free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Carn nan Gobhar (Loch Mullardoch).As part of the Outta Affric Walking Festival, this walk was, for me at least, a refresher course in navigation skills. There were ten of us and Tim, the 'instructor'.
Not everyone's name can I remember, but I can say that the company of my fellow navigators was excellent. The forecast was not to good, but setting out, looked more promising than stated. A short drive from Bog Cotton cafe to the damn at Loch Mullardoch . It was not long before all were discarding layers. Tim had us pacing, taking bearings, Naismiths Rule calculating and that was only in the short walking along the banks of the loch.
Soon after the start of the ascent , in and on our path, we were stopped by a serpent of the devil, an adder. Its apparent urge to attack could be seen in its reptilian smirk, as its slimy tongue darted erratically in and out. I turned round to the others and instructed the men to take care of the women, whom , on sight of the scaley scarer, had went into a state of fear and deep shock. That is not to say that the men present were not showing signs of extreme fearfulness, but I managed to inspire them to at least hold it together, comfort the ladies until I dealt with this grass dwelling monster. I knew what I had to do. I got my camera out and quickly took some photographs of it. After two or three different poses, the snake slowly slinked into the undergrowth. The group's paralysis eased. Tim thanked me for my considered reaction and we moved on, high on the incident, but so relieved to be alive.
The rain eventually commenced when we reached the top of Mullach na Maoile, but we did manage a beautiful water stop, half way up the steep boggy trudge.
We were educated on the much varied plant life, from Tim, such as identification of blaeberry, crowberry, cowberry and cloud berry, different mosses and flora, all extremely interesting and enlightening.
the rain battered down, but was also exhilarating.
Previously, in January of this year, I and friends had a bad experience( or maybe it was good)in Glen Affric. read this
http://chaserjay.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/ice-cold-in-affric/ , hence the reason for the refresher in navigation