Ullapool 2007 - 29 March - Beinn a'Chaisteil

Thursday 29 March

Cooler and clearer today after rain.

Julie and I took bikes from Black Bridge to Lubachlaggan then walked up Beinn a' Chaisteil, a Corbett, whilst Pam and Paul enjoyed Cul Beag, and Andrew, Dave and Barry had a good day on a Graham - Beinn an Eoin. The latter found that hill a real challenge.

We spent the day under the cloud level - ideal for Corbetteering as all Munros were in clag.

Julie was quicker today, both cycling and walking, so I didn't have any long waits. The cycle in to Lubachlaggan was against the wind along a mainly tarmac track with a significant hill before the descent to Loch Vaich. We passed a busy but jolly farmer, and lots of very clean sheep and highland cattle.

Half an hour from Ullapool to Black Bridge - plenty of space to park, but also plenty of gooey black sludge. The bike ride from 9:45 to 10:45 got five miles under our belts with ease.

After a 15 minute break, we started up a faint stalkers path - fairly easy going even when we left that at 500 metres or so to head directly towards the summit, reached at 12:15. Very barren and dry up here.

Good views until the cloud came in.

We then allowed ourselves to be blown in 45 minutes from Beinn a' Chaisteil to the southern peak, Meall a' Ghrianain. Quite windy here - my Rab vapour rise jacket proved excellent.

A mountain hare passed just in front of us.

A steep and sometimes boggy/tussocky descent got us quickly back down to the old farm at Lubachlaggan, and a lovely cycle ride out with the wind behind us, though a stone did rip the wall of my new rear tyre!

Black Bridge 9:45; Lubachlaggan 10:45 to 11:00; summit 12:15 - 30; second summit 13.15; Lubachlaggan 14:05 - 20; Black Bridge 15:00.

Our route - 25 km with 950 metres ascent, taking 5¼ hours (including 16 km on bikes, taking 1¾ hours)

Back to finish off our veg, with some rather old salmon steaks from the butcher, who wasn't really interested. Very disappointing - all the good stuff goes to Europe, leaving the locals with rubbish. Pam and Paul joined us for another jolly evening.

Meanwhile Martin Scoular, who had been going to join us, texted to offer his apologies for absence due to a cold.

Next Day

Ullapool 2007 - 28 March - Scoraig

Wednesday 28 March

With a poor weather forecast, and Sue and Phil leaving today, we had more sausages (Olde English - the Black Pudding ones had a bad effect on Dave yesterday) before all seven of us (in two cars - sadly the two extra seats for the Espace are at home) went on quite a long drive to Badrallach via Dundonnell on another lovely sunny day, if hazy.

Lots of sheep on the road.

We enjoyed a there and back walk to the jetty at Scoraig - a place with no services but with 70 inhabitants. It was a very good path to this crofting community that is about 5 miles from the nearest road (or a quick boat ride).

We chatted with a crofter with a long white beard. He was going to plant some early potatoes. Met a couple returning from visiting their mother.

Nice long tea stop on a warm rock. The crofter was pleased about the muddy path now having turned dusty. Green spotted beetles crawled along the path.

The Old Lighthouse had been moved to Scoraig, displays placed inside, and a new bench made of bricks with input from each member of the community. Excellent.

The jetty at Scoraig

Dave and Barry experience a rare bout of obedience!

9:30 - left Ullapool; 10:20 - start walk; ~11:30 - 20 minute break; 12:40 to 13:20 - lunch at Lighthouse; 13:40 - pier; 15:30 - back at the cars.

Light rain on the return walk, later than forecast, was the first of the week.

I boosted the local economy by buying 'Hostile Habitats' (a newish book but already scarce to obtain) [there's a 2018 edition of this classic tome - Ed], and 'The Everest Boys' (Bonington's era of Everesteers), before being banned from the kitchen whilst Dave made tea (heated soup, pasta carbonara, fruit salad) which was excellent.

But then football.on.TV took over, so Andrew and I escaped to Pam and Paul's abode and watched the first 'Apprentice' programme of the current series.

Our route - 17 km with 400 metres ascent, taking 5 hours

Next Day

Ullapool 2007 - 27 March - Carn Ban

Tuesday 27 March

It dawned bright and clear, and not as windy as yesterday, so whilst Pam and Paul went up Quinag, the three old timers (Barry, Dave and Andrew) went for an amble on Cul Mor, and Julie, Phil, Sue and I drove to Oykel Bridge for a bike ride to Seana Bhraigh (Sue and Phil), and Carn Ban (Julie and me).

Julie proved to be a rather slow cyclist (I had reservations about many aspects of her bike that I won't go into here). Anyway we all cycled from a 10 am start (9 am from Ullapool), up Strath Mulzie. After a while some low cloud (high pressure cloud) that had blocked some views evaporated away to leave us in warm hazy sunshine for the rest of the day.

Running repairs needed a qualified mechanic

Waiting for Julie

Click on any image for a better version or slideshow

Only two thin layers of clothing were needed, even on the summit.

Sue and Phil abandoned their bikes at a big inflow to the Corriemulzie River, after about 12:20, and headed on up Seana Bhraigh. Julie and I crossed the river - I used the bike to avoid wet feet - Julie just sploshed across.

On the way up we had seen a group of six, who appeared to be walking out, perhaps from the bothy.

We continued on to a bothy by Loch a' Choire Mhoir, where the bikes had to be abandoned, but it had taken less than 3 hours for the 12 miles to this point. 

We lunched, then headed on up past frogs and a lazy lizard.

Viviparous Lizard

The view back to Seana Bhraigh

Purple Saxifrage

Panorama, with Seana Bhraigh (and Julie)

Around crags etc, a 450 metre steep ascent that took 1¼ hours. At the top of our main climb we got a call from Sue - they were on Seana Bhraigh summit. We still had 2 km to go.

Make that 3 km - we went past strange peat haggy things - to the wrong summit. After retracing to the correct place (checked by GPS) we lazed for a while, then at 15:30 we started down the hill.

Julie summits Carn Ban

Back at the bothy by 16:45, then a further 2 hours back to the car on the bikes. (A bit longer for Julie, who went the wrong way!)

It was a beautiful evening and had I been driving back there would have been frequent photo stops. But the old timers had the Espace, and by the time I stopped Julie it was almost too late.

Oykel Bridge

Sunset at Ardmair

Wildlife up high included a number of unidentified birds and geese, and a pair of wagtails. Lack of cycling shorts made for a sore bum.

Mishaps on the ride were minimal, just a few chain incidents.

A quick shower then a slow seafood platter at the Argyll finished a good day.

Our route - 46 km with 1500 metres ascent, taking 8.8 hours (including 38 km on bikes, taking 4½ hours)

Meanwhile, Paul and Pam enjoyed the views from Quinag

Next Day

Saturday 28 February 1970 - A Walk in the Glyders

Today's posting was inspired by an email received yesterday from Neil Barrass, entitled "We are the 'old days'!" Neil provided a link to a wonderful old (1948) film entitled 'Youth on the Hills'. What he found striking was the similarity between the equipment used in 1948 and that which we were using in the early 1970s, and he appended one of my photos from that era by way of illustration.

The photo concerned was taken on 28 February 1970 during a Tech Domski Hiking and Hostelling Club (TDHHC) weekend at Idwal Cottage YHA. This may have been my first visit to Idwal Cottage, and a version of the Saturday walk over the Glyders has become one of my favourite excursions, walked many times over the years, and not always without incident (as, for example, described here!).

I have a recollection of arriving at the hostel and being directed to a dormitory that may have been in an outhouse. I do recall being on the top bunk. It was a long way down. The bunks were in three tiers!

Anyway, my archives have jogged the memory of an excellent weekend in good company. Very few pictures were taken on my old Zorki 4 camera, and a scan of the negatives may produce better results than these scans of the photos, but given they are from over 50 years ago, and the negatives are not immediately to hand, so please bear with me.

Who were all these people gathered at a sheltered point on the Glyder plateau?

Well, from left to right: Kate Thompson (sitting), Roddy Burns, Gaspar Sanvicens, Howard Gee (RIP), Gary Beighton, Kev Hall, Neil Barrass and Pete Palmer.

Below, at the time I captioned this photo as 'Steeper than it looks'. 'Gas' is in the lead, with (L to R) Roddy, Mike Hope, and far right in the background - Gary Beighton and John Clark.

There was an impressive amount of frost on the summit pinnacles, below which Gas is posing.

I'm not sure which route we took, maybe Neil will remember, but there's certainly not an ice axe or a crampon in sight.

Glissading is good, but safer with an axe, and the enthusiasts amongst us were soon equipped with wooden shafted ice axes that were very similar to those seen in the 1948 film. (I still have mine, and I have an even earlier war department axe made in Cannock that's very similar but has a longer shaft.)

 

Here's the photo that Neil used in his email to illustrate how winter gear may have changed. Ian Taylor is being followed by Howard Gee and Don Waye.

We had great fun, but the weather was cold. On getting back down we realised that Pete Palmer was suffering from exposure. It took some time to nurse him back to health, though unlike Sue's experience with a friend in the same place in the 1980s, no hospitalization was necessary. 

I can only find one picture from the following day - there are five more somewhere. We walked into Betws-y-Coed from Capel Curig, pausing for some time en route to make our mark on a beech tree.

Here's another picture from the early 1970s, showing our gear at the time.

From L to R: Beryl, Roger Freeman, John Clark, Roger's friend who drove around in a Morris Minor estate car with a corrugated roof * Stuart Mellanby, Gary Beighton, and me. I still have that anorak, which in its day completed about twenty Lyke Wake Walks (40 miles across the North Yorkshire Moors).

Whilst I've been writing this, ears must have been burning, as - not having heard from him for many months - a message from Roger with some photos attached popped up. This shows our garb in the mid 1970s, at a time when Hellyhansen and Henri-Lloyd moved into the outdoors market. They were specialists in sailing equipment and their non-breathable waterproofs for active walkers, who soon become drenched in sweat, was possibly a retrograde step.

I'm pictured above in my 'Helly', flanked by Roger, and Dave Scruby.

Another friend of ours, Mike Parsons, lived through all this and has recently co-authored 'Keeping Dry & Staying Warm', that I wrote about here. This is the place for you, if you have an interest in the technicalities.

Lots of good memories, also for my mother, who will enjoy reading about some old names that will 'ring bells' when she turns on her computer tomorrow.

Feel free to comment...

* I'm getting confused here - the chap with the Morris Minor was Richard Thompson. He's not in this picture - I think I have confused him with Stuart Mellanby, who came on a few trips. I now think the person on the right in the picture above is Dave Scruby, not John Mansell. Thanks to Roger for attempting to clarify this.