11°C, brisk westerly carrying showers.
Plans: may be abandoned for this coming week.
Abandoned so far:
Ride to work on the cross bike and return along canals. Felt ill yesterday.
CX ride to Fradley junction. Same.
Camping in Wales next week, bad weather forecast.
Maybe go to Castleton instead, and go up Kinderscout.
Saturday, endless showers, 14C, strong SW.
Bad weather plus a desire to walk my last day means a valley hike. I went around the back of Liathach and snaked around the back of Beinn Eighe. The idea was to visit the corrie where the 3 buttresses are.
These hills are also sandstone of the same type as further north. It is layered in steps and terraces. Waterfalls usually fall in stages too. The one at the mouth of the corrie was swept back by the very strong wind. A smaller one further up didn’t fall at all sometimes. The water simply blasted into the air above.
I had to crouch behind an erratic to get out of that wind and eat my snack. The socks I sat on were polished and scarred with striations. Strong wind sprayed water backwards from the waterfall as I said. That made the gusts even colder.
I stayed there for a while, ate sandwiches and looked upon the scene. The cliffs had deep scars with conical landslides at the base of each.
The effects of cold air, spray and rain ended my time there. You can find photos mostly taken on the descent on my Flickr site. Showers became more frequent and heavier. Patches of sun did break through the drizzle. The stage was set for a meteorological special effect: low down a clear rainbow rose before the valley side.
Coffee, had a success with an idea taken from the German teenagers in Achmelvich the other day. I got this coffee maker for £8 that works on a gas stove.
Good coffee.
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Thur,16C, light wind and breaks in the cloud mostly midday.
This very long day started at 9.30 with the three hour walkin through the Glencanisp estate. Most of the track is easy up to the turn. After, it’s very boggy until the lowest slopes. Then it was steep, very steep. More than 1 in 1 until the bealach.
Suilvan looming
About this time, breaks in the cloud appeared, very encouraging.
Walking back felt hard, my feet hurt from three days of long walks with wet boots and socks. Long walks like these always run down my water supply. I had about four miles to go when the water bladder ran out. The day finished well, firstly the Glencanisp estate has spring water on offer for walkers from an outside tap. Then,
Lochinver has a very nice pie shop which does take-aways. The perfect way to conclude an exhausting day.
Tomorrow I head for Torridon.
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16C, fewer showers, lighter sky.
Morning, climbed the cliffs near Achmelvich in fresher sky with sun attempting to break to break through. I heard Shearwaters before I saw them skimming the wave tops. Still no sign of the Divers. Shearwaters are charming enough, the sound they make is so odd.
Afternoon, walked up from Inverkirkaig to The Falls Of Kirkaig. This walk had a dual purpose: one to see the falls and the other, to check the last part of the route for tomorrow.
The last quarter could be one walked in the dark if this went wrong. It’s good to get some familiarity. There was a problem though. On the north-west shore of Fionn Loch there is a gap by Loch Uidh na Ceardaich where the path runs. Except it didn’t.
The water was so deep that the path was under 2 or 3 feet of water. I tried to wade in after stripping off to my underwear. Its was strange to look down and see my legs an orange colour. The water had so much peat that it looked like beer.
I backed off as I was not happy to try this in bare feet. I have to decide whether I make two crossings or carry my load all in one. Two crossings means three if you count the return to collect the second load. What if I take the lot in one, and I fall in- my camera and phone would be destroyed.
Sleep on it.
13C, light wind, majour storm building.
Found the last bed & breakfast in Ullapool. Scary are the warnings about this remnant of hurricane Berthe. My lit is all wet and quite smelly so I can get the laundry done in the morning.
This place feels like an outpost, there are a lot of tourists though.
The landlord here has warned me about the midges, they will be out in force on the marshy lead-in to Sulvain.
I can’t really visualise the approach, but here there is a feeling of big open sky. Not like Glen Coe where the surrounding mountains loom ominously, almost threatening.
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16C, showers to start, cleared late afternoon.
Long long day. It wasn’t meant to be, but the walk time was nearly doubled. Perhaps it was the conditions. There was water everywhere. Every dip, every footprint was a puddle. Any soil was a bog and the whole effect was to make all surfaces very slippery.
The skies cleared and the highlands shone in their full glory.
Two Monroes in today’s walk. Sgurr na h-Ulaidh and along the same ridge- Stob an Fhuarain. Descent was eastwards but there were two very difficult rock walls to cover. There was no way around, so I took it slowly. This is not the place to have an accident. Nobody was within miles and no phone signal.
As it was, the final glen was boggy and rocks were hidden in the long grass. That made going very slow. Darkness fell with about an hour to go and the final river crossing was not obvious.
In the end, I came across a track that led me to walk through somebody’s garden. Hope view didn’t notice me with my head torch.
Back at camp, the block said 11.30 pm.
The best mountain days!
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15ºC, light wind but heavy rains.
The BBC have posted a Magazine article that hits the spot. It’s worth sharing here because i can relate to it so well. I don’t go out in all night walks, but do value the very long outing. Also it’s important to ignore your phone and don’t listen to music as you go.
A the heart of this for me is thinking time. The effect is the same while cycling alone, it’s time to chew over thoughts in your head as the miles wheel by.
Do take the time to read it.
14~9C, barely any wind, clear.
Tonight will get cold. It’s still and quiet here in this valley in North Wales. I got here about three in the afternoon, made camp and decided there was time for a walk.
Camp is about a km from Tryfan, which I you to climb tomorrow. It is a rough scramble, so I never wanted to inflict that on Rosie.
It’s as strange walking without her as I thought would be. Somehow, it feels wrong. Enough sad thoughts, I am here to unwind and enjoy myself.
I walked 5 miles today along the eastern end of the Glyderau- a quiet area, the hordes in west from here. I saw no-one.
The Welsh hills are still straw in colour, there is green between the old dead plants from last year, but it’s yet to get going.
Mosses look bright enough though.
First walks of the year are hard on the front of thigh muscles. I swear every time to train them up to get ready, but never I do.
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4C, SW brisk with heavy showers.
DofE- staff training day. This was a re-newal of our navigation qualification. For us, a nice walk around the limestone landscape of northern Staffordshire.
The next stage is a national award, this one cannot be used outside Walsall jurisdiction. A national award is more use for those of up when want to move on. I think he called it the low-life assessment.
Only problem was nagging aches from that long standing Achilles tendon problem. Every time I think it is healed, it comes back. Frustrating.
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30°C, hot, sunny, ne wind.
Big climb: through endless pine and beech forest. The walk in was a long steady gradient through forest. A magical fairytale forest filled with strange animal sounds and clouds of butterflies that rise as you walk. Feathery lichens littered the ground and pillows of alpine flowers were in full but tiny bloom. What an enchanted place, intoxicating.
What a big climb too, a long long slog I stopped at the refuge, a wooden hut provided for hikers on stage 1 of the GR20. Three horses waited nearby, untethered. Were they used to bring up supplies for the warden?
From there, I found the trail to the col and thence the summit of Monte Corona, 2,144m. Bolders covered the ground which made for good scrambling. They were solid, made of granite and offered a good grip.
I couldn’t stay at the summit for long, I feared loss of light at end of the descent in a dense forest.
A day of good fortune though. An easy, fast 2 hour descent got me to the road just as light failed. Only then did I need the head-torch. Even my frayed boot-lace held right to the end.
Micycle 