Chalk, Cheese & Round Numbers

[Fife Flyer]

This was a prequel to the Nethy Bridge & a nice little appetiser for the weekend gathering all arranged via the "meeting" section on WH
The cunning plan formulated - Chris (jepsonscotland) was uplifting Andy (flump) from Dundee prior to 'dumping' his car in Tiso's car park in Perth Luckily Chris's car had made the occasional journey Tiso's before so no Satnav was required, plus if he did have one it would have been worth more than his car (so he tells me)
So just prior to 7am I arrived at the car park & the introductions began & the first thing I noticed was a very large collection of white carrier bags, we loaded Chris's 2 bags into the boot & then we had the problem of trying to squish all Andy's baggage in. He was obviously prepared for all weathers, numerous changes of outfits & more
A short time later we were on our way, Satnav programmed for Auchlean & the parking area, arriving at the ample car park at about 8.30am with only one car parked which I later found out was Evie's (sunnyspeyside) who as usual was tackling a far more adventurous days walking than us .

Mine & Evie's car

The way ahead

Chris & Andy, note the excellent path that continues all the way to the summit of Mullach Clach a'Bhlair

Undulating path heading south

The walk south was very pleasant & easy, a couple of burns to cross, but as the water levels are so low, they were easy peasy to cross
After about 4 miles or whatever that is in Km, we took a left turn & the going up began, although there was no real let up in the ascent, it is a very gradual & pleasant way of gaining height Only a few stops were required purely for photographic purposes
The only surprise on the ascent was the sudden appearance of 'Cadha na Coin Duibh', a real photo opportunity

Cadha na Coin Duibh

Andy having taken a couple of bravery pills, posing for the camera

Cadha na Coin Duibh from a different angle

This could be a caption question, penny for Chris's thoughts

Chris in action, is that a perfect walking action or what? Note how a true professional doesn't have to look down at the path!

Next stop the summit of Mullach Clach a'Bhlair which can only be described as non-descript & rather disappointing, basically a pile of stones on the highest part of a very round piece of the hill

The pile of stones, hardly memorable

Zoom to Ben Macdui

The views of the huge Cairngorm Massive was very impressive, we tried & as usually failed to identify hills, maybe one day we will be able to, but I don't think that hurdle is in the near future

One thing I haven't mentioned yet is the wind, this made the temperature drop and another layer of clothing had to be donned. It was then I realised I had been stupid & not brought my gloves with me, so the poles were packed away & hands went in pockets. The kit addition then kicked Chris into action & for the next umpteen hours, Chris & Andy talked endlessly about Rab, Montaine & every other manufacturer that for some strange reason have slipped my memory It made me realise that my Ron Hill's were not really very trendy But I love them & they are slightly cheaper
We could see our next target protruding on the horizon & it did look an awful long way away

Sgor Gaoith - the pointy bit!

As we could see our destination we decided to adopt the direct route to Sgor Gaoith, as the path seemed to wiggle east & west and rarely heading the way we wanted to go. The slight drawback of the direct route is 'peat hags', not a problem for the intrepid adventurers, especially as they were very dry
As we neared our destination, we could see a couple of human beings on the summit, we met a foreign chap who was heading in the direction we had come from, so we pointed out his destination on the horizon a little very round bump
Shortly after that we were completely taken aback with the sudden appearance of Loch Einich vertically below, what a view
So once we got our breath back out came the camera & a few piccies were taken. Chris & Andy decided they wanted to be very brave & pose on exposed rocks that appeared to be sticking out over the edge & I was going to take some photo's Great plan, then disaster struck, my camera threw a wobbly & 'memory full' appeared on the display I now have to explain that where I was standing was about 100yds from Chris & Andy and the wind was really blowing & I tried in vane to shout that I was unable to take any more photo's
So I reverted to plan G, took out my mobile & took a few photo's then ambled across to them to explain the predicament Andy who works with computers happened to have a spare SD card & he kindly gave me it - what a life saver - thanks again Andy
So as a result you can now see photo's of the rest of our walk, so Andy is to blame if they are rubbish

One of the last photo's with the old SD card looking down onto Loch Einich

The posers

Looking across to Am Bodach

One thing that puzzled the 3 of us was the lack of any cairn, admittedly the summit was pointy & prominent, but a wee bit further north there was a cairn on top of Sgoran Dubh Mor, so in a pathetic attempt to rectify the problem I managed to find 3 smallish stones & placed them on a large rock There were plenty of rocks in the vicinity but they were embedded in the earth & on the large side, so if any future baggers could uplift a rock en-route that would make us feel smug & very satisfied
Reluctantly it was time to head down & south to Carn Ban Mor and into the wind, one thing that puzzled me is why Carn Ban Mor isn't a recognised munro as it is 1.8km from Sgor Gaoith and at 1052m is higher than umpteen other hills

The way down, note the patch of snow!

The path down was on a par with the one up, even I couldn't lose it Parts of the path are a wee bit unpleasant, especially as the small stones on the downward slopes are like walking on marbles
On the descent Chris was requesting a pit stop in the shade as we had been on the go in the wind, sun & cloud for quite a while & hadn't eaten our lunch. We eventually reached the tree covered lower slopes but there was nowhere to stop so we had to wait until we reached the car
Another fantastic day, with great company & am slowly becoming a outdoor attire 'expert'
I will now explain the title as I am sure everyone is confuddled
The 2 Munro's are literally chalk & cheese so different & the round numbers refers to our Munro totals reached on Sgor Gaoith, Chris = 50, Andy - 70 & me - 150, spooky or what
So it was off to Aviemore to have dinner & meet up with Karen who had been up since the middle of the night & started walking Beinn a'Ghlo at 6am, I am sure after that mention she will attempt a walk report
Part 2 of the weekend of fun will be compiled tomorrow, hope you can wait

[Gordie12]

Hi Fife Flyer - you got a great day for these two. Did them a couple of months ago and loved the walk along Glen Feshie as well as the views down to Loch Einich.

[Flump]

haha, nice report, summed up the day perfectly!

Here's a 360° video I took from the summit of Sgor Gaoith. Excuse the shakiness, it was very windy and I was trying not to fall to my death...

Cheers again for a great day out.

[BlackPanther]

Lovely These two have a bad reputation (boring), but they are good hills, especially Gaoith. We did them in opposite direction to you, SG first. Well done on reaching the round number, too I seem to be stuck on 146... Hopefully will manage to add something to my toll this weekend.

[basscadet]

Oh I didn't realise there isn't a cairn.. or that there were peat hags for that matter.. Quite deep snow when I did these
Glen Feshie is brilliant, I can heartily recommend an explore further up the glen..