Oh I Get High With A Little Help From My Friends

[pollyh33]

Oh the excitement when a little ding on my phone tells me I have a message from Gammy Leg Walker. There were plans afoot to get out and about on Sunday. The plans were being made in collaboration with Jonny616 and more importantly, the master who rules us all, the Scottish weather Several hills were proposed, all of which sounded good to me and the finalish decision was being made on Friday night. Meanwhile more WH members were being invited aka roped into this excursion. Alas with the walk falling on the Sunday after the busiest Christmas party night of the year, we received lots of 'if only I wasn't forced to go out and destroy a copious amount of liver and pancreatic cells'!!!!


My own Christmas night out was on the Friday night and while I was in the hairdressers getting my hair beaten into submission I received a call from work asking could I work on Saturday. As usual I was too slow to come up with an excuse as to why I couldn't do it- damn! Another phonecall later that night to Jonny616 revealed that previous plans had been scrapped and we were now chasing the sunshine and heading to Carn a'Chlamain near Bridge of Tilt This was the first time I had spoken to Jonny so needless to say this conversation took place before any alcohol was consumed- didn't want to be declaring undying love just so soon

Saturday morning started earlyish 09.30 with the usual Parkrun at Strathclyde Park, only difference being the 5K course was to be run on the snow- no personal bests today!!!! A quick jaunt over to Tiso to pick up kit for Sunday and then it was off to work for a yummy 12hr shift

And so to the report proper. Got picked up at 5.50 just off the motorway slip road by Jonny and his mate Paul (WH member Pablo) and then headed up to Denny to meet up with Gammy and Alan S. And so we all got acquainted in Paul's rather lovely Landrover, with Gammy or Jammy as he should be called getting to ride shotgun! Without any palaver we were in the carpark at Bridge of Tilt and started to get organised and very soon were joined by the man/boy/BFG....Rocket Ron and his gorgeous part-time dog Charlie. Hugs (me) and manly handshakes (others) were dispensed as RR was introduced to everyone. It was still dark as we set off but GLW and AlanS knew exactly where the start was and so were off-yippee!

Booted up

We all knew that we were in for a bit of a walk out and back (26K) so the mindset from the beginning was to enjoy the very long day and have lots of laughs along the way- we managed that no bother
The first part of the track takes you through a fabulously scented forest with noisy pheasants uphappy with us disturbing their peace- ha ha too bad birdies

Jonny and Paul

Forest (JM)

The main man!!!(JM)

After about 20-30mins you leave the trees behind and start seeing hills and the firing ranges

Oi Oi!!

There are numerous bridges along the way and act as good distance markers for those who were navigating, Alan with the GPS and Jonny with the map.

Snowy bridge

In addition to the route given in WH there are lots of options for those who wish to take in other scenic features eg the Falls of Fender but we had plenty to enjoy without going out of our way! We did go slightly awry by a few metres at the sign for Gilbert's Bridge and just double-backed, these people are just amateurs at missing turn-offs!!!

You don't want to go that way!

And so we reached the diamond-shaped gate I know us hill-walkers come in some strange shapes and sizes but I have as yet to meet a diamond-shaped one!!!! That being said we did all manage to get through without too much of a
to-do????

Why???

It was after this section that we noticed that the land-rover track had become a solid river of ice with just an adequate dusting of snow to fool you into thinking that all was well. At this point I was walking with Paul and discussing the fool-hardiness of teenagers going out in cold weather with little regard for their own safety and well-being (Pot and Kettle???) when I performed a spectacular feet to arse fall!!! It happened so quickly that I didn't have a chance to put my hands out to save myself- it was soooooo sore but at least my rump took 100% of the impact so no damaged hips or wrists. Fortunately the others were slightly ahead and although they may have experienced the resulting earth tremor they didn't say anything. When we caught up with them they were discussing their near-misses, like I said...amateurs!!!

Ten minutes later, and still destroying Paul's will to live, down I went again only this time I fell forward and although it wasn't as dramatic as before I struggled to get up without slipping and as Paul came to help me, down he went straight onto his hip Ouch!!! Fortunately the falls and slips were soon forgotten and with morning darkness no longer with us we were treated to spectular views of Glen Tilt and surrounding hills. We even had some sentinel deer watching us from the hills and even Charlie's enthusiastic attempts to get them to leave their posts didn't happen.

We're watching you!

Sun on the hills

Return bridge

As you can see from the photos the landscape was turning whiter and the sky was getting bluer- lovely! and so it was decided we would stop for elevenses, mostly because it was 11am and we were getting a bit peckish and Jonny wanted to try his wee bum sledge thingy.

Zig Zag Path (JM)

Elevenses!

Lovely !(RR)

At this point we were 2.5hrs into the walk and we still had a fair bit to go. The snow was getting deeper which meant that although it may make the legs a wee bit heavier, at least the risk of slipping had been greatly reduced
All the way along we fell in with different groups and chatted about every subject under the sun (and quite a few under the counter but I'll come to them later!!) Anyway, there's me, Alan (walking) and Ron (strolling) along discussing past and future walks. We all knew that Ron was pretty fit and nifty on the hills but the following discussion is just an example about how amazing he is ....

Me...' Alan when you did the munros at Glenshee, did you find it worthwhile to do all six at once?'
Alan...' Yeah, definitely pick a good day in the Spring/Summer and you'll manage no bother'
Me....'Cheers Alan, that's what I was hoping you would say. Ron, what way did you do these ones, 4+2 or all 6 together?'
Ron...' I just did the 9, just to save me the drive back'

He just finds it all so easy and is so low key about all his achievements.....110 munros this year as well many, many Corbetts and Grahams!!!

Nearly there!

Although we had good clear views of where we were heading it felt that we were taking forever to get there, so the constant chat helped jolly things along. Just before the final ascent Gammy suggested that we dump our bags and sure enough it was a lot easier. This was really the only steep part of the walk and Ron led the way. I had Gammy just behind me telling me how to kick into the hardened snow to make footholds and within minutes we were at the summit. I was really surprised. I looked behind Ron expecting to see another 100 metres of ascent but alas no false summits!!! Yippee!!!!

What kept you?

The approach of mere mortals (RR)

Jonny and me at the summit (JM)

After the photos were taken we left pretty quickly, keen to get back to the path before we started losing light. ( Can't remember the time we left, about 14.30?) It was decided to return by a more direct descent.

The descent (RR)

Descent (RR)

Alan S constantly looking for the safest route

The visibility was still fantastic and we could see the track about 2-3 Km ahead. This was the most physically challenging part of the walk with us often ending up waist deep in the snow. Ron and Alan did an excellent job going onwards and finding all the hidden treasures of burns and gullies

A wee bit snowy (RR)

As had been an over-riding feature throughout this walk, we were constanly checking that everyone was progressing safely and there were lots of helping hands offered and almost always accepted. I say almost because I offered to help Gammy out of a hole and he said I didn't have enough bulk!!! LMFAO!!!Hey boy look at this body! I work out!!!!
We had a wee bit of a flurry of snow that did threaten visibility but it didn't hang about too long.


Once we were back on the track, we stopped for another quick break. It was here that I had an epiphany. I looked at Ron lounging on the snow eating a giant fruit salad, while I stood hot and sweaty forcing about 6 Ferrero Rocher down my throat and it dawned on me that this may be why our hill fitness differed so greatly

Joining Landrover Track (JM)

Once back on the Landrover track it was pretty much back the way we came until we met the stone bridge that we had passed earlier and crossed the river at this point. The impending darkness meant that our headtorches were required-fab!!! and so we now plodded back to the car with subjects up for discussion...... outdoor nude photography, dogging and all it entails????? People that we know who have taken part, people we suspect have taken part and the etiquette and terms involved

Alas after 9.5 hours we were back at the carpark and goodbyes were exchanged as were waved a fond farewell to my favourite Invernessian. To be fair I only know one other one and that's Nessie


A gadzillion thankyous to all the guys for making this a fantastic day out with most of the highs having nothing to do with ascent XXXX


N.B. Not all the photographs are mine. RR and JM denote those taken by Rocket Ron and Jonny616 respectively.

[KeithS]

Great report, sounded like good fun. I wish I was up there now, I did that hill this summer when I'm sure it was a lot easier. I wish I was up there now.

Next week I will be

[pollyh33]

Great report, sounded like good fun. I wish I was up there now, I did that hill this summer when I'm sure it was a lot easier. I wish I was up there now.

Next week I will be

Thanks Keith

Hope you enjoy the thrills but not the spills!!!

[foggieclimber]

Enjoyed that. Looked a great day out - apart from the slips and falls.

[jonny616]

Great report of a great day Polly. I think you just nominated yourself for the position of chief scribe for our future outings

[SusieThePensioner]

Greatly enjoyed your report, funny as usual, and loved the photos (whoever took them)

The annoying thing now, I have a tune of "Oh I Get High With a Little Help From My Friends" going round my head....thank you very much Polly

Hope your behind, and finger, (does that sound a bit rude??) are not so sore

[monty]

Excellent report Polly.
Looked like you had a nice day for it with sunshine for some of the ascent. Sounds like micro spikes may have been handy on the walk in though. Ouch. Saw your bruised finger on FB.

[kevsbald]

Good effort!

[daveh]

I am tired just reading that! Well done and hope to meet some WH folk on xmas eve for our Corbett adventure.
Dave

[dogplodder]

What an adventure!

That's a long trek even without lethal ice on the walk in - brilliantly done!

[mrssanta]

looked like a smashing day out with good company

[pollyh33]

What an adventure!

That's a long trek even without lethal ice on the walk in - brilliantly done!

Thanks Kathleen. A trek indeed, your dogs would have loved it!

I am tired just reading that! Well done and hope to meet some WH folk on xmas eve for our Corbett adventure.
Dave

Cheers Dave. Hope you have a fab time on Christmas Eve. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you get some blue skies

Good effort!

Cheers Kev

Excellent report Polly.
Looked like you had a nice day for it with sunshine for some of the ascent. Sounds like micro spikes may have been handy on the walk in though. Ouch. Saw your bruised finger on FB.

Thanks so much Monty. Yes definitely getting micro spikes for next day out
Oh yeah my finger looks a bit freaky

Greatly enjoyed your report, funny as usual, and loved the photos (whoever took them)

The annoying thing now, I have a tune of "Oh I Get High With a Little Help From My Friends" going round my head....thank you very much Polly

Hope your behind, and finger, (does that sound a bit rude??) are not so sore

Ha ha ha , you stopped singing the song yet???? Oooops sorry Susie Pain easing thankfully

Enjoyed that. Looked a great day out - apart from the slips and falls.

Thanks Foggie. Yeah was a fun day but the ice was a challenge

Great report of a great day Polly. I think you just nominated yourself for the position of chief scribe for our future outings

Ha ha are you kidding???? Took me eons getting it done Thanks so much for making this a fabulous day! X

[pollyh33]

looked like a smashing day out with good company

Thanks Mrs S.

It was fab!

[Johnny Corbett]

A long day that but an ideal Munro for winter.Enjoyabe read as allways and next time do it in the summer and cycle up that track and you won't get any sore fingers

[quoman]

Excellent repot polly

looks like you all had a good day oot wi the gang.