Loch Avon

As we close the old year I'll conclude the series on the walking that I did in Scotland in the summer of 2005. 

Thursday 28th July 2005 

The weather was probably even worse for this walk than it had been for my walk the previous day up Breariach with rain for most of the morning and through until about three o'clock, but I still managed to have a good, long walk in the mountains. I set off before nine again, through the Ryvoan Gap just as I had two days before, and veered off from my former route at the site of the Bynack Stable to head up Strath Nethy. This is a long narrow path that seemed to take e forever as it slowly meanders its way up the valley, with rain pouring down as I headed all the way up the valley until eventually my perseverance paid off and I climbed through the clouds to reach the Saddle. Passing through I descended to the spectacular Loch Avon, made perhaps even more special by the low cloud, with the huge, ominous-looking crags at the head of the loch peering through gaps in the clouds. Slowly I made my way along the shore towards the western end, constantly gazing at the impressive rock forms that overlook this end of the loch. I had my lunch in the shelter of a huge stone (perhaps the appropriately named Shelter Stone?), and while the rain poured down the midges had their way with me.

After lunch I decided that an ascent of Beinn Mheadhoin would have been a waste of energy - there wasn't the time and I just couldn't be bothered. I was too tired to make the effort after all the walking that I'd been doing during the previous ten days, so instead I started to head back to Glenmore. The most direct route is to go up and over the Cairngorm plateau so I headed off along a footpath up the side of the cliffs beside the smallest of the three streams that flow down to feed Loch Avon. After a lot of careful climbing in the wet conditions I reached Coire Domhain on the Cairngorm plateau and crossed the marshy ground to reach the northern edge near Cairn Lochan looking out over Coire na t-Sneachda. The rain had just stopped at this point with the clouds lifting sufficiently to afford me with a tremendous view towards Glenmore and Loch Morlich, and my route was clear. Any thought of going around or over Cairn Lochan and down my route of two days earlier disappeared; instead I descended the steep walls into the corrie and across the boulder field to join a manufactured path that took me to the Coire Cas car park. This was an enjoyable end to the day with a relaxing stroll to the ski centre and along the Allt Mhor trail back to Glenmore. I may not have climbed a Munro, but this was still a long walk in the mountains in bad weather; after all, the Cairngorm plateau is higher than any mountain in England or Wales, and most of the mountains in Scotland as well. I should not be ashamed to have this walk end my holiday in Scotland.

Braeriach

The Scottish walking holiday of 2005 continues:

Wednesday 27th July 2005 

The weather for this walk was not as good as I had enjoyed during my previous walks: it was overcast and drizzly, but that didn’t stop me going out for a potentially very long walk over the third highest mountain in Britain. I set off walking alongside the Allt Mòr burn and took the path that crosses the heather moorland in front of the Cairngorm corries, through the Chalamain Gap and into the Lairig Ghru. That sentence may have been easy to write, but it took me ages to complete due to a lack of energy that was preventing me from walking very quickly (and besides, the heavily, over-engineered footpaths were depressing me). After crossing the Allt Druidh, at the foot of the awe-inspiring wedge through the mountains that is the Lairig Ghru, I started my slow ascent up the ridge opposite. With drizzly rain continuing off and on all day, the cloud base crept closer and closer to me with every step. Eventually I arrived at a wide grassy plain, which my map declared, despite my optimism, was not the Munro, but merely a top, Sròn na Lairige. With the aid of my compass I passed over the plateau and resumed my climb in the clouds, and through increasingly heavy rain, up to a cliff edge and along it to the summit of Braeriach, the third highest mountain in Britain.

[Picture taken in 2009 from the summit of Braeriach of the scene across Allt Garbh Choire towards Cairn Toul] 

There I had my lunch and contemplated the situation: it was cloudy and it was chucking it down with rain. Eventually I decided that a walk over the plateau around the huge corries of An Garbh Coire to Cairn Toul in this weather would be crazy, and besides, it had taken me five hours just to get to this point; I could only imagine how long it would take me to get to Cairn Toul before I had to turn around and come all the way back. With my decision made I set off back down the hill secure in the knowledge that at least I had climbed one Munro on this walk. I returned down the ridge over Sròn na Lairige eventually arriving back down at the northern end of the Lairig Ghru where I decided that I would take a different route back to the youth hostel. Rather than climbing into the Chalamain Gap again, I followed the path beside the Allt Druidh all the way down into the Rothiemurchus woods where I had a very pleasant woodland walk slowly making my way towards Loch Morlich, circling around the loch to return to Glenmore. For a walk in such poor weather this was fabulous, and gave me a great sense of achievement on reaching the summit. The fact that I went no further did nothing to ruin the walk for me.

Cairn Gorm and Ben Macdui

Tuesday 26th July 2005 

After a day's rest during which I travelled from Glen Nevis, near Fort William, to Glenmore, near Aviemore (and luckily it was in poor weather) I set off bright and early in the morning for a full day's walk in the Cairngorm Mountains. After a couple of days on the dramatic rocky ridges of the Mamores, the sight from the youth hostel of rolling heather-clad hills filled me with dismay, fortunately they were merely the foothills. For this walk, I started by following Ralph Storer's route number 84 from his book, "100 Best Routes on Scottish Mountains", through the woods around Glenmore along easy, heavily constructed paths, and through the Pass of Ryvoan beside the secluded lake of An Lochan Uaine into the bleak, heather-clad moorland of Strath Nethy. After crossing the River Nethy I climbed onto the ridge beyond, leaving the path to climb over Bynack More, my first Munro of the day, and it wasn't even midday yet! The cloudy start to the day slowly dispersed to reveal a glorious summer's day with every peak on the Cairngorm Plateau free of clouds. 

From the top of Bynack More I headed across a grassy plain and over A'Choinneach, which I was surprised to learn used to be a Munro, which is astonishing for a mere grassy hillock. I believe if you look at the list of mountains that have been stripped of Munro status an inordinate number will be from the Cairngorm area. After passing over the top I began descending wonderfully rocky terrain to the Saddle where amazing views could be seen of Loch Avon and the huge crags that overlook the head of the loch. This was such an awe-inspiring sight that I made a point of having a closer look later in the week. From the Saddle I slowly made my way up the steep, almost pathless, eastern slopes of Cairn Gorm, and after an age reached the rocky summit. The sight, when I finally reached the summit, of rock-topped mountains aplenty was just amazing and confirmed that my despair at the start of the day was unjustified.

While eating my lunch sitting by the weather station at the summit of Cairn Gorm I looked out over breath-taking scenery that includes the cliffs that overlook Loch Avon and across to Ben Macdui, the second highest mountain in Britain, which was clear of clouds. Since it was still early I decided to head towards Ben Macdui in case later in the week, when I had planned on going up Ben Macdui, it would be too cloudy. So setting off from Cairn Gorm I walked around the top of Coire an t-Sneachda and up to the top of Cairn Lochan before heading south to join the path across a bleak, rocky mars-scape to the top of Ben Macdui. I was on the second highest mountain in Britain in brilliant weather with clear views all around me and there was just a middle-aged couple at the summit with me. This is in stark contrast to Ben Nevis, which I'm sure at the same time would have had dozens of people at its summit. I always find it ridiculous how many people go up Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon when there are many other mountains all around them, many of which are much more interesting than those three. 

Turning around I headed back towards Cairn Lochan, and passing to the west of it, I headed down the ridge, Fiacaill an Leth-Choin. When I reached the heather-clad moorland at the foot of the Cairngorm corries I veered off the path towards the young Allt Mór following the stream as it became a river all the way into Glen More and back to the hostel. With hindsight I shouldn’t have left the path to the Ski Centre but I had an overpowering desire to avoid the ruinous debris of the ski slopes at all costs, even if it meant wading through knee-deep, boggy heather. Despite the wet end, this was a fabulous walk over some of the greatest mountains in Scotland in fabulous weather that was sadly not to last.

The Central Mamores

More from my holiday of 2005 walking in Scotland 

Sunday 24th July 2005 

This was another brilliant day's walk in excellent weather among the Mamores of Glen Nevis. The cloudy start to the day had looked ominous, but thankfully the clouds soon rose above the summits to become another bright sunny day. As it was a Sunday there were no buses to take me down Glen Nevis so I had to walk all the way there, this time using the tracks in Nevis Forest to avoid the traffic on the road. The walk from Ralph Storer's book, "100 Best Routes of Scottish Mountains" that was the inspiration for this walk was route number 22, but I altered his plan significantly. Storer started the walk by going up Sgurr a'Mhaim, but since I did that the day before I decided that a change of plan was in order. On leaving the wood I took a path near to the lower falls, following the river and keeping to the southern bank even when the going became rough and I had to clamber over cliffs on the southern side of the narrow gorge, Eas an Tuill. It would, of course, have been infinitely more sensible to use the excellent path on the northern bank, but that was far too sensible and boring! Although it was nerve-wracking at times it was also tremendous fun, especially when I was standing on the cliff face looking down into the gorge and at the people on the footpath who were looking up at me. It made me feel so daring!

[Picture taken from http://www.ga-highland-walks.co.uk/blog/]
Once I was through the gorge I passed the spectacular waterfall of An Steall, in its picturesque alpine meadow setting, and followed a footpath that zigzags up Coire Chadha Chaoruinn to the top of An Gearanach, my first Munro of the day. There now followed a deliciously narrow ridge walk over An Garbhanach, which was every bit as fun as I expected. A sharp drop and a climb led me to a very proper looking hill called Stob Coire a'Chàirn, which apparently is a Munro despite not appearing to me to have enough re-ascent, which just shows what I know! A short ridge walk brought me to the start of a stiff climb up the steep rocky northern face of An Bodach. After a look around the summit I reflected that this was my third Munro of the day and sadly my last in the Mamores. As I descended the western ridge I looked around me at the fantastic rocky scenery and wished that I didn’t have to leave. The Mamores had provided me with some very enjoyable walking over the weekend and I now had just one hill, a Munro top, Sgurr an Iubhair, to go. I had enjoyed some truly great walking in the area and I was sorry to leave it. I resolved that I would have to return so that I could finish off the eastern Mamores that I had wasn't able to visit during this weekend; it'll feel like coming to see a friend.

After descending the last hill, Sgurr an Iubhair, I took the path down that Storer would have had me take the day before, into Coire a'Mhusgain. The time was now much later than it had been the day before when I had been at this point so it was clear that I was time to leave these lovely hills. I followed the interesting path as it weaves all the way down the narrow valley finally returning to the bus stop in Glen Nevis, but once again I was unable to catch a bus so an hour's walk back to the youth hostel was necessary in the hot, early evening sun. The next day I travelled to Aviemore, to spend some time in my favourite city of them all, Inverness, on the way to the Cairngorm Youth Hostel.

The Western Mamores

Saturday 23rd July 2005 

The weather for this walk was brilliant again, but I could tell it wasn’t going to last as it was already beginning to cloud up, although that just served to cool the temperature at the hottest part of the day. The weather combined with the tremendous terrain provided me with a thoroughly enjoyable and memorable day's walk. This was one of those days in the hills that you remember with fondness for many years and make me say to myself, "This is why I do this." I still have fond memories of the Mamores five years later and I have returned several times over the years to try and recapture the magic of this weekend spent on the Mamores in 2005. 

On the morning of this walk I caught a bus from the youth hostel to its terminus at the lower falls in Glen Nevis, where I immediately started to follow a signposted 'Forest Walk'. I was actually following Ralph Storer's route number 21 (from "100 Best Routes on Scottish Mountains") on this walk, which should have taken me onto a ridge via a 'hilltop seat'. However, no such path to a seat could be found and I ended up following the stream, Allt a' Choire Dheirg, on a clear, though occasionally muddy, path to a boundary fence. I was then faced with a very steep climb up the hill beside the fence under a blazing sun; the clear path was my only assurance that I was following a path that many had previously followed. In fact, there were a few people further up the hill on my path, but a quick look on the internet reveals what is probably an easier route beside the Allt a'Choire Riabhach, which gains the ridge lower down. Ralph Storer's actual path is probably non-existent and has been for years.

When I finally reached the top of the ridge I squeezed through a gap in the fence and headed up the ridge on an increasingly rocky path to my first Munro of the day: Mullach nan Coirean. A short diversion took me across to the nearby top of Meall a'Chaorainn and back, which this was a pleasant trip that required little effort. Bypassing the summit of Mullach nan Coirean on my return, I headed off along the eastern ridge towards Stob Bàn, passing over various minor tops on the way and admiring the stunning scenery. A white stony path brought me up to my second Munro where I had my lunch (and also provided the midges with theirs!). Storer's route was now almost downhill all the way, despite it being only lunch time, so I decided to abandon Storer once I was down the steep, rocky descent off Stob Bàn (a great path, but very tricky in descent, though it would also have been quite difficult in ascent. I'm glad I didn't go up that way!). 

Passing the lake, Lochan Coire nam Miseach, below Sgorr an Iubhair, I headed up a steep grassy slope to the bealach between the aforementioned and Stob a' Choire Mhail. Passing over the latter I began to cross the narrow 'Devil's Ridge', which, despite being very high, provided me with no problems in this weather (almost no wind) so I could simply walk along the top of the ridge except for at one small crevice in the rocks that seemed too far for me to dare jumping over. A path exists that bypasses this, but instead I clambered down on one side of the gap and then climbed up on the other side. My nerve may have failed to allow me to jump the gap, but I'll be blowed if I was going to miss any part of the top of the ridge! With a short scramble down at the end I completed the narrow ridge that had been worrying me for ages, but which turned out to be alot easier than Crib Goch, and so began the climb up to my third Munro of the day: Sgurr a'Mhàim. 

After a short rest at the top to admire the views down Glen Nevis, and across to Ben Nevis, I began a most enjoyable descent over white quartzite stones down its western slopes often sliding several feet with every step. It reminded me of how Wainwright used to describe Dorehead Screes in the Lake District before it lost all its stones (!); this wasn't as steep, but it was still a very enjoyable way to descend several hundred feet. All that now remained was for a long zigzagging descent down the steep grassy slope back to the bus stop. Unfortunately when I eventually I got to the bus stop I found that I had missed the bus by less than ten minutes, but the three mile walk back to the youth hostel failed to dampen what had been a very enjoyable day over some thoroughly exciting terrain. The walk and the terrain reminded me of the best sort of walking imaginable, as I have previously experienced in the Lake District; this was ridge walking, par excellence.

Beinn Dorain & Beinn an Dothaidh

More from my holiday in 2005 spent walking in Scotland. 

Friday 22nd July 2005 

The weather for this holiday was now stunning and it was set to stay like that for several days which suited me! On this day I left Crianlarich, with I must admit more than a little regret as I had enjoyed my time there; it is a good, quiet hostel without too many people, and with some great walking in the area. By the end of the day I was in the Glen Nevis Hostel, at the foot of Ben Nevis, which is anything but quiet! Before getting there I took a train to Bridge of Orchy and began to climb a steep, sometimes muddy path through the awesome surrounds of Coire an Dothaidh onto the bealach between the two mountains, following Ralph Storer's route number nine from his seminal book, "100 Best Routes on Scottish Mountains". Turning right I headed towards Beinn Dorain, rejecting a path that veers to the right half way up the gentle slope, staying on top of the ridge passing over a false summit until eventually I reached the true summit where extensive, impressive views could be seen around all the area. 

After lunch, both for me and the midges (they always find the bit that I miss with insect repellent – in this case on my forehead, under my hat!), I headed south off the peak seemingly into a very quick descent (the sort that ends with a splat at the bottom!), but the path quickly turned 180° to cling to the cliff edge below the summit across the western slopes of the mountain. The narrow, precipitous, and thoroughly enjoyable, path commanded breath-taking views of the valley below that included a train that was conveniently passing by at that time. This turned out to be the path that I had rejected earlier thinking that it couldn’t have gone to the summit. Now in descent I was less weary than during the ascent so I was able to enjoy the path and appreciate the extensive views on this alternative return route.

On returning to the bealach I began to ascend my second Munro of the day across the wide, pathless, grassy slopes. Beinn an Dothaidh is a triple-topped mountain, all of which are on its northern edge with the southern side sloping down to the bealach with Beinn Dorain. I decided to head for the western top first, aiming for a small ridge that juts out from that point. Once this was gained I had a pleasurable stroll along the short ridge to the cairn on the north-western corner of the mountain. The views across Rannoch Moor were awe-inspiring and continued as I strolled along the top of the mountain to the central peak, which is also the highest. When I got to the cairn on the eastern top I paused to take in the view, feeling both supreme satisfaction and a great reluctance to the leave the mountain. The weather was hot, the skies were clear and from my vantage point I could look out across both mountains. It was a glorious sight and reminded me why it was that I walk up mountains.

But unfortunately I couldn't stay up there. I had already missed the train, but I'd planned on catching a bus instead, so with the clock ticking I headed down the grassy (and on its eastern side somewhat boggy) slopes to the bealach. I then descended the path through the corrie back to Bridge of Orchy where I had ten minutes to spare before the bus was due (long enough for a quick drink at the hotel!). The bus went through Glen Coe, which let me see this magical valley for the first time and I was absolutely gobsmacked with the scenery that I could see with the Three Sisters simply taking my breath away. I fell in love with the area instantly and was heart-broken when the bus moved on. From then on I knew where I would be going the following year!