The Fast, The Slow and The Mountains - Slioch

[Meiklie Mist]

Hello, it’s Meg here! I’m a very fast Border Collie and I like nothing better than playing ball; I don’t care where, in the garden, on a beach, or up a mountain, it’s all the same to me. I’ve bagged 16 Munros in just under a year and She (one of the slow humans) said it was about time that I wrote a walk report, so here goes!

I guessed what the day was going to bring when She came into the kitchen and woke me up just after 5am; it was confirmed when I saw her rucksack being loaded with stuff – why do they need to take so much stuff with them all the time, just put on a lead (even that’s not needed as far as I’m concerned ) and make sure you have a couple of tennis balls, some treats and you’re all set!

This time it was just the two of us; the other slow human (I just call them She and He) was off on one of his photography trips.

I like hunting (She calls it hiking) with my human pack but it always means I have to get in the car and I really don’t like cars ; you can’t be too careful, and getting into a box that moves using some kind of witchcraft, is a bad idea, especially when it’s dark outside! But She was insistent and so after a bit of persuasion, I got in. It must have been nearly an hour and a half later that we arrived at the car park; we were the only ones there and it was daylight.

After some faffing around with stuff, we set off. She fiddled about with some sort of device that tells her the time and where to go, I think that part is called an “app”, but I just had a quick look at the position of the sun and knew it was around 07:25 (well, I am an intelligent Collie ) and there was a gate at the end of the car park, leading straight to a track; who needs an app!

It wasn’t cold, the cloud was high in the sky and there was no wind – a good start. I had a good sniff around and there were some interesting scents that I would have liked to investigate more, but then I heard some sheep and that put paid to any ideas I had about getting off of the lead soon.

The track to Loch Maree.

I could see this was going to be a long day, so I tried to encourage her to go a bit faster, but she just seemed to get annoyed with me and started barking some unintelligible words at me. I have no idea what most of the sounds she makes mean, but I guessed that I wasn’t going quick enough, so pulled her a bit harder.

We walked for 1½ hours alongside fields, a river and then a Loch until we reached a wooden footbridge over a river; I was beginning to wonder if we were actually going to climb a mountain today or not. I did manage to persuade her to let me off of the lead about halfway, so that was a relief.

I was surprised that the ground was quite dry, that was a disappointment because I do love to run through a good bog!
A short way after the footbridge we turned left off of the path, next to a small pile of stones (a cairn, I think it’s called) and began to climb more steeply.

Cairn marking the left turn.

I ran ahead to show her the way, but I had to keep going back to check that she was still following me; she seemed out of breath, but I don’t know why as she was walking so slowly!

A look back across loch Maree.

When we got to the top of the first steep part (I estimate about 500m up), She stopped for a snack, which was good news because it meant a pile of treats for me as well.

Next, we crossed a flattish section and headed towards what looked like a “wall” of very steep ground. It wouldn’t have presented me with any problems but I knew she’d find it difficult, so I set off to find an easier way up, and sure enough there was a path ahead, which curved back on itself to ascend the steep section. I stood there for a while and ran around a bit to encourage her to follow me, but she ignored me and started up the steep part several metres to the left of the path. She didn’t join the path until about ¾ of the way up it and she didn’t look very pleased when she looked back and saw the route she should have taken – I’m not surprised, she made hard work of that climb, but at least it wasn’t too high!

The “wall” and the path to the summit.

At the top of the “wall” there is a lochan and she decided to filter some water – why bother, it tastes much better straight from the source, I always think . While She was fiddling about with that, I sat down in a nice flat area, which I remember thinking would be a good spot to put up that portable kennel she sometimes carries with her (a tent, I think She calls it).

The lochan at the top of the “wall”.

Another look back across Loch Maree.

From below the “wall”, the ascent to the summit didn’t look too bad but it was steeper than it looked from below and seemed to go on for longer than I expected. When we got near the top, I could see a cairn come into view; great, I thought, more treats will be coming soon, but it wasn’t the top , that was still about another ½ km away.

A look up to the first summit cairn.

I checked the sun when we got to the top and concluded that it was 1pm; after fiddling about with her app, She must have agreed because she got out the treats again, for both of us!

Loch Maree.

After our treats we walked east along a ridge, heading for what looked like another summit. It was very clear, and we could see a lot of mountains to the north and another loch. I didn’t think she needed me to show her the way on this part, so I got ahead a bit to check out how we were going to get down.

Looking towards Sgùrr an Tuill Bhàin from the summit of Slioch.

Looking north from the approach to Sgùrr an Tuill Bhàin.

Another look at Sgùrr an Tuill Bhàin.

Looking back at Slioch from the approach to Sgùrr an Tuill Bhàin.

Looking back at Slioch with Lochan Fada on the right.

After the next summit, we started down to the flattish grassy section that we had crossed earlier. It was a bit confusing because there were lots of mini “shelves” of gravelly ground that looked like horizontal paths across the mountainside. She kept getting drawn to the right, but I knew we should be more left and kept trying to encourage her to follow me. As it turned out, I don’t think it made much difference, but she may have ended up walking over slightly steeper ground than she needed to.

Looking south-east on the way down.

A look back at the route up to Slioch. Much steeper from this angle. The path up the “wall” can be seen roughly in the centre of the photo.

We got back to our first stopping point at about 15:30 and She sat down for another snack. I was getting tired as well by this time, so I was even more grateful for the pile of treats she gave me.

Next we had to go back down the steep section to the little cairn. She always seems just as slow going down as going up, but I didn’t mind now because I was tired too. My strategy for this part was to run ahead and then curl up for a rest, whilst waiting for her to catch up, then go on a bit further, etc.

When we got back to the footbridge it was just before 5pm. I was glad I’d taken the time to rest on the way down because I guessed that the lead would be going back on soon and I’d need all my strength to pull her along.

We’d been going about 30 minutes when I heard some sheep, and they seemed quite close by. I was just about to go and investigate when She produced a tennis ball! There was no competition; sheep are interesting but they don’t come close to being as interesting as a ball! I was keen to avoid the lead for as long as possible, so I concentrated on the ball, but then She sat down again and when I went over to investigate what was up, she snapped the lead on – I think it was a deliberate trap!

The long walk back to the carpark.

The last 45 minutes or so were a bit boring; I wasn’t allowed to pull her along and I was even glad to get back to the car, which I got into without too much resistance. The sun had set when we got back to the car park but it was still twilight – 18:20 by my reckoning.

Another pile of treats and then I slept all the way home, so when we arrived I was refreshed enough for a game of ball, but she wouldn’t play with me . Still, it had been a good day and strangely, we hadn’t seen any other humans or dogs the whole day!

I wonder when the next hunting trip will be.