deciding (wisely) on the Corbett, the rest of us pushed on up to Beinn Dearg. It was going to be a long day. It was bitterly cold but would only get more petrifying. The ascent was slow and eventually the going got easier as we hit the snow line. Views back across to An Sgarsoch and Carn an Fhidleir were excellent and as we got on to the plateau before the summit, we could see as far as Braeriach. John B was a godsend through this day, all encouraging us with his pleasant demeanour and bonhomie. We eventually summited on Beinn Dearg - the wind from the North was about 25-30 mph and it really dropped the temperature. Again, we didn't hang about and we made off for the land rover track out. A good 5-6 mile walk ensued with heavy feet, tired muscles and we were walking on fumes. It was headtorch time once again as we walked down to Old Blair. John opted to get the car while we looked after the packs and that man came and picked us up. It had been a long, long two days but deep down it had been a worthwhile experience. Cheers to John Burgess for his encouragement. I was just glad to be warm and eating anything that wasn't dessicated.

Carn a Chlamain

Had been planning a jaunt up to this hill with some walkers off WalkHighlands.co.uk. The intention was to then head over and into the Tarf hotel for the evening before potentially another M-point the next day. Having started at 1000 from Old Blair of Tilt, we felt there would be enough time to get to the bothy with daylight. Although we initially made good time up the excellent land rover track to Marble Lodge and beyond, the ascent up on to Carn a Chlamain was particularly tough with a packweight of ca. 25 kilos. Coal and malt - where would we be without it? Higher up I suspect. However, the track up on to Chlamain was good and it was the last 150m up to the summit that was really hard-going. Conditions were getting colder and we didn't hang about at the top. A few photos (Graeme looking like he'd sat on something cold) and off down towards the Tarf hotel, through almost icy snow - the North face had obviously been blasted by winds and it made the snow quite tricky to get down. Once below the snow line, as dusk approached, it was headtorch time and we very thankful that John B had lit a fire at the bothy a couple of hours later. Aching backs, weary legs and thirsty throats. Only a fire and a glass of malt could cure that.

Beware the bite near Beinn Mhanach

Hill aficionados will be scratching their head at the title of my post. What could possibly go wrong on the benign Beinn Mhanach? I wanted to do this hill with a good pack on to prepare for the Tarf Bothy trip and I have to be honest in saying that I had been putting this Munro off for a while. It didn't appear to have much in the way of great views, crags and was a long walk-in. However, I parked up at 0830 beside the A82 and made good progress along the road passed some barking dogs (N.B. captive at this point). Also, came across a rather insidious looking sheep, which looked like it had been plugged into the mains. Not long after, I had to make a tip toe crossing over the Allt Kinglas and it wouldn't be the last time. You have to do this 7 times on the way into Beinn Mhanach and obviously on the way back out so a dry day is best, particularly for this hill. As it was, I was adept at stepping on stones without falling and the walk along the road was most enjoyable. The cliffs of Beinn a Chaisteal rise high on the right hand side and that was a Corbett I was definitely looking forward to. Beinn a Chuirn came into view at the viaduct and seemed a fair way off. I had been going a good while when I came across Duncan Ban MacIntyre's old howff - it appears to have been converted to a shearing site and there was a massive bag of wool in there. A good place for an emergency stop-off. What a wee place to have lived - so isolated. I never met a soul going in or out to this all day and for solitude, this is a great walk. I pushed on and began an ascending traverse up to Beinn Mhanach. Loch Lyon came into view as did Ben Challum but although it was covered in cloud, I could make out snow on its top. Would I experience that at the summit? No. It wasn't long before I entered clagville and I never saw anything of a view until I came back out of the cloud. I hit the summit cairn, took a wee coffee and sandwich and then re-traced my steps. At the fence-posts, I followed them down to the road. Uneventful, a Munro in the bag and what should be a nice easy amble home. And it was until I got past the last set of houses (the sign reads Fir Park). I never even heard the dirty little mutt until growling, it had its teeth firmly into my Scarpa boot and with a slight sphincter-twitch, I realised I was being mauled by some dark hound. It growled and snarled and I promptly kicked it in the face (sorry PETA lovers) and it relinquished its grip before running off quite unperturbed. I wasn't hurt but did think of others who may not be so lucky or have a fear of dogs. Be warned. I kept thinking if only I'd kicked in the scrot, it might have had to get prosthetic testes then when it dragged itself along the ground, you could say "Here Sparky!" Next stop - Tarf Bothy.

Munro-monster on Tom Buidhe, Tolmount and Carn an't Sagairt Mor

The Munro-monster was surfacing again. I had to head North and get some kind of control. Anybody else experience this internal entity when they haven't done a hill for a while? I feel like some mad Jekyll & Hyde character ready to erupt. I left Glasgow at 0700 and parked up at Auchallater car park for 0900. I knew therefore that I had a long day ahead of me and was determined to enjoy a good stretch of the legs. The plan was simple - walk along to Loch Callater, up on to Crow Craigies and then grab Tolmount and Tom Buidhe. However, as much as I enjoyed the lovely walk in to the Loch and was surprised to see a white pony above me, it wasn't long before I experienced Jock's bog. The sound of the stags rutting was awesome and their calls reverberated across the coires and glens. I began the ascent up to the bealach and immediately felt the heart pounding but I was exorcising that monster. As I plateau'd out, it seemed a fairly easy climb up to Tolmount and from there, it wasn't 20 minutes before I was at the 1st cairn of the day. I sat and had a bite to eat and relished the peace and quiet. I could see a land rover and 2 ponies (they'd multiplied) above Coire Loch Kander and then heard gun shots booming across the coire. I imagine the ponies would be slightly redder towards the end of the day. A quick trip across and up to Tom Buidhe and I still felt fresh. It was only 1330 and I wasn't ready for turning back and down just yet. TB is an odd little bump with hardly any character to it whatsoever. Hard to believe it's a Munro actually. I met a walker/runner here who had been given 5 hours by his arthritic wife to do some hills and here he was bagging his 4th Munro and off to do Glas Maol and Creag Leacach, believing he would be back in plenty of time. Good effort. Rather than go back via Tolmount, I headed directly down towards the bealach and decided to stay high and return North rather than face the bogs again. I checked the map and could see that I would be able to take in Carn an't Sagairt Mor before my descend and it would take me back at the head of Loch Callater. Poifect. I passed the Cairn of Gowal, while suffering 15 cardiac arrests by those f**king ptarmigan shooting out of the undergrowth. Bunnies were aplenty and were just beginning to turn white, in preparation for the snows. What a day. I began the short ascent up to Carn an't Sagairt Mor and saw two cairns about 100 m apart. I made sure to touch both and stopped to take in the views - wonderful. I could see some snow on Ben Avon and also the massive tors. Look forward to acquainting myself with that one soon. As I headed down off the summit, I was stopped in my tracks by a site of devastation - what appeared like wreckage was scattered in amongst some rocks. It looked like remnants of a plane and I have since found out it was a Canberra plane which crashed back in 1956. Remarkably robust considering 53 Winters had passed. Thanks to Big Al for his trivia/iPhone technology. In fact, must have coincided with his birth, the old basturt. he path off this hill back to the Loch is an absolute joy to descend and I fair galloped down it. I was getting hungry and had eaten my hill food. Once back at the Loch, it was only a 3.5 mile walk back out and it was a good warm down. This route is excellent and circumvents the inevitable bogs at the far end of Loch Callater. I felt pacified once more - for the time being the Munro-monster was satiated.

Blood and a new bum on Beinn Iutharn Mhor

After my Tour de Callater, I fancied taking a mountain bike and exploring some of the glens around Braemar. The guy at Braemar Mountain Sport told me it would take an hour to cycle to Altanour Lodge in Glen Ey. I began the cycle out of Braemar and was feeling the burn before long. Eventually Inverey came into view after a blast down past the Mar Lodge gatehouse and I began the cycle route along and into the Glen. I'm not joking when I say the saddle of this bike was tearing me a new arsehole for breakfast and I began to regret the fact I hadn't taken Compeed for my derriere. After an hour and 20 mins, I arrived at the Lodge - that guy must have been fit. I had cycled 9 miles and felt more than warmed up. However, the Munro-monster must be quelled! The views to the hills were less impressive. It says a lot when your best pic of the day is a mushroom. I decided to head up the NE-flank of Beinn Iutharn Mhor and floundered across bog for the best part of an hour. Eventually I came to the steep incline and I proceeded up for about 30 minutes. I was heading into the cloud and eventually levelled out. It was a good 20 minute walk up and over very stony ground until I found the summit cairn. I could feel the wind chill at this point and stuck on my balaclava, while enjoying a feed. According to the book, you head NE for 1km and then head down stony slopes. I took a compass reading to be sure and walked what I thought was a kilometre. Yes, these were stones which could be 'possibly hazardous in Winter' but they didn't look particularly inviting in Autumn either. However, I began the descent but realised quite quickly that the ground was loose, unstable and after cursing several times, I lost my footing and slashed my hand open on some rock. Foo. Fortunately, I had my 1st aid kit with me and did a repair job. Looking back, I had come off too late and could see the connecting ridge further back. It was 1400 by this point and I was beginning to wonder if I could be bothered taking in Carn Bhac in cloud. I couldn't. I knew I still had 9 miles of cycling to do and wanted to get to Braemar before 1700 as I was due to meet with friends. The route would be here for another time so I headed down and off the hill back to the lodge. I was rewarded with a 'stunning' mushroom. No idea what genera or species but it took a pretty picture. hadn't realised how much of an ascending road the route up Glen Ey was but it only took me 55 minutes from the lodge back to Braemar so it gives you an idea of descent - mucho fun spent straddling the bike as I couldn't endure sitting down on that saddle aka bum-breaker. I was back by 1540 and walked out of the Sports shop like John Wayne. Howdy pilgrim?

Gone with the Wind on Na Gruagaichean

Michelle (a regular poster on WHighlands) from the US of A was over here on her travels and we had planned to meet up and have an attempt at Na Gruagaichean, an appropriately named hill for the occasion - 'the maiden'. We both met up at the Mamore Lodge hotel and paid the £3 fee to park at 200m elevation but I'd have paid a bit more for a smile from the staff. At least the collie dog looked happy. Fetch! No matter, we decided it was waterproofs on from the word go as the forecast was rather miserable and it wasn't long before we were heading along the Land Rover track, chatting away and generally getting to know a bit about each other. I had read in the paper that morning about a psychic dwarf escaping and the headline proclaimed "Small medium at large!" Michelle didn't believe me. Bad jokes aside, we began our ascent not long after the bridge across the cascading torrent and it was fairly unpleasant splunging until we levelled off a bit. Time for a drink and make sure all was okay with the pace. Well, we didn't have much of a view after about 600m and I don't think I've ever known a hill to have so many "I think we're almost there" moments - pretty sure Michelle was ready to commit Kevicide at one point. However, as we got higher, the hill narrowed to a fine arete and in clear conditions, I'm sure it would be quite spectacular. I felt a bit sorry for Michelle that she had such keech weather as all we could see from this purportedly fine view point was rain, drizzle and precipitation. However, we battled on and finally reached our objective with subsequent glory shots.

A small change of kleider was needed as we were getting a little weet. I was hungered and took out my saag masala curry - Michelle could be exonerated from not knowing about my lunch du jour competition so I couldn't really fair and square say that I had won that particular prize. The wind had truly whipped up by this time and before I knew it my Asda bag was off like a shot and frankly my dears, I could give a damn as my non-deliberate attempt at environmental contamination resulted in a wee swearie word. Oops. We decided not to carry on to Binnein Mor (maybe next year?) and started our descent back down. Good, if not slippery progress was made and it wasn't long before we startled ptarmigan and the omnipresent frog. Once back on the land rover track, we congratulated ourselves with a good M-point in horrendous conditions and vowed to have a wee drink before we went. Shep was waiting back at the hotel and we sat and had a wee drink in front of a fireplace (not enough coal for my liking - another environmental faux-pas!) like old friends. It was the first excursion with Michelle and although the weather was terrible, the company was very pleasant. Hope it won't be the last trip, Michelle and look forward to seeing you next year.

Chno Dearg and Stob Coire Sgriodain - a clagged oot!

Shaz and I headed up to stay at the Station Lodge bunkhouse http://www.stationlodge.co.uk at Tulloch on the Friday night with the prospect of variable weather i.e. light drizzle and rain nae doot. A note of caution - the proprietor had informed us that her licence to sell liquor would expire on the 9th August and she would not be renewing it. Fortunately, we are professional jakies and we arrived with enough drink to send us into easy slumber for the day ahead after discussing drink, hills and finally God. Isn't that how it goes? Great breakfast the next day and would definitely stay again as it sets you up for the surrounding hills. We were initially lazy and drove round to Fersit rather than skip along the train track. We were glad we had done so because a wee bridge going across a ravine was quite something and we held up traffic while impersonating David Bailey. We parked up at an area which said 'No parking' but we were in good company as other cars had done the same. 

The view across to Stob Coire Sgriodain gave us a good view of what lay ahead and we proceeded to head through Fersit, past a proper parking area (typical) and past a wee rusty-coloured dog which happily greeted us in canine custom. The poor thing had no back legs and it seemed to have metal testicles - fetch Sparky! Once past the farm, the trek South was over quite boggy ground but it wasn't long before we began to ascend and attempt to avoid the suicidal Fersit frogs, which did their best to fall under our boots. As with most Munro's, once we had cut through and up on to the crags (this took about 90 minutes from the farm), we were still quite a bit of a walk until the summit (about a km) but the cloud cover had descended and views were non-existent.

e had lunch at the top, I got the compass and map out and we set off for our 2nd objective du jour, Chno Dearg. D'ye know Chno? I remembered the book saying it could be tricky in bad visibility and this proved the case. After 500m S on a path which petered out, Shazcam thought she had a path but she was descending North towards crags and I knew this wasn't right. I told her so and we headed due SE instead. Cue torrential rain.  We descended over quite rough ground and passed a cairn, before descending to a col with some lochans - at this point, I knew we were on course. I then took a compass reading NE to ascend Chno Dearg and it was a matter of re-checking the compass while slowly ascending. Finally, after an hour from Sgriodan we topped out on a level summit after a bouldery last wee bit but it still took us 5 min to find the summit cairn. We were glad to get then 2nd hill of the day in the bag but it once again reinforced how important it was to navigate effectively. The compass was such a great wee companion, I gave it a kiss and agreed to buy him a drink when we got back down.

The descent N to NW off Chno Dearg is tedious, fairly long and boggy and I cannot imagine anyone ascending the hill this way. I'm sure there are masochists out there who will have done this. Flagellation - ye cannae whack it. Eventually after 6 hours we got back to the car just as the cloud lifted and the sun shone down. F****** typical! Still a great day though and I sincerely hope you get better views than we did. Such is life on the hill.