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Schiehallion at last

Schiehallion at last


Postby Iain Goodlet » Fri Aug 31, 2012 12:00 pm

Route description: Schiehallion

Munros included on this walk: Schiehallion

Date walked: 30/08/2012

Time taken: 3 hours

Distance: 10.6 km

Ascent: 1083m

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Schiehallion at last
Having walked many hills and mountains within spitting distance of Glasgow I have a catalogue of photographs of Schiehallon from a distance. Well.. Time to put that right. I had a couple of days off and with a wary eye on the weather I decided today was the day to tackle that ever elusive Shiehallion.
Setting off at 07:00 from Glasgow I drove through the beautiful Stirlingshire and Perthshire countryside to arrive at Braes of Foss around 09:00. The car park was quiet with only one other walker waiting forlornly for his mate. I set off at a steady pace in quite clear and sunny weather over what is a very well maintained and laid out path. Congratulations to the John Muir Trust for their good work.
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The Mountain was itself a little disappointing in its aspect as I have been used to viewing it from a great distance to the West where it is very distinctive.
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I hoped that this was the top I could see from the car park, but no such luck. Cameron McNeish describes a narrowing summit ridge, and this just looks like a couple of million tonnes of aggregate.
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The path couldn’t be better on the lower slopes and sometimes I wondered if I was strolling along Sauchiehall Street, especially on the way home at lunchtime when the afternoon trekkers were out. Still, I had the morning and the hillside to myself to begin with.
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View back towards the car park (that’s mine second from the right by the way).
I was surprised to meet another young couple on their way back down the hill at around 10am, my, they must have had an early start!

Once off the laid path the route is still clear enough and cuts its way backwards and forwards through a gravelly surface, much like walking on the beach without the rolling waves, albeit the wind was trying to provide a good substitute.
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I was being tailed by another lone walker who I thought was the same guy I had exchanged pleasantries with in the car park, but at this range I couldn’t be sure. It turned out, after we met about 15 minutes from the top that it was. I assume that his mate didn’t turn up.

We had a good we chat on the last few hundred yards to the top with one canny eye on the boulder strewn hilltop. We joked that after putting in all the effort on the lower slopes, the least the John Muir Trust could have done was make the final ascent a bit easier. Shame on us!

Still. Top achieved and a couple of happy campers took a very quick photo and legged it for the comfort of the lower slopes. I’ll tell you. No matter how nice a day it is at ground level, when you are up on top that wind is bitter cold. I had made the schoolboy error of not bringing winter hat and gloves and soup and sandwiches for lunch. We modern men only eat salad nowadays, Doh! Give me vegetable broth and a couple of outsiders with cheese and pickle any day.
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Anyway, me and my new friend beat a hasty retreat from the top and as I’d brought the stove with me I intended to brew up on the upper slopes and enjoy the scenery. As it transpired it was absolutely Baltic so in the interest of self preservation I listened to his words of wisdom, “I’m having my pieces back at the car, it’s bloody freezin’ up here”

So, a short while later I was brewing up from the comfort of my car chuckling at the less knowledgeable trekkers setting out for a stroll up the hills on a sunny day. I hope they had their winter woollies with them.
Iain Goodlet
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Munros:25   Corbetts:7
Fionas:4   
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Re: Schiehallion at last

Postby monty » Fri Aug 31, 2012 1:54 pm

Nice report Iain. Its a nice wee climb. The cold winds are coming in from the North. Winter will soon be upon us :lol: :lol:
monty
 

Re: Schiehallion at last

Postby Caberfeidh » Fri Aug 31, 2012 4:12 pm

monty wrote: The cold winds are coming in from the North. Winter will soon be upon us


I hope so ~ I can't take the midgies any more. Gimme autumnal days and frosty nights anytime. My vessel is on the Baltic Sea at the moment, we had sleet the other day, though it is mostly warm. Are the midgioes dying off yet, anyone notice? I am due back to Blighty in the middle of September, I hope to get some autumnal wandering in the glens with the leaves turning and stags bellowing. And no midgies or cleggs!
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Re: Schiehallion at last

Postby Iain Goodlet » Sat Sep 01, 2012 12:55 pm

Thanks. Yes it was a great walk and thankfully so windy the midges would have needed wings like bats to make any headway. I could still sense them clinging to the grass and watching me with hungry eyes. I think were past the worst of them by now.
Iain Goodlet
Munro compleatist
 
Posts: 4
Munros:25   Corbetts:7
Fionas:4   
Sub 2000:4   
Joined: Jun 23, 2011

Re: Schiehallion at last

Postby Caberfeidh » Sun Sep 02, 2012 10:40 am

Iain Goodlet wrote:I think were past the worst of them by now


I hope so - I often think that autumn is the best time for the hills, but the season is so short and if the weather is lousy you can miss it altogether, and be into the strong, cold gales and dreich rain of November before you've had the chance to enjoy some warm days, midgie-free evenings, chill nights and the colour of the leaves turning.
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