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Knoydart and the Absent Minded Geriatric Walkhighlanders

Knoydart and the Absent Minded Geriatric Walkhighlanders


Postby Yorjick » Fri Jul 15, 2022 8:28 pm

Munros included on this walk: Ladhar Bheinn

Corbetts included on this walk: Beinn na Caillich, Sgùrr Coire Choinnichean

Date walked: 09/07/2022

Time taken: 22 hours

Distance: 46.8 km

Ascent: 2790m

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This is one of those situations where my plans changed. In 2020, Jaxter proposed a Walkhighlands meet in Knoydart. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was cancelled and again in 2021. So it was not until 2022 that the event finally happened.

Sadly Jaxter and Malky were not able to join in the fun. It has been way too long since I last saw them

As I was with a group, I did not camp out on the Saturday night as planned, but returned to the bunkhouse in Inverie, effectively splitting the expedition into two. However, it probably worked out for the better, as it meant that I was not lugging a tent etc over the undulating connecting ridges between Sgurr Coire Choinnichean and Ladhar Bheinn. I still got in a wild camp. While there are other fine camping spots, most notably the lochan at NG812071, a summit camp on Beinn na Caillich was a better option, especially on such a fine evening. I did not quite get the red sky that I was looking for but it was still wonderful to watch the sun set with the peaks of the Cuillin sticking out of the surrounding cloud.

9 July 2022 - Sgurr Choire Choinnichean and Ladhar Bheinn

My last visit to Knoydart was 2018. Taking a ferry always adds to the sense of adventure. I timed my journey about right, with enough time to sort myself out but not having too long a wait. I ate my cheese rolls outside the car, but confess to being a little envious when I came across other Walkhighlanders eating Fish & Chips on the quayside. This was my sixth Walkhighlands meet and it was great to be recognised and to be greeted by name. I enquired about which boat we were taking. The last time I went out on the older boat, the "Western Isles" but had returned on the boat "Larven". I was told that it was the Western Isles but in fact we took Larven.

I killed a bit of time taking some photographs of the boats and larger ferries.

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It was great to see Alan (Alteknacker), whom I had not seen since the Portnalong/Skye meet of 2018. I thank him for the photo below.He was a bit stressed out as he had left some binoculars on the roof of his car in Mallaig and they were of great personal value. He asked a crew member to contact the shore and I am pleased to say that they were collected and sent out to him at Inverie.

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Route details: 23 km (14.3 miles) and 1827 metres of ascent. This was a fairly challenging route for someone not really hill fit and not getting any younger. I certainly took my time and did not try to push the pace. It took me around 12 hours, but had I been fitter, probably could have done it in under 10. The selfies using a tripod and a 12 second shutter delay involves a certain amount of faffing about and adds to the time I take to complete routes. As it is, I feel that I summited Ladhar Bheinn at about the right time for the best conditions and enjoyed spectaclar views with the patchy cloud adding to the composition of my photographs.


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With my body clock still a bit ahead of BST, I was up early and leaving the bunkhouse by 6:30.
Alteknacker had approached Sgùrr Coire Choinnichean on the Friday evening, but became tired of working his way up through the bracken, with little home of being rewarded with clear views from the top.
To me it is about a lot more than the views. I enjoy the challenge and the varying textures beneath my feet. I enjoy the rich biodiversity upon the ground that I walk and brings something to my photographs. As a photographer, I am not keen on cloudless blue skies as my pictures end up looking too much like postcards. Also, walking along the narrow ridge below, I thought about how it was close to perfect walking conditions, not too hot and not too windy; certainly better than the energy sapping heat of 2018.

​Also, the finest moments are when the mist first begins to clear!

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This seemed like a good spot for a break and do some selfies. I set my camera on a half-height tripod and set the shutter to a 12 second delay before clambering over rock and vegetation and trying to look natural and relaxed. I feel that this is the best of the batch. I used the Dehaze slider in Lightroom to bring out some of the greys in the clouds. Taken at f/7.1 for a reasonable depth of field and I tipped the tripod to focus on the rock rather than the background so I would end up reasonably sharp.

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The mist cleared a bit and I did something I had not done for a long time. As Loch an Dubh-Lochian came into view, I took a back-bearing from its western end to ascertain my position more accurately.

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Along Aonach Sgoilte, I drifted off the path a bit. It was a bit indistinct in places. I kept to the higher ground to avoid drifting off the side of te ridge, but looking to my left, I could see a woman moving powerfully along a clear path. She commented on the fact that she had not seenme earlier and wanted to know where I had come from and at what time I had set off. She seemed to be under the wrongful impression that I had caught her up and she seemed most put out about it.

​Initially, I tried to keep up with her, but she was soon out of sight.
As I approached the summit of Ladhar Bheinn, the mist cleared to review magnificent views to the north and east. The southern slopes remained banked in cloud. Beinn Sgritheal stood out as being particularly prominent in the views across Loch Hourn. The Munro top of Stob a'Choire Odhar is seen to the right of the photo.

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If I am to include the cairn, summit shots are always a bit awkward to set up if I want to include some of the hills in the background and less foreground, especially with a short tripod. However, I was lucky with the sunshine.

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My eyes kept on being drawn to Beinn Sgritheal.

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Ladhar Bheinn is one of those hills where the trig point does not mark the true summit. The last time I was here was 3 June 1994. Back then, the large, circular triangulation pillar was fully intact.

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I headed down the west ridge and then down the path down the southern slopes passing a couple who were planning to camp out. The man was clearly a keen landscape photographer with a DSLR around his neck and a full size tripod strapped to his backpack. I took a few more photos, but nothing worth publishing here.

I also passed a man with purple hair, who was heading up the forestry track at a good pace and he seemed too focused on his objective to even notice me. I saw him again two days later as he passed the cafe in Inverie topless and sporting matching purple chest hair. We did finally speak on the ferry. I am trying to remember if his name was David or Richard. Despite first impressions on the forestry track, he was in fact extremely sociable and had a clear enthusiasm for the hills. He seemed genuinely interested in my adventures and routes. His pack looked far lighter than mine and that was partly because he had bivvied, not camped. He clearly went to great lengths to cut down on weight and bulk.

On reaching the Forge Inn, I could not resist popping in. Inside I found Alteknacker, with his binoculars around his neck, talking to one of the (English) locals. Thanks for the beer. It was very much needed!

10-11 July 2022 - Beinn na Callich

​Route details: 23.8 km (14.8 miles) and 963 metres of ascent.


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Not such an early start for this hill. The plan was to camp on or near the summit and I did not want to get there too early. Setting up camp around 6pm seemed ideal.

Somebody at the bunckhouse had commented on the smell of wild orchids. I had never really noticed the smell (nothing to do with COVID) but certainly noticed their presence on the lower slopes of the hills. It is always good to spot them as they are possibly the prettiest thing that you will see while out hiking in the highlands.

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Dactylorhiza fuchsii


So it was a 10am start. I took a few photographs on the ascent and they are OK, but not worth sharing here. The route followed the same track as I had returned down the previous day, until reaching the bridge near the ruin of Folach. There is a ford shown on the map but I went a little further upstream and used the bridge.

Whenever, I felt like a rest, I took one. There was really no hurry. I was carrying a couple of cans of Ginger beer to ensure that I would have plenty of water left on the summit.

High up the Allt am Li, I stopped and noticed that I had left a pocket open on the rear of my rucksack. My noodles and fudge were still in the pocket, but I could not remember if I had put anything else in the pocket and was not sure if I had lost anything. (more about this later!)
Again, I timed things perfectly, reaching the summit of Beinn na Caillich in glorious sunshine, though there was a very fresh breeze.

Below is another 12 second shutter delay selfie, involving rushing into position and then trying to look cool and relaxed!

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Homo sapiens


This selfie is meant to re-enact my arrival at the summit, but I should really have put my backpack back on first! :)

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One of the previous day's hills, Ladhar Bheinn

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I had picked out a potential site to pitch my tent just before reaching the summit cairn. It was on the lee side of a large rock that would reduce the flapping of my tent and make cooking easier.

It was the first time I had used the tent since pre-pandemic, so I had checked the fabric of the tent before leaving home ........ but not the poles. The shock cord had perished. I remember reading about this issue on the Hilleberg Owners Group page on Facebook. It is a recognised issue following a bad batch of bungee cord that affects some tents bought in the period of 2015 to 2019. It was a little difficult erecting the tent when the poles kept on coming apart but after a while I developed a technique that involved holding the poles vertically by the bottom section and inserting into the short sleeve. Thankfully on the Hilleberg Soulo, I do not need to thread the poles through long sleeves but bend the poles over and then hook the outer onto the poles.

On my return home, I contacted Hilleberg who true to their excellent reputation for customer services, gave a quick reply and I am awaiting some new shock cord. They also sent out instructions on how to fit it.

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I was a little tired so after noodles and coffee, I decided to have a bit of a kip, setting my phone alarm to around 45 minutes before sunset so that I would be up for some photography, hopefully catching the Cuillin and Skye underneath a red sunset. I did not quite get the red sky but still a very pleasing sunset.

Actually, I did not sleep much either as I discovered that there was a very good phone signal and the internet speed seemed faster than back home! So, I posted a couple of things to Facebook and communicated with a couple of people. I had a message from Jaxter saying that Jim had left something in the bunkhouse and asking if I could pick it up. There were no details about what the something might be and the battery was running low on my phone.

So what had Jim left behind? Can someone please enlighten me? Presumably not his daughter, Louise! :lol:

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I enjoyed a very peaceful night but was up early. The summit was now in clag and I decided to break camp and stop for breakfast on my way back.

It was at this point that I realised that I did not have my phone charger. Had it fallen out of my rucksack pocket the previous day? There was some small hope that I had left it at the bunkhouse, but I kept an eye open for it all the way back to Inverie.

I did not perfectly retrace my route of ascent and ended up going down the side of a chasm. It was a steep but safe route that acted as a bit of a shortcut. When almost back at the path, I boiled up some water for some freeze-dried cheesy scrambled egg and coffee.

Further down the Allt Mam Li - Eas a' Chaorainn.

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Eas a' Chaorainn


At this point, I wished that I was carrying one of my macro lenses, but really a DSLR and the one attached lens is enough weight already.

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𝗧𝘄𝗼-𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗻 𝗕𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗹𝗲 (𝙍𝙝𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙪𝙢 𝙗𝙞𝙛𝙖𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙢)


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Male 𝗗𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝗚𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗛𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗙𝗹𝘆 (𝙏𝙖𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙪𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙙𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙪𝙨) - The males do not bite. They are nectar feeders and important pollinators.


After an early lunch at the cafe, I left my backpack there and headed off down the road to the bunkhouse. On entering the dining room, I was delighted to see my charger still in the socket. Indeed a happy ending and I was glad to be able to recharge my phone back at the cafe before taking the return ferry back to Mallaig.

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Footnote
It is good to spot these before they start gorging themselves on your blood. I love nature, but I find nothing endearing in these little b******s!

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Ixodes scapularis


.... but how simple its life is with no baggage, no binoculars to forget, no ???? to leave behind, no missing phone charger. What a bunch of absent minded geriatrics we are! :lol:
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Yorjick
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Re: Knoydart and the Absent Minded Geriatric Walkhighlanders

Postby Callicious » Sat Jul 16, 2022 12:16 am

Phenomenal photographs of the tops and the horizon with that sun glissading across it! Screw those ticks though- climate change is bringing us more and I for one do not welcome our new arachnid overlords.
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Re: Knoydart and the Absent Minded Geriatric Walkhighlanders

Postby litljortindan » Sun Jul 17, 2022 9:33 am

Great report and some excellent photos from Ladhar Bheinn. Always better to have a bit cloud in there, if in the right places.
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Re: Knoydart and the Absent Minded Geriatric Walkhighlanders

Postby Yorjick » Wed Jul 20, 2022 9:03 am

Callicious wrote:Phenomenal photographs of the tops and the horizon with that sun glissading across it! Screw those ticks though- climate change is bringing us more and I for one do not welcome our new arachnid overlords.


Thank you for your kind comments. I wish I could get out for more summit camps.
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Re: Knoydart and the Absent Minded Geriatric Walkhighlanders

Postby Mountainlove » Sat Jul 23, 2022 4:23 pm

Wonderful photos and a great story. I have yet to take the ferry and have a pint in the pub! Shame I missed the meet, it sounded great fun.
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Re: Knoydart and the Absent Minded Geriatric Walkhighlanders

Postby Alteknacker » Sat Jul 23, 2022 6:58 pm

A whole lot of great pics there, Yorick. You clearly made a couple of good decisions on both the Saturday and the Sunday. Though how you must have imperilled your soul with oaths to the dark one so as to get those short breaks in the cloud at just the right time, I hardly dare speculate!

But hey! What's this about geriatrics?? That's putting privileged information into the public domain... :evil: :roll:
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Re: Knoydart and the Absent Minded Geriatric Walkhighlanders

Postby Yorjick » Tue Aug 09, 2022 4:17 pm

Alteknacker wrote:A whole lot of great pics there, Yorick. You clearly made a couple of good decisions on both the Saturday and the Sunday. Though how you must have imperilled your soul with oaths to the dark one so as to get those short breaks in the cloud at just the right time, I hardly dare speculate!

But hey! What's this about geriatrics?? That's putting privileged information into the public domain... :evil: :roll:


Timing your ascent to summit during a break in the weather is one of the skills of mountaineering....


....plus the slower you are the longer you spend in the summit area and therefore, statistically, the more likely you are to be blessed with a bit of sunshine.
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