two tons on the North Glenshiel Hills
Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2013 9:32 pm
This was of course meticulously planned with weeks of scheming beforehand, which is half the fun - but as we all know plans are made to go wrong, and we had a few "learning points" on this trip.
1. check the bus fare before you get on the bus and remember to take plenty of cash
2. factor 20 is not strong enough sometimes
3. remember to take the full gas cylinder
4. water is heavy and lots of water is very heavy!
and others.
After coming off the Saddle at about 3 in the afternoon on Monday our plan was to change our clothes, restock our packs with food and gas, park near the Kintail Lodge hotel and catch the ten to five bus to the other end of the walk at Lundie.
So far so good, the bus was right on time, but when the bus driver said "fifteen pounds" and it had to be cash, we just had to get off the bus again as we only had £12 thinking that would be more than enough
We tried the Shiel Bridge shop for cashback but no joy. As we had a booking at the Cluanie Inn for Thursday night the next idea was to see if they could lend us a fiver against our bill and we would be just in time to catch the last bus up the glen. Unfortunately the Cluanie wasn't able to do that for us either, but what they could do was much better! The proprietor Andrew (bless him) got in his car, followed us down to Loch Duich, showed us the best place to park saving us a mile road walk at the end of the trip, and then dropped us off at Lundie, for which he charged us £15 to go on our bill.
so, call it Day 0 we set off just after 6pm up the track from Lundie; soon you go through a gate, pass a mast on your left and turn right up the hill, initially following some interesting marker posts!
We stopped at about the 550m contour mark to pick up 7 litres of water between us as there would not be any more easily available water for a long time. It was at this point we remembered we had not swapped over the gas cylinder so had only the dregs of a nearly empty one to do us for three nights - so no cups of tea and we were carrying enough milk sticks for a small army! we would have to be careful and just have our dehydrated food and drink plain water.
The path is pretty clear all the way up the ridge to the large flat summit, where there are two cairns perched right on the edge of the cliff; we went to both just to be sure. By this time it was about 9pm and we were pretty shattered after a long day so it was time to share a blow-up meal and instant custard before bed, but not before enjoying a beautiful sunset and splendid views in every direction.
Day 1
The plan was to climb the next 4 munros and camp on the bealach between Ciste Dubh and Sgurr an Fhuarail. Usually we are not good at getting up at stupid o'clock (correction - I am rubbish at getting up) and wild camping is a great way to get an early start. We were away just after 8am and just over an hour saw us on the summit of the first munro of the day, Sgurr nan Conbheiran.
We dropped our bags shortly before reaching the summit as it seemed pointless to carry them all the way to Sail Chaorann and back. Then it was a really lovely ridge walk to the next summit, and then back again nearly to the top off Sgurr nan Conbheiran again to pick up the bags.
From this point there is a long grassy descent to the west ending in a steep bouldery slope down to the bealach Choire a'Chait. the path down to this bealach and up the other side towards A'Chralaig is indistinct at best and it was hard going up the other side in the increasing heat. I started to wonder if we had bitten off more than we could chew, but the car was a long way away and we had to get to it!
The summit of A'Chralaig has an enormous cairn visible from the Cluanie, and it was great to reach this, my 99th Munro.
So from here there is a really beautiful ridge all the way to Mullach Fraoch-Choire via the exciting scrambly bit where the bypass paths are not visible from afar giving Rudolph a bit of pause for thought!
Rudolph is a perfect gentleman (sometimes) and although he usually walks ahead and I pech on behind, he stands back at the summit to let me get there first. What a fantastic spot to reach the century! and the last Munro of the day.
We dropped down the steep slope into Coire Odhar, now feeling very hot and thirsty, and very grateful to reach a burn at last. It was a hard, tired slog down the coire into the heat and stillness of the afternoon, where the clegs soon started to annoy. Up the other side through rough grass with no path, we were grateful at last to reach our camp spot for the night at the Bealach a'Choinich where we could drink as much as we wanted, eat our tea and pretty much crash out.
day 2 ciste dubh and the brothers
It was a warm night and we woke up in the morning to thick mist and heavy dew on the tent. But the sky was bright and it didn't look like it would last very long. we decided to leave the tent pitched while nipping up Ciste Dubh with just a snack and some water. What a treat! About the top of the steep boggy bit we came right out the top of the cloud and into bright sunshine, and also saw our first ever Brocken Spectre, which followed us along the ridge.
The top of Ciste Dubh is remarkably steep and pointy with only a very small summit area. but what views!
At this point I have run out of attachments so I will post the rest in part 2. watch this space!
1. check the bus fare before you get on the bus and remember to take plenty of cash
2. factor 20 is not strong enough sometimes
3. remember to take the full gas cylinder
4. water is heavy and lots of water is very heavy!
and others.
After coming off the Saddle at about 3 in the afternoon on Monday our plan was to change our clothes, restock our packs with food and gas, park near the Kintail Lodge hotel and catch the ten to five bus to the other end of the walk at Lundie.
So far so good, the bus was right on time, but when the bus driver said "fifteen pounds" and it had to be cash, we just had to get off the bus again as we only had £12 thinking that would be more than enough
We tried the Shiel Bridge shop for cashback but no joy. As we had a booking at the Cluanie Inn for Thursday night the next idea was to see if they could lend us a fiver against our bill and we would be just in time to catch the last bus up the glen. Unfortunately the Cluanie wasn't able to do that for us either, but what they could do was much better! The proprietor Andrew (bless him) got in his car, followed us down to Loch Duich, showed us the best place to park saving us a mile road walk at the end of the trip, and then dropped us off at Lundie, for which he charged us £15 to go on our bill.
so, call it Day 0 we set off just after 6pm up the track from Lundie; soon you go through a gate, pass a mast on your left and turn right up the hill, initially following some interesting marker posts!
We stopped at about the 550m contour mark to pick up 7 litres of water between us as there would not be any more easily available water for a long time. It was at this point we remembered we had not swapped over the gas cylinder so had only the dregs of a nearly empty one to do us for three nights - so no cups of tea and we were carrying enough milk sticks for a small army! we would have to be careful and just have our dehydrated food and drink plain water.
The path is pretty clear all the way up the ridge to the large flat summit, where there are two cairns perched right on the edge of the cliff; we went to both just to be sure. By this time it was about 9pm and we were pretty shattered after a long day so it was time to share a blow-up meal and instant custard before bed, but not before enjoying a beautiful sunset and splendid views in every direction.
Day 1
The plan was to climb the next 4 munros and camp on the bealach between Ciste Dubh and Sgurr an Fhuarail. Usually we are not good at getting up at stupid o'clock (correction - I am rubbish at getting up) and wild camping is a great way to get an early start. We were away just after 8am and just over an hour saw us on the summit of the first munro of the day, Sgurr nan Conbheiran.
We dropped our bags shortly before reaching the summit as it seemed pointless to carry them all the way to Sail Chaorann and back. Then it was a really lovely ridge walk to the next summit, and then back again nearly to the top off Sgurr nan Conbheiran again to pick up the bags.
From this point there is a long grassy descent to the west ending in a steep bouldery slope down to the bealach Choire a'Chait. the path down to this bealach and up the other side towards A'Chralaig is indistinct at best and it was hard going up the other side in the increasing heat. I started to wonder if we had bitten off more than we could chew, but the car was a long way away and we had to get to it!
The summit of A'Chralaig has an enormous cairn visible from the Cluanie, and it was great to reach this, my 99th Munro.
So from here there is a really beautiful ridge all the way to Mullach Fraoch-Choire via the exciting scrambly bit where the bypass paths are not visible from afar giving Rudolph a bit of pause for thought!
Rudolph is a perfect gentleman (sometimes) and although he usually walks ahead and I pech on behind, he stands back at the summit to let me get there first. What a fantastic spot to reach the century! and the last Munro of the day.
We dropped down the steep slope into Coire Odhar, now feeling very hot and thirsty, and very grateful to reach a burn at last. It was a hard, tired slog down the coire into the heat and stillness of the afternoon, where the clegs soon started to annoy. Up the other side through rough grass with no path, we were grateful at last to reach our camp spot for the night at the Bealach a'Choinich where we could drink as much as we wanted, eat our tea and pretty much crash out.
day 2 ciste dubh and the brothers
It was a warm night and we woke up in the morning to thick mist and heavy dew on the tent. But the sky was bright and it didn't look like it would last very long. we decided to leave the tent pitched while nipping up Ciste Dubh with just a snack and some water. What a treat! About the top of the steep boggy bit we came right out the top of the cloud and into bright sunshine, and also saw our first ever Brocken Spectre, which followed us along the ridge.
The top of Ciste Dubh is remarkably steep and pointy with only a very small summit area. but what views!
At this point I have run out of attachments so I will post the rest in part 2. watch this space!