A’ Ghlas-bheinn

Friday 6th June 2014

For the last day of my two week holiday in Scotland it looked like the weather was going to be as poor as it had been for most of that week, however just like on Tuesday the weather improved significantly and unexpectedly throughout the course of the day. I was staying in an isolated youth hostel at the top of the picturesque valley of Glen Affric having walked up the valley in poor weather conditions the previous day. My plan for this day had been to walk up the Munro to the north that overlooks the hostel, Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan, a hill that is often mispronounced. Wainwright, in his book ‘Wainwright in Scotland,’ said that since he’d never mastered Gaelic he instead adopted roughly similar English equivalents; thus, for example, Ceathreamhnan was Chrysanthemum and I was amused to hear several people in the hostel giving it this name, however the correct pronunciation is much simpler: Kerranan.

Instead of taking the path uphill from the hostel into the cloud infested mountain I returned to the River Affric and followed it upstream for a short distance before turning up to follow the stream, Allt Beithe Garbh on an excellent path. If I’d continued beside the River Affric I’d have followed the track over a low pass into Glen Lichd that would have soon brought me back to Loch Duich, but I fancied taking a more interesting route so I followed the clear path into Gleann Gnìomhaidh towards Bealach an Sgàine. The National Trust for Scotland volunteers, who had been staying at the youth hostel, had clearly been at work on this path and made my walk both easy and a pleasure while ensuring that I maintained dry feet, but later their cleverly constructed handiwork ceased only to be replaced by a wide gravel path that seemed excessive and like a motorway. This motorway didn’t last very long, however, leaving me with a boggy path that attempted but ultimately failed to make a course along the valley.

It could be that on such boggy ground gravel was the only solution and as I struggled to make my way along the valley I longed for the gravel path again, despite the over-engineering. After reaching the end of the boggy path, and thanking my waterproof socks, I passed Loch a’ Bhealaich and began climbing steeply to the top of the pass. It had become obvious to me not long after leaving the hostel that the poor weather was not going to last as I could see the clouds were beginning to break further down Glen Affric which prompted me to rethink my plan for the day. With blue sky appearing down the valley I wondered if Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan was a possibility after all, but the clouds at the top of the valley were taking too long to begin to lift to make that an viable option. Nevertheless as I climbed the, at times, good path up to the top of the pass I was thinking about which mountain I would now climb to take advantage of the good weather.

The top of Bealach an Sgàine was thick with clouds but I was still keen to climb one of the Munros either side of the pass. Beinn Fhada is to the south, but I climbed that in 2008 so despite it being a great mountain I decided to turn right and follow a narrow weaving path north towards the smaller Munro of A’ Ghlas-bheinn. I was attracted to the rocky, undulating ridge that leads from the pass to the summit and the clear path that steers an interesting route up the ridge. Despite the low cloud I enjoyed this ascent, and I was rewarded with occasional glimpses through the clouds into the loch-filled valley to my right. There is something rather magical about these snatching windows in the clouds, like you’re being given a glimpse of a far-off unknown country. I encountered a lot of tops on this undulating ridge and I was beginning to get frustrating with the never-ending succession until finally the summit cairn loomed into view and the clouds cleared briefly once more.

This was my ninth Munro of the holiday (when I also climbed two Corbetts) and the last hill of my holiday. Last year I only climbed four Munros so this is definitely an improvement, but nowhere near the twenty-plus Munros that I used to climb while in Scotland. The reduction is not so much because I’m getting older but because my priorities while in Scotland are now slightly different, though climbing a mountain still features prominently in my itinerary. As I sat beside the summit cairn of A’ Ghlas-bheinn I ate my lunch while the clouds continued to slowly lift from the hills around me to reveal stunning views through the windows in the cloud towards Loch Duich. It is usually very windy at the top of a mountain, but it was eerily quiet at the top of this one with very little wind that made sitting at the summit a tranquil, even magical moment.

From the summit of A’ Ghlas-bheinn I headed west around steep crags and onto a saturated grassy ridge that took me unevenly down as I tried to find the path that I had seen the previous Sunday after crossing the Allt Leòid Ghaineamhaich. I thought then that it would make a good descent route, but I hadn’t anticipated how wet the ground would be following the heavy rain of the last week. I could hear splashes with every footstep and on the steep bits I couldn’t keep a grip on the saturated ground and slipped over several times. Eventually I decided that this is not a good route and I was relieved when I finally reached the bottom beside the bridge that I had crossed on Sunday, but it would have been better if I’d descended north to Bealach na Sròine. This descent brought me onto one of the forest tracks that I had walked along on Sunday and I now had a long walk in tremendous sunshine back along the tracks and the road through Morvich to Loch Duich.

Since Sunday I had travelled from Loch Duich over the mountains to Cannich and then returned over the mountains along the mighty Glen Affric back to Loch Duich. It was an interesting, though changeable week, and at least I was able to enjoy some fabulous mountain scenery at the top of the highest mountains in the area, Màm Sodhail and Carn Eighe. Since lunchtime on this last day of my holiday, the weather had gotten better and better and now that I was back down in the valley it was really warm. The clouds were very slow to lift from the tops of the mountains and would not completely clear the tops until late in the afternoon and meanwhile I had a long walk ahead of me. From Dorusduain Wood I walked for three hours into Strath Croe and around the end of Loch Duich, past Shiel Bridge and along the shore on the other side of the loch to Ratagan Youth Hostel. The weather was so good I didn’t begrudge the walk as I enjoyed the magnificent Highland scenery for one last time before returning home the next day.

Glen Affric

Thursday 5th June 2014

On the day before this walk I did a fabulous walk over high mountains north of Glen Affric, but I returned to my tent in Gleann nam Fiadh, at the foot of these mountains, in worsening weather. Midges were swarming everywhere and forced me into my tent to gaze in awe at the thousands of tiny insects trying to get through the netting of my inner tent. It was fascinating to look at the midges and then to see them disappear as soon as it started to rain again, and this rain continued throughout much of the night and was not much better when I got up in the morning, so I packed up, left the spot where I had been staying for the last two nights and headed off back over the hill and down into Glen Affric. A short walk along a private road brought me back to the River Affric car park where I made use of the facilities.

There I met a couple who appeared to have camped beside the car park, and who were actually the first people I’d seen in over forty hours, more than two nights ago, having gone through the entire previous day without seeing a single person. You don’t get that sort of isolation in the Lake District! Throughout this holiday I had been timing the length of time that had passed between seeing people. Last year twenty-four hours passed while I walked along Glen Avon, slept and then climbed Ben Avon, without seeing anyone. Several times on this holiday I had gone twenty hours, but in this second week of my holiday I doubled that. For someone who dislikes crowds there’s something rather satisfying about that.

My plan for this day was to walk to the Youth Hostel near the top of Glen Affric and, while I had considered climbing Ciste Dhubh, when I reached the hostel the weather ensured that this was never seriously considered. In view of the poor weather I took a slow dawdling walk along the valley finally reaching the hostel before three o’clock. I actually could stop this article now and move onto the next day as there’s not really much more to tell, but I won’t. The first half of the day I was on a broad track walking beside the south bank of Loch Affric until at the far end of the loch I turned right, avoiding the path into Gleann na Ciche, to reach a building that is marked on maps as Athnamulloch with Strawberry Cottage on the other side of the river.

There were a surprisingly large number of cars near these buildings, including several National Trust for Scotland vehicles, and the explanation for this would be provided when I reached the hostel. After crossing the river beside Strawberry Cottage I felt like I had left civilisation behind, or what little there had been in the valley. The surroundings were now completely undeveloped with no other sign of the intrusion of man other than the narrow track that I was walking along. The infant River Affric meandered around the floor of the valley with the track at times closely following the river until eventually I reached the hostel, which reminded me of the Loch Ossian Youth Hostel that is similarly isolated, but with the added bonus of a shower (which I really needed!).

The National Trust vehicles were explained by the presence of a team of volunteers for the National Trust for Scotland who were staying at the hostel. When I had started planning this holiday I had considered volunteering here so it was interesting to see who I would have been working with if I had joined. My initial idea for this holiday in Scotland was simply to go to Glen Affric but ultimately I decided I wanted to achieve this under my own planning by walking along the entire length of the valley from the village of Cannich. I saw the valley in both rain and sunshine and was entranced by the seemingly unspoilt scenery that has actually been heavily influenced by man.

Although this day was heavily marred by the poor weather I still really enjoyed it. The rain or drizzle had stopped by noon enabling me to enjoy the slow walk along the valley before the rain started again soon after I reached the hostel. Ciste Dhubh, completely covered in cloud when I got there, is a mountain that I will have to climb another day. I do enjoy walking long distances along a good footpath through wild countryside. I don’t have to go to the top of a mountain to have a good walk and on a day like this it is much better staying on a good footpath at the bottom of the valley than trying to find your way in bad weather to the top of a mountain. When the weather is good then the top of a mountain is definitely the place to be as I found out the day before on this poor, dreich day.