On Friday 26th May I drove to Alltschellach, the HF Holidays House in North Ballachulish near Glencoe to lead another Munrobagging week. We have now developed a Munrobagging 2 holiday so this one is now officially Munrobagging 1. I was joined by 8 walkers, 4 men and 4 women, and one of the walkers was a Freelance Journalist - Sabi Phagura. HF invited her onto the holiday to write an article about it which has yet to be be published. Naturally, I will be posting a link to it when it comes out. (Unless it's highly critical of course!). In the meantime, here is
Sabi's blog.
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| Descending Sgurr a' Bhuic |
On
the Munrobagging holiday we had planned to do ten Munros: Beinn Sgulaird, Stob
Ghabhar, Stob a Choire Odhair, Binnein Mor, Na Gruagaichean, Carn Liath,
Stob Poite Coire Ardair, Creag Meagaidh, Aonach Beag and Aonach Mor. However, the wind was very strong on Binnein Mor and people were looking a bit cold so I scratched Na Gruagaichean and we went back the way we came. They were a strong walking group and all got on well. We had a good mix of Scottish Weather with some fantastic views as well as wind and rain.
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| Cold but Sunny on Aonach Beag with Ben Nevis in the background |
The next week I was leading a normal Guided Walking week from Alltshellach. HF offers an easier walk, a medium walk and a harder walk each day on their UK holidays. The three leaders share these. I had three Mediums, an Easier and a Harder. Unfortunately, I had to cancel the Harder Walk the night before, because the forecast was for rain and high winds. This was a shame because it was on Bidean nam Bian, one of my favourite mountains. I did get to visit the lovely Island of Lismore and I got up onto the Mamore Ridge again. It always reminds me of the time I did all of them when I was 19! [That's enough nostalgia - Ed.]
After this, I drove over to meet Dorothy off the train at Pitlochry station. We stayed two nights at Pitlochry and climbed An Socach from
Baddoch, North of the Glen Shee Ski Centre.
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| "Is it OK if I just do a quick drawing?" |
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| Bridge over the River Tarf with the Falls of Tarf in the Background |
Then we spent 6 nights camping in Glen Tilt and going up another 9 Munros. Here is the entry from my
Mountain Leader Training Log. Skip this if you don't want all the technical details:
The next day we drove to the
Old Bridge of Tilt Car Park and left the car there. We walked up Glen
Tilt and camped near the Falls of Tarf. Next day we went over Caen
Creannock to reach An Sgarsoch then on to Carn an Fhidleir (Carn Ealer).
Then cross country to cut out An Sgarsoch on the way back. On the next
day we went East to ascend Beinn Iutharn Mhor via Fealar Lodge. We
skirted across the NW side of Mam nan Carn and ascended Carn an Righ.
then down to the wide track and back to the tent via Fealar Lodge. Next
day we packed up the tent and walked back down Glen Tilt to camp just
North of Marble Lodge. Next day we walked directly across to Carn Liath
then along the Beinn a Ghlo ridge over Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain and
Carn nan Gabhar. Then over spot height 898 and down to Glen Tilt. We
then had 8 km on the wide track to get back to the tent. Next day we
walked up the track to Carn a` Chlamain and then across to Beinn Dearg
by going round the back of Carn a Chiaraidh and over Elrig`ic an Toisich
to the summit of Beinn Dearg. We returned over Carr Feith nan Sac,
Beinn a` Chait and Elrig to the tent. On the last day we walked back to
the car and drove home.
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| Spot the tent |
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| Surprisingly lush and green - Glen Tilt |
From a wild camping perspective, the weather
was very good. We had little rain in the valley and enough of a breeze
to keep the midges at bay nearly all the time. However, we had very few
views from the summits as there was a blanket of low cloud at about 800m
for most of the week. Fantastic navigation practice though. On several
occasions I had to get us from one ridge to another or along a ridge in
hours of mist. In particular I learnt how easy it is to underestimate
how long it takes to cover ground when it is thick heather and/or peat
bog.
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| The River Tilt |
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| Beautiful Example of Devils Matchstick and Pixie Cup Lichen near the Summit of Beinn Dearg |
We saw lots of wild flowers and frogs. We also saw newts, voles and a lizard. Only nine more Munros to go now!
One of the things I most enjoyed about the three weeks was the
Mindfulness. I only heard of this recently and unfortunately it has already become a bit of a
cliché, with no end of mindfulness books now available. A search on Amazon shows up over 25,000 books including "Mindfulness
on the Go: Includes 52 cards and a 64-page illustrated book, all in a
flip-top box with an easel to display your mindfulness cards" or "Mindfulness for Dogs"!
However - to keep it simple - walking along, looking at the world and being more aware of the present is good for someone like me who probably spends too much time planning ahead and not enough time living in the moment.
