free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
**NB - for some reason I'm being prevented from uploading photos and routes...will correct when I can**
For many months now we've been listening to The Guardian's 1000 Albums to hear before you die
https://www.theguardian.com/music/series/1000-albums-to-hear-before-you-die which has thrown up some worthwhile finds, as well as way too much modern jazz and a peculiar emphasis on Brazilian music. We're now around halfway through - that's over 500 albums worth of "music" and on the run up this week we had the delights of "The Ultimate Kylie" followed by Minor Threat - new to me, then The Minutemen, also new to these ears. I had forgotten just how execrable much of Kylie's output was - of course I recall the inane "I should be so lucky", but so many of the subsequent singles were not much better. I did like her "re-invention" single "Confide in Me" and her duet with Nick Cave but on the whole, not a lot to recommend this record. To be fair, don't think I'd choose to re-expose myself to The Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime in a hurry ether.
A thrilling week on the hills, as you'll gather from that intro. The forecast wasn't great and caused me to suspend thoughts of west coast islands or indeed interesting west coast hills. Prepared for a bit of a windy wash-out, I thought we'd head up to Roy Bridge and tick off a few bad weather hills. As it turned out the weather was a good deal better than the BBC had said.
We arrived at Bunroy campsite to the usual warm reception. There were a group of folk with Husky dogs doing some charity event on The Ben on the Friday, so the campsite was sporadically filled with lupine-like howls. Both of us were feeling very tired, for some reason, and even an early night on Thursday did little to shift that. I had an easy day planned for Friday - Carn Dearg in Glen Roy, along with some Simms and the Graham, Leanna Mor.
A grey day, with occasional rain showers. Parked by the bridge up Glen Roy, noting the low level of the river. A straightforward horseshoe, ascending up the north side of Coire na Reinich then summiting the NE top of Carn Dearg before heading out to Creag Tharsuinn (if we'd been feeling more energetic we might have continued on to the Munro of Beinn Teallach, just a couple of kilometres further away). The going was steady, in contrast to the very steep route we took up this hill last time. Ground, usually boggy, was relatively dry and the peat hags were walkable upon. We paused after Creag Tharsuinn for lunch, before climbing up the easy slopes of Carn Dearg, just sitting under the clouds. From here we cut down NW to Carn Bhrunachain, then contoured round the deep slash of Feith Bhrunachain to reach Leanna Mor. An easy descent off the NE shoulder took us over the parallel roads and back down to Glen Roy. Given the lowish water level I elected to cross the river (as we had a couple of kilometres to walk back to the car). However, after getting half-way across on stones, the water became deeper, the stones green and slippy and I ended up just running through the water, achieving wet feet for the day. I suggested to A that she just return along the other side of the river.
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Al, on Flickr
Creag Tharsuinn
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Al, on Flickr
Beinn Teallach
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Al, on Flickr
Carn Dearg
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
Carn Bhrunachain, looking toward Leanna Mhor
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Al, on Flickr
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Back at the car we continued to feel enervated. It was warm but still overcast. A declined my suggestion that we do the Marilyn Beinn a'Mhonicag from the viewpoint back along the glen, even though it's less than a kilometre to the summit
Another time then... Semi-refreshed by a shower we had another early night.
I lay awake next morning listening to a nearby woodpecker and wondering if a woodpecker could drill a hole in your skull - a kind of eco-trepanning operation if you like. And how much would it hurt? Rousing myself from the vestiges of sleep I prepared for the day's walk - an exciting excursion up the east side of Loch Ness to Carn a'Chuliin which I have very little memory of climbing previously. There were a number of Simms attached which I hoped to take in today - which would allow A to get her 1500th Simm and coveted entry into "Simm Corridor" (the waiting place before the very exclusive Simm Hall of Fame at 2000 of the blighters). We parked, as before, at the gate to the windfarm and were visited by a very friendly wasp while we booted up. April's a bit early for wasps, no?
As we set off up the track, all the noisy birds were vying for attention. We heard snipe winnowing (can't say I recall hearing those during the daytime before, though they are a treasured nighttime companion); lapwings were doing their electronic mental-ness, grouse their Donal Duck laughing call and a cuckoo managed to squeeze into the mix too. We were passed by several construction vehicles as well as a farmer, probably checking the many traps of assorted types laid out along the track. When we came to the place the WH route suggests splitting off to the right, we decided to keep on the track as it's an effortless way to attain 600m elevation. When we did leave, it was onto a smaller bore track heading in a languid way for the rocky top of Carn a'Chuillin. My Corbett book describes this as "a summit deserving of a better mountain" and I can see what the author means. We were treated to a profusion of peaks - out to the west and up north, where the sun was glinting on the Mullardochs. A number of snow bunnies, partially changed back into brown hares, loped about. They were well camouflaged against the rocks - apart from the highly disticnctive shape of their ears
Well...is it?
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
Carn a'Chuillin
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
From the Corbett summit we pressed onto the 786m top (A's 1500th Simm) then round the lochs, which resembled jigsaw pieces made from water, to the 775m top. I had not included the two hills at 786 and 780m in my route, which presumably meant we'd done them last time, but we ended up heading over them once again, it did bring us back to the track. Once on the track, we descended a little before crossing to the other side and heading for the three Simms in a line (well on the map at any case). The going was substantially tougher on this side, bristly heather and rocky crags, but there was minimal drop between the Simms. We rounded Dubh Lochan after the final Simm and sought out the track heading down by the Allt Vungie. This was more picturesque than the wind farm motorway, but the track was a little theoretical at times and on one occasion we went too high up and had to backtrack when we met a steep walled gully. At the bottom, there's a footbridge and another rather wet track across the fields to meet with the road. Or in fact to meet with the rather splendid footpath/bridleway that runs all the way back down into Fort Augustus. We took this back to the car, released the wasp, who had been sunbathing on the inside of my window and set off back to Bunroy.
A's 1500th Simm
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
Simms on the far side of the track
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Al, on Flickr
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Al, on Flickr
A night of fairly heavy rain, but dry and bright morning - we sat outside eating breakfast in the still air wondering how much longer such a thing will be possible without the return of the Midge - not long, I'll wager. I'd planned Ben Tee for today - originally with the option of continuing onto Sron a'Choire Gharbh and descending over the three Simms on that fine coire rim. However, as A pointed out, that could be done next time we were up doing the Loch Lochy Munros anyway, which made sense - it was a steep descent by the look of it off Ben Tee and a significant loss of altitude too. We parked at Kilfinnan and set off up the steep grassy hillside, amidst probably the most sheep **** on any hill we've seen. We'd done Ben Tee last time round on an abysmal rainy day and we saw nothing - at least that would be made up for today. It was quite warm and there was even some sunshine to accompany us along our way. A flock of a dozen or so sheep decided to lead us along the path for a while, we wondered if they'd summit the mountain, but clearly too much effort for them. A lengthy walk over the moorland before the more stony ground is reached about 600m - a whaleback hill this one. Good views from the summit, windfarms too. Back down by the same route, stopping for lunch on the way and watching a cluster of catatonic caterpillars on stalks of bog myrtle.
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Al, on Flickr
Ben Tee, with our ovine guides
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Al, on Flickr
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We headed down the road early, unsure whether to do another Corbett on the way home. I quite fancied Ben Arthur, but the weather was dulling down all the time we neared home and in the end we couldn't really be bothered - we'll leave that for a nice weekday evening in mid summer.
