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This was our first trip to the mountains since last October and little did we know how long it would be before we were back. Just two weeks after that trip I became poorly with acute hepatitis (where from I have no idea) and was off work for nearly a month. It took me a long time to recover from that, and needless to say I was unable to climb any hills for some time. Then Coronavirus reared its ugly head and we have of course been confined to our home area since mid-March. We are very fortunate/blessed/lucky/priveleged depending on your point of view to live moments from the North York moors; across the road, over the railway line, up through the woods and round the back of Roseberry Topping and you are there. So during lockdown I was able to get out for a walk at least three times a week in the woods and further afield, enjoying watching spring unfolding into summer. Meanwhile Rudolph has been re-laying the drive and building little walls in the garden so has kept fit by barrowing tons of stones and stuff around.
So now we are in August and at last we are able to get to Scotland and tackle some Munros. Having very few red balloons left in the "easy" category we decided to make a stab at the six fairly remote hills accessed from Craig in Glen Carron. We had a week and the plan was to walk first and end up with a visit to Rudolph's parents whom we had not seen since before Lockdown.
So this report is the first day of a four day three night expedition.
The weather forecast on the night before we left suggested that Storm Francis with 50mph winds blah blah would come in on the third day so we decided to swap round the family visit and head for the hills after Francis, when we read that there would be a settled spell for 4 or 5 days. Ha ha.
Anyway we set off from Deeside on Wednesday morning and arrived at Craig about noon. A sign in the car park said we were welcome to wild camp but we could not park overnight. I'm not sure how that works then! I suspect they were asking us not to sleep overnight in the car park. Anyway after some faffing we set off on our bikes across the road, over the railway line and up into the pinewoods. And it was up. The midges were fierce, I was too hot, I had no water (was expecting to pick some up from a burn but we had not reached any yet) and the track went uphill for EVER! Needless to say I was cursing the bright idea of Rudolph to bring bicycles at that point. I was very grumpy indeed, not being a keen cyclist and the last time I had been on my bike was when we went up Gulvain in October 2019. However I did manage to cycle some of that uphill track, probably only pushed the bike for less than half the hill. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
We stashed the bikes near the second wire bridge - the first wire bridge is for sgurr na Feartaig - and loaded the camping stuff into our rucksacks. We ate our lunch and cursed the midges. The wire bridge was fun. It is in good nick and after a bit of experimentation including landing on my rucksack in the water I discovered that the trick to success is to push the upper wire away from you and push backwards with your feet on the lower wire. That way you will stay vertical! Also it is a good idea to get onto the bridge at the end, NOT in the middle! As it happened the water level was fairly low and you could almost cross without using the bridge but where's the fun in that?
- Rudolph on the wire bridge
The lower part of the path has been newly restored and is obvious. After the first steep section the path climbs at a nice steady pace all the way to the Bealach Bhearnais where we dumped the camping stuff on the flat top of a nice moraine next to a big rock, and set off up to climb the two sgurrs.
- Looking back from Bealach Bhernais
- tomorrow's hills - first view
- contemplating the way up
- starting to get some views now
- moody sky, but a fine evening
- you can just see the top of the scary cliffs of Bidein a'Choire Sheasgaich
- and zoomed out, tomorrow's three monsters!
- nearly at the top of Sgurr Choinnich now, with the ridge to sgurr na Conbhaire on the right
- a nice bit of cliff, and the second summit coming into view
- Rudolph on Sgurr Choinnich, with Sgurr nan Ceannachain behind, and then beyond that we could see the hills from Torridon round to an Teallach
- and me, behind me is sgurr a'chaorachan where we are going next
- and Rudolph on sgurr a'Chaorachan
- and me, looking west to where we are going tomorrow
It was a gorgeous evening with extensive views and we were treated to a beautiful sunset as we retraced our steps back to the tent, a promise of loveliness to come (or so we thought).
- Looking west from the top, with Skye in the distance
- over the top of Bidein a'Choire Sheasgaich, with Eigg in the distance
- where we came from today
- looking down to Loch Monar
- we didn't take the stove up to the top but the Happy Mugs wanted a turn
- the north side of the Mullardoch hills
- the distinctive peak of Bidein a CS again with Lurg Mhor on the left and Bheinn Tharsuinn on the right
Back to the tent at about 8pm just before dark, we enjoyed our tea and went to bed.
- back at camp, sparkly water and Cuillin in the distance
- The Cuillin zoomed in
- Rudolph in the kitchen
Tomorrow's plan is for Lurg Mhor and Bidein a'Choire Sheasgaich but that's another story.