Weasels Vs the West Wind

[weaselmaster]

Warning said the old Nokomis, "Go not forth, O Hiawatha! To the kingdom of the West-Wind,
To the realms of Mudjekeewis, Lest he harm you with his magic, Lest he kill you with his cunning!"

Well we took on the West Wind this weekend, in the form of Storm Malik. And quite a weekend It was.

Didn't start very well. I had a completely wasted appointment at the hospital in the morning, when my results weren't back and the idiot of a junior doctor tried to pass off a pathology report from 8 years ago as my current one. Didn't happen like that in the NHS in my day Still irritated, I picked Allison up at the usual time of 4.15. I'd decided to head east this weekend to avoid the rain, which seemed to be accompanying the high winds in the west - what I didn't appreciate at the planning point was that the weather warning would be upgraded from yellow to amber in the NE for winds - I see that Cairngorm summit recorded 146mph

Anyway, we hit the usual late afternoon traffic going through Glasgow, which seemed worse than usual. When a Royal Navy Bomb Disposal van was blue lighted past us we knew something was up. Crawl, crawl...it took more than an hour to travel less than a kilometre on the Kingston Bridge. Allison put "alternate routes to Braemar" into her phone map app, which gave the rather worrying reply "No routes available" I managed to get off the motorway at the A82 Dumbarton slip and tried heading through Bearsden and Milngavie...after 2.5 hours my average speed was 13mph...it took three and a half hours to get to Stirling and we didn't arrive in Linn of Dee til after 10. I was a bit done in by that time. We threw up the tent in the car park and tried to sleep, but of course my mind was running fifteen to the dozen with the journey.

2022-01-28_0825 Raw.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

Friday was an alright day - we had planned to do Creag Bhalg, a little Graham between Linn of Dee and Linn of Quioch. We walked along the road for a bit then came to the "track" I had drawn on the map, which was completely overgrown...raging, I continued on hoping the next bit of track might be better, which fortunately it was. The route up to the hill top was uneventful after that - there's even a cairn marked path through the heather to the summit. Not a great view today, but not a huge amount of snow left on the main Cairngorms from what we could see from here. Plenty of evidence of Storm Arwen however, lots of Caledonian Pines toppled over. Sad. We got back to the car quicker than I'd anticipated, not even 11am by this time. As Ben Gulabin was the only other hill I'd planned for today this wasn't good news. I wondered about one of the other Corbetts I needed about here, but they were all a bit too involved to drag Allison up, given that she's only agreed to re-do "interesting " Corbetts with me.

0B40DF44-8129-452F-9B71-9ADA7C566C66_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

B3CB70B2-48DC-4C7D-87A3-964F448230F7_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

716C238B-C72C-47A0-84D4-C03C238B3606_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

0B1BDC8A-0A83-4AC7-81BA-74A02DE7DCA4 by Al, on Flickr

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We drove down past the ski centre, watching a multitude of skiers going over a tiny patch of - presumably artificial - snow and paused for lunch. Gulabin isn't the most interesting hill, but it is quick. You know that I like to find other routes up hills than those I've done before, but there's little choice with this one. So we went up and down the track. Which took under one and three-quarter hours. What now?

5C02E5E0-E785-4849-8BA7-B1DD804C6AFF_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

20A2F63F-EB9E-4FA7-B89D-DD02FA007944_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

343EB73C-73EF-426C-9B9D-4AC18DAF4669 by Al, on Flickr

My planned route

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2022-01-28_1408 Raw.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

My main plan for the weekend had been to do a route that included the three Glen Isla Grahams and Monamenach. Just a little too long, at 28k and 1750m ascent, for a single day at this time of year...but an easy two dayer...however I had no idea where we could camp. It occurred to me that we could do Mount Blair today, as this was a straight up and back, which would take 4k and 400m off the route, making the other hills manageable in a single day without the need for a big pack. So that's what we did. Parked at the edge of some forestry and used the farm track up the hill. Claggy at the top.

Deuchray Hill from Mt Blair
C9FCFCC2-A808-4576-8219-3388DCB5E0E6_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

6220CF8F-8D75-4B6D-8650-3A1B6900DB3F_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

1DCAF1F9-99DF-452F-A644-57C4BEFD0DD0_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

0BEBB76E-BBE0-4805-B0C4-C4098C63026B by Al, on Flickr

We returned to the car and headed round to Auchavan where we've camped before. This would allow us to head straight up Monamenach in the morning. Normally we'd camp in the trees, but with winds forecast in the 50-60mph range from the middle of the night, being around trees didn't seem particularly wise. It was already pretty windy when we pitched by the side of the private road. Disconcertingly an estate car stopped outside the tent for a few minutes around 7.30...we wondered if we were going to get told to bugger off, but he just drove away in the end. Didn't get much sleep as the wind rose as predicted and the tent got a fair battering - I had used boulders to keep the guys in place, so we were fine. Just sleep deprived, although Allison said she slept quite well

2022-01-29_0838 Raw.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

We got up quite early and were ready to set off by 8.30. The car was being buffeted by the wind and I had visions of coming back and finding it blown over onto its side. Spray was being blown up off the river and it was hard to stop items from inside the car from escaping...would we be able to get up our hills? We set off up the track to Monamenach, which was fairly sheltered for much of the ascent. Quite windy on top however. Going over to Craigenloch Hill was another matter - we were frequently nearly bowled over and had to stop or sit down while the worst gusts hit us. How would we manage up Duchray Hill, which would be fully exposed to the blast?

Badandun Hill
2E9FE9C9-D9CB-436E-9CC2-1FE8788D97FA_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

Monamenach summit
3F5996EE-7713-45E2-A2A5-525DF2B96393_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

Deuchray Hill
DB51CE66-3086-4A05-A960-7E252ED800F9_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

We got down to the boggy bealach beside Loch Beanie and slowly made our way to the bottom of Duchray Hill. This was hard going. Part way up we decided to walk on the leeward side of the useful wall that extends all the way to the summit - this protected us well from the wind apart from the sections that have tumbled down. We were even able to sit at the summit (behind the wall) and have our lunch without being scoured.

5CD26E3F-0018-478F-9C95-EC64A27EEA20_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

FA2BAE31-B7E0-421C-91CF-DF14DD8DFEC1_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

CD90E66A-DBE1-4000-B455-E75C2A61DA24_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

I'd originally planned to go over to the SW of Duchray and join up with the Cateran Trail, but since we no longer needed to climb Mt Blair, we could skim a few kilometres off the route and head down Carn an Fhidhleir to the road. Which wasn't too windy. We crossed the river at Little Forter and took the Cateran Trail onto Badandun Hill. Again we were sheltered to an extent in the initial ascent, but as we climbed we had an increasingly strong cross wind to cope with. For the last 200m of ascent Allison and I linked arms, transforming two frail beings into a resolute 20 stone plus four legged juggernaut. Actually, it was surprising how doing that increased stability against the wind. We clung onto the trig column for grim life as the wind tried to pry us loose. We kept to the track for a bit, then cut down the hillside to Fergus. There's a keeper's cottage nestled in the trees and signs that request walkers to take the "public footpath" rather than use the track to the cottage. Which would be fine, if there was actually any footpath to use. Weird. We crossed the wooden bendy bridge, which we probably weren't meant to use either and headed back to Auchavan along the road. The public road

384BABFD-B725-4FAD-AA31-9CBE4581AB54_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

578BE128-39B6-45DC-B09F-73ABCE6B9CCC_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

46718C61-2A17-434D-8131-EE423C2213D1_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

6E7731E1-010B-44AF-B3B0-C46302ECEACD_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

1F8183C3-526E-46BF-8101-EB5939902197_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

39221405-267D-4599-8E65-55D40268D3A5 by Al, on Flickr

It was after four by this time - we were both quite worn out by fighting against the wind all day. Should we just camp here again, or head along to tomorrow's hills and try to find somewhere there? It's so difficult in the NE to find spots that aren't in farmers fields or near houses...much harder than on the west coast. So we decided to stay put. The winds were falling a bit and were meant to be tamed by 8pm, so we reckoned that we could camp un the woods tonight. Some creaking of trees, but no major falling bits of timber Once again I got no sleep as my Thermarest mattress had decided to malfunction.

F38A95C8-47C0-4387-8387-6959CDB4CD0E_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

1FB9466E-B0A6-4449-B7D0-178C6AC2ADF4_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

2022-01-30_0903 Raw.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

It was nice to get up on Sunday morning and not have to face being buffeted by the wind. In fact it was rather a nice day. We'd decided to head along to Cat Law, the nearest Graham to where we were. And Allison wanted to do Corwharn, which she'd elected not to when we were here last "I'm not doing effing Marilyns" or some such retort. And we'd used an entirely different approach from Easter Lednathie. Which explained why not much of today's route looked familiar Anyway, it's a fairly straightforward walk, most of it on track. We passed Balintore Castle, a shooting lodge type place dating from Victorian times. It looked in disrepair, but I found out that it is apparently being restored by its new owner, who inhabits it. Up the track to Cat Law. There are lots of tracks. The whole area is infested with Gross Butts, which, I guess, is why there are so many tracks. But they have their uses. Nice vista from the top of Cat Law, out over the sea, a watercolour sun peering through the cloud.

D34FE77E-5BB8-401A-B21F-2BE2645B967C_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

9486C52B-734C-4DEE-99E2-67F3D2AA0758_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

57065C60-0D76-4235-A273-DE56DD2E979C_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

From here we kept to track and fence line heading for Corwharn, a demoted Graham (only 609m) but which is a Marilyn and, more importantly, a Weasel, ie a Simm of >600m but <610m. I like Weasels. There are 72 in Scotland, of which I've climbed 43. I think I need to get a crack on with the remaining ones. I've done Corwharn before, so it was no help to me We sat at the bottom of the steep track up having our lunch and watching some ravens mobbing a kite. Started off with one raven, then its mate came to help, then there were six ravens...the kite had no chance.

FB41A9D7-42C7-48C5-BEFF-CCE88D22E3C7_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

Corwharn
4FC16C80-27A6-426B-8458-5085A6D4DB56_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

Steeply up the 250m to Corwharn. It's a nice enough view point with an impressive cairn which isn't at the summit. Then down, along track, farm roads, more evidence of storm damage to the poor trees. Back at the car just as the rain started up - it was a miserable drive down the road in high winds (thanks, Storm Corry) and lashing rain. But at least we got home in two and a half hours, not six

24037DA0-5291-48F7-AA33-5CB4A4F8512D_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

1DF42915-4FAC-4ED9-AB6B-C5907F31ED82 by Al, on Flickr



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[PeteR]

Braver than me. I stayed indoors........ again