Category Archives: Hiking

Torridon rest day.

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16°C, fine summer’s day.
Some breeze has kept the midges under control. However, though I feel the enthusiasm, as soon as any walking turns uphill, then my legs complain. Therefore, cafes, drives to interesting places and general slowness is on order.
Thinking, talking on the summits yesterday turned to those without a head for heights. I announce that I have a theory: it runs in parallel to motion sickness. That’s when  our inner-ear balance organs disagree with what you see. The comparison is valid in my little theory, one I dreamt up while traveling along a ridge.
Normally, you walk along and the ground appears to move beneath your feet. Also normally, the apparent movement in your peripheral vision matches that under don’t. Walking on a ridge breaks that rule. The ground under your feet, moves at about 4mph. That in the periphery, does not, it’s 2,000 metres away so looks still. A disconnect that your mind may not handle.
That’s my theory. Does it sound okay?

Atmospherics: it’s a shame, in a way, to rest on a day like this; the weather is ideal for a few summits. The sun is now down, but it has triggered some interesting effects. There are clouds forming abut 300 up, they don’t extend much higher. So the peaks here all show their summits.
The plan; to hike tomorrow and do an overnight stop in a bothy. I want to make one munro summit tomorrow and another on Thursday before returning here. They are both quite remote and no phone signal apart from on the tops. I left a route card with the mountain rescue here at the SYHA in Torridon.
I still prefer to travel solo. What rubbish do people talk about when they’re in a party? Wouldn’t it get irritating? How about not saying anything?

Beinn Alligin.

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13°C, milky overcast and zero wind.
2 munros, Sgurr Mor, 986m, and  Tom na Gruagaich, 922.m. The Horns (Na Rathaoan) is a Corbet.
Start 9.00 and back at camp at 19.15 including walk in and out time.
The horns of Beinn Alligin: started off at 9am, and walked to the start-point. It was a mistake, because the hour that took, was time off the summits.
Anyway.
The ‘Horns’ are pinnacles which are fun scrambling places. I  went up the first one and part of the last one.
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After these, the two Munros loom ahead. The  are not that hard, it’s just something about their ‘mood’ that is intimidating. The whole mountain group is old red sandstone, a good snag for walking. The grip is always good and there are springs not far below. That was the only problem I had, the last summit was a much because of thirst. Oh, and the midges.
The still air was perfect for midges, even at 1000m altitude. I had to eat my food pacing about to stop them building up.

Maol Chean-Dearg orbital.

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Improving weather, 14°C, light SW and sky breaking up during.
Small summit, Bealach an Rhuadh-Stac, 603m. 7.5 hours walk, probably 12miles.
It was only supposed to be a rest day jaunt, maybe 4 hours or so. It turned into seven. In short, I did an anticlockwise circuit around Maol Chean-Dearg.
This really is the heart of the Torridonian hinterland. More old red sandstone layer cakes and iced with quartzite caps. The high point, Bealach an Rhuadh-Stac was all crunchy white quartzite, hard and sharp.

The tracks were bereft of human footprints, but mountain-bike tracks were continuous. Incidentally, there were horse’s hoof marks and a dog’s paw prints too.
There is a bothy further south, which I may use if my plan works. I’d like to do a multi-day trek to take in a few munros and wild camp too. This looks like the place to do it!
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The forecast looks great for tomorrow, but duller on Tuesday. So to make the best use of tomorrow, I hope to go up Ben Alligin to the west of here. That will be a full day with at least two munros and views of the Atlantic.
Today confirmed that my fitness is plenty, as long as I have enough food.

Ben Eighe, 3 munros.

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13°C, 8 at the tops, cloud about 800m, lifting later to showers. Some sunny intervals.
Majestic B. Eighe is perhaps less intimidating than other Torridonian peaks, especially Laithach.
I started the climb at 10am and made the first summit at about 12.30. From there it’s possible to go in several directions. My route was West along a white quartz ridge.that drops you down to a bealach then onto a grassy flatter summit area that would be great for a wild camp. In fact, it is reminiscent of Craig Meagaidh over by Glen Spean.
There were plenty of alpine status in flower, just like the ones in my garden.
After the second, easy summit Munro, I considered scaling Sail Mhor, but after looking at the drop down to the bealach, I turned around. That descent was almost like one of the famous buttresses. There probably is a good route, but I feared running out of time.
Back then to the cairn and down to the bealach connecting Rhuadh stac Mor. The third and last munro was easy too. From here, you could see past me Skye  in tho distance. In every direction, there were fantastic things to feast your eyes upon. East was vast expanses of space and quartzite scree. North, Slioch was just visible between rain showers.
Rain returned regularly today. That left sunny bits between and the light was magical.
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Finally, the bit I always dread, the descent. Initially, a deep gully that looked much worse than it was. The technique was to use the sandstone blocks at the side like a staircase. Easy really. At the bottom of this stage, I could finally restock water. The most delicious spring water oozed out of the sandstone to the left.
Feeling replenished, I had the energy to tackle the descent quickly. Failing light was quite worrying by now. The views were not. Long shadows and crepuscular beams reached out from a sunset behind Ben Alligin. I can’t wait to see the photos properly
I finally reached the car at 21.50, nearly 12 hours after starting out.

To Torridon.

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13C, low cloud but not much rain.
More driving: but yesterday was all driving too. To break it up, I hoped for a walk. AND I found one. It was near Loch Cluanie. There is a fine ridge that puts you between three Monroes. The name, Am Bathach. At the northern end is a bealach which looks like a good place to bivvy. There are banded rocks, probably gneiss, which appear to offer the right amount of shelter.
The ridge itself offered that effect where you can see the distant ground in you peripheral vision moving strangely behind the ground beneath your feet. You’d have to see it to know what I mean.
With all these choices, three summits and two escapes down, a decision had to be made.
Right at the last minute, I took the one recommended in my guide book.
Scotland has had unusual amounts of summer rain this year and much of it remains in the boggy ground. The return was very squelchy.
With a late start, I didn’t get down until 18.30 and faced a long drive to Torridon. So I ate at the Cluanie Inn. There I listened to an American girl talking to some drunk old gents about Ben Nevis. She must be planning to climb it tomorrow.

A conclusion in Wales.

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16°C, woke to rain, brighter by lunch.
It’s a shame to pack the tent away wet. Once decamped, a visit to Caffi Gwynant is the obvious thing to do.
As I have discussed here before,  I have a fascination for the Migneint. It’s a plateau (which was the centre of an ice sheet in glacial times). A rolling area of grasslands cut by meandering rivers. Last June, I checked out the start of a walk to the bothy near Arenig Fach.
The route started tricky, but is easy to navigate later. Strangely, the marked footpath deviates from the track on the map, but nothing was apparent on the ground. Simply walk along the track then!

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This a fairly high altitude area, though it doesn’t look like that while there. These hills are between 400-500m, as high as the ridge I used for the last wild-camp. One clue was the fresh, cooler air.

The bothy was fairly typical, perhaps a little rougher than others. There was a newspaper from the 5th June on the table. The place was dirty and had few sleeping areas. Outside, the sides obviously used it for shelter although the door was well barricaded against them.
Not a very inviting place to stay, I’d prefer a tent. However, if you want a bad weather shelter, or you’re travelling light, this could be a solution. I would clean the place first thought.

Descend from Yr Aran.

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16°C, strong W, clouds from 600m.
Be warm and comfortable, those bits I got right. What spoilt my night’s sleep was the roar from the wind. At fairly regular intervals, the gusts would shake and whip the tarp. Awake at midnight, I pondered over- we’re a month away from mid-summer and it’s surprising how long light lingers, there was still a faint milky glow at midnight.
By morning, the weather was the same, so decamp.
The route: head west along the ridge and find am unnamed reentrant that forms a valley  through complex moraines. Then ago to pass a disused quarry and mine. The only problem here was finding a wall crossing; the tall stone wall followed contours regardless of how steep. The walls were very tall, and not a flaw, gate or stile was to be seen.
In the end, I’m sorry to say, I climbed over. I chose a shorter section with a smaller drop on the other side. It worked, without even a pebble dislodged.

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The quarry offered a good place to filter water and quench my thirst.
These places can be horrifying, especially those mine entrances. This one was just as ominous as any, dark into its endless throat. Inside was flooded from torrents dripping from above. There must be all posts of life forms in there, but it’s no place for human. Out of the derelict buildings was an easy path snaking towards Beddgelert, visible in the valley.
By the time I got to the bottom and the lake itself, my energy faded. Later I decided that on this trip, I hadn’t taken enough food.
Thoughts of a food stop at the excellent Caffi Gwynant drove me on.
Then I got there, the first thing that I noticed was the closed sign.

In conclusion: next time, take more food and ear plugs.

Under a tarp.

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11°C, brisk W. Just below cloud base.
Searched for hours for somewhere to bed down. Now I’m on the Bwlch between Yr Aran and an unnamed hill to the east. Altitude about 500m. Inside the bivvy is warm and the tarp is flapping noisily in the wind. This was the most still pocket of air I could find.
The forecast suggests low chance of rain.
It’s a pity the tarp is such a bright green. I prefer something better camouflaged. It’s great to be able to peep out and see the mountains. There has been nobody on this side of Snowdon all day. Unless you want to count a noisy twin rotor military helicopter.

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The Stone wall makes for a good wind break.

Snowdon, arrived.

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17°C, Clear with light W.
Betws-y-Coed: used my DofE discount card to buy some kit. Firstly, an expedition rucksack. After trying on many, I got the Lowe Alpine 65 litre. It seemed to fit the best. Next, a Rab bivvy bag. I’m looking forward to trying that one out. It’s quite roomy inside, I know because I climbed inside it tonight in the safely of my tent. The length is 7ft which should mean it puts no pressure on the sleeping bag thus reducing its warmth.
Walk up some of the Watkins path. Set off at 20.00 and got up to the 400m amounts at the quarry beyond the Gladstone Rock. Snowdon was all quiet and peaceful, barely anybody was seen. The natural beauty of this place was all there, plain to see.

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Watkins Path.

This time of year, there is not any real need for lights, even at 10pm, but to be on the safe side, I did. This is not the time to stumble.