Zermatt comes to Ullapool

A cracking half day on Beinn Enaiglair, a Corbett which nestles under the shoulder of Beinn Dearg. We got a nice early start and scrunched off from Braemore round a boggy but frozen detour to avoid whoever owns Braemore Estate being troubled by our proletarian presence. This new.. erm... path was created as an alternative to the forest track up to Home Loch which you have every right to use. On my next trip I will not repeat the mistake. The path round the hill provided growing and grand views across to the Fannichs and down towards Loch Broom. The hills were plastered in snow and Sgurr na Clach Geala looks particularly alpine with its north ridge curving gracefully up to the summit. 

Once past the big stone the route curved round to the north side of the hill and the temperature plummeted. The path was slick with ice covered in fine powder which slowed us right down. We joined a more constructed path running up the east side of the hill in gentle curves mostly obscured by snow. At about 600 metres the snow took on the consistency of chalk, firm but yielding to a slash of the boot edge to give a good grip. We moved from shade to sun and back but the snow remained the finest neve and we eventually conceded to crampons prior to the final steep slope up a small gully to the summit ridge. The upward motion on the perfect snow under a soft blue sky and warm air was hypnotic but over all to soon. I turned to look wistfully down the gully and thought of other places such as Centre Gully on Ben Lui where such movement can last hours. 

From the summit the views opened north, west and south across that unique Scottish scene of snow, sea and mountains out as far as Ben Loyal and what might have been the Statue of Liberty. Today there was nowhere finer.

Four outings to kick off another winter

December now and the sun hits the horizon at just after 3 in the afternoon.  We have had quite bit of snow and the temperature has hovered around freezing for two weeks now. Time to man up and face the winter.

Run

I headed out to the pass of the fair haired lads late in the day as the sun and the temperature sunk low. The trail up to the pass was just covered by snow and was not disturbed by any trace of a boot or a tyre. Occasional fox prints was the closest I got to company. Once at the pass I dropped down the zig-zags on the other side toward the loch. From somewhere out on the water far below I could hear the commentary from the Jacobite cruise boat drifting up in the gloaming. When I reached the forest track I turned and jogged back up with some short recovery stops. Hill reps is the official title but it does not feel much like training when you are out on a path clinging to the side of the great glen high above the loch. The evening was bone cold but beautiful. 

Bike

It took me a good 30 minutes to prepare man and bike for a night out on the snowy trails above the town, I stuck to familiar trails as a concession to my wife's concern at the wisdom of heading out alone in sub-zero temperatures on icy roads. The canal path was a ribbon of silver under my bike light with light snow concealing slick black ice but as long as I made no sudden course changes the wheels adhered well enough to keep me upright. Once in the wood the bike light was thrown around by the powdery snow to create a bright black and white movie of a trail. I stopped at the bench overlooking the town and took it all in for a while. The strange thing was how warm I felt despite the epic frost settling  all around. Every other Invernessian had thought better of it and stayed in to watch River City. I hit some traffic on the rip roaring descent narrowly avoiding a head-on with a deer caught in the headlights and then having to duck to accommodate a quick strafe from a tawny owl. I got back to the house after an hour scarcely able to stop from giggling out loud. Night biking must soon be either taxed or banned - you just cannot have this much fun for free.

Walk

Three of us headed out straight from work to get in a few miles of training for the Monster under the full moon. We headed up the good land rover track from Lynebeg quickly discarding the torches in the bright moonlight. Up on the hill top there was a covering of a couple of inches of crunchy snow giving perfect conditions for night walking. All around snow covered hills glowed in the moonlight as white clouds floating over the jet black valleys. 

It was just too good a night to go home so we trailed out along another track southwards guessing correctly that it would turn back to the road at some point. The detour meant a cold fording of a wee stream and a two mile march up the side of the A9 but it was a small price to pay for such a grand night stolen from the early winter. 

Hills

The exploration of gorgeous Glen Feshie provided another great day out. This one featured 4 sports in one day with cross country and downhill biking, a bit of winter hill walking and the option of a bit of orienteering all provided. 

I biked in from the end of the public road along the perfect tarmac of the estate road to Feshie lodge where the track deteriorates as it passes out into the beautiful meadow at the where the glen turns east. From there a decent track ran up the hill to a small pass leading eventually west to the Gaick forest. After a toughish climb of about 300 metres I discarded the bike and headed off along the track towards Leathad an Tobhain - a Corbett sitting out in the wilds between the old counties of Inverness and Perth. As  reached the intervening hill I was getting a bit concerned about the depth of snow which was now ankle deep. The decision to wear trainers was looking marginal for frost bite. I rationalised that I would be fine as long as I kept my feet dry and then promptly fell into a patch of unfrozen bog up to my knees. Still a bags a bag and I was too close now to turn back. The summit was frigid with a vicious wind seeking out those wet toes so I lingered only long enough to eat my piece and note that the GPS read an interesting 3005 feet. Not a Munro though. Back to the bike for a descent of only 30 minutes to the car. Phew.

While I saw no wildlife at all I did get passed by two argocats and one landrover on the hill track - an outrageous amount of traffic - they might need to consider dualling it. All three stopped to chat continuing the impression of Feshie as one of the better estates. They are by most accounts trying hard.

The mugging of the Monadhliath

I had an interesting wee opportunity ride into a wild estate somewhere south of Inverness on Sunday that gave pause for thought. .

I followed a circular track over a fairly high hill.  It was obvious that the track was new, built for comfort and was also being rapidly expanded deeper into the Mondaliath.   

Hmm.. the Monadhliath – a difficult child.  If you look at a large scale map of Scotland it appears that this  area is one of the biggest remaining areas of wilderness left. You could form the impression that it had some protected status or designation. However, the truth on the ground is ugly. Roads are being driven in from all directions with no apparent control over the quality or impact and the whole area has actually been designated as a favoured area for wind factory development. The rate of degradation is frightening – it so fast that many of these roads are not visible on Google Earth or on online OS maps.  You would be entitled to ask why this is happening.  

Well, the locked gate at the road end of the track I followed gives a hint as does the stripy heather and the myriad of very visible traps at the side of the path. It is an aggressively managed shooting estate. A quick search on the internet will leave you none the wiser as to who the responsible  owner is but it does tell you about prosecutions for raptor persecution, illegal traps and a small matter of a £ 2.5 million wind industry subsidy that you and I are generously bestowing on the estate incuding - incredibly - payments for turning the things off when demand drops.

It could be different.  High on the hill a couple of misplaced dotterel were doing their best with chicks and there were a few mountain hares. These are indicator species which show that the Monadlaith is a wee cousin of  the Scottish Arctic across StrathSpey and could be a fine wilderness if we just loved it more.

The evidence strongly suggests that these estates are not fit custodians of our country – they are ruthless business people with no respect for the mountain environment unless it produces a profit. We cannot trust these faceless exploiters with the future of our wildernesses and our wildlife.

Great Glen Why?

During my long run on Friday, I was once again reminded of how poor a route the Great Glen Way is.

Anybody coming from a distance to do this route must be sorely disappointed at the mixutre of tarmac, fire track and commercial forestry they have to trog through. Add to this the almost total lack of views of the Loch and it must be quite a let down. The earlier parts are not much better - Fort Augustus to Drum is the same mix of commercial forestry and B roads.

If you are doing the GGW after completing the West Highland Way it will be the sublime to the ridiculous.  The West Highland Way is a natural line stringing together some beautiful areas in a fine route of continual interest. Add in some great wee pubs and it is a fine way to spend a week.

In contrast, the GGW is a lost opportunity. Had it been taken up the south side of the Loch it would have been far superior covering areas like the pass of the fair haired lads and the river side routes mentioned in previous blogs.

But, as with so much in the outdoor arena in Scotland it appears that the actual route is  a compromise between vested interests - landowners limiting access forcing the route into the publicly owned forest and ensuring that walkers have plenty of exposure to Nessie tat even if they rarely see the loch.

The way has some redeeming features such as the lovely section from Invergarry to Fort Augustus but for the walker who wants to really experience the Glen I would suggest the following. Follow the GGW from Fort William to Fort Augustus to get the best of it but then  get the bus to Whitebridge and complete the walk to Inverness using the lightly trod paths of the South Loch Ness Trail,

It also has its limitations but it tries much harder.

Warm day in the big glens

This time last year - and, indeed the year before - I was wading about in 3 or 4 feet of snow. Not today though as the Scottish March temperature record was broken a bit to the east. 

My brother and I spent the day in Glen Strathfarrar on four perfectly proportioned Munros. A mixture of springy turf and very wide vistas gives a day to savour. Despite the haze, from the summits you can see more or less every major summit north of the great glen and a fair few to the south of it such as Nevis and the Cairngorms. The country to the west around the head of Loch Monar looked particularly fine in the sunshine with twinkling lochans and deep glacial trenches cutting through to the west coast. Real fiords - I was half expecting to see longships appearing.

The glen has a curious feature in that it is 'closed' in the winter. Despite the obvious fact that the road was built with public funds during the hydro boom the glen is 'private' and they can throw a gate across the entrance to prevent 'poaching'.  I think in this context poaching is a euphemism for unfettered access by the great unwashed. In summer, the gatekeeper dispenses the privilege of access to your own countryside up a road that you pay to maintain via your lecky bills but in winter you must phone the Mountaineering Council of Scotland to obtain access to the inner sanctum.

While driving up the glen to meet my brother I happened upon a tweedy type in a utility truck who ostentatiously passed the layby he should have drawn into and forced me to reverse a hundred yards to the last one. That's not easy while tugging your forelock. He gave me the onceover down his nose before driving off at speed. His land apparently or maybe not. 

What a ridiculous throwback to a less enlightened age. The MC of S should cut out the kow-towing and get them telt - oor hills and access for all.
For reference here are the access arrangements.
However, the gates and padlocks should not discourage you from visiting Glen Strathfarrar. The place itself is warm and welcoming with shaggy woods and quiet stretches of deep brown river. The hydro schemes have weathered into the background and are barely noticed. I doubt the same will be true of the windfarms in 50 years.
Time to go - venison stew for tea but don't tell anyone.