stravaiging around Scotland » walking

birthday party on Beinn Dorain

admin — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:03:55 +0000

It’s my birthday in a few days, so to celebrate a group of my friends and family headed up to Bridge of Orchy to climb one of my favourite mountains, Beinn Dórain. After everyone arrived, we set off up through the village. We passed under the railway line, and came out onto the track which runs up to Coire an Dothaidh. There were clouds in the sky, but it was dry, and that’s what matters! The path gets gradually steeper as it approaches the Coire, and after just half an hour the height gained means impressive views back down over Glen Orchy and Loch Tulla. We were making steady progress, so rewarded ourselves with a break for lunch before continuing up to the edge of the Coire. Once through Coire an Dothaidh the path turns south at the head of Coire an Ghabhalaich, with views east to Beinn a’ Chùirn. The path ascends the slab-rock edge of Beinn Dorain on its way to the summit. There are several false summits, which becomes obvious when looking back along the shoulder of the mountain. Eventually, after a couple of hours climbing, we reached the blustery summit, where we posed for the obligatory photo. The views from the summit are magnificent – west over Glen Orchy, east towards Glen Lyon, and south to Beinn Odhar. It was really quite windy, and everyone was hungry, so we didn’t hang about and instead soon started our descent. Every time I’ve been up here (apart from in winter!) I’ve seen either frogs or tadpoles in Coire an Dothaidh, and this time wasn’t any different, as we saw several frogs, including this little fella. But again, we didn’t stop for long – the call of The Bridge of Orchy Hotel was strong. We had tables booked for dinner and were staying the night, so we continued to make our way down the mountain to continue the celebrations indoors.

a birthday walk on Schiehallion

admin — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 21:03:59 +0000

It’s my birthday today, so I decided to head to my favourite place – Schiehallion. Having gone out for a meal with friends on Friday night (to the excellent Cafe Andaluz) I was all on my own today! It was dry and overcast when I set out from Glasgow this morning, and when I started up the path to Schiehallion it was clear there’d be no view today – the cloud was very low and covering the top of the mountain, although the summit was just visible.

Once up on the main wide, flat back of Schiehallion the clouds looked almost close enough to touch, and they were doing a good job of framing Loch Tummel below. Climbing up onto the secondary ridge meant passing into the clouds, and it became progressively mistier the higher I went. On this rocky section there is some amazing lichen – some if it entirely natural (like the bright red colour below) and some of it given a helping hand (the ring patterns below were probably created by “painting” yoghurt onto the rock, which the lichen then grows on). The summit was quite busy and relatively cloud-free, with views through patches in the clouds visible from time to time. By the time I started making my way back down, the cloud had lifted slightly, although the wind had picked up and it was moving huge sections of cloud across the mountain quite quickly. Back on the flat near the bottom I stopped briefly to take a picture of some stunning foxgloves against a back-drop of heather, before heading to the car and setting off south.

Ben Lomond

admin — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 21:03:02 +0000

Ben Lomond is an impressive sight when viewed from the west shore of Loch Lomond, and while I have passed it several times on the West Highland Way and driving north from Glasgow, I had never actually climbed it until today. I drove through Bearsden and Milngavie to Drymen, then turned west for Balmaha. From here the road follows the east shore of Loch Lomond, twisting it’s way up to it’s end at a car park just beyond the Rowardennan Hotel. The car park has a beautiful wooded lochside setting, and if you follow a track out onto a rocky promontory you are rewarded with magnificent views north along the loch.

The path to Ben Lomond starts off in the trees to the back of the car park, and climbs up and over a forestry track into an area currently being deforested, which gives the first view of the summit since arriving. There’s a fairly steep initial climb up onto the wide ‘shoulder’ of the mountain, with the main peak rising ahead out of this plateau. There are views across Loch Lomond as soon as you get above the tree-line, but the mountain itself obscures the view. Once the final ascent has been started though the loch is revealed in its full glory. Up until now only the (relatively) unremarkable Lowlands to the south had been visible, but once the summit has been scaled there are great views over the more mountainous north. Rather than retrace my steps I decided to take an alternative route back down, and started my descent over the other side of the summit, where the narrow path drops away quickly towards the neighbouring peak of Ptarmigan. As I made my way back towards the car park the sun was starting to go down, and by the time I arrived at the lochside once more it was just disappearing behind Beinn Bhreac on the opposite side of Loch Lomond, casting a warm glow over the loch and ben. The low sun also provided a rather magical effect shining through the trees as I walked back to the car park.

misty meanderings on Ben More

admin — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 21:03:23 +0000

Having climbed Ben More several times in February (4th and 11th) and March (18th), I still hadn’t managed to make it to the neighbouring Stob Binnein due to the weather. So I returned again today with that intention. I parked as usual in the layby beyond Ben More Farm, and made my way up the twisting farm track. As usual the summit of Ben More was enshrouded with cloud. But the overall visibility wasn’t too bad, and after leaving the track and scrambling up the side of the mountain I was rewarded with a great view down over Loch Dochart. I was soon into the cloud though, and after negotiating some sections of old frozen snow, I was at the misty summit. And that is where my photos stop for a couple of hours. The south side of Ben More‘s summit was ice-free, so I made my descent there, but as I walked across towards Stob Binnein the heavens opened with a torrential downpour. It wasn’t too bad a walk, despite the rain, but too wet to be taking photos. As I approached the summit of Stob Binnein the rain turned to sleet, then hailstones. Rather than continue on to Stob Creagach as I had intended, I decided to drop down to the west out of the stinging rain and into the relative shelter of Benmore Glen. I followed sheep tracks around the edge of Stob Binnein until I saw the farm track at the bottom of Benmore Glen, then dropped down onto that, following the Benmore Burn for a while until the final descent down to Benmore Farm.

more Ben More

admin — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 21:03:01 +0000

After my previously unsuccessful attempts to get beyond Ben More and conquer Stob Binnein in February (on the 4th and the 11th), I headed back there again today with the promise of plenty of snow from the Mountain Weather Information Service‘s forecast. It was just starting to snow in Glasgow as I left, but by the time I had passed Dumbarton the sky was a clear blue, and driving up the side of Loch Lomond was even more of a joy than usual. I stopped to take some photos since Ben Lomond was looking particularly magnificent rising above the choppy waters of the loch. I was hopeful that I was going to get snow and a view on Ben More and that I would finally make it to Stob Binnein, but as I got to the head of the loch the hills ahead were covered with cloud, and the blue sky had disappeared. As I drove through Crianlarich to the layby beyond Ben More Farm it started to snow again, getting gradually heavier as I walked up the twisting farm track, although there was no snow on the ground down here. Looking up towards Ben More it was obvious that there would be no view today. Although I could see blizzards further up the mountain, the snow and wind were much lighter lower down, and when I stopped for a break a couple of hours in there was a great view back down over the farm to Loch Dochart. The snow on the ground was fresh and was (unsurprisingly) getting deeper the higher I went. The wind was also getting stronger and the temperature dropping rapidly, with icy snow showers blowing in from the west, reducing visibility and obliterating the views. It was so cold by now and the wind was so strong that I had to stop and shelter behind a large rock to try and warm up. I have never been as cold as that in my life before – the -23 degrees Celsius (-9.4 degrees Fahrenheit) and 80mph (130km/h) winds the Mountain Weather Information Service had forecast must have been pretty accurate. After eating some lunch and warming up as much as I could by being out of the wind, I carried on for another half an hour before I had to stop again as I was just too cold. My head had gone numb and I could feel my fingers were starting to freeze despite being wrapped in extra-thick mountaineering gloves. I stopped again when I came across another big rock, but by this time I was far too cold to carry on, and after quarter of an hour of trying in vain to warm up I decided to start going back down. The strength of the wind made walking tricky, not helped by the fact I was trying to shield my eyes from the stinging snow and ice being driven into them. But eventually I came back out of the worst of the blizzards and gradually started to warm up again as I made my descent. I wish I’d taken a mini sledge with me because the snow down here was just perfect for sledging. I had to make do with just sliding on my waterproof trousers instead, which is less enjoyable than with a sledge when you come to rocky bits! By the time I got back to the car it was snowing quite heavily and starting to lie. As I was taking my boots off a snow plough came down the road ploughing away what snow there was, and I had a lucky escape as a shower of thick slush arced its way over my head and onto the car!

four seasons in one day in Glen Turret

admin — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 21:03:34 +0000

The BBC‘s weather forecast yesterday was predicting clear skies today, while the Mountain Weather Information Service this morning suggested clear skies before lunch, with a chance of snow showers in the southern central Highlands this afternoon. I set off via Stirling to Crieff, then twisted my way around the edge of Macrosty Park and out to the Glenturret Distillery, where I turned onto the steep road up to the dam at the end of Loch Turret. There were several other cars in the car park, and as I set off along the rough track on the east side of the loch I passed a few folk walking their dogs in the other direction. The weather was glorious, with bright blue skies and fluffy white clouds, although it was looking a bit darker at the far end of the loch. For the first few miles the route follows a rough vehicle track along the edge of the loch, with Ben Chonzie visible for most of the time, although it’s snowy peak was disappearing in and out of cloud as I made my way along the path. Several burns cross the track – none of them particularly deep in spite of the melting snow – before tumbling their way down to the loch in a series of small waterfalls. At the end of the loch the track starts to rise gradually as it approaches the headwall of the glen, offering good views back along the loch. Where the Turret Burn flows into Loch Turret there are several prominent glacial moraine deposits, which today were being picked out by the low winter sun. Around this point the sun retreated behind the clouds and cold rain started to fall as I left the track and squidged my way up the boggy slopes to the west of Lochan Uaine. When I had been here in October last year the weather was glorious but it was still very marshy at the bottom of the headwall, so rather than take that route I decided to go via Biorach a’ Mheannain again. The rain didn’t last for long, and as I made my way around the edge of the hill dozens of mountain hare – resplendent in their white winter coats – were running about the hillside, keeping their distance from me, but getting close enough for me to take a few photos. The further around Biorach a’ Mheannain I went, the more snow there was – unsurprising as I was moving north. Once past the rocky crags on the east side, I started to scramble up the hillside virtually on all fours due to the steepness and the slippy snow. It was worth it for the views, although the colour of the sky was changing quite significantly the higher I climbed. Just a short time later the cloud had lifted again and I was at the summit of Biorach a’ Mheannain looking at a magnificent view of Loch Turret, framed by the snow-capped hills that form Glen Turret. The view over to Ben Chonzie was also good, nice and clear and with no hint of what was about to come. I stopped on Biorach a’ Mheannain for some lunch before tackling the neighbouring peak, since the weather and view were so good. Just as I perched myself rocky outcrop a blizzard blew in from Ben Chonzie – it must have been approaching just behind the summit as it seemed to come from nowhere. I decided to try and sit it out since I was sheltered from the worst of it by the rocks, but half an hour later it had only got worse. Unfortunately I had left my waterproof trousers in the car by mistake, and within seconds of emerging from my lunchtime bolt-hole my trousers were wet through and my legs freezing. So with regret I thought it better to head back down rather than to continue to the summit of Ben Chonzie, still a considerable walk away. Rather than return via the steep slope I had climbed up, I walked a few hundred metres north before starting to descend to the east. The view north towards Glen Almond was quite a contrast, with a hint of blue sky visible above the snow and clouds. It was a lot less steep going this way, and after scaring a few more hares I was soon squelching my way down the boggy section at the head of the glen to get back to the relative dryness of the track, which would take me back to the car.

whiteout on Ben More

admin — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 21:03:43 +0000

After last week‘s shorter than expected walk due to ice covering the ridge between Ben More and Stob Binnein, I returned today safe in the knowledge that the ice would have been replaced by snow after heavy showers during the week. I decided to follow the route in my walking book to the letter this time, rather than mixing and matching between two routes, and so started off in a layby much further east along the A85. The path is sign-posted from the layby, cutting through a small field before joining a wide forestry track. There was no snow on or around the road, but the track had a covering dotted with footprints belonging to yesterday’s walkers. I followed the track for a few hundred metres before turning off onto a narrower track through denser forest. In places the track was slightly strange underfoot, made up as it was of water-logged peat topped with a thin layer of ice and then a dusting of snow, creating an interesting bouncy sensation as I walked, to the soundtrack of cracking ice. After a good hour or so of the track getting gradually steeper and the snow getting gradually deeper I finally left the trees behind and emerged onto open hillside and came to a deer fence covered in wind-whipped ice. I crossed the fence and followed it west as my book told me to, with the snow getting deeper and deeper to the point where I was struggling through waist-deep (ie 1 metre plus) snow, physically lifting my legs out of the snow to take steps forward. Unsurprisingly, progress was slow, and visibility down to about 30 metres in blizzard conditions. This was the kind of thing I could see for the next hour. When I got to where I was supposed to head up onto Sròn nam Fòsairean I decided that given the weather, the depth of the snow down here and how slow progress was, it would be a better idea to continue following the fence and head back around the mountain rather than make an attempt on the summit today. It turned out to be a good decision as it took me a lot longer than I expected to get through the snow. I had to cross several burns, one of which took me by surprise as it was completely covered by the snow, and I disappeared into snow deeper than I am tall (1.83 metres!). Luckily the water at the bottom was only about 20cm deep though. The rest of the burns were more obvious thankfully. Getting to the summit isn’t everything though, and I had great fun heading around the mountain instead, taking massive steps, diving, jumping and sliding in the deep snow, and as I got a bit further down there was a break in the cloud. I’d seen a lot of animal tracks in the snow and had been following two sets of fox footprints for about an hour when I came to the remains of a sheep strewn across the snow. The covering of snow was getting thinner now as I continued my descent, and finally I emerged from the clouds and saw Benmore Farm. It was straightforward from here on down to the track that leads to the farm, followed by a long walk back along the A85 to the car. It wasn’t my intended return route, and I hadn’t made it to the summit this time, but nonetheless it was a great day.

an icy Ben More

admin — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 21:03:30 +0000

The weather forecast for today was predicting snow, but when I got to Crianlarich there was a distinct lack of the white stuff. The summit of Ben More was enshrouded with misty cloud and not looking very snowy at all. I parked in a layby on the A85 next to Loch Iubhair and nipped down to the water’s edge to take some photos, although the light wasn’t great. I walked back along the road to Benmore Farm where there’s a sign-post and style showing the way onto the track, which twists it’s way upwards. It seems like a long trek but looking back down over the farm to Loch Dochart makes it worth it. I’d left the track by this point, and was scrambling my way up the grassy slopes onto Sron nam Fosairean. I was half following a route in a book of walks, and half following a more common route I’d read about on a website, and as such I was caught in two minds about which way to go, and ended up taking the direct route up the hillside. Stopping for a breather, I looked down over Loch Iubhair. A couple of guys passed by, who’d got lost taking a route up through the trees to the east, and while I continued upwards, they continued around to try and meet up with the path further west. My direct route seemed to work though, and I joined a path heading straight up the mountain, following an old dry-stane dyke. I was well into the cloud by now so there was no view to speak of. The path turned east away from the dyke as it started to twist its way to the summit. A bit further up I had to negotiate some tricky sections where large areas of ice were covering the path, necessitating detours around them since I didn’t have crampons. Eventually I reached the (very icy) summit where the visibility was very low. There’s a cairn at the summit proper, and also a trig point maybe 50 metres away, and they weren’t visible from one another. I had been hoping to do a circuit around onto Stob Binnein, Meall na Dige and Stob Creagach but there was a thick layer of ice covering the ridge between Ben More and Stob Binnein so I reluctantly decided to return the way I had come. Not before braving the wintry conditions for some lunch though, during which the two guys from earlier reached the summit. I headed back down through the cloud, following the path (apart from when avoiding the ice) to the dyke and then followed that down. Instead of retracing my steps and cutting eastwards across the slope I continued straight down towards the track to the west in Benmore Glen and joined that, which took me back down to Benmore Farm. The weather down here had improved from earlier on, so on my way back to the car I went down to Loch Iubhair again to take some more photos.

a snowy Ben Vorlich

admin — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 21:03:12 +0000

I headed north and east today towards Ben Vorlich for the second time in two weeks. A couple of weekends ago I’d intended to go walking here but it was a very stormy weekend and 85mph winds were predicted. I drove up anyway but even at the level of Loch Earn I was struggling to stay upright so I gave it a miss. No problems today though, with blue skies and a much lighter wind – strong enough still to make the loch a bit choppy though. Ben Vorlich was looking good, its snowy slopes silhouetted slightly against a blue sky by the low winter sun. I set off up the east drive of Ardvorlich House and onto the approach path to the mountain. There wasn’t any snow down here, just the golden browns of the heather as I looked back towards Loch Earn. There was snow ahead though, left over from last week’s fall. The path up from the bealach onto the summit itself was covered in ice, so after struggling (without crampons) up it so far I moved off the path to the south where there was less ice and more snow, which made the going much easier. When I got up onto the ridge I was rewarded with fantastic views to the south and east in particular. As I sat having my lunch the cloud came in, obscuring the view, so I set off back down the mountain towards Loch Earn, this time keeping well away from the icy path!

snowdrifts on Schiehallion

admin — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 21:03:57 +0000

The weather forecast for today looked quite good, with some snow forecast for the afternoon. Driving up from Glasgow through Stirling and Perth the Ochils were covered in a thick blanket of snow, although the roads were clear. Even travelling up the A9 there was very little snow about, and it was until we’d headed out west beyond Aberfeldy that we started to see it at ground level. Turning onto the Schiehallion road the landscape changed immediately, with old snow covering the ground, and a light snow shower starting to fall. Predictably when we pulled in to the Braes of Foss car park the summit wasn’t visible, enshrouded in wintry clouds. After wrapping up against the cold, we set off up the path – a sprinkling of snow either side – and started the ascent, the snow getting thicker as we climbed. There was quite a bit of cloud so the views weren’t great, but they lifted enough at one point for a glimpse of Loch Tummel. By now the snow was quite deep, maybe 15cms with drifts up to a metre, which made the going simultaneously slow and fun. Once up onto the main ridge there was a bit of a blizzard blowing, reducing the visibility to about 100 metres or so, and the temperature to about -15 degrees Celcius with the wind chill. Janet had never climbed Schiehallion before and was a bit apprehensive about continuing to the summit, so despite being about 10 minutes from the top, we turned around and started to make our way back down the mountain. Coming down a snow-covered mountain is considerably more fun than going up one, slipping and sliding through the drifts. After enjoying the novelty of taking massive strides in the snow and getting back to the bottom in double-quick time, we headed along to Loch Rannoch in the hope of getting a good photo of Schiehallion from it’s pointy end in the setting sunlight, but the snow and sky were merging into one and the sun was nowhere to be seen. And with that we headed to Pitlochry and – of course! – the Moulin Inn for tea.