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Beinn a'Ghlo & Not The Grey Corries

PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 3:26 pm
by Backpacker
As plans go, me and Leia thought we had a cracker, Beinn a'Ghlo on the Thursday, drive round to Spean Bridge and do the Grey Corries, then think of something else to do while we were both off.

First up was Beinn a'Ghlo, by my standards this was a very late start, not getting away till about 1215 but with over 10 hours of daylight left, plenty of time.

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We followed the road down through the fence and followed the track up towards the shed which is about a mile further up.

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Once we reached the big shed it was over the stile and picked up a rather initially boggy path, thanks to the dry weather we made short work of this boggy section and made it to dryer land to start the climb up to Carn Liath, initially the path is good going, then you hit the eroded scar which is like walking on marbles, sometimes needing your hands to brace yourself but we made good progress and after about 2 hours we were on the first summit of the day.

Leia's 30th Munro
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After a pause here for some refreshments we made our way towards No2, there's quite a wee drop in height here but it's a decent gradient towards the 2nd Munro of the day.

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Again another pause to soak up the scenery and some refreshments before making our way over to No3, way just followed a series of paths to make our way down towards the bealach. Here we saw our 1st and only person of the day making there way back down and disappearing away down below us, making there way back.

The ascent up to No3, although short is zig zags it's way towards the ridge making it easier going than heading straight up, just as well as I was starting to feel a bit knackered and we still had the MASSIVE walk out to come. The summit plateau of Carn Nan Gabhar is just a tad annoying, Cairn, Trig Point then finally summit cairn arranged on a boulder field. When we finally reached the summit we plonkered ourselves down for a good breather before making our way out.

Leia on No 3
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Everyone that has done these has said the same thing, the walk out is a pain in the backside and we were no different. We followed a path so far till Leia realised that were too high up and should be lower down to cross the stream. we cut down across the heather to pick up the path on the other side to continue the still long walk out.

It got to about 9pm when Leia asked if we'd manage to catch the sunset, I reckoned we would so we picked up the pace along the stalkers path till we finally hit the landrover track and quick marched it up, hoping to catch the last glimpse of the sun before it went down, we had just turned the corner at the foot of Carn Liath and there the sun was, just lowering down.

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We made it back to the car just before 10pm making it a 9 and 3/4 hour round. The plan before hand was to drive round to Spean bridge and set up camp before tackling The Grey Corries but we decided just to pitch the tent by the car here and drive round 1st thing.

Day 2 & 3 - Skye

It's amazing how the best laid plans can change at a moments notice, I was driving us round towards Spean Bridge, Leia asleep in the passenger seat (again) and I was just thinking away to myself when Skye popped into my head. Skye has been Leia's default answer to just about every trip since we started going out. When she woke up I asked if she fancied heading over, stupid question, the car did a swift 180 and we were heading towards Kintail. It was a lovely drive, SGSR, Forcan ridge, Brothers and Sisters looming large over us as we made our way along the road, I so want to do the SGSR again, though I should probably do the others as well.

We stopped off for umpteen photo opportunities before we hit the Skye Bridge

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There was no plan here at all as the whole thing had been pretty much spur of the moment, we heading up to Portree , again stunning scenery before stopping at the Tourist Info for some pointers and fish and chips overlooking the harbour

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We just drove north, stopping off at various places on the touristy maps

Liath Falls, Kilted Rock etc

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As we were driving round, the subject of where to stay for the night came up, Leia said she'd read that Talisker Bay was supposed to be a great place to watch the sunset. We headed that way to scope it out before heading for the Fairy Pools. When we arrived at the parking area for Talisker Bay, it was packed but managed to find somewhere to squeeze the car in and wandered down. It really is a stunning place and you could quite easily spend an hour or two wandering about. We sussed out potential pitches before heading back to the car and heading up to the Fairy Pools.

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The Fairy Pools, well to be honest my pictures and words just couldn't do it justice, you'd need to head up yourself, it's a stunning setting, clear water, Cullins in the background. There's a good path which takes you up for a wander around, the water on a day like we had is irresistible, you just have to get your feet wet or in Leia's case and a few others, strip off and jump in :lol:

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After a good stay here, we headed back to Talisker Bay for the night, all was going well till the Midgies came out to play, these aren't just any midges, they're bloody man eaters, no amount of smidge, skin so soft, nets can keep these things at bay :shock: :shock:

It took almost an eternity to get the tent up before we made a hasty retreat down to the waters edge where they weren't as bad.

Now I don't know if any of you you have ever taken the opportunity to skinny dip in the Atlantic, just do it. We had the place to ourselves so I got my kit of and ran in :lol:

Thankfully there's no pictures floating about of this.

Now, whatever book Leia had read about the sunset, they were right, stunning isn't a strong enough word for it. Again, pictures can't do it justice.

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Thankfully by the time we went to bed, so had most of the midgies. Unfortunately in the morning, they were back and this time with a vengeance, must have taken a good 15/20 mins to get the tent down and packed away.

Still have one good memory of that morning though which Leia took.

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After walking out and loading up the car, we headed back to Dundee via Oban. :lol:

Re: Beinn a'Ghlo & Not The Grey Corries

PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 9:52 pm
by Fife Flyer
Nice one Gary, some cracking photo's especially the sunset's :clap: :clap:

Clocked up a few miles there :wink: Just back from a non walking weekend on Mull :( , also plenty of miles :lol:

Re: Beinn a'Ghlo & Not The Grey Corries

PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 10:00 pm
by Backpacker
Fife Flyer wrote:Nice one Gary, some cracking photo's especially the sunset's :clap: :clap:

Clocked up a few miles there :wink: Just back from a non walking weekend on Mull :( , also plenty of miles :lol:


Thanks Martin, no time for a cheeky wee one then?

Think Leia clocked it in at just under 500 miles for the whole weekend, was definitely worth it. Next time I go to Skye it's going to be for at least a week, so much I want to go and explore :D