Category Archives: Hiking

Ogwen Valley, Easter.

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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.
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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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Hulme End.

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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.
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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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Monte Corona, Corsica,

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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.
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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.

GR20 recce

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30C, clear, light ne.
Visit the start of the GR20 on Corsica. Planning a potential hike on past of the main route. The paths appear clear and well marked. The heights are way above what I am used to- more like the alps.
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We swam in the shallow rapids and sprang over large rounded bolders. It seems easy from here. The choice of routes is wide, from 2 hours to over 6. There is an 18km route that that includes a 2300m summit and a long ridge walk. Could take ten hours., but the return is long and follows  easy valley terrain.
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Goodbye Scotland

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19C, brighter further south.

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Here is the inevitable melancholy end of holiday shot. I always leave Scotland with a lump in my throat at the end of a visit. I get it in Wales, but this seems more precious.
I bought a book of walks in the southern highlands so maybe, a shorter visit is practical. The western highlands are just too far to drive for a short visit.

Beinn Eunaich

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14°C, drizzly showers,
Last Monroe of the trip. Not a difficult climb by any means. It was interesting in a few specific ways.
1, vegetation- very mossy on the top: perhaps this top is almost always in cloud. The moss was just like the stuff I find in the gutters at home. It filled the gaps between bolders but did make them rather slippery. Although not as bad as black mosses, it still requires a change of approach.
2, Cruachan is a mountain that has been turned into a massive hydro-electric station. It can pump water up into the lake to use later in time of high demand on the national grid. More interestingly, it also draws water from Eunaich through tunnels. It can collect water directly from streams via small dams then channel them through the tunnels that run deep below the ground, right under the mountain. It was one of these tunnel entrances that fascinated me.

Tunnel entrance.
Tunnel entrance.

Tarkovsky would have recognised them. You’ll see what I mean when I can upload some pictures.

I found this place rather spooky. Looking into the tunnel is looking at an endless inky blackness that gurgles and thunders an deep mix of sounds that makes the mountain seem alive.

Through the gate...

Through the gate…

Oban

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14°C heavy showers.

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Moved to escape the worst showers. They were really torrential in Fort William. As I write, I am sitting in my steamed up car looking upwind at a brighter sky. Supper is out there cooking on the stove.
There remains one full day before the long drive back home. How best to use it remains a pressing question. And as always on these trips, it all depends on the weather.
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This morning, we encountered two pigs rooting in the adjacent aspen wood. They have cleared the undergrowth except the bracken. It was funny watching them eat brambles. I couldn’t resist tweaking his nose. It’s hard and leathery- all the better for rooting with.
This evening, a different campsite has highland cattle to watch over us. They seem very calm but mildly curious.

Wild camp: Loch Quoich

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14°C, light cloud, SW.
Wildcamp near Sgurr Mhaoraich near Loch Quoich, a man-made reservoir. Though it’s very remote here, there is some through traffic to the tiny village Kinloch Hourn. I found a spot by a small Loch on the watershed. It’s a bit more windy here so there should be fewer midges. Anyway, it’s beautiful here with grassy covered hummocky moraines. The sort of place that makes your heart feel big and swollen inside your chest.
I can’t help but be a little nervous though; there is evidence of deer, some droppings are fairly fresh. And footprints.
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Later- encountered a small herd of red Deer while driving along the shore. About 4 hinds, and one stag. He ran along in front of the car and then jumped to the side. There he stood, only feet away, eyeing me up. We made eye contact. It felt like a while, but not long enough to get the camera out. The image will, nonetheless, stay with me- I am sure.

Creag Meagaidh.

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16C, good start.
Creag Meagaidh is just one summit in a horseshoe of others well over 3,000ft. They form an undulating ridge with fascinating and varied views all round. Start at 9.30, but it still took me till 15.00 to reach the title summit. Okay, so I had to take a catnap on the plateau, but still…
That felt like a very hard day. I don’t know how it happened, but I normally don’t read the time very often. But when I did, it was quite a shock that it read 2pm and I had not wet eaten lunch. Terrible, no wonder that I felt so dreadful. Why not have a sensation of hunger to make it unnecessary?
Anyway, a great day only marred buy a tricky descent through a birch forest, the path was hidden, roots were a serious tripping hazard and the rocks mossy and slippery as ice.