Six and a half weeks...that's not the title to some dodgy Mickey Rourke sex film sequel...it's the length of time since my last footstep on a Munro!! September 27th on Beinn Eighe until November 10th when I tackled Ben Vorlich down by Inveruglas...that's an absolute eternity for me!! There were a number of factors behind the huge gap between Munro's...preparing for and passing a promotion board at work...two bouts of a vicious strength sapping lurgy (not manflu!!!) to contend with...a trip to Alton Towers...a few weekends pre arranged to spend with nearest and dearest...lots of extra shifts at work...and a weather system that just wouldn't relent on my available days off!!! I may not have climbed any hills in those six and a half weeks but I certainly climbed the walls as I waited for my opportunity to get back into the one thing that keeps me sane in this mad bad world of ours. I had initially hoped to pick off Ben Vorlich in a two day break away along with Beinn Ime (the last intended trek this far south) but I was itching to be on a Munro and needed something short to allow me to drive there and back in the same day.
I set off from Aberdeen in rather wet conditions (dreich to us locals) in the vain hope that it would improve as I travelled further south...no chance!! I passed through Perthshire and down the A85, through Crianlarich onto the A82 and off towards Loch Lomond dismayed at the increasingly wet conditions outside. As I parked up in the visitor centre car park in Inveruglas the rain was battering down on the roof of my car, making me consider my options;
1. to stay in the car and head back up the road with my tail between my legs.
2. to get out, pull on waterproofs and suck it up like the Munro bagger I am meant to be!!!
Although option one may have sounded more tempting to the majority of the world, Munro baggers are a different breed of animal. Driven by an unspoken desire to trudge remorselessly up the wettest boggiest slopes imaginable, whilst grinning like a madman as rain cascades down your outer layers, permeating through every layer you wear eventually, leaving you sodden and cold and tired and sore...option two was the only real choice I could make.
There are many trips where the motivation to climb a Munro is in your surroundings...the beautiful weather...the view that awaits you from the top...fine company...the challenge of climbing some of the most rugged landscape in Britain...the isolation of knowing you may be the only person for miles around in a desolate landscape...all of the above and quite a few more besides usually motivate me to get out of the car and get myself up a hill.
But there are other times, like today, when you know that the weather is not going to get any better, that the view from the top will be non existent, the Munro is not that rugged or exciting, the reason no-one else is there that day is because of all of the above, then the motivation is only to increase your tally by another notch, take one step closer to completion...and as a bagger I can live with that.
Leaving the car behind, I headed along past the Sloy hydro-electric power station on the other side of the road. The last time I was here, in April with Louise, the weather was quite similar to today...cold damp and little chance of a view!! I passed under the railway bridge and followed the road around to the electric sub-station. There was a construction team there (yes on a Saturday) though unsurprisingly in the conditions they were all sitting in portakabins supping tea. Onwards I plodded, some of us don't mind the rain once we are out in it, heading towards the Sloy dam. Further along the road I could make out a group of other walkers, perhaps I would have some company after all?? I appeared to be catching up with the group just ahead of me, possibly around eight walkers, with each passing step (I do set a reasonable pace when out on my own). But just as I appeared to be on course to catch them before turning off the path and heading uphill they turned off to the left and headed to Ben Vane instead...alone again.
The views were going to be obscured by mist all day, judging by the thick layer descending down the slopes of Ben Vane, and heading off up the slopes (without a path) at the small cairn I could feel a dejection envelope me. Rain began to fall heavier around me and the temperature dipped as I gained height...then I had a wee boost...on the slopes ahead of me, just disappearing into the mist, were a couple of other walkers. I now had a target to reach, attempting to catch these brave souls before they made the summit.
The WH site says that the climb from here is unremittingly steep and tiring...and I fully concur. The lack of views and the rain tumbling down meant my head was down and I was plodding into the mist without fear of missing anything worth seeing...even the view back down to the loch below was pretty poor and short lived. I could now understand why the two ahead of me were appearing to be going so slowly...this was thigh bursting territory and my lack of recent Munro activity was taking it's toll. Onwards and upwards, splish splashing through the mud, the path improves the higher you ascend, eventually bringing you out onto the south ridge of the Munro. The ridge is straightforward from here and gradually inclines towards the trig point...the main cairn is a further 200m further along to the left from the trig point. It was at this point that I caught the young couple ahead of me, just a few strides from the summit cairn, but allowed them to get there first. As we stood passing the time of day the first snow of the day arrived on the summit...quickly turning the summit cairn and plateau white.
Jelly McBaby was rather reluctant to emerge from the warmth of the rucksack initially, but I soon fished him out and perched his podgy little legs on the summit cairn for a heroic pose. The weather started to worsen and the other couple decided to leave for a more sheltered location in which to have their sandwiches. I snaffled down half a BLT and a quarter of a mint cake, then set off back down the slopes again. Amazingly the snow stopped as I turned post a huge outcrop of rock and the surreal sight of white out summit on one side of this outcrop and green slopes on the other greeted me. I passed the young couple as I headed down the path, they had indeed stopped for a sandwich, and continued down the slippy slopes. I feel it was to my great credit that I actually only slipped twice on the way down...though one of them left a deep gouge for approximately 10m due to me digging in my elbow!!! Thankfully the rain managed to wash most of the mud off the sleeve of my jacket before I stepped boot back on tarmac at the bottom of the slopes...leaving only the trudge back to the car to contend with. By the time I got back to the car I was soaked through as my old boots had reminded me why I had gotten new ones earlier in the year (saying that, 3 season boots would have gotten just as wet today, so there was logic in my choice of footwear!!). I must have looked quite a sight to all the tourists stopping at the visitor centre as I got changed out of wet clothes and, semi naked, adorned warm dry clothes for the drive back up the road. On a plus point though, it was another Munro closer to completion and I managed it in only 4.5 hours. Having had to wait so long between my last Munro and today, I was hopeful that my next one would not be so long a wait...196 in the bag.
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Leaving the car behind, I headed along past the Sloy hydro-electric power station on the other side of the road. The last time I was here, in April with Louise, the weather was quite similar to today...cold damp and little chance of a view!! I passed under the railway bridge and followed the road around to the electric sub-station. There was a construction team there (yes on a Saturday) though unsurprisingly in the conditions they were all sitting in portakabins supping tea. Onwards I plodded, some of us don't mind the rain once we are out in it, heading towards the Sloy dam. Further along the road I could make out a group of other walkers, perhaps I would have some company after all?? I appeared to be catching up with the group just ahead of me, possibly around eight walkers, with each passing step (I do set a reasonable pace when out on my own). But just as I appeared to be on course to catch them before turning off the path and heading uphill they turned off to the left and headed to Ben Vane instead...alone again.
The views were going to be obscured by mist all day, judging by the thick layer descending down the slopes of Ben Vane, and heading off up the slopes (without a path) at the small cairn I could feel a dejection envelope me. Rain began to fall heavier around me and the temperature dipped as I gained height...then I had a wee boost...on the slopes ahead of me, just disappearing into the mist, were a couple of other walkers. I now had a target to reach, attempting to catch these brave souls before they made the summit.
The WH site says that the climb from here is unremittingly steep and tiring...and I fully concur. The lack of views and the rain tumbling down meant my head was down and I was plodding into the mist without fear of missing anything worth seeing...even the view back down to the loch below was pretty poor and short lived. I could now understand why the two ahead of me were appearing to be going so slowly...this was thigh bursting territory and my lack of recent Munro activity was taking it's toll. Onwards and upwards, splish splashing through the mud, the path improves the higher you ascend, eventually bringing you out onto the south ridge of the Munro. The ridge is straightforward from here and gradually inclines towards the trig point...the main cairn is a further 200m further along to the left from the trig point. It was at this point that I caught the young couple ahead of me, just a few strides from the summit cairn, but allowed them to get there first. As we stood passing the time of day the first snow of the day arrived on the summit...quickly turning the summit cairn and plateau white.
Jelly McBaby was rather reluctant to emerge from the warmth of the rucksack initially, but I soon fished him out and perched his podgy little legs on the summit cairn for a heroic pose. The weather started to worsen and the other couple decided to leave for a more sheltered location in which to have their sandwiches. I snaffled down half a BLT and a quarter of a mint cake, then set off back down the slopes again. Amazingly the snow stopped as I turned post a huge outcrop of rock and the surreal sight of white out summit on one side of this outcrop and green slopes on the other greeted me. I passed the young couple as I headed down the path, they had indeed stopped for a sandwich, and continued down the slippy slopes. I feel it was to my great credit that I actually only slipped twice on the way down...though one of them left a deep gouge for approximately 10m due to me digging in my elbow!!! Thankfully the rain managed to wash most of the mud off the sleeve of my jacket before I stepped boot back on tarmac at the bottom of the slopes...leaving only the trudge back to the car to contend with. By the time I got back to the car I was soaked through as my old boots had reminded me why I had gotten new ones earlier in the year (saying that, 3 season boots would have gotten just as wet today, so there was logic in my choice of footwear!!). I must have looked quite a sight to all the tourists stopping at the visitor centre as I got changed out of wet clothes and, semi naked, adorned warm dry clothes for the drive back up the road. On a plus point though, it was another Munro closer to completion and I managed it in only 4.5 hours. Having had to wait so long between my last Munro and today, I was hopeful that my next one would not be so long a wait...196 in the bag.
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I had wondered if, somehow, I'd missed your reports but, obviously not!! The long wait was worth it as I trudged through the rain with you, no views and getting ever wetter and wetter. How I enjoy your narrative, doesn't matter what the weather is like, I love reading your reports :)
ReplyDelete"His podgy little legs".....he hasn't been getting enough exercise lately!!!
SusieThePensioner
Clearly he will have to hit the gym again and work off the podge before hitting his next hill on the 13th of January (weather permitting)...
ReplyDeleteBLT up there? Did u pack a George Foreman in your rucksack ;)
ReplyDeleteWhere are you heading on Sunday? I'm doing another Strathfarrar on Friday, maybe two, time permitting.
Pre prepared young padwan, and very tasty it was too. I will either head to Fionn Beinn (Achnasheen) or Beinn Ime (Arrochar). I have a hill pass for the next three Sunday's and these two and possibly Stob Ban (Spean Bridge) will be my next targets, although if I can manage an overnight stay somewhere then I will consider a double Munro target instead ;-)
ReplyDelete