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Have a great weekend...

4 to 11 April 2009 - A Holiday in Plockton

A scene from the summit ridge of Beinn Liath Mhor
on Good Friday, 2009.

This is just a short entry to let you know that some photos have been added to the Plockton postings, and they can be viewed by clicking here (or the 'Plockton09' label).  As usual, the postings appear in reverse order.

I have also done a short web page, with a few panoramic images that don't show well in the 'blog' format.  It's here.

Our rented cottage, Duilisg, was really excellent, so I'm concluding with a couple of images of the cottage, which has been lovingly refurbished by Shona and Fraser.

Easter Monday around Dunham

It was too nice outside to stay in sorting holiday photos, so Sue and I toddled off to join the hordes at Dunham.

Our 6 km figure of eight stroll took us onto the canal towpath, where lots of boats were moored up, their owners happily sunning themselves.  This one was called 'Lucky Dip'.

At least four buzzards hovered above, and goldfinches busied themselves in the hedgerows whilst newly arrived house martins feasted themselves on airborne insects.  Leaving the canal at Agden Bridge, after some rather noxious muck spreading activity from a farmer who obviously wanted to show the holiday makers how hard he was working, we found a lady with a docile child and dog who had been intimidated by these cows and was returning home 'the long way round', defeated.

A nearby wood sported lush banks of greater stitchwort and lesser celandine - shown below, as well as wood anemones, with a few bluebells in flower and the rest not far behind.

We discovered as we passed back under the canal that we were on the Bollin Valley Way.

There is lots of blackthorn hereabouts.

And of course, it's the River Bollin flowing over this weir.

Beyond the Swan with Two Nicks the Bank Holiday crowds were thronging (just as if it were a Bank Holiday!) as we ambled past Dunham Massey's nicely restored waterwheel building (below), past the tame fallow deer, past the moat with mallards, coots, tufted ducks, Canadian geese, moorhens, etc, and back to the car to return home along quiet country lanes.

Easter Sunday along the Bridgewater Canal

We've returned from Scotland to gorgeous summery weather, so after yesterday's laziness I got some exercise this morning on my regular 14 mile bike ride to Lymm along the disused railway, returning along the Bridgewater Canal.

The sun beamed from a pristine sky.  Despite the early hour, lots of people were about, cycling, walking, rowing, barging, fishing, running, walking dogs, etc.  What a contrast to a couple of days ago, when we walked on Good Friday for six hours and encountered nobody.

Everything has really 'greened up' here during the past week. 
I noticed a mallard with six chicks - the first I've seen this year.

Quite cute really!

Nearby, the canal is crossed by the main A56 road in Altrincham.

Dandelions and white dead nettles now vie with butterbur for prime positions along the banks of the canal.

The Altrincham to Warrington railway track has recently been resurfaced, so users now don't have to negotiate marshes along here, though it can be a bit boring, and horse riders rule supreme - they rarely acknowledge the other more courteous users.

I should know what this bush is...the bumble bees were feeding busily on it.

The canal towpath runs through open countryside around Lymm.

Another mallard was busy with her young family - eight of them this time.

Then I whizzed back home, sunglasses being essential today.

Here's the route - 14.6 miles, taking up to an hour and a quarter at a steady pace:

Friday 10 April 2009 - A Fine Mountain Day - Beinn Liath Mhor

A one-legged man attempts the wrong gate in Coire Lair

The rain had eased by the time Pam and Paul turned up for today's escapade with Andrew, Sue and me.

Bagger Martin set off independently - desperately seeking Graham, or was it Marilyn? Or both?

Ken and Anne chose a coastal day, hoping to see interesting birds, etc. Anne had spotted a golden eagle at Attadale on Wednesday. (It proved to be both challenging and wet.)

Meanwhile Max nursed his arthritic ankle, perhaps feeling a little queasy after having washed down the other cottage's meringue mountain with sloshings of red wine.

The five of us parked up by the main road at Achnashellach and headed along the familiar (to me) path into Coire Lair. Fragrant pink alpine flowers (below) adorned grassy banks by the railway station. Lots more flowers are coming into bud and flower, and a brilliantly blood red rhododendron is flowering just by the station.

Lousewort, by Achnashellach Station

I'd been here three weeks ago on my last trip to these parts. Although that week's weather had been generally better, the nearby mountains had been in cloud on that visit. Today they were clear, and the weather was due to improve.

Ascending into Coire Lair, with Beinn Liath Mhor ahead

We wisely took our chance and headed straight up to the ridge of Beinn Liath Mhor, with our obligatory 11 am tea and CCS stop, and a southerly wind just about behind us. Views were extensive, and as we approached the first 876 metre summit the peaks of Torridon came into view, together with those of the Fisherfield Forest and An Teallach.

On the way we had been discussing walking poles.
"I dry mine out after every trip" observed Sue.
"I've had mine for 15 years and have never even cleaned them" bragged Andrew.

A few minutes later, Andrew appeared looking sheepish, using just one pole. Closer inspection revealed two jagged bits of tube protruding from his rucksack. "I slipped" he offered, as his feeble excuse!

As we strolled along the 2 km ridge to Beinn Liath Mhor's 926 metre summit we saw cloud coming in from the south and west. We hastened to the top, beating the cloud and enjoying lunch with fine views over Upper Loch Torridon and beyond.

The view to Kinlochewe and beyond, with the Fisherfield Forest ahead, and the jagged crest of An Teallach in the distance to the left

Looking back along the ridge

Summiteers

Although two folk in front of us, the only people seen today, headed on up the next peak, any thoughts of continuing to Sgorr Ruadh to bag our second summit of the day were soon dispelled by descending cloud and light rain. So we headed down the fine stalkers path into Coire Lair, past an intact and well concealed SSI (Site of Strategic Importance), and back to the car in showery weather, well satisfied with our 6.5 hour stroll.

Whilst 'the other cottage' visited Kyle for fish 'n chips, our small band finally cracked its food mountain problem with a four course extravaganza.

A final visit to say goodbye to the others revealed a fairly tired band of holiday makers after all this week's fresh air and exercise; early nights were deemed prudent.

So, another little excursion has come to an end. There will now be a brief pause in transmission whilst we clean the cottage, whizz home, and process a few photos in a bid to brighten up this week's postings.

Here's today's route - 15 km with 1130 metres ascent, taking just over six and a half hours, including numerous breaks:

Ciau

Thursday 9 April 2009 - A Trip to Applecross, and a Dip in the Sea

Seaweed at Applecross

First, a note for Shona, the owner of this excellent 'cottage', Duilisg:

We are glad you are enjoying these tales from Plockton... this really is an excellent spot, Shona; we are in the lap of luxury. Sue is particularly impressed as:

1. Afternoon tea can be taken in the sunshine in the front garden with its magnificent Loch Carron backdrop.

2. From that same spot a swim in the sea can be enjoyed, followed by an immediate therapeutic hot shower.

The photos will follow after we return home. (Now below.) (As usual, Sue has forgotten her swimsuit, and as usual that has not deterred her.)

Secondly - hello Alan, thanks for your comments - we are having a great week here and have managed to test some of our (mostly leaky) gear much more thoroughly than in the entire year of sun dominated 2008. Really, whatever the blog may infer, we are happy to be in the mountains with our friends, whatever the weather and whatever the pace, so apologies to anyone who may be concerned about holding us up. If it's any comfort, I was the laggard yesterday.

Today's dire weather forecast proved accurate in the early hours as the rain lashed down. So it wasn't a difficult decision to opt for a rest day. Occasionally a leisurely day can be most rewarding, and so it was today.

Sue, Andrew, Bagger Martin and I rose slowly (except A, he still can't quite get to grips with this aspect of retirement!) and lingered at home before tripping off up the spectacular Bealach na Ba road to Applecross. On the way, coffee was taken at the posh café near Attadale Gardens. Neil Barlow's 'Painted Mountains' prints are on sale here, and very good they are too.

Our collection of jugs was boosted at the nearby pottery.

The weather was grey but actually much better than yesterday, with most tops clear. It was warm, dry and calm - the forecast was completely wrong.

Fuar Tholl's rugged outline failed to entice us though, and we headed as planned for lunch on the beach at Applecross.

Minutes after we rose to enjoy a beach/river stroll in the vicinity of Applecross House a helicopter landed on our lunch spot. We continued on to explore an ice house and an impressive walled garden.

Highland cattle near Applecross House

The view across Applecross Bay to Raasay

The ice house

It was a busy, if remote, place with much evidence of a vibrant community. Not least, the Applecross Inn provided excellent local beer and was serving good value food overseen by a stuffed otter. Two sea kayakers pulled in from the calm waters of Applecross Bay. They were Sarah and Loz, on holiday from the Lake District. (Sarah was my predecessor as editor of 'Chunks', the newsletter of the International Munro Pineapple Society.) They had kayaked in from the Crowlin Islands, and planned to spend the next week with their kayaks on South Rona.

It's a small world!

Our rather more mundane day continued with a spectacular return over the 600 metre bealach, followed by the afore-mentioned afternoon tea in our front garden,

and Sue and Martin's dip in Loch Carron

followed by a wet t-shirt contest. (The video may belong to a future posting.)

We had a bacon mountain, so invited the 'other cottage' for a dinner of spaghetti carbonara. They brought their own paté mountain, and our combined fruit mountain was utilised to provide a most enjoyable and convivial evening, with an excellent quiz - courtesy of Andrew.

This fine cottage easily catered for the nine of us (after all, we had ten on Monday) - our guests just needed to bring a stool. Everyone is very careful, Shona, we all admire your handiwork and 'outdoor shoes' are not allowed past the entrance mat.

We haven't looked at tomorrow's weather forecast - it's bound to be wrong - so we'll go up something regardless...

...we have a plan! In the meantime, here's today's 5 km 'wheelchair route':

Wednesday 8 April 2009 - Oh Brother! - Aonach Meadhoin

In An Caorann Beag, near the Cluanie Inn

We woke after overnight rain to a dry morning in Plockton, but showers persisted and it was clearly wet in the mountains.

Chris was keen to do the Five Sisters, but it was clear that would have been over ambitious in today's conditions, so he and Avril tootled off home to Dundee.

Bagger Martin headed off to Skye for an appointment with a Marilyn or two on MacLeod's Tables. Meanwhile Andrew repeated his walk with Max, but in the other direction and without the now bed-ridden, gout suffering, arthritic Max, who is somewhat debilitated today. Was it all that red wine Paul drip fed him last night?

In a bout of unexpected sophistication, Anne went on a tour of local gardens and other places of interest. (She saw a golden eagle above Attadale.)

That left me, Sue, Pam, Paul and Ken. We decided to drive up to the Cluanie Inn for an attempt on the three summits to the east of the Five Sisters, on the north Glen Shiel ridge. I think they are known as the Three Brothers. We left the car on a brightening day - at 10.40 - the bad weather was supposed to be clearing.

We strolled purposefully towards Bealach a' Choinich, with the south Glen Shiel ridge behind us

And so it did clear, at least enough for us to enjoy a shortbread (CCS) stop after just 20 minutes. Well, it was 11 o'clock!

There are many old sheep pens, like this one, in the area

A good path led gently up beside Allt a' Chaorainn Bhig, and the weather continued to look hopeful as we reached Bealach a' Choinich at 600 metres. In a rising wind we turned sharp left (SW) to ascend the easy ridge of Sgurr an Fhuarail, pausing in a sheltered spot on the edge of the snow line at 800 metres for lunch, with jokes provided by Ken.

Lunch at 800 metres, in a pile of slush (or was that Ken's jokes?)

The snow laden summit ridge of Ciste Dhubh to the north looked impressive as it came and went from our increasingly misty view.

Onwards and upwards we went. The ridge sharpened and the snow became deeper. It was mainly soft, but as the others slithered up next to a precipice I decided crampons were in order. I faffed for ages on a flat section of the gnarly crest - the crampons hadn't been used since last winter and appeared to be adjusted for my trainers. With my ice axe taking the place of my walking poles I rejoined the others for the final section up Fhuarail. They were flailing on, having decided the snow was too soft for crampons, each with an ice axe in one hand and a walking pole in the other (the latter hopefully ready to be jettisoned in an emergency!!).

It was quite windy, and we were being splattered by increasingly frequent squalls of soggy snow.
The onward ridge to our first Munro summit of the day, Aonach Meadhoin, 1001 metres, was easy enough, but was traversed slowly, and with care. Ahead of us was 4km of similar going - a jolly romp on a fine summer's day. It was only around 2.30 pm, so we had plenty of time. But in today's conditions?

I think Ken told some more jokes.

Reluctantly, given the unrelenting wind and the unexpected persistence of the squally showers, which instead of clearing as forecast were tending to merge into each other, we decided to descend from here.

A false start - my fault - resulted in a re-ascent to the summit before we headed south down the ridge above Coire na Cadha. It was steep but sufficiently unencumbered with mountain furniture to enable a swift glissade for the first 150 metres or so.

Great fun!

A herd of deer spotted us as we contoured high in the coire to cross the river before it became too swollen - it was clearly impassable lower down. Then it was an easy descent to the road and a rather tedious 2-3 km walk back to Paul's car beyond Cluanie. At least that was much closer than the car we had optimistically positioned at our planned finishing point south of Saileag.

Crossing the river in Coire na Cadha, above the main torrent

All across? Nearly! I'll just nip back over for this self-timed photo!

The rain had continued to flail us and I don't think anyone regretted the decision to retreat.

It was 5 pm, so we'd had a good 6 hours in the wintry weather, and could now return safely homeward for another convivial evening in the two cottages.

Another fine day out...here's the route - 13 km with 904 metres ascent, taking just over 6 hours including stops:

Tuesday 7 April 2009 - Soggy in Skye - Sgurr na Coinnich

Setting off in good humour from Bealach Udal

Today Chris and Andrew joined Sue and me for a quick outing on Skye. It was showery, and not due to improve, so we simply made the short journey towards Broadford, turning left along the road to Kylerhea, and parking at a convenient point near 279 metre Bealach Udal. From here a blustery hour and a half's plod through heather, bog, grass and rock saw us on the 739 metre summit of Sgurr na Coinnich.

Conditions deteriorated, and some were unhappy about the pathless terrain

Sue had wet feet - not surprising as she'd forgotten her boots and was wearing trail shoes.
"Remind me never to contemplate using this sort of footwear for the TGO Challenge" she remarked. Of little comfort to Sue, the Hi-Tec boots given to me by Darren for testing had their first taste of rain today. They were just about as waterproof as Sue's trail shoes. Not really waterproof at all then, despite the optimistic label! Very comfy though.

Alan, as the intended recipient of these boots, may have made some more interesting comments on their performance. But do you enjoy walking with wet feet, Alan, and would you have been able to control the natural inclination of these featherweight items to shoot ahead of others on the same walk? They are not suited to 'Slow Munros', especially in cool, windy weather!

Andrew and Chris had had enough of the buffeting wind and slithery heather by the time we had descended to Bealach nam Mulachag. So they contoured back south, whilst Sue and I spent the next 30 minutes popping up to and down from the 733 metre summit of the pimple named Beinn na Caillich.

RAB clothing - ideal for people with large heads!

It was quite wet and breezy, with mist obscuring the fine views that must exist from here.

Returning to the car, we spotted Andrew and Chris below. Whilst we lunched they disappeared towards the road, and a walk back up to the bealach where the car was parked. Sue and I did our best to contour all the way, dropping down to the road a few metres before we reached the bealach. We had encountered steep ground and should have stayed a little higher in Coire na Coinnich.

This short outing was enough for all of us on this breezy, showery day. So we returned to base for a leisurely afternoon, a stroll around Plockton and another communal meal, this time at Shores Restaurant. And very nice it was too.

The cottage we stayed in is named Duilisg, after the hill across the loch, Creag an Duilisg

Shore's Restaurant seems now to be the premier 'eating house' in Plockton

Herring gulls look out for scraps in the village...

...with great views down Loch Carron

During the course of all this the ever witty Martin S (aka 'Bagger Martin') turned up after a four hour drive from Aberdeen, to join us at Shore's and resume occupation of the bed-settee vacated on Sunday by Janet and David.

Here's today's route - 7 km and 737 metres ascent, for two 'Grahams' in rather less than 3½ hours.