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A 3 day backpacking trip to Bearnais & Bendronaig Bothy
(Including a walk up Ben Dronaig 797m)Total distance; 18.22m (29.33k) Day 1 Sat 11th Sept 2010 Straithcarron to Bearnais Bothy 5.61m / 9.03k Weather: - Mainly cloudy with some sunny spellsI drove from Ullapool in the forecasted heavy rain, but it did also say that it would clear later, so in no hurry I parked up in Lochcarron to wait for the weather to improve. By mid-day it had stopped raining, and by the time I was walking from Achintee at 1.25pm the sun was starting to make a welcome appearance.
Leaving StrathcarronI followed the good path that leads to the high point at 490m, which then passed some lovely small lochans.
Lochan on path to BearneasLochan on path to BearneasFrom there I dropped to the lonely Bearnais Bothy by 4.04pm, set in a spectacular position in the wide glen.
Dropping to BearneasThe Bothy had been improved considerably since I was last here in May 1995, the cold stone interior walls are now wood panelled and there is now a sleeping platform, stove, table and chairs.
Bearneas BothyBearneas BothyBearneas BothyThis brought back so many memories, good & bad…
My story from May 1995 has been published once before, in the summer 2005 MBA newsletter, I will repeat it again here, as it appeared in the newsletter.
“A BIT OF AN EPIC
That was the heading in my mountain notebook. Only family and friends have heard the story, they find it a good tale, so I thought I would share it with a wider audience.
Chris (an old mate who tags along with me on some of my mountain treks when possible) joined me again on one of our regular trips from Wales, in my quest to complete the Munros. This 2 week holiday in May 1995 would ultimately find me completing them after around 6 years.
The next 2 days would see off some of the remote Achnashellach hills with a stop over in Bearnais Bothy.
Our first day went as planned, leaving Achintee in Strathcarron, dropping our gear off in the Bothy, then bagging Bidein a’Choire Sheasgaich and Lurg Mhor, then back to the Bothy by 6pm in sunshine, showers and some lovely rainbows. The night was spent in some fine company:- a couple from Edinburgh, and 3 Campsie Fells club members from Glasgow, one of whom amusingly wore a GPO gore-tex jacket and was constantly being asked “have you got my giro?” as he tramped the hills.
THE SAGA UNFOLDS: We woke at 7.30am the next morning, off walking by 8.20, leaving all the gear not necessary for this day walk in the Bothy to be picked up later.After reaching the Bealach Bearnais we decided that I would press on to do Sgurr Choinich & Srurr a’Chaorachain, Chris just doing the former at a slower pace. So
I continued on, bagged them, and then hurried back to the Bothy by 1pm, expecting to see Chris refreshed and ready to go. But it was eerily quiet with all his gear still awaiting his return. I had time to ponder all the possibilities; I felt an accident was out as there were no dangerous crags near to the paths, and if he had injured himself I would have met him on the good path back. The other possibility was he had got lost, this being highly likely as his sense of direction is hopeless, I’m sure he could get lost in a paper bag! He could have either gone down NE towards Craig, or more likely I thought south towards Loch Monar. After a long hour, a walker called John arrived from Bealach Bearnais (by sheer coincidence it turned out he lived about 3 miles from where my home) John kindly helped by walking back out, then driving to Craig, in case Chris turned up there. I waited until 2.30pm, packed both mine & Chris’s gear in my now bulging rucksack (no lightweight gear then) and almost ran back to Achintee in 1hr 45mins. I met John in the Lochcarron Hotel where he was staying, with no news or sighting. So a phone call to the Mountain Rescue was in order. I gave them all the facts, and it was decided to wait and see if he turned up, if not they would start a search in the morning.
It was a long evening, all sorts of thoughts going through my head, and to make things worse the cloud was sinking low on the hillside.
Finally at around 10pm as I was scouring the hillside path back, I saw a lone figure approaching, and a few minutes later could see it was Chris, what a relief! He was okay but knackered and somewhat dehydrated. In his wisdom (or not I think) he had only drank 1 litre of orange squash since we left that morning (He works as a Lab Technician for the water board, and won’t drink from streams)
What happened was, he had gone down to loch Monar, then realising he had gone wrong when he reached the Loch, decide to carry on instead of going back at that point, and walked the whole length of the loch eastwards before he saw some fishermen in a boat. He shouted to them asking which way he was heading and when they shouted back “Inverness” even he knew he was lost and going in the wrong direction, so he turned back, finally arriving at the Bealach Bearnais at around 7pm, where amazingly by sheer luck he met another walker who directed him towards the Bothy. He reached the Bothy and found a note I had left with a big arrow pointing to the direction of the path back. He still has that note to this day (framed I hope!)
I worked out that he had walked around 33 miles/ 53km & with 5814 ft/1772 m of accent, and with only 1 litre of drink and a few day snacks takes some doing. In 2003 we returned to the Bealach Bearnais to bag some Corbetts, suffice to say, he never left my sight!”So that was my tale then, nothing so dramatic this time!
I settled in for the evening, and added the story to the Bothy book. The clouds and showers moved back in for the evening and night and it turned rather cold so I was glad that I had brought some coal for the evening.
Warming up nicely in Bearneas BothyI departed to by sleeping bag at 10pm
Day 2:- Sun 12th (am)Bearnais Bothy to Bendronaig Bothy 5.2k / 3.23mWeather: - Mainly cloudy with some sunny spells, cool & windy.Had a nice lie in until 9.10am, then packed and away by 10.10am crossed the pathless section and river to pick up the good track on the other side of the glen which passes by Loch an Laoigh.
Loch an LaoighAfter 1hr 10mins of leaving Bearnais I arrived at Bendronaig Bothy.
Bendronaig BothyHere I met 2 walkers who had biked in and were doing a couple of Munros and then biking back out the same day, also there was some gear in the Bothy so someone was stopping there that night.
Bendronaig Bothy is a great Bothy, one of the best in fact, it is very well maintained by the estate, has 1 main room and 3 bedrooms, all with fireplaces, and a flushing inside toilet….luxury!
Bendronaig BothySun pm: - Ben Dronaig (979m) 5.58k/3.47miles returnAt noon I left the Bothy to climb Ben Dronaig, up the steep and pathless north facing slopes to the ridge.
Dark clouds south from Ben DronaigBidein a'Choire Sheasgaich from Ben DronaigWest from Ben DronaigBidein a'Choire Sheasgaich from Ben DronaigToday I had some good views, unlike the last time I was up here when I was in the clouds, but the sun had passed by now and some dark clouds and heavy showers were passing to the south, so I quickly walked to the summit in the cold and brisk wind, then dropped back down to the Bothy by 2.25pm.
Andrew, the other walker who was stopping turned up later after doing a couple of Munros. I had sawn some wood that was stacked outside, ready for a good fire later that evening. It remained cloudy with some heavy showers into the evening. We chatted by the fire until 11.30 swapping storeys of past adventures, including my scary experience of “noises” heard in The Tarf Hotel Bothy, and his of an “evil presence” felt by him and 3 of his friends outside by the door of Pean Bothy, one I “was” planning of stopping in this October, not so sure now!
No such spooky activity that night I’m glad to report….except for a few spirits!
Day 3:- Mon 13thBendronaig Bothy to Strathcarron 9.52k / 5.91mWeather: - cloudy, light rain showersWith a bad weather forecast for the coming week it was time to head home, and with a long way to drive, I was up at 6.30am and away by 7.15am.
Leaving Bendronaig BothySoon up into the low cloud (around 300m) over the 400m pass and back down to the car by 9.30am. Only stopping twice on my long journey home, once for petrol and food, and once for a 45 min power nap….much needed with heavy eyes half way home, I finally reached home at 6.45pm.
