A Weather Window on the Buachille Eite Beag
Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2011 6:42 pmWhen Deirdre was born, Cathbad the druid prophesied that she would be beautiful, but that kings and lords of Alba and Eirnn would go to war over her ...
So mentioned is the Gleann Eite where Naoise and Deirdre hid from the wrath of Conchobar ,not quite the scene of the Fenian Cycle this Dúbhlachd (December) morning and no sign of the lover's ! ... i guess the gales may have blown them away such has the wind been in the Gaidhealtachd lately
I had noticed the "uinneag an t -side" last night and although the wearing of lead boots may be to an advantage i had decided to make the short trip to Gleann Comhann early with a view to being on the mullach of Stob Coire an Raineach before 10am as the rest of the day looked as we say "mossach" or ....ach well there is no direct translation of this word it just means kinda hellish
Arrived at the wee car park at with the cú and Colla suitably dressed we headed off up the lairig and clear tops to view indeed
- Aonach Eigeach
Tha an gaoith laidir gu dearbh .... the wind was strong however a good path underfoot gave for good time although the cú in the tradition of Brann (Fionn Mac Cumhails dog) decided the hinds of the lairig were worthy of his attention and gave magnificent chase, while his master bawled hopelessly into the gale ... it cost Colla a good 15mins before he restored the pecking order of the day
that aside we soon made the bealach
- bealach Stob Coire an raineach
- "brann"
- Suas
Uill nuair a bha sin a coiseachd ...it was hellish windy on this exposed spot, after a wee skulk behind a convienent rock i took a bearing to the mullach and started the trudge upward with good firm snow and no end of sleamhag ice underfoot. For the most part the gaoith tried to push us down the lairig Gartain ,by skulking to the Gartain side we avoided the worst gusts. There was good visibility right enough and nice views all round if you dared to take the súil off the slippy slope and quickkly we hit the mullach
- Air a mhullach stob coire an rainnaich
- Stob Dubh
- Aonach Eigeach
- Stob an broige
The chill factor on the top was well significant so we did nt hang around to long before heading back down the bealach ready to horse up to Stob Dubh
- Stob Dubh
- Buachille Eite Mor
Ach bha an gaoith laidir fhathast agus ..decision time do we head up the exposed ridge to Stob Dubh ? it was bitter and still blowing although in stages so aye we went for it
There was nice sneachd (snow) to give your boots a grip although the rocks were reóite (frozen) and the wee cárn before the druim was soon gained
- cárn beag
- An Buachaille Mor a ribhist
- céo is reoite
By this time the wind was still strong but no quite bowling us off our cás and we had indeed hit the "window" with nice views 360
- An drúim go Stob dubh
- Gleann Eite
Good craic on this summit but it was still hellish baltic the wind was whipping the snow up and around us like something out a movie so again we did nt hang about and soon headed back along the druim
- An druim air ais
Uill bha sin e ,tri uaireann air a bheinn agus bha an t side ..well the weather was now turning blizzard like just as the weather moguls said it would so we hoofed it down quick style blown about but unbowed. As we hit the bealach again in came the stormy ,squally ,blizzard
- sneachd
- Stob Coire agus Sneachd
We stopped briefly on the way down for a quick bite and a cup of tea as a group of fellas approached us
"hows the cráic" i asked "you on your way up?"
one fella replied
"yeah. no bad mate, weather is supposed to be hellish".........
" oh aye indeed its about to become hellish indeed "said Colla on his way down at 12.45
I hope they had a good time but im no so sure they was going to be as lucky as me ! as we say in the language of eden
Tachraidh na daoine, ach cha tachair na cnuic.
"Men will meet, but the hills will not "
Cheerie an drasda
- An cú dubh "Murphy"
