Meall an Fhudair

[tomyboy73]

A rather surprising walk up an unremarkable Corbett on sunday. I had a limited amount of time to get a hill walk done on sunday and looking for something new quite near to Glasgow was hard considering we`d walked/climbed most Munros & Corbetts up to Bridge of Orchy . Meall an Fhudair was the only one i could find that was quick to get to & the description on WH & the lack of walk reports fot it didn`t exactly excite me about it but hey, it was a hill and if there was to be decent weather then I was sure we could make the most of it. We were joined by Jim`s daughter Louise again who deserves a medal for being 17 & wanting to join her dad & his mate hillwalking early on a sunday morning, when she should really have been sleeping off an illicit hangover. We left in darkness but the sun was starting to rise behind Conic Hill as we drove by Loch Lomond.

Sunrise

We stopped in a layby to get some pictures og the sunrise and stood and to watch a Buzzard being harassed by a couple of crows before jumping back in the car for the rest of the drive. We stopped across from Falloch Farm just past Inveranan.
As the route suggests there is enough room here for a few cars, but ours was to be the only one there today. There`s a landrover track here that takes you a good bit up the hill & makes for easy walking till you get up past the pylons.

loch Lomond in the distance

it was so easy that we kept walking past the point where we were supposed to head off up the hill. Once we got to a point were we could see Ben Lui & Ben Oss we decided it best to head up. We stopped for our first respite of the day, a quick munch and then off again.

me in front of Ben Lui

As there is no path at first, we tramped our way up through the grass, fixing our objectives on certain points on the ridge line in front of us, it was hard work at first but it got surprisingly easy as we came across flat sections with the occasional beaten path leading us onward. I read someone`s report who said it was hard to find your way, we didn`t think that at all. I suppose different days bring different conditions. And it was turning out to be a belter of a morning, bright & sunny if a bit nippy. But the air was still and there was a nice atmosphere building up with cloud moving in from the west and i wondered if we might get the right mix for a broken spectre.
I had plundered on ahead of Jim & Louise untill i found a large rock just sitting on it`s own on a largely flattish area about 650 metres up just before the climb to Troisgeach. I decided to have a wee seat on it and wait.

Rockin Chair

This huge rock seemed to be balanced on a very small point and it looked like you could just push it over, I say looked because it probably weighed half a tonne or so, and Advanced Higher Geography student Louise said there was a name for this, and i`m still waiting for her to tell me.
There was great views from here over to the Crianlarich Munro group.

Crianlarich Munros

It`s great looking at a range of hills and thinking " I`ve been all over that"
Before the short steep climb up to Twaseach or troysgeak or whatever it`s called, is the first of many lochans up here, we stopped to take a picture of it but were scuppered by the fast moving cloud coming in. Louise was very surprised at the speed of this and it was another small lesson for her on the hills. The cloud stayed low as we made our way up to the first cairn.

Troisgeach cairn

We stopped here again for something to eat and to see if the cloud which had now totally blocked our view of the way ahead would clear.

Map reading

We sat and nattered, well i blabbered on about Bear Grylls` new "gameshow" for a bit until I jumped up, "Quick, over here" I shouted as i bounded over to the far ridge as i had noticed the sun had broke cloud cover to our right. Jim & Louise ran ahead of me as I fumbled with my camera. As they stared over the edge I caught a fogbow rise over them.

Fogbow

I raced over beside them to see them admiring a (singular) broken spectre, I was expecting to see three, including mine. I couldn`t figure out why we were only seeing one , i was jumping up & down asking them if they could see mine moving around , but they could only see there own ! I`ve since learned that you can only see your own , with the exception of Scoob, who saw 3 on the AE ridge.

my broken spectre

It was an exciting moment for Louise and we were really pleased she had seen this, making the day or us really. Soon after the cloud had cleared over the summit of Fhudair and we could see where we were going and decided to head off quickly before we were covered in clag.

the way ahead

We made our way towards Meall nan Caora, staying on high ground.

Shadows on the hill

The path then dips down into a boggy moor. A mist hung in this area and it kind of suited it. It was a boulder strewn, lochan littered landscape. There was something quite alien about it and we remarked at how eerie it was and not a place any of us would like to be alone in.

Louise & Lochan

misty moor

strange rocks

The summit of Fhudair had looked miles away (2km in fact from Troisgeach) but it didn`t take much effort to get there. Just before we got there we stopped to consult the map for our escape route off the hill. As we were enveloped in clag we marked where we were, about 700m and knew this was roughly were we would descend down the south slope into the Lairig Arnan. We followed the path up to the ruined summit shelter and sat for a good 20 minutes in the still, quiet air.

Chillin

summit pose

I spent a bit of time up there on twitter, eh no, no i didn`t honest, no signal, i mean studying the map, and with the compass worked out how far we should walk in a particular direction and using Jim`s Garmin to pace and find the right height to descend. When we emerged out of the mist with the lochan in the valley clearly visible i felt proud as punch with my skills The walk out was tough, crossing uneven, grassy,boggy ground. A rainbow showed we didn`t have far to go to find the landrover track again.

Rainbow rock

Ben Lomond

Jim`s everytrail & more pics

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2477244

[jogilv16]

Great day on this wee hill nice report tommy once again.

[jogilv16]

Me and Louise with fog bow

[jogilv16]

Tommy and Louise posing.

[jogilv16]

Louise at wee Lochans

[lomondwalkers]

Fog bows, broken spectres, rainbows....nope I don't see the attraction with this hill walking malarky at all

Looks like a cracking day was had by all. Did Fud hair a couple of months ago after having failed in winter just below "troysgeek" Still have the wee Graham beside it to do, could be a winter venture soon if the snow stays

[Tomsie]

Looked like a good day Tommy not sure about seeing your own broken sprectre, think on Liathach they were springing up as we were walking.

That rock your sitting on would fit into the boulder post

http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=36933

[jmarkb]

Nice report! It's a hill I know well from childhood: we had a holiday cottage in Glen Fyne.

You really can only see your own brocken spectre, unless someone is standing right next to you and the mist is very thick. The spectre actually consists of two effects: your shadow on the mist, and the glory of circular coloured rings, which come from the sunlight being refracted through the droplets of mist (though the details of the process are not actually that well understood: see http://www.atoptics.co.uk/droplets/glofeat.htm ). You can only see one glory because, like a rainbow, it is centred on the point directly opposite the sun from your point of view and there is only one of those! This is necessarily the point where the shadow of your head falls.

Although other people next to you do cast their own shadows, they are very hard to see because the shadow actually falls on many different droplets of mist at varying distances from you. So your shadow is actually in the form of a tube, stretching away from you into the mist, and unless you are looking directly along the tube of shadow, it is normally too spread out to see.

I say looked because it probably weighed half a tonne or so, and Advanced Higher Geography student Louise said there was a name for this, and i`m still waiting for her to tell me.

Mote than half a tonne, I would say: rock weighs about 2.5-3 tonnes per cubic metre. It's likely a glacial erratic.

[tomyboy73]

Fog bows, broken spectres, rainbows....nope I don't see the attraction with this hill walking malarky at all

Looks like a cracking day was had by all. Did Fud hair a couple of months ago after having failed in winter just below "troysgeek" Still have the wee Graham beside it to do, could be a winter venture soon if the snow stays

cheers Dave, i thought this was one you had done before

[tomyboy73]

Looked like a good day Tommy not sure about seeing your own broken sprectre, think on Liathach they were springing up as we were walking.

That rock your sitting on would fit into the boulder post

http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=36933

cheers John, see post below about broken spectre

[tomyboy73]

Nice report! It's a hill I know well from childhood: we had a holiday cottage in Glen Fyne.

You really can only see your own brocken spectre, unless someone is standing right next to you and the mist is very thick. The spectre actually consists of two effects: your shadow on the mist, and the glory of circular coloured rings, which come from the sunlight being refracted through the droplets of mist (though the details of the process are not actually that well understood: see http://www.atoptics.co.uk/droplets/glofeat.htm ). You can only see one glory because, like a rainbow, it is centred on the point directly opposite the sun from your point of view and there is only one of those! This is necessarily the point where the shadow of your head falls.

Although other people next to you do cast their own shadows, they are very hard to see because the shadow actually falls on many different droplets of mist at varying distances from you. So your shadow is actually in the form of a tube, stretching away from you into the mist, and unless you are looking directly along the tube of shadow, it is normally too spread out to see.

I say looked because it probably weighed half a tonne or so, and Advanced Higher Geography student Louise said there was a name for this, and i`m still waiting for her to tell me.

Mote than half a tonne, I would say: rock weighs about 2.5-3 tonnes per cubic metre. It's likely a glacial erratic.

wow, thanks for the information, much appreciated

[Graeme D]

I enjoyed reading this. I have had my eye on this one for a while. A serious candidate for this winter I'd say.

[PeteR]

I enjoyed reading this. I have had my eye on this one for a while. A serious candidate for this winter I'd say.

It's a fine hill Graeme I imagine would be even better with a good dump of snow covering it

[PeteR]

Enjoyed your report on this excellent hill

Was on Hart Fell the same day and was also afforded the privilege of a fog bow. In fact, having never seen one before I was "plagued" by them coming and going most of the day (until the mist finally cleared later on that is)