free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
A wonderful day for going back in to the Fisherfields on our third round, this time from the Fannaichs car park, and including a couple of Munro Tops. We thought about adding in Beinn Tarsuinn too but left that for another day.
Highlights: weather, views, scramble over Sgurr Dubh again, a new Top for us (Mullach Coire Mhic Fhearchair East Top) and walking back down the slabs. Scoob captured some amazing drone footage too.
Not so good: lots of beasties out today! Midges, keds, clegs and then some flying ants on the summit.
Also, I slipped coming down over the rocks on Sgurr Ban, giving myself a huge, black bruise on top of my thigh.
At least there were no broken bones this time.
Low point: this was the first time my friendly greeting has been met with anger!
On our final summit Scoob was still filming with his drone, standing off to the side of the summit cairn, when a pair of walkers caught up with us. I waited until they were closer, and gave a little wave with a cheery 'Hi there!'. In response, the first of the 2 women took a step up on to the summit cairn, spitting out "
Well, you sure know how to ruin someone's whole day with THAT f*king thing!" as she angrily pointed at the drone in the distance up ahead of her. Taken aback, I just responded with a calm "Oh, wow!" and turned my back on the pair to face Scoob, telling him he should bring the drone back down now as this woman clearly wasn't happy. He hadn't heard her outburst, or there might have been a more heated exchange.
By the time I turned back around, the pair were already off at a jog, heading back the way they had come.
Now, here's my issue: we had been aware there was another pair of walkers out there when we were back on the East Top - I could hear voices before I could see them, spotting them coming onto the path under Meall Garbh from Beinn Tarsuinn. Then, as were climbing up Sgurr Ban I could hear them again, chatting incessantly as they came down the previous Munro... so I reckon that woman had a damn cheek if her objection was about spoiling the peace! This new drone is actually very quiet and it was never really close to them. On the other hand, if her objection was in relation to a perception of invasion of privacy, then all she had to do was to share her concern with us and we could have reassured her that filming was of the landscape only. Scoob is usually very careful to only film when no one else is around (just got a bit carried away today, flying long enough for them to catch up with us) and will be even more so in future. Such a shame though... to realise that some folks are so intolerant of others' actions and resort to abuse as a first line of response.
As a reflector myself, I had so many alternative responses (on both sides) going through my head on the walk out
but reckon my instinctive reaction was probably the best one for de-escalating. ["If ye canny say anything nice, then dinnae say anything at all" - thanks dad, you did a good job!
] It's also sad to think that such a brief encounter could genuinely spoil the drone-hater's entire day in such a fantastic area, on a stunning day like this!
I suspect she was being a little over-dramatic
Anyway, here's
Scoob's video of our day and below is my account in pictures. As I said at the start, a truly awesome day overall
- Setting off, there were wisps of low-lying cloud over the loch
- The track wasn't too bad for cycling; it was calm and clear before we were at the end of the loch, so nothing to keep the beasties away
- We left the bikes at the bothy, then started the walk in - our summits starting to come in to view
- Our whole route in view now - around the crags straight ahead to make a clockwise loop over the summits then back down over the slabs
- View out to An Teallach
- Checking out the gradient on those slabs as we made our ascent
- Now on the shoulder of Sgurr Dubh, looking back to our route in
- View from Sgurr Dubh over to our first Munro, with another Top in between
- Loving the rock features here; this was worth the return visit, and with no snow this time
- Narrow section of ridge (still coming off Sgurr Dubh)
- Looking back to Sgurr Dubh, the black peak
- Mullach Coire Mhic Fhearchair East Top
- View to Lochan Fada. It was around here we became aware of the pair of walkers coming over from Beinn Tarsuinn
- Mullach Coire Mhic Fhearchair summit view out to the Deargs and An Teallach
- A' Mhaighdean, our round 2 compleation summit :)
- Looking back as we climbed Sgurr Ban; aware of the pair starting to come down there, but thinking there was still plenty of time between us
- Approaching the summit of Sgurr Ban, the white peak
- A bouldery start to the descent; this is where I had a a wee slip (didn't go far; just sat down with a thud!)
- The ridge lit up behind us
- The slabs were pretty polished, but no problem to walk on
- Interesting rock features at the end of the slabs, almost like they're sliding beneath the rest of the hillside
- Back on the bikes for the 6km back out
- Our stats were fairly close today; I'm recording the average for ascent
