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Sometimes great plans have to be changed last minute and last weekend was one of those.
My original plan had been to meet my walking buddy Colin to do a 2 night 3 day outing in the southern Cairngorms to bag 9 Munros. With my route mapped out perfectly, I did not think anything could change my plan...well I was proven wrong.
On Friday I left work early to meet Colin at the service station in Sterling, from where we wanted to share 1 car. By the time I arrived, I noticed signs that parking was only allowed for 2h and
24h parking would be 10 Pounds. Yes the government is really doing things to in courage car sharing???
Not willing to pay, we drove around a bit, until we found the car park of one of the large garden centers close by. There were no notices that parking was forbidden, so I left my car and we continued up north.
I had planned out the walks into 3 parts. Friday evening - walk up Jocks Road and camp close to Crow Craigies. Saturday -do the 5 White Mounth Munros and Sunday continue on the other side
to bag another 4, before heading back down Jocks Road. What can possible go wrong!
- Original plan
We started the walk as planned in Glen Doll and continued the wide track towards Jocks Road. It was easy going and we were in high spirits even though my backpack weight a ton! (Had enough sweets with me to supply a childrens birthday party)
When I planned the route, I did not realize that Jocks Road was pretty famous. Reading up about it, I found out that Jock (John Winter) fought a successful battle which resulted in the Scottish Right of Way Society setting up right of way signs.
- At the start of the road
- Sign
What is the Scottish Rights of WayTo become a right of way, a route has to meet certain legal conditions; in particular, it must have been used by the general public for at least 20 years and must link two public places (usually public roads). Rights of way vary from long hill routes (often historical drove or kirk roads) to local routes used for walking the dog or as short cuts to shops, schools and other local amenities. You will find the official website for the Scottish Rights of way here at the Scotsways website.Duncan Macpherson, a rich Scot, returned from his stay in Australia in the late 19th century to buy the Glen Doll Estate and immediately put a ban on people traversing his land, upsetting many folks such as shepherds for example. A certain John Winter (thus the name Jock) defied his ban, resulting in the Scottish Right of Way Society setting up right of way signs on the estate and after many a court battle, going all the way to the House of Lords, MacPherson eventually lost his battle in 1888, leaving both him and the Right of Way people bankrupt. Now when you walk across any Scottish Walk, thank the Scottish Rights of Way Act for helping you fulfil a dreamSo a well done and thank you Jock!!
We arrived at the car park just after 18:15 hours and by the time we had packed the gear together it was half six. Walking along the big track was easy going and soon we reached the cut off to Jocks road.
From here the path narrowed down a bit, but it was still a pretty good path, slowly leading up the forest.
We had walked for one hour when we realized it was getting pretty dark, but a nearly full moon gave us enough light to see the path. It was pretty spectacular, huge trees lined the sides of the path and the lovely smell of the woods filled the air. I did not think it could get any better, when we suddenly heard the first roar of a stag. Wow what a sound and the first roar was answered by another from the opposite hill and soon there seemed to be a constant chorus of stags making their strange cries through out the night.
- The moon
We reached the open hill side and the moon made an appearance through out the clouds and for the first time I thought that climbing a Munro in the moonshine must be something pretty amazing...(added to bucket list)
We climbed higher and higher and the wind (to which I did not paid much attention to before), started to really show its force. Colin was getting worried and asked me, if we could set up camp lower than originally planned by me. We had a look around, but the hillside was far too water logged and steep...I also feared for Colin legs, as on the attempt to find a spot away from the path, he managed to fall in every single hole in the ground and was more vertical than horizontal ...quite amusing for me hehe.
We carried on and soon reached Davy's Bourach, which was right next to the path, but still 2km away from the spot I wanted to set up camp.
bourach(boor·ach) Dialect, chiefly Scot ~n.
1. small hill or mound.
2. disorganized heap or mass (as in “Last went and it turned intae a right bourach“).
3. a crowd or group of people.
4. a small, humble house.
5. a muddle; mess; state of confusion (often in “That room o’ yours is a total bourach. Get in there an’ get it tidied!“).
We looked inside and even though it was pretty basic (feeling more like a cave or old prison ) it was blissful to be out of the strong wind, which had reached gale force. The option to find a suitable camp spot further up the hill seemed really slim, so there and then we decided to camp inside the emergency shelter. Unpacking was a struggle, as the ceiling could not have been higher than 4 feet, but we managed and settled for the night with a cup of red wine to toast to Davy and Jock.
- Home for the night
- After setting up tent inside the shelter
- My great wee Asbit cooker
I woke after a pretty cold and uncomfortable night, due to the hard ground, but at least I was warm in the layer of clothes I left on during the night (down jackets are great!!)
As the wind had not died down, we decided to pack the gear together and leave it in the shelter, as it seemed unlikely that camping outside would be an option for the second night.
Leaving the bourach we set off, to climb the first Munro of the day. We reached the top of Crow Craigies (a wee hill) and the force of the wind nearly blew us over. Thick clouds had gathered and showers of rain passed in a vertical way...time to put the water proofs on. I also noticed that Colin motivation seemed to be dwindling, as we battled through the gale force winds. When I asked him how he was getting on , he told me that he had hardly any sleep, due to the cold and hard floor and the noise of the wind outside. Adding the conditions we walked in, he told me that he did not feel that he would be able to complete the planned route.
Convincing him to give it a go, we walked on and soon reached Broad Cairn. First Munro of the ticked off. We had some food and were joined by 2 other walkers who were on the way to Jocks Road.
We sat for about 10 min, but I was getting colder by the minute. I checked the temperature and it was pretty cold ( 4C but with the strong wind the wind chill must have been a lot lower). Time to get moving and so we made our way to Cairn Bannoch. The walk was incredible level, but the wide open space also meant that the wind hit us at full force.
Hoods deep in our faces we walked on, until we met another walker, who turned out to be bpro26 . We stopped and had a chat and even in full waterproofs bpro26 recognized me as Mountainlove from this site.(well done to him)
If you read this bpro26...hello again!
Saying our good byes, we moved on and just over half an hour of leaving the first Munro we reached Cairn Bannoch. That was easy. From there Carn an t-Sagairt Mor also did not seem far and I convinced Colin to move on. The rain seemed to get more and more persistent, leaving not very exciting views across the featureless moorland. Moving on we soon saw the top of the third Munro an easy 100m climb. By the time we reached the top of Carn an t-Sagairt Mor Colin had enough and wanted to head back to the shelter. Even though I would have liked to complete the round, I felt it was not fair to leave him alone and the weather did nothing to help. Looking ahead to the remaining 2, I made a promise to myself to complete them soon and headed back to the shelter. Luckily this time the wind was behind us and made the walk back pretty easy.
Back at the shelter it was half five and we discussed what to do. Colin said that his knees were in agony and he did not thought he could walk any Munros the next day. Fair point. So the option was to head back that evening or stay another night in the shelter. Even though I did not really fancy another night in the shelter, the thought of packing up the gear, walk back to the car and drive 3.5h back home was even worse, so we decided to stay another night and leave in the morning. The second night it rained buckets and I was yet again glad not to be camping outside in the rain (saving for a good mountain tent at the moment) Even though the conditions did not improve, it felt a tad warmer than the night before and I had a pretty good sleep.
My new Esbit cooker was also a great investment as at least I was able to enjoy warm food and a cup of tea:-) The next day was an improvement from the day before and with a heavy heart I said good bye to the mountains and returned to the car. But on a plus point it would mean I would be back nice and early giving me time to clean and dry all the gear.
- Jocks Road into Glen Doll
- Happy to be back