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strathfarrar four and the Gate keeper

strathfarrar four and the Gate keeper


Postby Louise993 » Thu Jun 25, 2015 1:59 pm

Route description: Glen Strathfarrar Munros circuit

Munros included on this walk: Càrn nan Gobhar (Strathfarrar), Sgùrr a' Choire Ghlais, Sgùrr Fhuar-thuill, Sgùrr na Ruaidhe

Date walked: 19/06/2015

Time taken: 10.13 hours

Distance: 27 km

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Oooh what an adventure

Jim and I left Kirkcaldy at 5am and got up to the gate at 8:50 .

When we realised we were early we sat and waited by the gate.

The gatekeeeeeeeeeeeeeepppeeeerrrrr came out of the little house and told us ' go and wait in the car park with the rest of them!'

(Reading back on old reports I see there used to be a code however it seems now there is no code and we now rely on the gatekeeeeeeeeeeeepppeeeerrrr )

Gate keeper.jpg


She never looked like this though !

...ok....

9am the gate was declared open .

The gate keeper gave us a ticket and made note of our registration plate and commented on the very bad potholes and that the gate shuts at 8pm , not cars allowed overnight

( does anyone know why this is the case ? we were informed it was due to poachers by the very helpful ladies at Mcofs office )

So we set of

Although it was cloudy all day with very little views the rain stayed off so that was good . Bloomin Baltic though so I slipped them on for some warmth. Where is our summer ?!!!


The day was a good but pretty uneventful given the lack of views.

The only thing worth mentioning would be the snow/mud land slide

It was still extremely treacherous with solid ice under the mud i actually wished i had my ice axe for this little section.
In terms of the map, where we deviated from the path is where the mud/ice slide was. Which then turned into a bog field.

We picked up the path once more a little further down.

As it happened we were late for the 8pm curfew and never reached the gate until 8.20 .

The gate keeper was less than happy.

Jim had to go to the door ( i wasn't going !!) explaining .....however she replied 'this was not her problem' !!

Ah well

All in all a great adventure with 4 in the bag .

In total it took 10hours and 13 mins.

We set off up to Toridon to meet up with the club :clap:
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Last edited by Louise993 on Sun Jul 12, 2015 8:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Louise993
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Re: strathfarrar four and the Gate keeper

Postby mountainsofscotland » Thu Jun 25, 2015 2:09 pm

Did she look more like this by any chance?
Image

It is a private road, not a public road, hence the estate can do what they want with regard to restricting motor vehicles but they cannot restrict walkers and cyclists or they would be breaching the Access Code. It is a "benefit" that the estate allows motor vehicles entry at all.

It is best to visit this glen in the winter when you can simply open the padlock and stay as long as you wish (but not overnight), assuming you are a member of the MCofS. No need to confront "the gatekeeper" in Winter.
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Re: strathfarrar four and the Gate keeper

Postby basscadet » Thu Jun 25, 2015 2:19 pm

The story I heard was that it is a road built for the dam, paid for by the public purse, and therefore the estate are obliged to give access, although as you find out, the estate do have the right to make access a pain in the bum :roll:
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Re: strathfarrar four and the Gate keeper

Postby mountainsofscotland » Thu Jun 25, 2015 2:27 pm

I previously contacted Highland Council about this and they confirmed it is a private road and they are within their right to restrict access to motor vehicles.
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mountainsofscotland
 
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Re: strathfarrar four and the Gate keeper

Postby malky_c » Thu Jun 25, 2015 3:33 pm

Built with public money, but not a public road - more a maintenance access road to the dam at the end. There wasn't a public road there prior to the dam, I don't believe.

I've never had any problems with the folk that live at the gatehouse - they are from Yorkshire though (I think), so it just appears that their surly demeanour is rudeness :wink:
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Re: strathfarrar four and the Gate keeper

Postby Louise993 » Thu Jun 25, 2015 3:50 pm

malky_c wrote:Built with public money, but not a public road - more a maintenance access road to the dam at the end. There wasn't a public road there prior to the dam, I don't believe.

I've never had any problems with the folk that live at the gatehouse - they are from Yorkshire though (I think), so it just appears that their surly demeanour is rudeness :wink:



Lol I have not finished my story yet ! :lol:
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