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Polly's Compleation and the Initiation of Weaselminor

Polly's Compleation and the Initiation of Weaselminor


Postby weaselmaster » Sun Aug 14, 2016 10:37 pm

Munros included on this walk: Blà Bheinn, Ciste Dhubh, Sgùrr na Banachdich

Corbetts included on this walk: Am Bathach

Date walked: 14/08/2016

Time taken: 15.5 hours

Distance: 32 km

Ascent: 3100m

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With Allison over in Belgium sampling the local brews I invited my boy along for a long weekend's hillwalking, hopefully taking in Polly's Compleation on Sgurr na Banachdich on Saturday. He's had some passing interest in the hills since a family holiday to Skye in April and I was hopeful of enthusing him further. (He'll be titled "Weasel Minor" for the purposes of the blog :crazy:) However I knew the weather would play an important part in whether my plans came to fruition or whether he was put off the hilly lifestyle. Unfortunately the forecast was simply pants for the whole weekend. I had swithered about giving the Compleation a miss and taking him east, where there was a suggestion of better weather, but I was set on going west and doing some proper hills, and seeing Polly get her 282. We'd both taken the Friday off work and I picked him up in Glasgow on Thursday tea time, driving up as far as Roy Bridge where we pulled in for the night at the charming Bunroy Campsite, one of my favourites. The rain which had been a constant companion on the drive up, ceased while we put the tent up, which was something. A trip to the Stronlossit Inn then an early night was in order.

Rain and midges next morning. We headed up to Kintail for our first target, Ciste Dhubh. I was mildly concerned by the radio forecast threatening storm force winds, which wouldn't be great on the upper setion of CD. We togged up in waterproofs prior to setting out, just as an Irishman drove up with intentions of Mullach Fraoch Coire, so relieved that we weren't the only crazy ones today :lol: Up onto the grassy slopes of Am Bathach, the clag lifting enough for the summit spine to be visible. Wind was significant but not troublesome. We pressed on over the summit and found some shelter on the descent to have lunch. Then down to the bealach- soggy and boggy - before starting on the climb up Ciste Dhubh. I remembered last time I'd done this hill it had been Allison's 100th and she'd been in agony with her knees or something - I'd left her to get her own way back to the car and headed off over the Brothers myself - not sure I was very popular for that :wink: Anyway, Ally :wink: seemed to be managing fine today. He spoke of his doubts about being able to do 3 consecutive days on the hills and about his worries that he'd be lagging behind all the experienced walkers on Sgurr na Banachdich. I said he'd be fine...

Setting off
ImageP1130442 by Al, on Flickr

Am Bathach
ImageP1130443 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP1130445 by Al, on Flickr

Corbett #2
ImageP1130446 by Al, on Flickr

Looking back to Am Bathach
ImageP1130450 by Al, on Flickr

The boggy bealach
ImageP1130451 by Al, on Flickr

Ciste Dhubh
ImageP1130452 by Al, on Flickr

Summit views are gonna rock :(
ImageP1130454 by Al, on Flickr

Munro #4
ImageP1130455 by Al, on Flickr

We made the summit, time for a quick snap then back down, into An Caorann Beag and back to the road. Wet but quite happy with the day's achievement. Then the drive to Skye - we'd decided to camp at Glen Brittle as the Polly Party were at the Brittle Memorial Hut. We drove past a soggy looking Sligachan and along the Glen Brittle road - I've never seen as much surface water on it. Arriving just before reception shut, we asked for admission to the World of Water. The woman at reception was urging us just to take 1 night rather than the 2 we'd asked for, warning us that she couldn't issue refunds if the weather got the better of us. I scoffed at her concerns :lol: We pitched in the rain - Ally wanted to try out his own tent, so we pitched alongside each other overlooking the bay. Time for tea - pasta, then a quick visit to the Hut - most of the participants were yet to arrive but we did chat with 2manyYorkies and Arthur's Eat. Back to the tent for an early night.

ImageP1130456 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP1130457 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP1130459 by Al, on Flickr

Saturday dawned - dryish but claggy. There was some suggestion that the sun might make an appearance in the early afternoon - we hoped so for Polly's sake. Up to the hut for 10.30 where we found more folk had arrived, but Polly didn't turn up til after 11. Such is the prerogative of the Compleater-to-be. After some preparations and japes, we set off en masse up tot raod to the Youth Hostel where we'd start the walk from. Polly waving her St Andrew's Cross - bemused foreign motorists stopping to let us walk along, perhaps assuming this was an arcane Skye tradition. Which it might well be. Up alongside the Allt Coir' an Eich for the standard approach, lots of stopping for pictures chat, snack to be consumed. The weather, which had been dry up til now, started to turn and there was a general donning of waterproofs well before we reached the Coire. Standing around in wet proofs waiting for stragglers was somewhat chilly. The clag meant that it was foolish to split up and Monty did a fine job of rounding up the flock. we regrouped at the beginning of the ridge and began to brave the ever increasing wind and rain towards the summit. A group of us arrived and waited for Polly, who'd elected to come up last. Suddenly an athletic figure dressed in tartan mini-skirt and Scotland top, waving a Saltire appears, running to the cairn. I get up to take a picture and my Kumfie mat flies off like a blue bat. Whoosh! Joined a second or two later by Polly's bunnet and her flag :lol: Probably now adorning a sheep on the slopes of Marsco. There was no way of getting a group summmit photo in the conditions so we wisely descended to a slightly less exposed area for refreshements and celebration.

ImageP1130461 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP1130462 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP1130463 by Al, on Flickr

Wullie and the Breaking of the Buckfast
ImageP1130464 by Al, on Flickr

Setting out
ImageP1130465 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP1130467 by Al, on Flickr

Waterproof time
ImageP1130470 by Al, on Flickr

Monty planning the route
ImageP1130474 by Al, on Flickr

Stragglers
ImageP1130477 by Al, on Flickr

Summit
ImageP1130478 by Al, on Flickr

The big moment
ImageP1130481 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP1130482 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP1130483 by Al, on Flickr

Even the cork gets blown sideways
ImageP1130486 by Al, on Flickr


We headed back to the campsite and cooked up some grub. Some of the party had decided to head to the Slig for fish and chips, but we made do with fajitas and rice. We did head off to the Old Inn at Carbost for a drink, being molested by :lol: midges sitting in the beer garden looking out over Loch Harport. A nip back to the Hut for some hilarity followed, but we declined the offer of a dry bunk bed for the luxury of the tents and headed away before the serious drinking began :D

I'd thought that Bla Bheinn would be a good third hill for the lad - and was hoping for some reasonable waether for him to climb it in. Heavy rain in the early morning didn't suggest this would be the case, but it had stopped by the time we got the tents packed away. Ally checked the forecast when we re-joined phone signal land and we were promised - by the Norweigians - full sunshine by 10am and no precipitation. Super!! Bla Bheinn it is. It didn't look too promising driving down the Elgol road in drizzle, but you need to have faith in this game so we parked up in the midge reserve that doubles as a car park and set off along the Allt na Dunnaiche. The hills were in clag, but there seemed to be some brightening in the sky overhead and at least the rain had stopped. we made good progress up into Coire Uaigneich and started on the scree. Again Ally managed this well - not bad for a newbie doing only his 6th Munro. Some scrambling at the rocky section before the easy walk to the trig point. Partial views over to Marsco and Beinn Dearg then they too disappeared behind a sky of white. We had lunch and waited for a bit to see if the hills would emerge from their clag prison but it was not to be. Ach well. A quick descent then back to the car in 4 hours. We bade farewell to Skye, had a smooth trip down the road. Hopefully after his Initiation into the Hills of Skye the lad will not have been put off completely and may feature in another episode or two of the Weasel Blog

ImageP1130489 by Al, on Flickr

Will it or won't it clear...
ImageP1130493 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP1130497 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP1130498 by Al, on Flickr

Towards Clach Glas
ImageP1130500 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP1130502 by Al, on Flickr

ImageP1130503 by Al, on Flickr

A Chip off the Old Weasel
ImageP1130505 by Al, on Flickr
weaselmaster
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Re: Polly's Compleation and the Initiation of Weaselminor

Postby pollyh33 » Mon Aug 15, 2016 11:08 am

Smashing report Al, looks like 3 fab hill adventures although that old burd in the second one seems a bit dodgy!

Big thanks to you and Ally for coming along to SnB and help me celebrate setting a saltire free! Hopefully it was an omen for the future!!!!
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Re: Polly's Compleation and the Initiation of Weaselminor

Postby Sick Kid » Mon Aug 15, 2016 12:53 pm

Well done to Polly! :clap: :clap: :clap:
Wish I could have been there but those Belgian beers needed someone to drink them :wink:
And well done to Ally too, good hills to be getting done early on in his bagging career, here's hoping you didn't put him off although he does look like he's enjoying himself :wink: :clap:
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Re: Polly's Compleation and the Initiation of Weaselminor

Postby simon-b » Tue Aug 16, 2016 11:44 pm

Nice report WM; good photos.

Congratulations Polly! I think you and Martin will probably both beat me to getting your compleation letters sent off, if I ever do get round to it. Now you can get back to the hills and remember you actually climb them for enjoyment :D
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Re: Polly's Compleation and the Initiation of Weaselminor

Postby Jaxter » Tue Aug 16, 2016 11:50 pm

pollyh33 wrote:Big thanks to you and Ally for coming along to SnB and help me celebrate setting a saltire free! Hopefully it was an omen for the future!!!!

:clap: :clap: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Sounds like a damp but fun adventure :D Type 2 fun :lol:

Congratulations Polly :clap:
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Re: Polly's Compleation and the Initiation of Weaselminor

Postby Alteknacker » Wed Aug 17, 2016 12:23 am

Great stuff, WM - though your descriptions of poor weather are somewhat belied by the pics, which - apart from the compleation - seem to show pretty acceptable conditions :-).

Great to see the next generation being initiated (took my grandkids - 7 & 10 - out for the first time this last weekend on a couple of the Welsh 3000ers, and they did wonderfully). A whole new dimension of mountain pleasure!

But I do need to understand what's in these Belgian beers that makes them a more attractive proposition than Skye....
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Re: Polly's Compleation and the Initiation of Weaselminor

Postby mamoset » Wed Aug 17, 2016 3:55 pm

Congrats on your compleation Polly :clap:
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Re: Polly's Compleation and the Initiation of Weaselminor

Postby dogplodder » Thu Aug 18, 2016 2:19 pm

Congratulations to Polly! :clap:

So glad to hear it still happened as I was a bit concerned by the forecast. :D

And well done Weaselminor on a pretty impressive initiation! :clap:
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Re: Polly's Compleation and the Initiation of Weaselminor

Postby mountain thyme » Fri Aug 19, 2016 4:05 pm

Nice One

And well done to Polly :clap: :clap:
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Re: Polly's Compleation and the Initiation of Weaselminor

Postby malky_c » Mon Aug 22, 2016 10:36 pm

Christ - more classic completion weather. That looks quite extreme actually :shock: . Anyway, congratulations Polly :D . Probably good that you got the Buckie down before getting up onto the ridge!
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Re: Polly's Compleation and the Initiation of Weaselminor

Postby robertphillips » Tue Aug 23, 2016 11:43 am

well done polly :clap: :clap: :clap:
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