by andyfitz » Sun Oct 10, 2010 11:29 pm
Date walked: 10/10/2010
Time taken: 6 hours
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Friday brought a sense of frustration. Just when I was managing to get a string of weekend walks together my big walking buddy, without a thought for me, swans off on a family holiday to Ardnamurchan. Ok, he hasn't had a holiday from work from a year and his good lady is lucky to see him for half an hour on a Sunday - but a walk with your mate has to retain some priority!
In the sure and certain knowledge that the weekend ahead involved only domestic bliss and "quality time", I decided on Friday evening to check the MWIS forecast anyway. AAAARGH! Sun, no rain, 90% chance of cloud free etc etc. Change of plan. I'm off to the NorthWest. " You didn't have anything special planned anyway, did you?......."
This is where Walkhighlands comes in. I had been dipping in an out of it for a year or two but had never registered as a user, (I'm a shy, generally uninteresting and essentially phobic regarding the internet). Checked out a few walks and decided on Liathach. This was after looking at some superb members reports and photographs - so cheers to those concerned. Also decided to register and try and achieve same (V helpful standard) in future. No detailed report or photos of this walk as cant add to what's here already.
Anyhow, the alarm went off at 3.30am on Saturday. Until 3.45 I had no expectation of actually getting out of bed and heading North but at 4.30am I was on my way. The Landrover Defender felt eerily empty. It is usually populated by my aforesaid pal and anywhere between 1 and 5 dogs. The dugs got the day off, given the nature of the walk. My only company up the A9 and the rest of the 4 1/2 hour drive was Radio Scotlands early outdoor programme, a Corries CD and 20 Lambert and Butler - there' a lot to be said for it you know!
My previous experience of this area was confined to one overnighter at Kinlochewe and a wonderful day on Slioch. I was moderately impressed by the view of Loch Maree from the road into Kinlochewe, however when I got my first view of Liathach from the Kinlochewe road I nearly crashed the car!. The effect was certainly enhanced by the glorious weather and the fact that what seemed like the only wisp of cloud in 100 miles was hovering around the midway point of Liathach, giving it a proper big mountain look.
Arrived at the wee car park just east of Glen Cottage and started walking about 9am. Started up the good but steep path. Realised the early rise, the long drive and the few pints of guiness yesterday were not working to my advantage! Once up on the ridge I met a good number of people. The only topic of conversation was the weather. Normally that's used as an awkward ice breaker but on this occasion it was entirely justified. Getting towards mid-October and it was roastin! Yet we all knew that in a few weeks we'd be digging out the winter kit.
Heart-stopping moment number 1 - the view of the pinnacles from the first Munro Summit. Heart stopping moment number 2 - trying to work out how you get down a mini cliff face on one of the pinnacles - answer, JUMP!
The walk from the last pinnacle to the second summit was less arduous than it appeared it might be. Time out at the summit for some fruit, a milky way and 2 fags.
The descent was not as bad as I thought it might be - but that's against a background of my last two outings involving very poorly chosen descents, (Glen Shiel and Laggan).
I hate road walks. The 2K walk back to the car seemed like 20k. The dead birds, rodents and fox cub on the road provided a rubbish ending to my most enjoyable walk to date
On the plus side the flora and fauna count for the day included the last of the years heather bloom and Devil's bit scabious, a red kite, a very inquisitive young stag, the usual buzzards and crows and wee brown birds. All to a sound track of rutting stags.
Not a bad day all in. The walk time was 6 hours and I was back home a mere 16 hours after leaving that morning.
Sorry this is useless as a walk report. More of an introduction and experiment.
