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Fersit frogs, clag and a compass

Fersit frogs, clag and a compass


Postby kevsbald » Sun Aug 09, 2009 8:38 pm

Route description: Chno Dearg and Stob Coire Sgriodain

Munros included on this walk: Chno Dearg, Stob Coire Sgriodain

Date walked: 09/08/2009

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ShazCam and I headed up to stay at the Station Lodge bunkhouse http://www.stationlodge.co.uk at Tulloch on the Friday night with the prospect of variable weather i.e. light drizzle and rain nae doot.
IMG_3001.JPG
Station Lodge - no liquor licence but good base
A note of caution - the proprietor had informed us that her licence to sell liquor would expire on the 9th August and she would not be renewing it. Fortunately, we are professional jakies and we arrived with enough drink to send us into easy slumber for the day ahead after discussing drink, hills and finally God. Isn't that how it goes? Great breakfast the next day and would definitely stay again as it sets you up for the surrounding hills. We were initially lazy and drove round to Fersit rather than skip along the train track. We were glad we had done so because a wee bridge going across a ravine was quite something and we held up traffic while impersonating David Bailey.
IMG_3003.JPG
Fabby ravine which has to be seen, ken fit ah mean?


We parked up at an area which said 'No parking' but we were in good company as other cars had done the same. The view across to Stob Coire Sgriodain gave us a good view of what lay ahead
IMG_3007.JPG
Stob Coire Sgriodain
and we proceeded to head through Fersit, past a proper parking area (typical) and past a wee rusty-coloured dog which happily greeted us in canine custom. The poor thing had no back legs and it seemed to have metal testicles - fetch Sparky! Once past the farm, the trek South was over quite boggy ground but it wasn't long before we began to ascend and attempt to avoid the suicidal Fersit frogs, which did their best to fall under our boots.
IMG_3015.JPG
Gies a kiss
As with most Munro's, once we had cut through and up on to the crags (this took about 90 minutes from the farm), we were still quite a bit of a walk until the summit (about a km) but the cloud cover had descended and views were non-existent.
IMG_3016.JPG
Shaz heading towards the summit - somewhere up ahead
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Shaz at the summit - could be anywhere frankly
We had lunch at the top, I got the compass and map out and we set off for our 2nd objective du jour, Chno Dearg. D'ye know Chno? I remembered the book saying it could be tricky in bad visibility and this proved the case. After 500m S on a path which petered out, Shazcam thought she had a path but she was descending North towards crags and I knew this wasn't right. I told her so and we headed due SE instead. Cue torrential rain. :( We descended over quite rough ground and passed a cairn, before descending to a col with some lochans - at this point, I knew we were on course. I then took a compass reading NE to ascend Chno Dearg and it was a matter of re-checking the compass while slowly ascending. Finally, after an hour from Sgriodan we topped out on a level summit after a bouldery last wee bit but it still took us 5 min to find the summit cairn. We were glad to get then 2nd hill of the day in the bag but it once again reinforced how important it was to navigate effectively. The compass was such a great wee companion, I gave it a kiss and agreed to buy him a drink when we got back down.
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Thank you compass on Chno Dearg - a man's best friend
He said 'no problem' and I put him away in his wee sleeping bag. Good wee man.
IMG_3023.JPG
The star of the show!


The descent N to NW off Chno Dearg is tedious, fairly long and boggy and I cannot imagine anyone ascending the hill this way. I'm sure there are masochists out there who will have done this. Flagellation - ye cannae whack it. Eventually after 6 hours we got back to the car just as the cloud lifted and the sun shone down. F****** typical! Still a great day though and I sincerely hope you get better views than we did. Such is life on the hill.
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kevsbald
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Re: Fersit frogs, clag and a compass

Postby Alan S » Tue Aug 11, 2009 12:04 am

no beer at a train station :shock: whats the world coming to
ill keep that in mind when i get to that area
like the ravine pic ,something different
im sure the compass is a great thing,i paid £40 for mine and still havent used it :? maybe thats why i keep getting lost :)
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Alan S
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Re: Fersit frogs, clag and a compass

Postby Paul Webster » Tue Aug 11, 2009 8:16 am

Don't worry kev, you didn't miss much on Chno Dearg :D
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Re: Fersit frogs, clag and a compass

Postby Graeme D » Thu Aug 13, 2009 10:15 am

alan sherry wrote:no beer at a train station :shock: whats the world coming to


I always said no good would come of rail privatisation! :(

Thanks for this one Kev - it has given me a cunning plan. My mate Robin and I spent a "memorable" evening in a bothy near Beinn Dearg (Blair Atholl) last November having walked in the Saturday late afternoon and ascended the next day. We were thinking of making this kind of thing a regular late-November fixture on the calendar. I think we've found this year's accomodation, with plenty to choose from round about. This place may have no booze licence, but at least it's got insulation and I'm guessing the windows fit right. We'll just make sure we go via the booze aisle in Tesco. :lol:
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Re: Fersit frogs, clag and a compass

Postby kevsbald » Thu Aug 13, 2009 10:49 am

Graeme,

I'd strongly recommend the Easains from Fersit - really good hill (the 1st one Mheadhoin) and it's a high corrie, with only 0.5 mile distance to the 2nd Munro. Station Lodge breakfast was fab and they had no problem with us drinking into the morning.

Kev
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kevsbald
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Re: Fersit frogs, clag and a compass

Postby Graeme D » Thu Aug 13, 2009 5:23 pm

Thanks Kev! Sounds like that could be a goer! I just love it when a plan comes together! :D
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