South Glen Sheil Ridge walk

The South Glen Sheil ridge walk

A big day out.

   Graham and myself had been talking about bagging the 7 Munro's on the south Glen Sheil ridge for a while. As you end up miles from where you start the plan was to take 2 cars. Grahams brother Mike would be coming too and he would also bring his car, Graham and myself would go in my car. "Best laid plans of mice and men." Anyway that was the plan. I was on holiday for the week and so were Graham and Mike. I had been to Skye the first weekend of my holiday climbing see the blog before this one. On the Tuesday Graham and I went for a 10mile walk up by the Lecht bagging a Corbett and a couple of lesser tops, this would be a chance to see if my knee had recovered and it was not too bad. We were both a bit tired after the walk so I suggested to Graham we pull into Goodbrand and Ross at Corgarf for a fly cup. Graham was driving so I bought the fly cup as we call it, (cup of tea and coffee). Graham had a coffee and I had a pot of tea plus scones with jam and cream, delicious.  I had just walked 10 miles over the hills so sod the calories.

 I'd highly recommend it for a pit stop, Graham was taken with the strong coffee as well so he's also all for a return visit and he has been back since I started to write this.

   Our plan was to leave for Glen Sheil around 5 o'clock Wednesday night and we would meet Mike some where around Invermoriston.

  Got the car packed up and went to collect Graham who lives quite near me. Arrived at Grahams and he informed me that Mike had been taken ill on his way up at Fort William and would be heading home. What could we do with only one car? thought about an alternative but we decided just to go for it. Packed Grahams kit into car and set off for Glen Sheil just after 5pm.

   Back up over the Lecht again - this is getting repetitive, passing Goodbrands (tempting to go in). The Lecht is one of the highest roads in Britain it is very steep on the south side about 1 in 5, but not so steep on the north side and has ski tows at the top of the road. Going down the north side I cruised down at about 50mph (captain slow me), anyway Graham remarked how nice it was not to be tearing down here panicking as he would be in our other mates car as there are sharp corners at the bottom. Wearing a hole in the carpet trying to brake on the passengers side. He has a nickname for it the (? manoeuvre) ? referring to our other mate. Next stop Tomintoul for a comfort  break and a smoke for Graham. Revived from our stop we headed north towards Grantown on Spey, which you can miss as there is a by-pass, turned off for Inverness a few miles further up the road. I had planned a stop just up this road a bit, as I wanted to photograph a  highland cow with massive horns we saw on our last trip just beside a Hotel. Pulled into a lay-by just opposite the hotel and sure enough the Highlander was there. I went to get the shot while Graham took 5 and lit up a fag.

  Lots of flies about so I didn't linger over taking the shot and returned to the car.

  Set off for Tesco in Inverness for some supplies, it's only about 36 miles from the lay-by to Inverness so did not take that long to get there. Got our supplies and set off for Glen Sheil down the side of Loch Ness - did not see the monster this trip. Got to Inver Morrison and turned off on the Skye road at Inver Morrison, the shops and cafe's were shut by this time. Comfort stop a few miles later for Graham's fag, then set off again not too far to go now to Glen Sheil.

  The original plan was to stay at a campsite at Sheil bridge which shut at 7pm but you could pay in the morning at 8am. Thinking that this would give us a very late start,

 I suggested that we wild camp near the Cluanie Inn in Glen Sheil. When we found the start of the walk it was in view of the hotel, so I suggested we back track a bit as I had spied a bit we could camp back the road a bit. It was a bit of the old road so I got the car right off the road and there was a grassy bit just beside it. Graham agreed and we set about putting up the tents.

   That done got the kettle on for a cuppa. Thankfully there was a nice breeze so no midge's. About 9.30pm now. The sky was clear and the full moon came up over the hills to the south. Took a few photos of the sunset and headed for my tent to read the Trail magazine I'd brought with me.

 Now Graham is a late bird often up till the wee small hours. So as I headed to my tent I got "What am I going to do for the next 3 hours"? from him, by good luck he had bought a Guardian newspaper in Tesco's so he decided to read that in his tent. Apparently it takes hours to read it. Not that I would read it, Daily Star for me. We were quite close to the road and we could hear the lorries rattling by. Into my sleeping bag only to discover a rock right under my back, had to move to other side of tent. Typical! Had a chat with Graham from the tent while reading and then tried to sleep. Took me a while as I could hear a waterfall just beside us. Don't think it was that long before Graham nodded off either. Slept off and on through the night.

 It was quite cold but I was nice and warm in my sleeping bag.

   Early rise 5.30am ish got up and made breakfast tea, Cornflakes mixed with Frosties 50/50. No wind damned midge's were at it and we were breakfast to them. Tried Avon skin so soft to ward them off but they were not having it, luckily Graham had Deet 50 - that worked. He had 100 as well just in case. Took the tents down and packed the car. Graham commenting how comfortable he had been as he got his tent up on a mossy patch, no rock sticking into his back then.

   I had been thinking (I know that's dangerous) about what to take on such a long walk. A flask of tea or a flask of Coffee?  I sometimes get fed up with just coffee in my flask on a walk so what would it be? Problem solved - take a flask of boiled water teabags , coffee, powered milk and 2 litres of water,this would be quite light.

Plus a good supply of food.

  Drove to the start of the walk just beside Cluanie Inn and parked the car. Kitted up and set off along the tarred road to Glenloyne. Just down the road a bit is a bridge and we found a good campsite there away from the road, next time we will camp there. 

                  

                                                               Cluanie INN (bar shut)

   You have to walk about 6.5km along this road to get to the start of the stalkers path up the first hill. Its a tarred road all the way but you can't drive along as there is a locked gate a few km along by Cluanie Lodge. So about 1/2 way along I decided to use my walking poles as we were climbing upwards as we went along the road. Earlier as the sun was shining I had taken off my hat and put it over my rucksack strap at my waist. No hat! Dropped  my rucksack and headed back down the road to see if I could find it. Graham had a seat on a wall and a fag. Had to walk back quite a bit to find it but I was glad of my hat later in the day.  Now this walk is about 30km just to get back down to the road so adding another 1/2km to get my hat made it even longer lol.

    Set off for the stalkers path a few km further up the road. The road climbs up to around 405m at the stalkers and there  is a trig point cemented in to a bridge just before here.

  First Munro today Creag a' Mhain 947m. We headed up the stalkers path which by good luck zigzags all the way to the top, taking off the steepness.

                                                         Start of path

Started up the path at 7.32am in the sunshine and arrived at the summit at  8.39am  still in the sunshine and could see for miles all around. Fly time, cup of tea and something to eat. I find eating little and often to work best for me on these walks. Nah, I just like food. Any way fed and watered pics taken.

                        Me                                                                         Graham

We set off along the ridge for Druim Shionnach which at this point a B****y migraine started so into wallet for my pills Narameg from Dr. I find these work pretty fast and can stop a migraine in about 15-20min. I've tried just about all the pills the Dr can offer and found this is the best for me. There was a cool wind at the summit and I did not want to just sit till it passed. Took the pill, stuck my sunglasses on then carried on walking with the aurora on the right side of vision. Some times its left and the real beamers go right round their really bad and it takes around 2 days for them to clear altogether. I don't think it was the bright light beaming off Grahams white legs when he removed his zip off trouser legs at the summit leaving him in shorts that caused the migraine? - sure Graham will have a comment here.

  Set off with head down following Graham's feet ahead of me. It took us about 1/2 an hour to walk down onto the ridge and back up to Druim Shionnach  I lost about 60% of my vision till the pills kicked in and things started to improve. Just shy of the summit there are some pinnacles which we both tackled.

 If you don't want to climb on the pinnacles there is a by-pass path. By the time we got to them my vision had all but returned and it was not far to the summit. Reached the summit of  Druimm Shionnach at 9.35am ish. Took the usual pics on the summit had a cup of tea and something to eat as this can help your stomach after a migraine I find.

 2.7km to next Munro. There is a top in between Druim Shionnach and Aonach air Chrith which I found out after returning home which is a Munro top. One more to add to the list . Graham led the way as he did most of the day (too fit for me! ). Keep reminding him he is 11 years younger than me, just an excuse really. 2 downs and 2 ups on this stretch of the ridge arriving at Aonach air Chrith around 10.34am. The weather was being kind to us and we still had great views all around. Took the summit pics and then had a snack.

                                                           Aonach air Chrith ahead.

   We met a chap just after here going in the opposite direction from us west to east and as he passed me I saw Graham signalling a victory sign to him. I was facing the other way round. Catching up on Graham I asked him what that was about. He did not seem to like the chap not having a chat as walkers often do and totally ignoring us, or blanking I think its called. Anyway more ridge walk ahead. Now heading for Munro No4 Maol Chinn-dearg. quite a steep drop off Aonach air Chrit down to the bealach so took our time down here.

                                                          Graham looking ahead.

2.5km to next top. The ridge narrows from here and there is a bit of scrambling over some rocks.

  A bit further on looking back we could see a cave in the rock face and Graham wanted me to go explore it. Fat chance of getting near it without ropes.

 You get your first view to the south of Loch Quoich from around here and the road bridge leading to Kinloch Hourn. (On a clear day)

 I arrived at Maol Chinn-dearg at about 12.01pm Graham had been there a minute or 2. Lunch and usual pics. Getting a wee bit tired now as summit pic will show.

Fed again so Graham and I set off west for Sgurr an Doire Leathain

  Graham then discoverd from his I-phone that the bump in the middle was a Corbett top Sgurr Coire na Feinne 902m. I asked "How can you have a Corbett top with no Corbett?" someone may be able to answer that yet. Graham being Graham decided to bag it I decided to take the level by-pass path to the south.

By-pass to the left.

We meet on the Belach on the west side of Sgurr Coire na Feinne and continued on to Sgurr an Doire Leathain.

 Just after the Corbett top there is an old fence running west. All that's left is iron flat bars sticking up at various heights, some could be quite nasty if you were to fall on them. These iron bars had been leaded into rocks, so some poor sod had to hand drill the rock, then carried lead 3000 foot up a mountain and fuel to melt it as well as the iron bars and fence wire - must have been fit. They had also built a dyke up here too.

  At the top of Sgurr an Doire Leathain you can descend back down to the road at this top if you want to have a shorter day. As we were sitting eating (again) on Sgurr an Doire Leathain a couple of walkers came up from the road side to the summit, north side. They stopped to chat  unlike our earlier encounter. They were an older couple retired I would think but still hill walking and had completed the whole ridge many years before. Today they were just going to do the five we had just done as a shorter walk. We chatted for a good while about hill stuff. Very nice couple.

 Fed again Graham and I set off west for Sgurr an Lochain. A bit of scrambling on the way down off Sgurr an Doire Leathain, but its quite easy. There is another top Sgurr Beag 896 but Graham and myself stuck to the by-pass on that one.

 We both headed along the by-pass for Creag nan Damh arriving at the summit around 3.15pm 

Munro No7 for the day. We had walked 24.5km to get to here and it was only 17 km more down to the road and back to the car at the start of the walk. Phoned home to see if there were any buses along Glen Sheil that we could get back to the car.

 We saw another chap heading up from the west to the summit and he soon arrived.

Had a chat. We set off the weather was begging to change a bit at this point. Graham had his nose in his i-phone to find out how to get down, checking with the Walk Highlands website. I had it marked on my map with a big red line. Now the chap we had met at the last top had said he would give us a lift if we were down at the road at the same time he was.

  You have to go along the ridge to the west about 1,1/2km to Bealach Duibh Leach to get the route down to the north and on the way there is a cliff about 30 foot high to scramble up, nearly vertical.  Our pal Brian came down it in the snow. No way Jose would I do that without ropes. Graham climbed it first no problem and I followed him up close behind. When you reach the Bealach there is a cairn marking the descent path. The path is steep at first zigzagging down the steepest bit. Quite rocky too. As I descended the first bit the guy from the last top caught up and passed us going like a steam train down the hill. Graham and I both decided he just did not want to give us a lift as he was going in the other direction. When you reach 400m it levels off and just across the burn Allt Coire Toiteill  is a cairn marking the split in the paths. Other path up to Forcan Ridge.

 The path's a bit rocky most of the way down and as we got nearer the road Graham said "he would push on and see if he could get a lift back to the car". Off he went and I carried on behind.  Further down it is nearly flat and a tracked vehicle had been working. I had a flat path to follow, a bit boggy though. Had to do a river crossing not that deep and plenty of stones to stand on. I could see Graham had reached the gate at the road about 1km ahead of me and I hoped he got a lift. I carried on walking to the gate arriving there at 5.40pm. This is the start of the walk if you are going west to east. Look out for green right of way signs.

  Graham had walked up the road about 100m or so on the north side. I decided to stay at the gate as I thought there would be more chance of a single person getting a lift.

  Information from home had told us there would be a bus but not for more than an hour and a bit. Only about 10km to walk back to the car uphill and the weather had come down on to the hills and it had been raining slightly. I walked up the opposite side of the road to a lay-by which was opposite where Graham was trying to thumb a lift with cars and trucks belting by him. No Luck. I was all for waiting for the bus. About 2 minutes after I got to the lay-by a car just passed me then slammed on the brakes and started reversing back to the lay-by. Graham who was still across the road and me were wondering what was going on. As the car passed me I recognised the couple in the car as the older couple we had met on the Sgurr an Doire Leathain. They had recognised us and stopped to give us a lift (magic), even though they were going in the other direction they loaded us and our packs into the car turned the car and drove us all the way back to my car.

  We found out on the 15 minute journey back to my car that they also had been lucky too when they walked off the hill with another chap he had given them a lift down the glen to their car. Got back to the car and thanked them for the lift. By this time the cloud had come quite far down the hills and Graham and I decided to just head home. As if we had camped another night the tents would be soaking as we packed up in the morning and the forecast for the Friday was for heavy rain. Could not have been much later than 6.30pm when we set off home, heading East along the A87 for Invermoriston and the A82 north to Inverness. The road was quiet and we made good time to Invermoriston, where we turned north on to the A82. Heading up the side of Loch Ness - still no sign of Nessie.

 A few miles up the road is Drumnadrocht and it has a chipper, pit stop for our supper there. Black pudding supper for me and I think Graham had a white pudding supper. Got our tea and went and sat on the low wall along side the road to eat them, pretty hot as they were cooked fresh. Yes eating again. Chips eaten back in the car headed up to Inverness and I decide to take the A96 home from Inverness as I had been over the Lecht a few times that week. Planning to stop for fuel at Elgin. Now the A96 is  normally a very busy road and you are lucky if you're going 40 mph on some of it -

60 mph all the way to Elgin, great. Pulled into Tesco to use my 5p off fuel and fill up the car only to find pay at pump only with no way to use voucher.

 Darn. Pulled over to the main car park for a pit stop.

Had 1/2 a tank of fuel plenty to get home so set off on the last leg. Turned off just after Elgin to go via Boat Of Brig and Mulben  thus missing the road works at Fochabers. Graham had never been along this road, it brought us out at Keith and back on to the Aberdeen road. Know this road well as I drive it a lot during my travels with work.

Down to Huntly and turned right heading home over the Suie hill. I dropped Graham off at his house and he asked "how did you manage to drive home"? as his eyes had been going together since the chip shop. "Easy I regularly drive over 100 miles + each day at my work so I am used to it" I replied. With a couple of stops it was no problem.

Headed home, the unpacking of the car could wait till tomorrow.

Sleep.     

No walks planned for a while. More torture for you to read after next walk. Unless I do something interesting. Dino60     

If you want to look at my other pictures of walks etc   

follow link to Flicker    http://www.flickr.com/photos/dino60/ 3000 + photos

Dino pic

Credits

Cars by Ford and Honda

Maps printed by Memory-Map

Gps By Garmin

Hat by Columbia. When it stays on!

Poles by Leki

Tents by Vango.

Moss under tent by mother nature. Lucky so and so!!

Rock under my back by mother nature. "Ouch"

Sore legs and feet by walking too much. LOL

Midge's by little him down below.

Ok "The End"  and I bet you're glad - please do leave comments.

         

Sgurr Alasdair by The Great stone Chute and Skye trip

Skye trip 9/7/11

Of to Skye climbing again.

   Set off early on Saturday morning from home with the car loaded up with climbing and camping kit. Bought new tent from Tiso  Vango Alpha 200 2 man selling at £40 had a discount card so got it for £36 - bonus! Headed over the Lecht  and up the A9 to Inverness, stopping at Tesco for diesel, saved more cash with a 5p off  voucher from shopping. £1.30 per ltr a bargain.  Following the sat nav   just for fun as I knew the road. It took us over the Kessock bridge and then the northerly route to Skye by Garve and Achnasheen. This was good because at 9.30 arrived at Tarvie  cafe, just in time for a bacon roll and cup of tea - really good bacon rolls and at a good price too.

  Off we went again me and the Mrs,  turned off to  Achnasheen at Garve nice wide road and not much traffic , pit stop at  Achnasheen station. Heading off to Loch Carron the road is still wide but you soon come onto a stretch of single track road at Achnashellach for about 5 miles. Usual never met a soul all the way along the wide road but soon as we get onto the single track then there were loads of cars and  some don't take any prisoners.

   Turning left at Loch Carron to follow the A890 the road is wide then narrow then wide as you go along it. You travel along beside the railway track for a few miles then the road climbs up steep hills for a couple of miles to the view point about 105m up just before Strome Ferry.  The sign reads Strome Ferry (No Ferry).

 We passed a bloke on a bike just after the start of the climb, he was stopped looking all in, wonder if he knew he had about 5 miles of uphill in front of him! I know what that feels like to push a bike up big hills after my last trip.

  Onto the Skye road and headed for Kyle of Lochalsh, over the bridge (which I always fancied walking across) and headed for the co-op at Broadford for supplies.

 Stocked up on essentials coke, crisps and juice etc., oh and Philadelphia as they didn't stock Primula cheese in a tube.

  North to Sligachan  and turn left heading to Glenbrittle Campsite. On the way there were various displays of themed scarecrows at the roadside for a Tattie Bogal festival.

  Glen Brittle has a single track road all the way to the campsite at the south end.

Arrived at the campsite paid and set up the tent, first go at putting the tent up, so took a minute or two.

  The Cuillins had there usual veil of cloud over them.

 My plan was to climb Sgurr Alasdair by The Great stone Chute and if I had time Sgurr Mhic Choinnich as well.

 Packed rope and climbing gear into rucksack and food and water 1,1/2ltr thinking this would be enough for the climb. Left the Mrs as she was off for a walk up Glen Brittle to find the fairy pools and headed for the hills.

  There is a good path to the west behind the campsite toilet block leading off to the south end of the Cuillins. It climbs fairly steep for a start up to about 150m and then eases off. After 1/2km the path splits, taking the left fork I headed for Coire Lagan but all the Coires along here look similar so thinking I was heading for the wrong Coire I cut across the grass land still climbing as I went. After a while thought where am I?  as you do and got the map and gps out to get  exact position. Up the wrong drill so to speak. However just in front of me was the path from YMCA which would take me back to Corie lagan. An extra 1km just for the fun of it, but what's new there.
  Got a good view of where we had climbed up last year to the In Pin and loch an

Fhir-bhallaich.

   Half way up Corie Lagan there is a rock formation that looks like a dam and about there is where things start to get steeper and a bit of scrambling, but not very hard yet.

  Off to South I could see some climbers that had been pointed out to me by a couple I had met tackling the north wall of Sron na Ciche -  better them than me.

                                                                Spot the climbers.

   Over the dam and got first view of the loch and The Great stone chute. By this time the cloud had lifted and I could see Sgurr Mhic Choinnic and Sgurr Alaster and the ways up to them. None easy.

  I headed off to the bottom of the Chute at the rear right hand side of the coire to tackle the chute climb. Welcome to the Stepmaster 10,000 lol or as our guide last year described it as the Stepmaster from hell.

Pic bottom chute.

 The bottom of the chute is small loose gravel that has been brought down by scree runners over time. Must be bonkers to run down this. Anyway off I go up the chute.

I found that you had to put your foot down and wait a second to see if it was going to take off back down the hill before moving my other foot. I had my walking poles with me which were a great help in balancing. The only problem being that they would go into the loose gravel and you then had to haul them back out most of the way up and down.

  The Chute is very steep so you dance your way up it 2 steps forward and 1 step back, some times it was even 3 or 4 back. Met a few people coming down it as I was going up and had to watch out for stones heading my way I had my climbing helmet on for protection all the way up and down. About half way up the chute goes into a narrow ravine with vertical walls on each side. Dark black rock on the walls makes it a creepy looking place to be. The rocks on the ground get bigger here but are just as loose so watch as you stand on them. There are a few sort of paths right down to what you would call ground but just as slippy as the rocks

    Took me quite a while to get up to the top of the chute slipping all the way up but at the top is a flat bealach with  no loose rocks which is a treat after the chute. Dropped my pack here and headed towards the summit of  Sgurr Alasdair the highest top in the Cuillins at 992m, you have to scramble over large rocks from the bealach to the summit which is pretty easy. Only thing is to beware of a vertical drop on the north side back down into the chute keep away from that. Takes about 10min to scramble to the summit of Sgurr Alasdair but its very narrow with only a few small rocks marking the summit.

                                               Happy me at the summit of Sgurr Alasdair .

   Munro 132 for me. Had a look around from the top as there was no cloud on the tops round around me and I could see the narrow ridge to Sgurr Mhic Choinnich which didn't look too easy to go along. I could see over to the In Pin to the north and Sgurr Dubh Mor to the south east, I climbed that a few years ago with a guy I worked with, he was part of the Aberdeen mountain rescue and a very good climber.

          Saw two climbers coming up from the south side very quickly towards me on the summit, I headed back down to the bealach. Said hi to them when they got near.

 Easy climb back down off the summit to the bealach.

    Had a look at the TD gap to the south and wandered if I could abseil down it as this would be an easier way back down than the chute.

 The two climbers came down to the bealach and stopped for a break, I went over to chat to them. They were climbers and had a book with them which had  all the scrambles on the Cuillins in it.  They were going to Mhic  Choinnich over the ridge and up kings chimney which is a V diff climb.

 They were free climbing it.  They asked if I wanted to go with them so I showed the guy what gear I had with me, rope etc. I had told him I thought about going down the TD gap. He told me that is was a 35m pitch and as I had a 50m rope it would not be long enough as you double it to abseil. Plan B. As It had taken a while to get up here and it was now 5.30pm I asked him how long to get over to Mhic  Choinnich he said it would take about 2.1/2 hours to get on to the top of the chimney.

  I worked out by the time I got over and down to campsite it would be dark. So I declined their offer, the two of them set of up a near vertical face like it was not there.

                                       The way to Sgurr Mhic Choinnich from Sgurr Alasdair.

  Filmed them climbing a bit and took pic  before getting pack on and heading back down the chute, going down is worse than coming up. You have to make sure that you don't build up too much speed as the loose rocks under your feet take off down the chute, you with it. Even if you use the bigger rocks they take off with you too.

 About 100m down the chute my feet took off and I ended up sliding down on my rear end with no real way of stopping myself until my left leg slammed into a large rock.

 You can figure out what words I used at this point and it was not oh dear it hurts.

Anyway I had stopped even if it was with a bleeding extremely sore leg 3/4 of the way up a mountain. Pain passed after a minute or two and I slid down a bit on my backside till I got past this really nasty bit in the chute (Well its all really nasty really). Never mind its only about 5km back to the campsite. I was very careful the rest of the way down to the bottom of the chute. Nearer the bottom its a bit like moon walking as the loose rock comes along with your feet. Very happy to be at the bottom of the chute. Took me about an hour to walk back down to the campsite. I had been drinking quite a lot throughout the day and ran out of water on the way down to the campsite.     

 Getting back late evening to the campsite. Mrs waiting at the gate to meet me as she had seen me coming down from the beach she was walking on. Usual what have you done now? as I was limping, anyway headed for the showers for a clean up. Campsite has power showers now - ace.

  Supper time next cooked up camp food, rice boil in the bag not out of date like the last one. Camp foods not the best but ate it any way.

The wind had dropped and the fly's and  damn midges had started finished my supper in the car.

   Into tent and read for a while Clarkson - I Know You Got Soul, very good at putting you to sleep. It is quite an interesting  book if you like things that move with engines. Clarkson style. I was also playing kill the midges in the tent.

   Campsites very quiet places? Aye right! there was a farmer in the field next to us bailing hay till 11pm. and then the rooks were squawking 1/2 the night not to mention the guy who snored a lot in the next tent.

At 5am the heavens opened and it chucked it down but the new tents water proof thankfully. Clarkson to the rescue as I was now wide awake. After a while the rain stopped and decided to make a bid for the toilet block 50m away. Got out of the tent to be ambushed by the dreaded midges  and as I was legging it to the toilet block looked down at my arms to see that they were covered in midges. Swept them away and made it to the toilet block closely followed by a cloud of hungry female midges thinking I was their breakfast.

 Now the toilet block had a combination lock on the door which I had trouble with the day before and I had had to get the woman from the campsite down to get it open. Yep the damn door would not open, this was about 6am so there was no one about yet - remembered about lifting the handle before entering the code and that worked. Legged it back to the tent and played kill the midge again and finished Clarkson's book.

  The campsite began to waken up and I could hear that snore a lot was on the go. Breakfast next - you could just imagine being served by a waiter here and him asking would you like midges with that sir? They were in the tea and in the flakes too. Got the kettle boiled while doing the midge shuffle scratch, scratch here scratch, scratch there, along with the rest of the campsite who were trying to cook up some breakfast. Got the tea made and drank it on the run. No wind this morning and it had rained so perfect midge weather. Into the car to get away from the little sods. P.S. camping is fun??

 Decision time. Now I was intending going back up to Sgurr Mhic Choinnich today and climb it but my leg below my knee was very sore and bruised so I did not think I would get up it. Also the cloud had come right down, but that's normal for the Cuillins. Checking the map saw there was a ferry crossing from Armadale to Mallaig but not sure if it ran on a Sunday. Headed off to see the woman who ran the campsite, via the toilet block - door opened first time and I found where all the blokes were hiding from the midges. Had a chat and gained some good info about routes up the Cuillins.

  Headed to the camp shop to see the woman who runs the site about ferries.

 After she pulled out nearly every book she had she came across a timetable from last year. Score it's a freephone number for Cal Mac.

  Used the pay phone at campsite as mobiles don't get reception here, got through to Cal Mac and enquired about the ferry. There are 6 sailings a day, round about every 2 hours. Back to the car to check with the Mrs, ok lets go for it as none off us had been to Mallaig. Put on my midge net along with just about every one else on the campsite and ventured out of the car to take down the tent. It was not raining at this point.

Got all the pegs pulled out and the over cover off and was beginning to remove the support poles from the inner tent when the heavens opened. About 30 seconds later I had the tent rolled up and bagged up anyway. Now as I was taking my tent down my midge fan club was attacking my back, unbeknown to me Mrs took a pic  the dots are midges not rain.

Into the car and played kill the midge again.

  Headed off for the ferry at 1.30 from Armadale.  As we were making our way down the east side of Skye the heavens opened and I was glad I had not gone climbing. Passed a few touring cyclists who were getting soaked and a few walkers looking for a lift, even saw 3 bikers hiding in a bus shelter out of the rain.

    Turned off just after Broadford for the ferry at Armadale, which is about 15 miles down the road. When we arrived at Armadale it was a nice day and no midges, this was around 11.30am, went and bought the tickets for the ferry £29.60 for both of us and the car. Its about a 25 to 30 min crossing on the ferry or travel around 137 miles by road to Mallaig - take your pick. There are a few nice shops at the harbour area to spend your cash in, with friendly staff and a there's also a lovely pottery (Mrs' opinion!) . Prioritised my purchase to a cup of tea for £1 at the little cafe and sat outside on the seats.

 Mrs went to explore the clothes shop behind the cafe. Tea drunk set of to find Mrs in the clothes shop, found her browsing the clothes, nice stuff but not cheap. Now I got a text at this point and my text ring is roughly a bit like a fighter jet going past and as my pal's will tell you it can scare the bejesus out of you. The girls in the shop said nice ring tone. Went in to a pottery to have a look round first piece I saw was £300 - ouch. I studied an information bit about the potter woman who had the shop and found she had come from Melbourne and had trained in Japan.

  My Mrs found two pieces that she liked, now a woman trying to make up here mind - but it was ok we still had an hour till the ferry. Probably get a  scolding when she reads this Lol.

Anyhow she settled on a beaker at £16, phew.

  Went to the counter to pay and the lady who ran the shop came over. My wife asked her where she came from and I butted in Melbourne. To which I got how did you know that? But the lady had spied me reading all about her and said you have been reading up on me. Had a chat about Melbourne as we had been there in 2009 and I left before the Mrs did. Passed Grumpy George the photographers shop, he had some nice photos on canvases in the window but did not venture in and returned to the car for some lunch. Mrs arrived a while later after checking out Grumpy George's shop and a walk on the beach. She said it had nice stock and had bought a couple of things -  and George wasn't grumpy in fact was very pleasant and had chatted for a while. There were two parrots in the shop which was a nice surprise.

   I took a few pics of the ferry as it arrived at about 1.15.

   Got onto the ferry and out of the car and went up to the passenger compartments to get a seat till we left. After the ferry departed we made a move up to the top deck out side bow end of the ferry. Took a few pics

  There were a few people up there taking pics. 2 young Asian couples were taking pics of each other. One of them had the camera and firstly asked the young man of the other couple who were posing against the railing on the deck to take off his sun glasses for the shot. Then he got him and his partner to take of there jackets for the shot. Now it was not warm on the deck with the sea breeze and ship doing about 20 knots as well. The young girl just had a thin top on and the guy a tee shirt so he was quite cold as well. Then the guy with the camera tried to get the other guy to take his tee shirt off. But he would not. There had been a bit of whispering going on between the two with the camera and were up to high jinks. Next thing the two with the camera leg it with the other two's jackets as a joke, closely pursed by the other two from the railing. We did not see if they caught up with them as they disappeared  into ship.

It was quite funny though.

   There was an other young couple behind they had asked the Mrs if she would take a picture of them. Next thing she's pointing them in my direction with their camera, got them to stand at the railings to get the centre mast in the shot and The Sound Of Sleat with Mallaig in the distance, they seemed happy with the shot. As we got nearer Mallaig took a few more shots of the houses and the harbour as we came in.

  The announcement came over the p.a. for drivers to go back to their cars just as we entered the harbour mouth. This is the bit I don't like sitting in the car while the ferry is still moving with no reference point to see from the hold. Always feel queasy at this point. The ferry trip is only 25-30 min or so and we had been out in the fresh air so that was no problem. Anyway it was not long before the bow door opened and we were told to exit.

  Malliag is not that big. After driving through the harbour we turned left up what I would call the High Street, there were people everywhere it was very busy. The High Street ends quite quickly. So did a u turn here and headed in the direction of Fort William back down the High Street.

    The railway runs to Mallaig and we had noticed red older coaches at the platform. I had said to the Mrs it could be the steam train which runs along the line (Fort William to Mallaig). Mrs was doubtful that it would be that train.

As we passed the station we could see that it was indeed the Jacobite steam train and the passengers  were heading back to their coaches. I noticed that there was a car park to our right so I drove in and got a parking space. We went over to the fence along side the railway at the opposites side of the road and got a good view of the whole train and we took some pics. 

  With that I figured out that the train was about to leave so I moved further along the line where the chain link fence was only a few feet high and managed to videoe the train leaving.

         http://www.youtube.com/user/adinosaur60?feature=mhsn#p/a/u/2/Ypcz9yVJ6BI

I have it on my youtube site - link above.

 Magic watching a black 5 steam loco moving out of the station, this was a real bonus for us. Must go on it some day.

        Back to car and set off to find the silver sands of Morar. The road follows the railway line and we could see smoke from the train up ahead as we went along the road. I was driving around 50-55mph but we did not seem to be catching the train up.

 After about 6 miles we came on a junction for Morar but I was not sure if I should stay on the main road or turn into the junction. Left it is then and turned in the road it climbed up steep way to the little village and sitting at the station was the Jacobite train. Parked the car and walked up to the open level crossing in front of us. Got the camera videoing as the train left the station with me standing right next to the line at the level crossing.

    http://www.youtube.com/user/adinosaur60?feature=mhsn#p/u/1/hTdXU5tu6Yc

Link to video.

 Having good luck today seeing the train twice. The train was soon out of sight and all we could see was the smoke from the funnel.

   Had a look round the station and jumped back in to car to find the silver sands.

Drove back to the main road and found the sign telling you they were just across the other side of the main road. Parked the car and headed down on to the sand (don't look silver to me). Had a walk along the sands for a good way but turned after finding bog roll on the sands. There must be an outlet from a septic tank near that bit and it stinks. But the first bit of the sands was ok.

 Back to car and headed for Fort William passing Glen Finnan with its famous railway viaduct. Its the one you see in the Harry Potter films.

  Stopped in a lay-by further down the road and got the stove out to make a cup of tea and to have a break from driving.   

       Refreshed after my stop set off  towards Fort William. No view of Ben Nevis today as the cloud was right down on it. Turned left at FW and headed for Spean Bridge. I hate this bit of road its twisty, busy  and there's always a 40mile an hourer on it with not much chance of  getting past them. A lot of accidents on it with frustrated drivers stuck behind slow moving traffic.

   Sure enough we got a 40mile an hourer to follow with 2 cars in front of us all the way to Spean Bridge. At Spean Bridge by good luck Mr 40mph went straight up the road and we turned right heading for Newtonmore. Its about 35 miles along this road which is good for most of the way but narrows towards the last 1/4. No problems with Mr 40mph along here and made good time to Newtonmore. Next stop Happy Haggis chip shop Kingussie. Burger and chips for me. White pudding for the Mrs. The food was made fresh and was so hot I drove 10 miles to a lay-by before it was cool enough to eat. Tasty but fun to eat with relish and onions squeezing out the side lol. Mrs could not eat all her chips and white pudding so helped here out there.

 Fed and watered headed  for Tomintoul where there is a real good ice cream shop. But just after you have had a burger and chips it might be a bit much. It was shut so I did not get my ice cream, darn. Mind you I probably would have regretted eating it anyway.

 Headed over the Lecht for home.

 Best job still to come - unpack the car!  That took a while. Slept well in my own bed that night.

The end.

You can see more off my photos on Flicker
Link to Flicker.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dino60/

P.S.

 My leg had recovered enough for me to go with my pal Graham on a 10mile walk on Tuesday bagging a Corbett and a couple of tops up the Lecht.

 (This was my way of checking out if my leg would be fit enough to do The Glen Sheil ridge  30km over 7 Munro's on Thursday.) Which we did do.

   

Coming soon Glen Sheil walk -  well soon-ish.

     

       

Fisher Feild 6 Munros Dundonnell area. Day 3 Heading home.

Day 3 the way home.

  It had been raining through the night and I had woken up before dawn to the sound of loud water. Not thinking too much about it as the river was not that far away - 20 feet or so. Had to get up in the dark  to go. No glasses on again, the little burn at the side of my tent looked a bit wider in the gloom, back to bed till dawn. Light now - still in tent in sleeping bag grabbed some food I had left.

   Then I found the end of my bag was wet, old tent letting in a bit in the heavy rain through the night. Problem solved by super dry towel I took with me (dried bottom of sleeping bag). Got up if you can call it up in a 3 foot high tent and got dressed including boots ready to cross the 3 foot wide burn. Packed up rucksack and panniers ready to go, exited the tent to find the 3 foot wide burn was now 10 foot ( 3m) wide and a foot (300mm) deep.

                                                              Burn before rain.

                                                             Burn after nights rain.

    Looked up and down the now smaller island for an easy spot to cross to the bank, no such luck. Packed up the now soaking wet tent and loaded everything on to the rack on my bike.

   Nothing else for it, boots and socks off,  sandals on and trousers rolled up. Grabbed the bike and headed across the coldish water of the  burn for the bank. Just as I exited the burn trousers rolled themselves down - close one there. Found a big tree stump to sit on and out with the towel to dry feet and legs, boots back on then set off for the Land Rover track.  It was a mammoth task to push the bike out of the strath and on to the plateau.

Getting on for 2 km till you get to the plateau and the track is very steep in places so I had quite a few breathers on the way up. The small burns I had crossed on the way there were now quite wide after all the rainfall. Crossable with care but there are about 5 of them on the way out of the strath. After what seemed like a long time and a lot of pushing of the bike I reached the plateau at around 250m mark . The summit is about 380m - yes even more up, but did get on the bike a few times on the way across as there are a few downs as you head north. Got to the summit had a break for a min then all down from there.

  Then the bold me had a bright idea to ride the bike down the next big hill which I knew to be very rocky - after about 30 seconds gave that up for a bad joke. Even walking with the bike had the brakes pulled well on going down to the bridge over the burn.

Don't lean on the north hand rail its coming away. After the burn there's a wee bit of bog and then back on to the Land Rover track and onto bike again - brakes hard on most of the way. A couple of real rough bits on the way down to the gate so I walked them.

  Through the gate and last leg down to car, what a wonderful sight the car was. There was one other car there keeping it company. Found the car keys and went for a can of ginger beer I had left in the car. Made sure not to gulp it down after the morning's hard work.(bliss). Got my boots off  and the bike etc into the car, had left a change of gear in car so bunged that on. Sat into the drivers seat and started the car at which point the radio news came on at 7.30am. God knows what time I set off from the campsite must have been 4 something. Phoned home as phone received  a load of texts  that I couldn't receive till now. But by the way I was able to send texts from the top of the first 2 Munro's I climbed but  nothing after that, I am on the 3 network.

  Set of feeling not too bad but  wishing I had not drunk the can of ginger beer heading for Breamore  junction A832 - no drama getting there. On to the A835 and south towards Inverness feeling a wee bit sleepy and I thought about pulling into a layby but kept going.

  After a few miles the car seemed to be veering off to the verge so I drew into the next layby.

Feet up over the passenger side head against window thinking 2 min will do, woke my self up snoring to find a big dam right in front of me with not a clue where I was for a minute - Loch Glascarnoch dam.

 Composed myself and headed south but starting to get hungry, knew there was a good shop at Contin which did hot stuff. But then passing a road side cafe had a bright idea - bacon rolls. Turned the car and back to cafe it just had a window you go up to to get food, bacon roll and cup of tea sitting at a wee table they had outside, delicious after camp food and crackers. Not too expensive either must mark that place on the map for further forages.  Its somewhere around Garve.

  Now I had planned this trip with the amount of diesel I had left in my tank and reckoned  I could get there and back to Inverness with what I had. Isn't it  annoying when the fuel warning light comes on but you don't know how far you can actually go on it so with around 20 miles to go to Inverness I pushed on. Very happy to see Tesco's filling station in Inverness as I had a 5p off voucher, £56 later the tank was full again. (That's this months fuel ration gone). Last leg of journey down the A9 and over the Lecht home.

 Home by 12 ate lunch and then fell asleep on our comfy sofa.

 Sorting the car out could wait till later.

Next adventure soon - hopefully Skye but weather dependant.