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I'd been planning to escape for Christmas for some years, but 2018 was the first year I actually managed to do it. I'd opted for Mull because it's a place I've visited several times (before getting more serious about my walking) and yet never really explored - especially near Craignure. I was just about the only guest staying in Craignure, and I decided that Dùn da Ghaoithe would occupy my Christmas Day walk. After all, from Oban just the day before, I'd seen glorious colour, cloud inversions, clear skies on the summits, and there was no wind or rain - for just about the first time since I started visiting this part of Scotland. It was all going to be perfect, right?
An early start on Christmas Day by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
I made a fairly early start on Christmas Day, and followed the A849 out of Craignure, past Torosay and turned off onto the track near Upper Achnacronish. It was raining, and it was also a little misty from the outset, so I started to doubt if it was going to lift at all today. Up past the Bird of Prey centre, and it was over the high stile at the ford.
High Stile near Upper Achnacroish by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
I did, of course, had my map and compass with me, but since the path all the way to Maol nan Uan is an excellent vehicle track to the two radio transmitter stations, I was hardly going to get lost
The higher the track took me, the thicker the mist became, the windier it became, the more I started to laugh at my naive hope for inversions and views
Radio Mast in the mist by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
At the second transmitter station it was balaclava, gloves, and outer shell on. Visibility was awful, but I plodded on up the broad ridge, past the lochan, and then up the steep grass slope until I reached the cairn at 757m. By this point I could see nothing, and the wind was howling. I seriously contemplated calling it a day, but felt secure enough and was confident I wasn't going to get lost on a walk like this, so carried on.
Ascending just past Maol nan Uan by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
If this was a narrow ridge walk, I would have eaten my words and turned back, but it's more of a broad 'ridge' and so I never felt too uncomfortable. It took a lot longer to get to the summit than I imagine it usually would, and the views were non-existent, but I felt a tingle of excitement and a sense of achievement at having gotten up another Corbett, and at having braved the odds
It's all about the views by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
I didn't hang around, and made my way straight back. I did stop near the first cairn once again, to have a celebratory mince pie, but found cake-hole access rather tricky
Mince Pie on Dùn da Ghaoithe by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
Returning to the second radio mast was quite an adventure. It was remarkably (and surprisingly, looking at the lay of the land)
awkward to stick to the route I had come up the hill, and I kept on checking my bearings as I was sure I was constantly veering onto the steep slopes that lead down into Gleann Lirein. I kept pausing, questioning, checking, and wondering how my normally accurate bearings could be so wrong. After what seems like an age, and some odd traverses of the steep grassy slopes, I gained where I wanted to be and there was the mast just metres in front of me. For the rest of the (easy) walk back down, I cursed my map reading fail. Later I had a conversation with an old gent in Craignure who walked Mull a lot back in the day, and he told me about magnetic rock on the island. I'd heard that Ben More can be a bit cheeky with your compass readings, but hadn't thought that it would be an issue on Dùn da Ghaoithe. Comments would be welcomed - maybe it WAS actually just me being rubbish with the compass that day?
Eventually, I got back down to the little outcrop overlooking the Bird of Prey centre, and had a rest. Just time to actually see a little view and enjoy a hot drink before the light faded and I spent an extremely quiet, comfortable, luxurious Christmas night at the Bunkhouse.
Having a break near the end of the walk by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr