Our planned route and statistics for today are shown below:
1 Wild camp
2 Summit at 839 metres
3 Bealach
4 Summit at 942 metres
5 Meall Buidhe (M)
4 Summit at 942 metres
6 Mam Meadail
7 Carnoch
8 Sourlies
9 Sgurr na Ciche (M)
10 Feadan na Ciche col
11 Wild camp at high lochan at NM 906 963 (approx 900 metres)
Statistics
14 km
1700 metres ascent
8.0 hours
(2 Munros)
Our full route is here.
We offer our apologies for absence, but we do hope you find our contribution. It may be a little peaty by now!
Enjoy your crossing, Alan, et al.
Hic.
Our planned route and statistics for today are shown below:
1 Inverie – via the boat from Mallaig
2 Torcuileainn
3 Point at 275 metres at NG 847 016
4 Mam Barrisdale
5 Luinne Bheinn (M)
6 Wild camp at head of Allt a Choire Odhair at NG 871 001 (approx 680 metres)
Statistics
13 km
1100 metres ascent
6.5 hours
(1 Munro)
Our full route is here.
The 8 hour journey passed all to quickly, and by the end of it just a handful of us found ourselves staring at the white horses being whipped up by the wind in Mallaig's harbour.
Many folk will be starting from the Kintail Lodge Hotel, pictured above before last year's Challenge. It's a brilliant place from which to start.
We head off to Montrose tomorrow to drop off the car and then spend Thursday travelling round to Mallaig to befriend a few strangers (I don't recognise any of the other names starting from there), en route saying hello to a few old friends who we hope to encounter in Glasgow and on the train.
This year's route doesn't cross either of my/our previous routes - we are steadily moving south, and this will be our first encounter with the hordes in Glasgow. Should be fun!
The route has now been penned, and is on view in some detail, together with a kit list, here.
We have no significant new kit this year - just a RAB Drillium jacket for Sue - largely due to having pulled out the gear during the last few hours, leaving no time for replacements. It mostly hasn't been used since last summer's IBR trip. Bob and Rose can expect a bit of business in about 3 weeks' time!
Excluding CCS supplies, we'll each be carrying a maximum of around 14 kg, including two days' food, which should be quite comfy, but we do average 1000 metres ascent each day on our 328 km (205 mile) route. That's if we don't have to resort to our 'Foul Weather Alternative', which given the current state of the weather looks quite likely. CCS may of course be available at obscure and secret locations across Scotland, but as we will be lingering in the west and probably behind most people, we are not advertising any particular supply points. [We may get to eat it all ourselves!!!]
We'll be blogging our way across Scotland (of course) but the 'phone signal will rarely be strong enough to enable images to be transmitted, so they'll be added later. Some days there may be no signal, so bear with us - we'll be doing our best.
Good luck to any readers who are also doing the Challenge. Bon voyage, and see you in Montrose, if not before.
Doesn't time just fly past!
Well, today I've spent a few minutes tarting up the entries (in a very minor way) and adding a few images in relation to last year's trip to Egypt, as promised so long ago.
Including this one, there are just 12 postings with the 'Egypt' label. They can be reviewed in reverse order here, or individually by clicking on the relevant posting below:
Thursday 23 October 2008 - Heathrow Terminal 5 - Gateway to the World!
Friday 24 October 2008 - The Step Pyramid of North Saqqara
Saturday 25 October 2008 - Wadi Digla
Sunday 26 October 2008 - Bibliotheca Alexandrina
Monday 27 October 2008 - Pompey's Pillar and The Catacombs of Kom es-Shoqafa and An Egyptian Wedding
Tuesday 28 October 2008 - Egyptian Taxis
Wednesday 29 October 2008 - The Egyptian Antiquities Museum
Thursday 30 October 2008 - Religion and Boats
Friday 31 October and Saturday 1 November 2008 - A Desert Adventure
Sunday 2 November 2008 - Citadel, Mosques and more Pyramids and Good Food
I have very much enjoyed revisiting Egypt today on this wet Spring Bank Holiday in Manchester, not least for the pleasure of re-living the fine desert sunset depicted above. I hope you enjoy it as well!
It was a lovely day, but as Sue was working we could only manage a short afternoon stroll.
We'll get plenty of exercise in a week or so!
We decided to experiment. A new route. It's a 20 minute drive to the Stretton Fox.
The pub, a converted farmhouse*¹ from the mid 1800s known previously as Spark Hall, was heaving with custom.
It's right next to the M56 motorway that has obliterated any trace of the old Roman road. Crossing the bridge over the motorway we soon came to the Ring o' Bells, where a new sign displays an interesting use of apostrophes.
The pub was closed. It would be open at 7 pm tonight. It must be unable to compete, despite its closer proximity to the village of Stretton.
It's an old village, with a narrow pavement beside the busy main road that passes 'Stretton House - 1769-1788', and still going strong!
We were testing a walk from Jan Darling's book 'More Pub Walks in Cheshire and Wirral', from which I have borrowed some of the historical references. 'Turn right over a stile' was the next advice. Our first encounter with the Kindly Farmers of Cheshire illustrated their loving care and kindness towards the crops that were sprouting lusciously in the field beyond the place where a stile and finger post had once stood. So we went past the new farm shop and dodged under the barbed wire fence that separated us from the stile at the other end of the field where the path had been ploughed up.
Across a cart track a finger post pointed clearly to a gate in the far corner of a second field. This one had not been ploughed. It was full of milk laden cows. A farmer was persuading them towards the milking parlour. All our concentration went into dodging the fresh cowpats. The farmer, being Kindly towards his cows, which were obscuring our correct exit over a stile, studiously ignored us as our incorrect route obliged to clamber over gates and negotiate more barbed wire and a deep ditch.
An overgrown stile by the beautifully named 'Noggin Cottage' led beside fully fledged hedges to one of many concealed ponds that litter this area.
Our route led beside another hedge to reach a road at Bentley's Farm. A Kindly Farmer had chosen to block the path with an electric fence and a slurry pit - after all, slurry is essential for crop growth around here. We found a way round and proceeded down the lane to the Birch & Bottle.
Saturday afternoon. It was shut.
The 18th century properties beside the lane to Fogg's Farm were mainly in fine condition, with lovely gardens. Beyond Fogg's Farm the path led to Antrobus Golf Course. From afar, it looked as if the golfers were having a picnic, but as we got closer and moved our attention on from a gorgeous chestnut horse we discerned that these were not golfers at. The golf course was full of anglers, with a fine selection of ponds to satisfy their every taste.
There were more fishermen than golfers today.
A mother coot and her newly hatched child were busy in the weeds.
The route description through the golf course was quite complicated, but times change. Now a good gravel path leads easily clockwise around the perimeter of the course to an exit onto Reed Lane in the far corner. We paused to look back at the quiet scene.
This quiet lane led us below swooping buzzards and past prolific forgetmenots into New Occupation Lane.
Some barns built here in 1940 by the War Agricultural Committee now flourish as private dwellings. A left turn took us along a sort of dyke across Whitley Reed, which provided peat for fuel in Roman times. Much of the area has now been drained and cultivated, but there are still rough areas - reserved for walkers, of whom we saw no others today. Gorse, heather, nettles, reeds and brambles flourish in such 'rough'.
Past more ponds and across a sandy racetrack (racehorses must train here), we drew gradually closer to the roar of the motorway traffic before heading west towards woodland that was once part of Stretton Moss. There are marlpits hereabouts, where in the 19th century the clay and lime mixture was dug out to be used as fertiliser. As we headed along a narrow path beside the wood, a Kindly Farmer of Cheshire roared up in a winged tractor. Reversing beyond the edge of the field the wings were unfurled and we stopped abruptly as a thick spray started to belch into the atmosphere. We paused whilst this farmer, Kindly as ever towards His crops, belted off up the field in a cloud of modern-day fertiliser spray.
We were completely invisible to all the farmers we met today.
The approach to Moss Hall was marred by piles of rubble.
But once past this blot on the landscape, the sunlit oilseed rape gave a pleasing image enhanced by the backdrop of a darkening sky.
From here it was almost an easy walk past a large slurry pit and down a long lane back to the Stretton Fox. It would have been very easy if the Kindly Farmer of Tanyard Farm, who had recently planted his precious crops in a field across which our footpath passed, had not ploughed up the path.
Luckily, closer to home the paths are better walked and some of the Kindly Farmers of Cheshire are a bit better behaved!
Here's our route, should anyone be interested. It's 10 km (6 miles), with virtually no ascent, and it took a little more than two hours. On this dry day, trainers were adequate footwear.
*¹ In the 19th Century, Liverpool was a leading UK port, handling ship loads of cattle from Argentina and Canada. Dairy farming was dominant in this area, with fresh produce being sent to London to be sold. The farmhouse was built on 'Spark Field', named after a small variety of trout that was found hereabouts. The Stretton Fox stands beside the site of a Roman road that ran from Wilderspool to Northwich, then on to London. The name 'Stretton' meaning 'the town on the street', dates from this time.
Now, these topics aren't related, but they are current.
Phil's entertaining entry on:
is here. It's well worth a read.
Want a good camera? Have a look at Bill Lockhart's blog for his first impressions of what looks like a nice piece of kit. A 'trifle' expensive though.
Bill's 'Visions from my world' video is well worth viewing. I won't embarrass myself by adding an image to this posting, I'll leave you to click on Bill's images, which are in a different league.
The TGO Challenge. It has come up as our next trip, so I have to busy myself over the next few days finalising our route, buying train tickets, sorting accommodation, printing some maps, gathering provisions, and throwing some kit together - I hope there's no need for anything new, as I suspect it wouldn't arrive in time. I just hope the Toughprint paper turns up.
So these pages may go a little quiet for a few days - but I do soon hope to provide some route details.
Here's another good old English name for you, Mike. Actually, the Drovers Arms is situated half way between Over Peover and Lower Peover (aka 'Superior' and 'Inferior'). The 'o' is pronounced as an 'e'!
We arrived half an hour early for this evening walk, so with plenty of time to sample the 'Black Sheep' ale.
Andrew had been inexplicably passed in a lay-by. He is usually in-situ at the start point, enjoying a beer. "Attending to important business", I surmised, or "reccying the route". (Andrew was tonight's leader, and he likes to be well prepared...)
We were greeted, entirely unexpectedly, by Ian C - one of my old UMIST contemporaries. He works nearby and had made good use of the Drovers 'Early Bird' menu to fuel himself for his first appearance on one of our walks for several years.
Andrew lumbered in and downed some ale whilst breathlessly explaining "...eating my tea...important business...reccying the route...". Retirement sees him as busy as ever, bravely multitasking whilst fervently attempting to keep all his balls in the air.
He led off into a field. "Keep low" he advised, "as soon as they spot us the six horses will gallop towards us." He had done his homework - they did just that; they just wanted to be friends with us.
The route took us along quiet lanes in the late sun under a darkening blue sky. Richard had 'joke fever' - it's a shame I can't remember any of them (well, on second thoughts!), and Jenny and Andrew had developed strange walking styles.
The hedgerows and woodland paths now bulge with garlic mustard, greater stitchwort and yellow archangel, as well as the violets and anemones that have accompanied us over recent weeks. The woodland areas have swathes of bluebells, and in the fields the dandelions are nearly over.
We discovered that Ian had joined us simply to escape from his mother in law, and that Andrew knew the area well - he kept darting off the main paths to avoid boggy sections that he blamed on 'The Hunt'.
Past extensive glass-houses full of chrysanthemums we strolled, under huge trees with noisy birds - buzzards, crows and pigeons, near the converted barns that Andrew so despises, and beside a country residence with a helicopter and more friendly horses outside.
Dusk fell, over lush woods and Cheshire fields, some deep with growth, others sporting brown scrub and a tree-laden skyline.
Luckily the fading daylight and the crescent moon provided sufficient light for the torch batteries (yes, we had one torch between 6 of us) to be utilised in Andrew's failing GPS unit, which seemed to hold the key to avoiding a night out 'lost in Cheshire'!
The Drovers Arms was dark and empty when we returned, but a barman appeared to serve us before locking up as we left at 10 pm. As last week, we were the only customers after returning from our evening walk, and the future of some of these pleasant country pubs is starting to become a worry. They need more business.
Tonight's 8 km route with minimal ascent (it's the Cheshire plain, after all) is shown below. It took about 2 hours.
Our evening walks programme is here. Anyone is welcome to join us.
Sue and I joined Alastair for a regular (annual) 'bagging' trip, during which Al chooses the hills (by definition, ones that he hasn't been up before) and we follow him.
For this trip we were joined by Lyn, who was on loan from her three year old twins. For obvious reasons (not least the fact that she lives south of Bristol) this was a rare treat for her.
A shame, then that the Mountain Weather Information Service provided a dire forecast, with a 30% chance of clear summits on Saturday and only 20% on Sunday.
An early escape from work for Al saw us chauffeuring him up to Glasgow whilst he chattered away on Important Business, in the back of the car.
Easy-jet had delivered Lyn early, so her pick up was perfectly timed, and the fish 'n chip shop at Callander provided sustenance, followed by the Killin Hotel's Ossian Ale.
Meanwhile we had disembarked at Fairview B&B, a fine establishment where Julie and Dave, also on this trip but with their own 'bagging' agendas, were also ensconced.
This B&B has a spacious lounge for guests, with wine glasses thoughtfully provided. Luckily we had the means to fill them...
Saturday 25 April - Creag Mhor and Beinn Heasgarnich ("I can't pronounce that, either" said our landlady, "and I've lived here all my life!")
A short drive up Glen Lochay saw us parking at Kenknock in a wide area inhabited by cows and calves, and our stroll started gently along the private road up the glen to Batavaime.
A huge pipe approached us from the north, and disappeared over a mountain to the south.
Beyond Batavaime we enjoyed the last bit of tarmac for a while before heading steeply up the soft ground that leads to the pleasant, broad ridge of Sron nan Eun.
Dog violets and dung beetles adorned the hillside, and these wood anemones were soaking up the unexpected sunshine.
11.00 am - time for a brew...
After a flat section along Sron nan Eun the ridge steepens again, up to the 1047 metre summit of Creag Mhor.
Just beyond the summit, lunch was taken in a sheltered spot, Al taking the opportunity to delve greedily into his Scotch Egg Mountain.
A jink to the north west past worried wheatears avoided some cliffs and brought us round to Sron Tairbh, for our final 400 metre ascent of the day up to the summit of Beinn Heasgarnich. The views were hazy but we were enjoying a fine day with high cloud, so we were very happy.
Here's the view north to Beinn a Chreachain.
The hillside was blanketed with the small creeping flowers of purple saxifrage.
Lyn was especially happy as she tramped easily from Stob an Fhir-Bhogha to the summit.
Photographs were taken with a fine mountain backdrop. The sky was quite lively - it was raining nearby, but we stayed dry.
From here we enjoyed a rough 4 km descent to pick up a surfaced road near Lochan Learg nan Lunn for the final gentle road walk to Kenknock. This section brought our only encounters of the day - a lone woman slogging up the boggy slopes of Coire Ban Mor (good camping here), and Al and I briefly overhauled a couple who had been a short way ahead all day.
Here's our route for the day - 22 km with 1400 metres ascent, taking just over 8 hours. There's a web page here, giving links to a route card and to details of a walk over nearby Meall Glas and Sgiath Chuil.
Sunday 26 April - Ben Challum
The Killin Hotel served us well last night - a good meal in pleasant surroundings with attentive service. But the Ossian Ale was not able to 'settle' in time for us, so a selection of bottled brews were tested.
Lyn was missing her twins, Ben and Polly. Someone suggested "you'll have to take Polly up Stac Polly (sic)". "Yes, that's a good idea" agreed Lyn. Some wag then suggested "you'll be busy with Ben, then!"
Sunday dawned rainy. Plans to conquer Meall Glas and Sgiath Chuil were abandoned in favour of the straightforward plod up and down Ben Challum. Julie and Dave inexplicably bottled out of any perambulatory activity. So the four of us found ourselves in a layby beside the A85, 200 metres below the cloud base.
The cameras didn't come out much today. It was raining. But 11.00 am doesn't come and go without a tea break and a bit of posing from my three cheery companions...
After that a couple of folk with a dog flew past as we laboured up the boggy hillside to reach the cloudy summit of Ben Challum (1025 metres) after three hours. We passed them in a yellow shelter but our own blue shelter wasn't quite needed, as we found a spot to enjoy our lunch out of the wind in a gully between the two summits.
Lyn was going well today, despite warning us that she may seize up after yesterday's exertions, and everyone skipped happily down the hillside to enjoy views below around 600 metres. Here, Kirkton Farm lurks below us.
Next to the farm is the site of St Fillan's Priory. The ruins of this Augustinian priory, currently nestling under a blanket of lesser celandine, date from the 13th century. Robert the Bruce endowed the priory in 1317 - it was a magnificent building over 50 metres long in those days.
Next to the priory is a graveyard that dates back to the beginnings of the early Celtic church in the 8th century.
This is the land of Fillan, an Irish missionary who travelled on foot between Tyndrum and Killin, covering the same ground as modern day West Highland Way walkers. He came to spread the teaching of a Christian way of life to the Scots and the Picts.
Did he succeed? Well, the priory was built in recognition of his teachings, which following his death led him to be made a saint.
Five hours on the hill was quite sufficient for this inclement day. We were happy to finish our stroll at around 3 pm, giving us plenty of time to adjourn to the tea shop in Tarbert before depositing Lyn at Glasgow airport and tootling back home in time for tea.
Here's today's route - 12 km with about 1000 metres ascent, taking 5 hours.
Some 50 images from this trip have been uploaded to Picasa and are available as a slide show by clicking here.
