Hills, wrecked bikes & idiot hamsters - a break to remember!

[jupe1407]

It's been a long time since I've written up one of my Spring epics, or indeed any report at all since my last effort at describing both the stunning summit camp on Raasay's Dun Caan, followed by the worst whisky hangover I (and probably anyone else ever) has experienced. Anyway, to business, pleasure and/or disaster.

My fortnight (plus) started on Friday 3rd May. My initial plan had been to use my new gravel bike (the reason for this emoji will soon become clear) to cycle into Duinish from Dalnaspidal to pick up the remote Corbett of Beinn Mholach, return for the fairly easy roadside pair of The Sow of Atholl and Meall na Leitrich before driving round to Loch Rannoch to cycle up and summit camp on Stob an Aonaich Mhoir. As all such plans do, this sounded absolutely straightforward in my head. So i arrived at Dalnaspidal and parked beside the level crossing, unloaded the bike and began to experience 30 seconds of severe stomach cramps, a sub-optimal situation given that I was about 7 miles from the nearest facilities and entirely my own fault for eating a fairly spicy pizza the previous evening. Then they simply stopped and never bothered me again. Weird, but thank god.

What a lovely looking intact bike that is

Cool wee bridge

The cycle along Loch Garry was very easy (I later realised i was cycling with a tailwind), and with the bike duly secured to the fence before the pathless (ish) boggy bit, i began walking the erm, boggy bit, which was really just dry and springy thanks to some recent hot weather. Speaking of hot weather, it was pretty hot and sunny now. Not that i was complaining after a winter composed of about 5 snowflakes and millions of gallons of rain. Anyway, i soon reached the foot of Beinn Mholach and picked up a surprisingly decent ATV track which led to a path almost all the way to the summit, something of an unexpected bonus.

The ascent was enjoyable and i felt good. The weather was glorious, I was on the first of 17 days holiday and i was on my own in the middle of nowhere on a hill. Ideal. It wasn't long before I spotted the summit cairn. It looks pretty close, which was a surprise. Obviously the cairn is in fact massive and it was indeed miles away. Truly a Father Dougal/These Cows are far away moment there. However the terrain was pleasant and before long, I'd reached the massive cairn, which had very pleasing views all around. I sat down for a wee while, had a couple of snacks and enjoyed the moment before returning the same way, down to the main estate track where i saw the first other walkers of the day then tramped the grassy section back to the bike.

Beinn Mholach Summit

The cycle back in the heat and into a stronger headwind was now not fun and pretty tiring, however i soon reached the junction and headed left towards the Sow. I expected this to be really easy, however in the heat and feeling my lack of fitness, the steep ascent past the grouse butts proved to be a bit of a trial, and upon reaching the summit I'd already decided to bin the notion of Meall na Leitrich. A check of Saturday's forecast confirmed a breezy, wet night was likely. Trying to pack up a tent in wind and rain the following morning held little appeal so i decided to head home.

Summit of the Sow

Securing the bike to the roof of the car, I headed off and turned right onto the A9 southbound. Upon entering the dual carriageway, I pulled out to overtake a lorry, heard a couple of loud thumps, a very loud bang and looked behind me to see my new bike (which had covered a total of 58 miles) bouncing down the A9 behind me. This resulted in 3 cars, a van and a lorry swerving to avoid it. I can't remember what i said at that point, but i probably swore, and in upper case. I spent about 5 minutes convinced i was going to be the lead story on STV news. I pulled into the first layby about a 500 yards down the road and began the humiliating walk back up to collect the wreckage, whilst cars and lorries still had to swerve to avoid it.

If there's a more spirit-crushing experience than standing beside a busy road waiting for a moment to step out to collect your wrecked bike which has just fallen off your car, I look forward to experiencing it.

What a lovely looking piece of wreckage that is

So yeah, that was Day 1, which was neatly capped by our new hamster deciding to escape into the back of the settee and having to be cut free. Amazing.

Surely no one else has somehow shoehorned a hamster into a walk report?

Saturday and Sunday were more sedate affairs and i had a couple of pool comps to play (I won £30 in one, so that's 100th of the bike covered). Sunday afternoon I headed off to Kintail for a week in Dornie with my pals Lee and Rob. This has become something of a tradition as each May we book somewhere, climb hills, eat loads and have a beer or two. After a busy few months at work, family stresses and of course the absolute nonsense of Friday, I couldn't wait to get there.

Monday 6th May - Beinn Fhada & A'Ghlas-Bheinn

I'd first done these two back in my first "May Week" in 2014. Back then it had been a clear but grey day, which featured a hilarious and marginally terrifying attempt to link the two by going over then traversing high around Meall a'Bhealaich on steep wet grass (not my idea). With that trauma still fresh in my mind, and not wanting to compound Friday's disaster by falling off a mountain, Rob and I decided on the most traditional approach of returning down the path to the fork up to Bealach Sgairne.

Fhada was easier than I remember - probably because i was tired and unfit last time. However the clag was in, so no views to be had.

Heading up to Beinn Fhada

Heading back down and watching the elevation level on my Fenix with increasing depression at the massive loss of height, down to about 1450ft i think, we then headed towards our second target. I had hoped my memories of considerable reascent, lots of false tops and annoying little descents, ages to reach the summit topped off with an atrocity of a descent on wet grass to Dorusdain Wood were somehow exaggerated. They were not.

Loch a'Bhealaich

However I mixed things up by finding an even more horrific descent than last time, through extremely steep forestry to eventually meet the main track. My own words "that looks like a decent shortcut" haunting me for the half hour that atrocity of a descent took. We were basically downscrambling a burn. Fun.

Rob showing his delight at my "Shortcut"

Tuesday 7th May - Sgurr nan Gillean

An excellent forecast could mean only one thing. Skye. As Lee and Rob had their dogs, they opted for a walk to Sgurr na Sgine. Meanwhile i headed along to Sligachan to firstly try to get parked (not easy) then to contemplate Sgurr nan Gillean. Reading reports on the "tourist route" and watching YT videos can only prepare you to a certain extent, however the forecast was good, the rock was dry and I felt surprisingly fresh after yesterday's fairly big day.

This is going to be good....

After eventually getting parked, I made my way over the old Slig Bridge and picked up the path. Disaster almost struck 1.3 miles in as I properly went over my ankle. It made a mildly concerning crunching sound but after another 20 paces or so it felt OK so i decided to continue. I could always bin the walk further up if it proved to be problematic. The ascent is very gradual following the excellent path which eventually leaves the Allt Dearg and heads up into Coire Riabhach. I hadn't seen anyone else up until this point which was mildly surprising given the weather and parking madness, however I eventually made my way up over scree and boulders to join the main ridge and admire the scramble up to the summit.

Heading to the scrambly stuff

It looked OK actually. I spoke to a guy who was returning from it, whose advice was to head up the crest and come down slightly to the right hand side of it on the way back. I started up the scramble, passing a guide and a couple of clients who'd stopped for a food break, exchanged pleasantries and stuck to the crest as much as I could. It was actually pretty easy stuff, just really exposed in places. After a short period i was confronted with the final approach to the summit.

That's rather exposed

Yikes

What a viewpoint! This was straight into my Top 5 munro summits. It's also a very weird perch. You can heard voices of climbers on various other ridges that sound like they're right beside you, but can't see anyone as the fall off on all sides is so dramatic. I spent about 20 minutes here then decided to head down CAREFULLY Following the chap's advice, it was indeed easier scrambling to descent off the side of the crest and I actually got back to the bealach in what felt like no time at all. I stopped for another break (well really to try to find which boulder I'd stashed my poles under) before tackling the steep and mildly annoying scree. I returned to the upper coire with some relief. There was another scree descent to deal with before reaching the path proper.

I made pretty good time here, stopping to chat to a guy who was up from England. He'd been having a tough time at work and some severe anxiety issues so his wife had basically given him a several week pass to get outdoors. So he decided to do the Hebridean Way using buses and ferries, and was now just going wherever he fancied. Brilliant stuff. I hope he had a brilliant time over the rest of his trip.

I got back to the car pretty quickly before enduring the tortuous drive back to Dornie. What. A. Day.

Bad Weather Interlude

The Scottish weather of course would eventually catch up with us, and Wednesday was fairly uneventful, dull and wet. Lee went for a wee kayak in Loch Long for his wee spaniel's debut on the water. We went along simply because we were hoping he'd fall in but no such luck. Wee Basil behaved impeccably, much to our disappointment. A quick walk up the road to Glen Elchaig quick got boring so we decided to head for the area's major tourist attraction.

What could sum up a holiday in Scotland more than coughing up £12 quid to tour some of a Scottish castle for half an hour whilst it p***ed down outside, then shivering in a queue for a coffee and cookie? Truly the quintessential Scottish tourism experience. To be fair there was some pretty interesting stuff in there, but I'd rather have been on a hill

One of the highlights of the tour

Thursday brought more of the same, this time we decided to take Rob's dog for a walk up through the back of Dornie to Camaslunie. However 3 miles of wet, mushy terrain after an initially promising path got old fairly quickly and we headed back as it started properly raining.

Friday 10th May - The Brothers of Kintail

This was our final night as a three, as Lee was going to head home via Glen Dessary to pick up the three munros there. Friday's forecast was excellent, so with just me and Rob left (and his dog Lily) we decided on the Brothers Ridge high above Glen Shiel, with Ciste Dhubh to be added if we could be bothered (spoiler: nah). Ten years ago during that first May week we had a bit of a chuckle at poor Graham, who having sworn he'd never climb up to Bealach an Lapain again after his first round, was faced with doing so again on two consecutive days. How we laughed. If only i'd known 10 years later I'd be doing the same thing.

High up towards Bealach an Lapain

Across to the Sisters

However I actually found it OK, maybe i was viewing my previous experience through the eyes of the rather less fit hillwalker that i'd been in those days. It's still massively steep though and Rob was less impressed with it than me. Lily the Labrador of course wasn't even slightly bothered and regularly took the p*ss by heading 30-40m uphill then running back to see what was taking us so long. We popped out onto the Bealach in good time then began the easy walk up to the first summit, Saileag. The views were excellent and it was a nice summit to relax on to enjoy a snack. After a short rest we headed down, then up the brief rockier stuff to eventually gain the weird outlying summit of Sgurr a'Bhealaich Dheirg, with it's massive A'Chralaig-esque cairn.

Sgurr a'Bhealaich Dheirg

We spotted a tiny lochan at the next bealach so decided on a lunch stop there so Lily could have a wee play in the water. This gave us a cracking view out to Ciste Dhubh which at that point decided we couldn't be bothered adding on. After some lunch we headed off up the final munro, Aonach Mheadhoin, again a fairly straightforward ascent. Upon summiting, I then saw the rest of the ridge and remembered we still had a top and another wee hill to climb before losing our height down to the Cluanie Inn. It was scenic but mildly annoying. However i was very pleased to find a path all the way down to the roadside - somehow ten years ago we'd totally missed it, resulting in a long and very tedious pathless descent on wet grass from 800m plus to about 200m. I hadn't been a huge fan of it

Descending to the Cluanie

Still today it was a joy and we got down quickly, before enjoying a coffee and a cake at the Landour Bakehouse and staring in wonderment at people filling up on the planet's most expensive petrol across the road. Imagine how furious you'd be 15 miles later at Inverinate to discover it's 40p/L cheaper

We also gave a walker who'd been in front of us a lift back to the start point. I would call it an act of kindness, but 10 minutes in a car with my pungent trail shoes really should be classed as a form of punishment.

A terrific walk to round off an absolutely bizarre week of awesome hills and nearly causing a TV News-worthy crash on the A9. We rewarded ourselves with a couple of cracking pizzas from PizzaJo in Dornie.

I know how this feels

Saturday's weather was scorching for the drive home. The three days between Dornie and the Outer Hebrides instalment of my holiday were spent sorting out two insurance claims and trying to work out how a few days off which began with a new bike being wrecked was actually pretty awesome.

I'll post up a TR for part two either a) when it can be bothered typing it all out and b) when i'm supposed to be working from home (joke btw)

Thanks for reading this far, hopefully enjoy the photos and trying not to laugh to much at the trauma

[Graeme D]

Excellent stuff! Some of the finest, most memorable reports on here are liberally laced with trauma and black humour, albeit not hamster related! This one can now be added to that prestigious list. That you can now reflect and in so doing compose such a fine report about it is no mean feat!

[jupe1407]

Excellent stuff! Some of the finest, most memorable reports on here are liberally laced with trauma and black humour, albeit not hamster related! This one can now be added to that prestigious list. That you can now reflect and in so doing compose such a fine report about it is no mean feat!

I think half of said reports are yours

[Colin1951]

Great report, what a shame about the bike. I’ve never worked out how to put a bike on the roof so I’ve stayed loyal to my old boot lid rack. At least you can see if the bike’s wobbling around!
The phrase “that looks like a decent shortcut” should lead straight to jail, do not pass go, do not collect £200. I’ve suffered from a few of those over the years!

[jupe1407]

The phrase “that looks like a decent shortcut” should lead straight to jail, do not pass go, do not collect £200. I’ve suffered from a few of those over the years!

I've been doing it for 12 years

[PeteR]

Interesting first hill. I was up there at the weekend in search of my mojo. Met an elderly chap who'd done the four nearby munros in the morning and this Corbett and neighbouring Fiona in the afternoon.......and it was only 1.30 in the afternoon.

Your bike incident reminded me of the time a friend and I parked up near loch Fyne to walk Beinne Bhuidhe. Readying ourselves when we heard an almighty smash. Then a rather mangled car appeared. Turned out the driver had overlooked the height barrier into the car park and ripped his mountain bike off the roof rack and through his rear windscreen as he drove in. There ended his day unfortunately.

[Mountainlove]

OMG what a trip and what a complete nightmare with your bike. I am glad no one was hurt. During my last holiday a chap with a trailer full of kayaks told me that he dropped his kayak on the A9. Only a month afterwards
Luckily no one got hurt either.
Mental note not to follow cars loaded with bikes or kayaks in future

[jupe1407]

Interesting first hill. I was up there at the weekend in search of my mojo. Met an elderly chap who'd done the four nearby munros in the morning and this Corbett and neighbouring Fiona in the afternoon.......and it was only 1.30 in the afternoon.

Your bike incident reminded me of the time a friend and I parked up near loch Fyne to walk Beinne Bhuidhe. Readying ourselves when we heard an almighty smash. Then a rather mangled car appeared. Turned out the driver had overlooked the height barrier into the car park and ripped his mountain bike off the roof rack and through his rear windscreen as he drove in. There ended his day unfortunately.

Wow, I think that almost eclipses my disaster

OMG what a trip and what a complete nightmare with your bike. I am glad no one was hurt. During my last holiday a chap with a trailer full of kayaks told me that he dropped his kayak on the A9. Only a month afterwards
Luckily no one got hurt either.
Mental note not to follow cars loaded with bikes or kayaks in future

Yeah my bikes will be firmly IN the car from now on

I do vaguely remember hearing or reading about the kayak incident though

[matt_outandabout]

Great report.

The bike, with only 58 miles on from brand brand new?

Did the rack have damage or could something have hit it to knock it off, or was it loose somehow? I see the front brake is still attached, so the damage was it hitting the road?

Keen to know what rack it is - on our Thule and most others there are two sturdy 'zip ties' holding wheels and a clamp on the top tube - to fall off, all three would need to release....

Back to Giant on that one.

[jupe1407]

Great report.

The bike, with only 58 miles on from brand brand new?

Did the rack have damage or could something have hit it to knock it off, or was it loose somehow? I see the front brake is still attached, so the damage was it hitting the road?

Keen to know what rack it is - on our Thule and most others there are two sturdy 'zip ties' holding wheels and a clamp on the top tube - to fall off, all three would need to release....

Back to Giant on that one.

I checked again - it was actually only 42 miles

I believe the bike carrier/rack was fault (the strap that holds the rear wheel failed). The company i bought the bike carriers off have given me a full refund now. They were Yakima carriers which cost me £260. However it's clear that the straps and a couple of the plastic clips are shite quality so i wouldn't touch them again with a ten foot bargepole. The Yakima's don't have a frame holder, they use a front wheel holder, however if the rear tie fails that's literally all that's keeping the bike on.

The bike came off at a shade under 60mph and hit the road front wheel first - the front fork snapped. Weirdly the frame actually looks OK. I've sent it of to a specialist company in England to be assessed. If it's OK i'll use it as a base to build up again. The components, mech etc were all absolutely fine, however I've ditched the wheels (carbon rims) as far too risky to use them again after such an impact. Bike insurance paid out thankfully so with any luck i won't be too far out of pocket.

Nothing Giant can do - they don't offer crash damage replacement here (they do in the US though, or certainly did).

[matt_outandabout]

That is a surprise to hear of the Yakima rack failing....

EDIT: just buy Thule instead.