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Mullardoch Twelve

Mullardoch Twelve


Postby Fife Flyer » Tue May 17, 2016 7:25 pm

Munros included on this walk: An Riabhachan, An Socach (Mullardoch), Càrn nan Gobhar (Loch Mullardoch), Sgùrr na Lapaich

Date walked: 15/05/2016

Time taken: 8.4 hours

Distance: 21 km

Ascent: 1820m

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Before everyone starts getting impressed, the title refers to the number in the group rather than the number of hills!!
The title was going to be 44 blue balloons as Evie has already been to Mullardoch before.

Moving swiftly on, this was an outing arranged between Simon and myself, I did the hard work by advertising the day out on WH, whereas Simon spoke to Angus, the boat driver/captain and booked the ferry/boat/dinghy. The advert on the ‘meets’ section did get quite a few interested bites and we ended up with 12 participants, some old faces and a few new ones.
I won’t bother listing the participants you will have to work it out from the photo’s, I also won't bother submitting the route as we followed the WH route from the end of Loch Mullardoch :wink:
The first problem with having 12 volunteers was the parking, as anyone who has been to the dam will understand. There is a rough parking area and it is random and if you are posh with a 4x4 parking is a scoosh.

Image Looking back at the parking area

The second problem was the ferry, the word ferry gives you the idea that it is a big vessel with a funnel and things like that – well it isn’t. A dinghy is probably a better description. Angus the owner/skipper took 7 on the first sailing and the rest of us on the next one. The loch wasn’t exactly mirror like it was a tad choppy and rather chilly, Angus being used to these conditions didn’t even need gloves.

Image Rushing down to the ferry

Image About to set sail

The sailing takes about 10 minutes and at the time of going to print was £25 cash, which we all thought was probably better then spending a couple of hours or so walking along the side of the loch (Naismith takes 2hrs 5mins, but he doesn’t ever stop).

Image Off they go

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Image Power on

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Image The second group, I was co-pilot

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Image Simon enjoying something?

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Image Not far now

Image The way ahead

Image Oh good, peat hags

We disembarked at the other end of the loch and were met with peat hags and then the going up started. We could see the first group quite a bit ahead of us and we would all become one big happy family on the summit of An Socach. The weather could have been a bit kinder but Lynne assured us it would brighten up by 1pm and as we set off from the dam at 9am we had a wee while to wait for that big event.

Image Looking back

Image As above

Image Western end

One good thing about walking in a group is you can chat to plenty of different folk, however whilst ascending the chatter does seem to dry up - why would that be :lol: Another good thing about chatting is that before you know it you seem to have covered more terrain, which can't be a bad thing and it didn't seem to take too long before we all reached the first summit of the day.

Image Happy smiling faces enjoying the great views of grey :(

Image Evie trying to stop me taking a photo :lol:

Apologies for the lack of photo's between the first and second summits, the camera was put in my rucksack whilst we were waiting for 1pm to arrive :lol:

Image The next summit

Image As above

Image Do not disturb, Evie concentrating

Image First of quite a few snow features

Image The descent down to a fabulous and interesting ridge

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Image

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Image Looks good?

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Image What was Karen pointing at?

Image The route to the 3rd summit

Image Follow the path

Image This is how professional photographers do it :wink:

Image Still descending

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Image The ascent does look rather easy, but look closely how spread out we had become :lol:

Image Looking back

After crossing the ridge which descends down to a bealach, the next part is the trudge up Sgurr na Lapaich, it didn't look like it would be too difficult from a distance but as we got nearer it certainly loomed large :lol:
After much huffing and puffing we all re-grouped on the summit, we had become rather spread out during the ascent for one reason or another :roll: Now to the descent which was rather fun and interesting 8)

Image 3rd summit

Image As above

Image The Gilmour pose, don't copy as it is patented :lol:

Image Nigel and a great backdrop

Image The descent in part on the white stuff

Image Tommy getting onto terra firma

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Image Indicates steepness

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Image Forming a queue

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Image The final summit

Image Looking back

Image Final summit cairn with the last descent in the background

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Image Looking down onto the dam

After regrouping on the fourth and final summit all that remained was the descent down the broad shoulder and then onto the dam which we could see in the distance.
The initial part of the descent was easy and gentle on the legs, as we reached the end of the shoulder the steepness then increases. The good thing was we were losing height rather quickly :lol: During the descent we again became spread out all over the hill :lol:

Image Looking back

Image Sun shining on the dam and it still looks quite a bit to descend

After a long day (Tommy recorded 40,000 steps) we arrived back at the parking area. A fantastic walk in a great area of our beautiful country, thanks to everyone who joined in the fun, I hope you enjoyed the day as much as I did :wink:
The plan after the walk was to eat in Cannich, it was a really cunning plan however the plan failed rather miserably - I will let someone else spill the beans or you will just have to ask next time you meet one of us :lol: Suffice to say NOT Highland hospitality at it's best :(
Next another long day tomorrow Carn Eige was on the menu with Simon and Tommy - watch this space :wink:
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Fife Flyer
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Re: Mullardoch Twelve

Postby jepsonscotland » Tue May 17, 2016 9:52 pm

Nice one Martin. :D
Well done everyone. :clap: :clap: :clap:

Now I know what they look like, as we had clag all day... :lol:

Cheers
Chris
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jepsonscotland
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Re: Mullardoch Twelve

Postby Jaxter » Tue May 17, 2016 11:14 pm

Looks like you all had a lot of fun :D Great report as always :clap: Shame you didn't get better weather for it, although maybe it's a blessing in disguise as Glencoe was very hot all weekend as my sunburn will confirm :shock: :lol: 8)
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Re: Mullardoch Twelve

Postby Mountainlove » Wed May 18, 2016 8:45 am

Well done to all of you! That looked like a fun day out. Getting the boat is a good idea, if you are not planning to do the round over a couple of days!!
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Re: Mullardoch Twelve

Postby simon-b » Thu May 19, 2016 8:05 am

That was pretty fast dinghy! Added to the fun of a great day out. It was nice to meet everyone.
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Re: Mullardoch Twelve

Postby old danensian » Thu May 19, 2016 4:25 pm

Thanks for posting Martin - it shows the results of a good day out

Do I gather you weren't greeted with the warm smile of hospitable Highland bonhomie in Cannich? You'd better check out TripAdvisor next time

All the best

OD
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Re: Mullardoch Twelve

Postby Tomsie » Fri May 20, 2016 10:49 pm

Looked a great day, shame about the food. :clap:
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Re: Mullardoch Twelve

Postby tommyatr » Fri May 20, 2016 11:23 pm

Cheers everyone who came for a great day although the weather God's tried there best to spoil it .

Actually recorded 43033 steps on Sunday and a new record of 48493 doing Carn Eighe on Monday.
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