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At last, the Tarf weekend was here. I had been looking forward to this for quite some time and zoomed up to Old Blair of Tilt with Janet (Walk Aboot) from Glasgow. We arrived at the car park at 1000 to be greeted by Graeme and Darren (Curlywurly) - why the nickname? A reason was proferred but was not as digestible as the aforementioned sweetie. Once Mountain Coward (Carol) had arrived, we were good to go and a Sullivan's shot was snapped.
- Smile
The path meandered through the woods and up along the land rover track. Progress was good considering the packweights. What with a tonne of coal, furniture for burning and a bottle of Highland Park, I was fair peching along the track until we had a sit-down before the ascent up on to Carn a'Chlamain.
- Views opening up
The chat was convivial and we began to get to know each other. A small bit of lunch was had and we began the ascent up on to the hill. After 15-20 minutes strenuous work, the views began to open out to Carn Liath and beyond. As we came over the shoulder, we could see our 1st objective of the day covered in not inconsiderable snow.
- Thar she blows!
Time was pressing on and walking through the snow wasn't easy. A couple of mountain hares bounded off with disapproving looks but at last the final pull up Chlamain was upon us and we reached the summit, grateful that it was all downhill from here.
- Janet and Darren race for the summit
Some opportune snaps saw Graeme looking a bit bewildered (had he forgotten his denner?) and Darren on his knees at the summit.
- I've done what?!
- Thank **** we're here
No time to waste, we made tricky progress off the North face down towards the bothy - the snow had a very hard consistency and was surprisingly icy presumably having been blasted by the cold North winds. As we got past the snow line, we followed the burn down towards the bothy and it wasn't long before we had the headtorches on. I don't know about the others but I was really sore with the packweight and my shoulders were crying out for malt relief. I thought I could smell burning at one point (my feverish brain?) and sure enough a wee light in the distance confirmed my suspicions. We rolled into the bothy to be met by John Burgess, who had a fire going - what a man! Some dinner down and I began the pouring of Highland Park - would the Teachers like it?
- I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy
As we sat around the fire, we discussed everything from Facebook to jet fuel. I won't make a comprehensive list of all the dirty jokes we (I) mentioned but there were ghost stories, statistical anomalies, Aberdeen steroids (kenfitamine) proud exclamations of Megadeth being a great band, nuts actually containing nuts and ratemyteacher.com. As the Highland Park evaporated with the heat and my secret stash of Old Poulteney was downed, spirits were high and sentence structure was disintegrating.
- Janet loved Megadeth too.
- Darren relaxing beside the fire
- Roastytoasty
It had been a long day and we all turned in for the night. Only, as everyone slept I couldn't sleep for the fact that someone had appeared to have taken a tuba into the bothy. Alcohol-infused exhalations had resulted in a regular blast of someone performing in a brass band and it was a long time before I nodded off. The next day (half an hour later), it was dawn and we breakfasted and discussed what we should do. Going over to Fhidhleir and Sgarsoch was poo-pooed.
- Sullivans shot part deux
Going straight out of the glen was also discarded so it was a joint decision to head along the Tarf and tackle either the Corbett or Beinn Dearg. Graeme chose wisely and headed for Beinn Mheadhonach while the remaining 5 headed towards Beinn Dearg. Well, it took some time to climb up this bugger but as we ascended, the views were outstanding, as far as Braeriach at one point.
- Lesson from drama - depict characters at different heights.
- Grass with frozen ice drops
Crisp snow made work easier going and by 1330 we had reached the summit. The wind was blasting in from the North so we didn't hang about. A couple of summit shots and release the hounds.
- Beinn Dearg in a light breeze
As we headed for the Land Rover track, the sky was a fantastic mix of light dark colours with snow being whipped up by the conditions.
- John about to be consumed by Heaven
We began our descent back off Dearg and split up at the Land Rover track - Carol had to drive back to Yorkshire that night, poor sod while Darren was keen to get home with his iPod tunes in his ears...and I would walk 500 miles... John, Janet and I made the walk back out along the track in a couple of hours and arrived back at the car park at about 1740. It had been a very long day and muscles I didn't know I had ached. We said our farewells and I promised to buy John a pint in his local as he had been a rock through the entire weekend with his bonhomie and encouragement. I would imagine another bothy meet may be organised for more temperate weather conditions but it is testament to this website and Paul and partner that 6 strangers can meet up and have a good weekend together. Slainte.