Not Glen Strathfarrar

Tuesday 27th May 2014

My plan for this day was to catch a train from Pitlochry, where I had been staying over the Bank Holiday weekend, and change at Inverness for Muir of Ord where I would catch a bus to the fabulous valley of Glen Strathfarrar for the start of an epic walk through this unspoilt part of Scotland. I managed to reach Muir of Ord with no problems despite a short time between trains at Inverness, but the instant I stepped onto the platform at Muir of Ord I realised that I didn’t have my walking poles in my hands. For a second I turned around to get back onto the train and retrieve them until I realised that they weren’t on that train, they were on the train that I had gotten off in Inverness. This was a disaster but I didn’t worry about it then as there was little I could do about it and I had a bus to catch, however that wasn’t for another hour and a half so I walked down the road to the Glen Ord Whisky Distillery.

I didn’t have time to take the full tour of the distillery so I just had a look around the visitor centre and had a taste of the Singleton of Glen Ord that is only sold in the Far East. With plenty of time to catch the bus I left the distillery and walked back into Muir of Ord while pondering my options for retrieving my walking poles. Do I travel to Inverness on Saturday, after walking through Glen Strathfarrar, to ask in lost property at the station about my poles, or do I abandon my walk through Glen Strathfarrar and go back to Inverness now as I’m a lot closer now than I will be on Saturday? The latter would totally ruin my plans for the week so I waited at the bus stop for the bus to Struy. A bus to Inverness arrived and left without me as I accepted that I wouldn’t have any walking poles for going through Glen Strathfarrar, and at just that moment the bus to Struy drove straight past me without stopping.

I was shocked. The bus driver had decided to ruin my plans for the week since I couldn’t decide. This bus is run by a small independent company using minibuses with the destination in small writing on a piece of paper in the window, and it wasn’t until the bus was alongside that I realised it was the bus I wanted. At the beginning of this day I had been looking forward to walking along Glen Strathfarrar, but now I had no idea what to do next. It wasn’t as if I could wait for the next bus to Struy as the buses were only once a week, the next bus was next Tuesday! My holiday was ruined. I had lost my poles and missed the only bus all week to where I wanted to go. Utterly gutted and dejected I headed back to the railway station and caught the next train to Inverness. At least, I thought, I could get my poles back, but lost property at Inverness didn’t have them.

By now I was so upset about everything that had happened I felt like crying, but I’m a man and we don’t do that kind of thing, so instead I formulated a new plan for the rest of the day and the rest of the week. I booked a bed for myself at the Inverness Youth Hostel and then did a walk around the lovely city of Inverness. If any city can lift depressed spirits then Inverness is surely the place to do it. I remember really enjoying being in Inverness ten years ago, but aside from passing through a couple of times I hadn’t spent much time there since, consequently this was going to be the first time I’d stayed in the city in the last nine years and I was keen on making the most of where fate had left me. My first destination was St Andrew’s Cathedral, a place that I’d seen across the river several times before but never actually gone in, however when I stepped inside it seemed so small I came straight back out again.

Near the Cathedral I saw a notice showing the walks around Inverness and one caught my eye as it passes through a nature reserve that I’d seen on the train. It lies between the River Ness and the Caledonian Canal at the northern end of the city overlooking the Moray Firth. To reach the nature reserve I walked beside the River Ness past works to build flood defences until I reached Carnarc Point, a narrow spit of land that juts out into the Moray Firth. The path was lined by broom and gorse (very similar in appearance from a distance, but very different close up), while at the end of the spit is a small lighthouse, while dominating the view is the Kessock Bridge sweeping across the Moray Firth from Inverness to the Black Isle.

Returning to the road I walked around the shore, past the old ferry port and into the Merkinch Local Nature Reserve, which was a fabulous place swarming with birds who all burst up into the air as soon as I approached. In the reserve, to my left were lagoons and to my right were mud flats on the edges of the Moray Firth. This path along the sea wall led me to the railway and the Caledonian Canal, which was as far as I was going to walk so I turned around and after crossing the nature reserve I passed through the Merkinch council estate following the railway line back into Inverness. This was a nice, little walk in warm sunshine, but it could only begin to compensate for what had been a bitterly disappointing day. I bought a cheap pair of walking poles to replace the ones I’d lost and continued to make plans for the rest of the week. I couldn’t help but be frustrated by what had happened on this day, but I was determined to make the most of what had happened and not let the rest of the week be marred by my regrets.

Beinn a’ Ghlo

Monday 26th May 2014

The day before this walk, I had started my annual holiday in Scotland with the intent of just enjoying the walking without the need to go up a mountain, but on this walk a mountain was exactly my goal. The day didn’t start very well with light rain and low cloud that gave me the prospect of a day that is not the best for climbing a mountain. Walkers, however, are hopeful people and they are always thinking that the weather will improve (and that the summit is just behind the next rise), despite long experience to the contrary. On this occasion it did improve, but only intermittently. Last year I walked past Beinn a’ Ghlo along Glen Tilt fully intending to climb it, but eventually I gave it a miss because I was tired and didn’t have the energy. Since Beinn a’ Ghlo was already a mountain that I was eager to climb I couldn’t resist deliberately arranging another attempt this year.

I started the day by catching a train from Pitlochry, where I had been staying, the short distance to Blair Atholl where I began the ascent. Rather than using the route recommended by Ralph Storer in his book '100 Best Routes on Scottish Mountains', the definitive introduction to walking up Scottish Mountains, I decided to take the more usual route, what could be described as the Munro bagger’s route. Ralph Storer’s route may be the best route, but Munro baggers are not interested in the route, they are only interested in getting up to the summit as quickly as possible. To do that they drive up a country lane to Loch Moraig and start from there, while I had to walk up the road, in the rain, from the Old Bridge of Tilt through dreary farmland to the loch where I found the usual collection of Munro bagger’s cars. Beyond the car park I continued along the track and began to realise why Ralph Storer had recommended the Glen Tilt approach as opposed to this dull route.

Eventually I came off the track following a bog trot to the foot of Carn Liath where a clearer path weaved an excellent route up the steep hill, which I found completely exhausting and left me wondering why I wasn’t very fit. The excruciating climb went on and on under the poor weather, but just as I was thinking the weather would never improve it stopped raining and the sun came out to provide me with the final push that finally brought me to the windswept summit of Carn Liath. The views south and west towards the River Garry and beyond were clearing nicely, but the views back towards the rest of Beinn a’ Ghlo and the Cairngorm Mountains beyond were still resolutely clinging onto their clouds. A bitterly cold wind was blowing at the summit of Carn Liath and didn’t encourage me to stay so I soon set off along the narrow ridge wrapped up tight against the cold.

Soon I was rewarded with a parting of the clouds and such a fabulous view of the Beinn a’ Ghlo range that I actually began to enjoy the walk! A small rise on the ridge is bypassed by the path (Munro baggers are very single-minded), but I wanted to enjoy the narrow crest of Beinn Mhaol before descending steeply to a narrow pass, the bealach between Carn Liath and Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain. As soon as I crossed the pass it started to rain again so for the climb to the top I had to battle through strong winds and rain as I plunged once more into clouds. Just as suddenly, as I climbed the slopes towards the summit, the rain stopped and I was bathed in sunshine while the clouds lifted to reveal a stunning vista across the valley south of Beinn a’ Ghlo and by the time I reached the summit of Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain the clouds had completed lifted to afford me with stunning views all around.

The third Munro, and the highest point on Beinn a’ Ghlo, was also beginning to appear for the first time on this walk from amongst the mist, but by this time I had already decided that I would not be climbing it. This was partly because I wanted to catch a train in Blair Atholl not long after five o’clock, but mainly because I was so tired. I felt that I didn’t have the energy for the steep descent and re-ascent required to get up to the top of Carn nan Gabhar, so I decided that the best thing for me to do would be to drop straight down into Glen Tilt from Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain. First, while sitting beside the summit cairn, I had my lunch as the rain fell once again with the clouds staying high and enabling me to enjoy my surroundings across Glen Tilt and towards the Cairngorm Mountains, despite the rain. Before I left the summit the rain stopped and once again the sun came out so I could bask in the awesome scenery before beginning my descent.

This was not easy and I think my route selection could have been better, although Ralph Storer does recommend this route down if short of time. Initially I came down the south-western ridge around a boulder field and down ridiculously steep terrain to the top of Glen Fender, which I had anticipated but I hadn’t realised that there is also a steep descent into Glen Tilt, and I made the descent worse by trying to head down the valley on the steep slopes to try and find a bridge over the river. As more bands of rain and sunshine passed overhead I continued the strenuous descent remembering that I was coming down because I was tired and yet this was the most tiring part of the day. Eventually after much negotiation of the steep terrain I passed Balaneasie stone cottage and the spot where I’d camped last year, which I was overjoyed to see again, but I was concerned that it had taken me a long time to get to Blair Atholl from this camp spot last year and I didn’t have that long this time.

Fortunately I’d dawdled last year so I was easily able to get to Blair Atholl in time for the train. Once I’d reached the track at the bottom of Glen Tilt, at Gaw’s Bridge, I set off at a rapid pace down the valley, but by the time I reached Gilbert’s Bridge I realised I would have no problems catching the train so I was able to enjoy the descent and the sunshine through lovely Glen Tilt. The weather was very changeable on this walk, even more so than the day before when I’d also thought it had been changeable. I was frustrated that I was not able to reach all three Munros because I was so tired, which has been a common complaint for me over the last couple of years in Scotland, and I don’t know what the answer is. The ridge on Carn Liath was gloriously narrow and a pleasure to walk along but it was woefully short, while Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain seemed much broader, and what I saw of Carn nan Gabhar didn’t seem special. A return in better weather is required before I can properly pass judgement, but it’s always great to be at the top of a mountain.