A day of mishaps

[gammy leg walker]

Weather report had been poor for this weekend,but with alan s only having Saturday free there was no way we were not going out,this is where a cunning plan by stretch came in.Meet at Tiso in Perth 7.30am and then alan s will drive to where we intend to go.Mishap no 1/ exhust on Alans car is hanging off,text stretch can you drive if we can get to Perth text back OK.
Back to the plan drive up A9 and see how weather is on way up,if it"s poor cut off at Dalwinnie and drive round and climb Geal Charn,get to Dalwinnie and weather ok,so carry on and arrive at Auchlean 9.30 and walking by 10.10am,2nd part of plan now comes in to operation,low level walk along glen and climb Mullach 1st.Mishap no2/ sign post (bridge out over river feshie),so 2 swollen river crossings to make,never mind was the call it cant be that bad

bloody hell

Mishap no 3/stretch with his long legs gets over nae bother,alan s being just a nipper gets over nae bother,me well lets just say I got rather wet
Never mind onwards and upwards the next crossing will be easier,and look on the bright side the weather is looking good,and set for the day.With good underfoot conditions good progress was made until we could hear this strange roaring noise in the distance,is it thunder,cant be a deer,dont see any planes overhead,no wind to speak off only thing it can be is

oh dear not again

here we go again

This time we walk up the river to find a suitable crossing but cant find any that look easy.Mishap no4/is now only round the corner,alan s goes first two fine leaps and across safe,next stretch,long legs again come in handy nae bother,do I need to explain what happened next(didnt think so) Once we were all across,some easier than others we take 5 min and have a wee breather

2 dry out of 3 aint bad

Luckily alan s had a spare pair of socks,so I blagged them did a quick change,and were soon on our way,with having walked up the river for a fair bit we did not want to walk all the way down the other side to meet back up with the path so we struck up through the forest nowing we could catch the path further up.after 10/15 min walk through the trees we could see a clearing and the open hillside just in front,the sun was now out,and it was time to shed some clothes.Mishap no 5/ on the way,out of the tree line now and climbing up steep heather covered slopes,we had been going for 15/20 min when alan s said your no going to belive what I"ve done,the satmap is still lying on the ground where we took time out to change.Never seen anybody drop their bag so quick and run down a hillside in all my life,stretch and me don"t know what to think or say,so we don"t say anything just watch our mate run.stumble,trip his way back into the forest,after 15 min we hear a shout (GOT IT)once we see Alan emerge from the trees me and stretch carry up on our way knowing Alan will catch up soon.
After 35/40 min of fairly hard and steep climbing stretch and I find the path onto Mullach and wait for Alan.Mishap no 6/coming up,after what seams an age Alan appears over the rise looking a wee bit miffed to say the least,and say"s your not going to belive this,I got back to my bag,put my pole down to put my bag on and walked away and left my pole at my arse and had to go back and get it

alan,satmap,pole arrive safe

.
OK lets settle down now and follow the path onto Mullach all our bad luck will be behind us and the weather is looking up

looking down to river feshie

into the corrie

The walk now is easy going and in no time we reach the first summit of the day Mullach Clach a" Bhlair

Mullachs wee cairn

gammy at summit

stretch and alan s at summit

All this walking with wet boots has made my feet freezing and even though Alan gave me his spare socks to wear,with my boots wet this pair of socks are now soaking,so off come the socks,give them a good wringing out and get on our way.
Now comes mishap no 7/Alan"s satmap packs in on us,luckily we still have stretch with his gps,and we have map and compass.It"s a long trek across to Sgor Gaoith all 7k,and this gives me time to come up with a plan to try and dry out at least one pair of socks,why not use our walking clothes pole

walking clothes pole

Next up comes the top of Carn Ban Mor and plan no 3 now comes into action,we can drop off and leave Sgor Gaoith for another time or carry on,easy one to make weather still good so on we go and in jig time make Sgor Gaoith

gammy and summit

The weather had closed in as we neared the top and we were only going to touch the cairn and head for home,but the mountain gods had smiled on us at last and the views opened up around

Loch Einich 600 meters below

Loch Einich a long way down

nice looking cornice

stretch and alan s

All that was left now was the walk back over to Carn Ban Mor,and the path back down to Auchlean and the car home,hope you enjoy my tale of mishaps as much as we did over a cold pint later on

[pigeon]

Ha ha,great report gammy ,at least you were rewarded with great views on Sgor Gaoith .Need to remember the walking clothes pole technique

[sketch]

Nice report and some great photos, looks like a great day I will be glad when I get back fit, at the moment I will have to live with some low level stuff just now

[CheeseHat]

Nice report. Sounds like an eventful day. The views down to the Loch and over to Braeriach from Sgor Gaoith's summit are breathtaking aren't they? Did the walking clothes poles work?

This exact walk was my first taste of the Cairngorms in July '09 - although the old bridge in Glen Feshie was still there at that time. We had barely started walking when a Golden Eagle flew over and circled us for a minute. Then I stopped to look 'into the corrie', as per your photo, and wait for my companions to catch-up, when 3 RAF fighter jets came flying through the glen, a few hundred feet below us. Needless to say, I hadn't even reached my first Cairngorms summit and I was madly in love with the place.

[kinley]

Looks rather damp. No...very damp.

Glad we stuck to Angus

Still - sounds like fun was had.

[Alan S]

Good report mate, Some smashing pics
Really enjoyed my day (and night as it turned out)
You forgot the last mishap, How slow the staff at the McDonalds in Perth were, That was a tense 5 mins waiting on those big macs, I thought the big man was going to start a riot, They should have realised not to annoy a hungry American

[ChrisW]

Fantastic report Gammy, fantastic pics too, lets hope that such a run of bad luck has emptied the tank for a while at least, and its all good for the next few weeks

I feel shame for laughing at your misfortune, but I console myself with the thought that you wanted me too

[Graeme D]

Almost makes me glad I'm grounded! A cracking yarn Gammy. Well done.

[JB likes a beer]

Hi m8,best report yet had me laughing all way down well done on another 2 in the bag

[Alastair S]

And I'm doing the Forcan Ridge with this lot next month

Great report though Great view of Loch Einich & still lots of snow on the plateau. Not surprised about the rivers - had lots of rain on Saturday morning + snow melt still on. The Dee through Banchory was really high on Sunday.

[yokehead]

Hilarious stuff, a wonderful report all round.

Sounds like y'all had a great day out despite the mishaps!

[Stretch]

Somehow I lucked out on all the mishaps and didn't have very many of my own, but I enjoyed a few laughs at their expense Nice write up Gammy, you know it was all worth it in the end! I'll try to add my own report with the comical video soon, prepare for more laughs.

[Jockstar]

Great report, Gammy and full marks for carrying on after all the soaking that you guys got. I was so glad that we
decided to do Mount Keen instead . looked wild at the top...but well done on completing the walk.

[smirnie71]

Great report Gammy, brings back very fond memories of Sgor Gaoith and Glen Feshie. Luckily for us we had to cross those torrents on the home leg rather than at the outset or I may not have been such a happy camper!
Well done for persevering all three of you and love the tip re getting socks dry. As for your other mishaps, that frankly sounds like my average outing!

[mband]

Great report
Though I guess at the time the maybe not so funny for those with wet feet!