The Inaccessible Pinnacle Skye-Round one.

The Inaccessible Pinnacle Skye - third time lucky 2010.

Round one.

   In 2010 I was 50 and for my 50th birthday I had asked for a guide to climb the In Pinn (Inaccessible Pinnacle) on Skye. The person arranging it for me had found a guide in the back of Trail magazine but I did not like the terms and conditions they were imposing. i.e. it was £250 up front whether you got up or not. Don't think so!!

  Anyway I had contacted my 2 climbing buddies to see if they were going to come to Skye too, yes they were in. I arranged to stay at the Sligachan Hotel, always wanted to stay there. Because it was March we were going, got a very good rate b&b  and only £10 for a evening meal + extra for pudding and a fair bit of alcohol was consumed in the hotel bar too.  As for a guide I had found Tony Hanlay of Skye mountain guides, £50 up front for a deposit - much better. As my 2 buddies are school teachers we had to go in the school holidays.  Had the hotel and guide booked all we needed now was the weather.(fat chance) We were going for 3 days so that gave us a better chance of getting a good day. March 28-31st 2010 , watched the weather a lot in the days up till we left for Skye. Snow forecast later in the week. (Great). We set off on the 28th in Brian's car as he had the biggest boot for all the gear.

                         Graham, Me and Brian - 10am 28th of March 2010 eager for the climb.

  I think this was the trip where we stopped in Tiso Inverness as there are toilets in there and Brian came away with "pity there's not a cafe in here" to which either Graham or myself replied." Look up". There is a cafe upstairs in Tiso Inverness, by the way its not run by Tiso and the waitresses can be a bit abrupt but its a handy pit stop with good bacon rolls.

  Fed and relieved we took the north road by Loch Carron to Skye and arrived at the Sligachan Hotel around 3.30 in the afternoon, we got checked in and contacted Tony Hanley. He would meet us later in the hotel.

                                                           Sligachan hotel.

 Nice night so we went out side to take a few pics.  Then we tried out the hotel bar, really good. Tony came and met with us and said. "Due to the weather coming in we would have to go tomorrow the 29th". That was fine with us. Evening meal next on the agenda, good food here, then we spent the rest of the night in the hotel bar. The open fire gave it a nice atmosphere, if you could get the right seats.

 

                        Brian and Graham cosy in the bar by the fire in the right seats.

     There is a long bar at the other end of the hotel which has 200 odd whiskies but it was not open at this time of year. The hotel has its own brewery with 4 or 5 different beers of which I think Brian and Graham tried them all over the course of the visit. Guiness  for me and the occasional dark rum - tell a lie I did mix my drinks and had a ginger beer in between pints.

 I went for a walk over the road and up Allt Dearg Beg for about 3 km just to take a few photos while the other two stayed in the bar. I think they were wondering where I got to by the time I returned.

    After one or two + pints I retired to my single room and Brian and Graham had a twin room to share.

 8 am breakfast is the earliest so bang on 8 am we were down. Full breakfast of course as you always seem to do when you're on holiday, never eat that at home. Now I don't eat pork sausages and there was something else that came I did not eat but the 2 hero's snapped up the sausages and the thing I can't remember at the moment off my plate and made sure I ordered a full plate the next mornings we were there so they could get mine too - it might have been black pudding. Pot of tea, toast, cereal and a cooked breakfast its a wonder we could walk never mind climb a mountain and for 3 days too lol.

  Fed again we went to meet Tony at the memorial hut in Glen Brittle. Tony had informed us that there would be one other person coming too. Met Tony and sorted out what kit we needed for the accent. The other person was a woman who had come up from England and was a keen Munro bagger too.

               Us at the start of the climb - notice the snow higher up on the mountains.

   After the photo we set off up to the In Pinn it's a fair climb, steep in places and a bit of scrambling to do. Another guide,  a friend of Tony's Jonah Jones came with us too, just for a walk I think as this was their first accent this year. The 6 of us set off, as it was an early in the year walk I was finding the pace or as Tony kept saying "A nice steady pace", taxing. We headed up from the Memorial hut on the path past the water fall that everyone's got a photo of.

 On the south side of Alt Corie na Banachdich to the shoulder on the west side of Sgurr Dearg. This is where it gets steeper.  As we climbed higher we got good views to the south of Rum and Egg.

Some scrambling to do about 1/2 way up through a small chimney for about 70 foot or so, after that it flattens out a good bit till you hit 900m ish and more scrambling. Photos of this bit will be in part 3. As we came up the flattish bit we could see Sgurr Alasdair had snow on the top and we had a few snow showers passing by us "hmm"!

                                                       Sgurr Alasdair

 Now just as we got to the steep bit at 900m ish, a party of about 15 school kids appeared at the top of  the steep bit making their way back down. They passed us after scrambling down and we carried on up the steep bit. As we ascended there was quite a big drop off to our right side into Corie Lagan.

   We ended up on a ledge with a big drop off to our right as we climbed up and came to a stop at an even steeper section. I was first behind Tony and as I put my foot one step forward the word changed to Iced rock and extremely slippy.  Graham seemed to want to turn back at this point. Tony called a halt till he went further up for a look see.  When he came back down it was debate time - asking us what we wanted to do i.e. go on or go back. He had reckoned we would have had to abseil down to the base of the In Pinn as it would be very icy there. I seemed to be the spokesman at this point and said "We will go with your decision as you know what's up ahead". Tony mulled it over and decided we should head back down, much to Grahams relief I think. So we about faced and headed back down. We had reached 927m only 50m short in height of the In Pinn but a world away in these conditions. Everybody seemed to be in a cheery mood as we descended. Once we were back down the scrambly bit we stopped for a cuppa.

                          Graham and Jonah  with the school  kids in the back ground.

This photo might have been on the way up.

Fed and watered  we made our way back down to the Memorial hut in Glen Brittle.

 Now Jonah and his partner run a B&B with a bar and just so we could drown our sorrows he said "I'll open the bar if you want to come over".  Guess where we went next? No you're wrong - Lol I am lying  we went to the bar, most unusual for us???

  Good little bar in the b&b had a few pints with Tony and Jonah and the woman but I still can't remember her name, Jane possibly well I'll just call her that for now.

 We had squared up with Tony when we got to the cars in Glen Brittle and he said he would take us up again at no extra charge as he had called a halt to the climb mainly for safety reasons and brown trousers are very uncomfortable when your walking, lol.

First class chap. X army and so was Jonah.

                            The Cuillin ridge from Jonah's b&b with icing sugar on top.

Back to the hotel for a bath and a change of clothes. It had been quite cold up on the mountain with snow showers passing us by, so it was great to get into a hot bath for a soak. Met Brian and Graham in the bar and we went to the dining room for our evening meal. A few main courses to choose from but I settled on the beef steak pie made with highland cow meat. One of the best pies I have ever had delicious, I think Brian had Venison lasagne which he enjoyed greatly and I don't remember what Graham had I'm sure he will remind me but I remember he had the Venison Lasagne the next night and enjoyed it. You're right we only think about food, drink and hills or maybe it's hills, drink and food.  It was about a tenner for a main course and well worth the money. Now where do you think we went from the dining room to - out fur a walk?

     Don't think so, yep bar here we come.  Spent the rest of the night in the bar mixing my Guinness with drinks of ginger beer to try and keep up with the other two.

  A day left to fill in. The next morning I met the other two at breakfast and ordered the full monty again so the two vultures sitting opposite could fight over my sausages and they did.  Now Jane, Janice or whatever her name was had arranged to come out for a run with us to fill in her day as she was staying on her own in some hostel somewhere near Jonahs place. So it was decided we would go and have a look at the Old Man of Storr up past Portree. Now the snow was lying on the hills down to about 400m ish this morning with snow showers passing by and it was quite windy. Anyhow we went up to the car park for the Old Man of Storr and kitted up in full winter gear. Brian, Graham and I set off up the path through the wood while Jane decided to remain in the car and text here buddies.  When we reached the top of the wood and came into the open Graham decided he was not going any further, due to the sideways snow maybe.

                                             Graham heading back down.

  Now Brian and myself carried on up the path till The Old Man was in front of us. It was pretty wild by this point and the path headed south along and round. Well along this path is the only time I have felt my legs cold in my waterproof trousers, the 70mph wind and snow might have had something to do with it , as we battled head first into the wind and snow along the path.

                                            The Old Man just visible on the right.

This is the south side and somewhere in front is a path up.  Brian leading the way we got some odd bits of shelter as we made our way up to the Old Man.

                                                    Brain in front of the Old Man.

                                      

                        In this video its shaky because I am getting blown about all over the place.

                                                              

                                                        The Old Man Of Storr

                    Brian and myself made our way back to the car a wee bit cold from the snow storm.

                                               The path back.

Its a fair climb up from the car park to the Old Man.

  What Brian and myself did not know was that just behind the old man there's a huge cliff face, but we couldn't see it from 50 foot away due to the snow storm. When we were on our way down it cleared and I got this great picture of the old man.

Well I like it, looks like something out of a Thunderbirds episode I think. I could just see Thunderbird 2 hovering over the top rescuing someone.

 Back at the car and what to do now? Portree then for a squeery around and something to eat.  Brian parked the car in the square and we all piled out. Now I had remembered this cafe down a lane and upstairs from a previous trip to Portree and I set off with the others following, The Corntral restaurant on Bayfield Road. We piled in up the stairs and got a table no probs to take all of us. Yes I know we are stuffing our faces again but hey we were on holiday. Good food to be had here can't remember what I had but I remember it was good. Graham later commented  that I was on a mission to get to the restaurant and he was right. We then proceeded to have a look round Portree and I bought a scarf from the Edinburgh woollen mill shop and some sheep dropping sweets to take home. You can use your imagination as to what they look like and they're chocolate covered.  There was a giant teapot in one of the shop windows and I got Graham to make like he was holding the handle for a laugh.

  

  Portree visited we took a run across the island to Cioch Outdoor Clothing, Struan where I nearly spent the money for the electric bill on a new jacket. Great stuff not cheap though over £200 for a jacket, made of the same stuff as Paramo. Decided to leave before breaking the bank. Back to the Sligachan Hotel around lunch time.

Jane left on her way to wherever she was heading.

 Brian and I decided to go and check out the route to Blabheinn while Graham remained at the hotel. Snow was still sitting on the hills around 400m ish as we headed to find Blabhein to fill in the afternoon.

                                               Blabheinn just out of the snow shower.
If you want to see more photos from our trip go here.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dino60/sets/72157623623376885/with/4479982866/

The snow storms were raging across the top of Blabheinn when we got there but it did clear later. Route found, we found yet another cafe called The Blue Shed cafe and of course we had to give it a go, still on holiday so had an excuse. Damn fine cakes and a cup o tea.

                                           Brian at The Blue Shed cafe.

Fed yet again we headed back to the hotel for our last evening there. When we had been away there had been a power cut and after that my tv did not work, ah well just have to go to the bar. On return we found Graham in the bar by the fire with a pint and reading a book. Last evening meal tonight so I think we had pudding too. A few pints in the bar and a dark rum and I retired to bed. Woke up around 5am to find snow on the ground outside the hotel and still no tv. 3 hours is a long time to fill in till breakfast with no tv to watch or book to read.

 

                                              One of the locals waking past my hotel window.

  Now we had the 240 mile drive home today and the forecast was not good. Killed the time till breakfast time with a bath and then packed my bags. The other 2 were down before me when I came down and we went in for our last breakfast and yep the vultures were at me sausages again.

 We paid our bills and packed up the car. Brian driving we had a bit of a debate about which route to take after we were off Skye. The route up by Loch Caron has some steep hills on it so we opted for Glen Sheil still with a big hill to climb up to the Clunie Inn.  We had a stop off at Eilen Donan castle for a few pics.

Eilen Donan Castle.

As we climbed up through Glen Sheil the road  got worse with snow. Brian keeping the speed down as he made his way along Glen Sheil.

 

                                            The view I had from the back seat in Glen Sheil.

We got to Inverness where there was no snow and into Tiso's for, yep more food. Did seem to eat a lot on this trip. Graham was checking roads closed on his Iphone and I got reports from home of roads closed.

A96 closed from Fochabers to Huntly and Huntly to Lumsden blocked by fallen trees also Portsoy to Huntly blocked and that would be the 3 roads we could have take home. Lol.

We got to Fochabers where the police had a car across the A96 stopping anyone getting onto it - Portsoy road then.  Graham's wife and kids were at Portsoy staying so we called in past for a visit and a rest for Brian. 

 After a break at Portsoy  took the road to Huntly now open but with a lot of snow still on it.

                                                   Portsoy to Huntly road.

On reaching huntly we took the Lumsden road.

I'll let the next few pictures tell you how bad that was.

We made it home, a 4 to 5 hour journey had taken over 7 hours this time and I think Brian was quite tired when we got home with all the driving that day.

End of round one.

Round 2 and 3 to come  for my 2,1/2 fans. Ok ist 3 lol.

Dino 60

Ben Nevis or bust 4/8/2007

Ben Nevis or bust 4/8/2007

 A few years ago now I asked my neighbour Susan if she would like to climb Ben Nevis with me, this would have been on the Thursday and we would go on the Saturday. Susan did a lot of walking but not much up hills, anyway she agreed to come to Ben Nevis with me even when she knew we would be leaving at 5am. I had climbed Ben Nevis in 2004 and found it a slog, especially on the way down, very sore on the knees. My intention was to climb Ben Nevis and then across the Carn Mor Dearg arête to Car Mor Dearg as I had not yet climbed it at this point in time.

  We set off at 5 am as planned as it's about 125 miles to the car park at Ben Nevis-free to park then but not now, and takes about 3-4 hours to get there. We had left Alford and gone over the Lecht to Aviemore  and as we went over the bridge just before the Grantown on Spey bypass there was a loud bang from the passenger rear side. There was a big hole in the road where the expansion joint in the bridge was, at the time it didn't seem to have affected the car. Anyway carried on towards Aviemore and the A9, we by- passed  Aviemore on the A9 heading south to Kingussie and the turn off for Fort William, on the A86 which turns west near the end of Newtonmore for Fort William. Narrow road to start but widens out when you get to Loch Laggan. We arrived at the Ben Nevis car park around 8.30am and got a parking space no bother as not many people here yet. First stop the facility . I returned first to find the rear passenger tyre flat as a pancake ((word) not that one). After using some colourful language I got the spare out of the boot. Susan returned from the facility, "Oh you've got a puncture". "Yes and I am changing it now not when we come back from the hill". said I. Got that sorted and Susan and I kitted up to go. Now this was 2007 and I was still getting the weather from the BBC and they had said light winds for the Fort William area. Don't believe the BBC - bunch of ? After you leave the car park at Achintree and head north along the river to a bridge, pinned on the bridge was a weather report and in those days I had no idea where you got them from. (MWIS) http://www.mwis.org.uk/ I now know. Now on the weather report it had 50-60mph winds for the top of Ben Nevis. We pondered whether to go up or not. "Well were here might as well suck it and see". Still wondering where to get these darn weather reports, crossed the bridge to the path up Ben Nevis. The car park is at 25m above sea level with Ben Nevis 1344m and it's all up - a big climb.             

   The path follows the river south for a short while through the trees and then turns east towards Meall an t- Suidhe, about 240m up this track there is a style you have to climb over and on your left is a pub. Many a weary walker ended up here I am sure The Ben Nevis Inn I think. Here is where the big up begins, by this time the tourist path as it's called up Ben Nevis was getting busier. "Can be a bit like a town centre pavement on a Saturday". I had suggested to Susan that she take 2 ltr of water with her as there's not a lot when you get further up. As we climbed up the rocky path I could see Susan struggling with the extra weight in her rucksack,  I had loaned her a set of walking poles to help here. We had a few breaks to let Susan take five and get her breath back.

                                                            Susan taking 5 -  9.35am

  I took Susan's 2ltr bottle of water and put it into my rucksack 2kg more to carry and I noticed it. That made a big difference for Susan as I think the bottle had been moving around in her rucksack and shifting the weight from side to side. She has since bought a much better rucksack. We made better progress after that, roughly going with the flow of people now climbing up the tourist path.

 

  Susan turning on one of the many changes in direction as the path climbs to Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe. You will see by the photo how rocky the path is. We had been sheltered from the wind climbing up the west side till we reached 563m where the path flattens out beside Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe, but it's not that flat still uphill. About here we ended up walking along side a bunch of loud mouths slagging off  the Scottish government - they were not from Scotland. So we decided to stop for a fly cup behind some rocks to get out of the strengthening wind. Unfortunately the other group stopped about here too. We could see that the top of Nevis was in the cloud  and decided to take the other path round by the loch and head for Carn Mor Dearg.  Not many going this way, so it was nice and peaceful, apart from the wind noise and the loud mouths headed up the tourist route.

            Susan at Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe wind blowing from the left quite hard now.

   The path more or less follows the 600m contour round the north side of Ben Nevis into Corie Leis, it's about 2km round to the corie from Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe and the path goes along the north east face of Nevis. This is the most interesting side of Nevis, steep crags tower  above you disappearing into the mist most days. There are climbing routes up through Tower ridge and Zero Gully.   Climbers go this way. I don't fancy it much, might be interesting though.

If you want to scare the pants off yourself watch this video.

 http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=59513

 By west coast mountain guides. A winter climb of Tower Ridge. Scare factor 10ish.

                                           The north east face of Ben Nevis from Corie Leis.

You follow the burn which you have to cross further up the corie, (yes the dreaded river crossing coming up), to the Mountain rescue building and one of the biggest collection of Calor gas bottles I have seen. A bit like a rash of red on the hill side.

There were a few people climbing up in front of us and we all seemed to meet up around the mountain rescue post.

                                             Climbers ahead, mountain rescue hut centre.

 We passed the post and looked for a place to cross the river, the group we had ended up with crossed and we decided to cross in the same place as there were plenty of rocks. The little river is fast flowing and I managed to stay out of it - I know not like me!

Me with dry feet for a change with the river where we crossed behind me. Guess which direction you have to go from here? You're right - straight up a steep climb to the top. Where we crossed is around the 750m and the top is 1220m. A 470m climb in around 800m distance and its grassy till you get further up where you get onto the red rocks. ( dearg is red in Gaelic)

  Susan making here way up the steep bit, don't think she liked this bit much. I found it not to bad. Near the top we met up with a bloke and a girl from Dundee university. Now the wind had really picked up by this time hitting 60mph ish  so you were having to lean into it. The girl was only about 5 foot tall and had been blown over 3 times by this point  and wasn't a happy bunny. The bloke wasn't much bothered and was going for the arête over to the big ben which by the way was still in the cloud where as CMD was clear. The three of them huddled together to stop being blown over and the bold me headed the 20 foot or so to the cairn.

                                               The three of them bracing against the wind.

I scrambled up to the cairn which has steep drops on the east side and sat down for the obligatory photo.

                                               Me at the top keeping low in the wind.

                                       That's as far as Susan wanted to go in the strong winds.

   Now the options to get back to the car were to go across the arête which is narrow and up to the top of Ben Nevis or back the way we came. After a chat with two blokes that had just come across the arête  Susan did not want to go across it in the strong wind and she was not at all  keen on going back down the same way we came up due to the steepness. There is a path heading north and down so we took it and made our way down to Carn beag Dearg at 1010m. We had great view over to Loch Eil and Corpac during the day but the mist never lifted off Nevis sitting just above Carn Mor Dearg. There would have been no views up there and the wind would have been very powerful.

  We headed west back down into Corie Leis which was still steepish and I went on  ahead a bit down the path. I had to wait for Susan and when she came into sight one of the walking poles was bent, she had had a fall. She showed me the pole, I think feeling a bit guilty at bending the pole and asked "What to do about this"? "No problem". I said and took the bent pole and straightened it over my knee. All those years plumbing and bending copper came in handy.

  Now after this Susan seemed to be nervous of falling and took it very canny down to the river.

                                               Susan with bent pole descending.

We got down to the river and stopped for something to eat. Where we had come down the river was too wide and fast to cross so we headed back up Corie Leis a good bit to find a place to cross. Found a not too bad place where we had to cross a burn coming down off CMD and then the river, I crossed first staying dry again and held out my pole for Susan to hold onto as she made her way across to where I was. A wee bit nervous going across here, we got across and back onto the path round to  Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe

 

                                             Path along north east face of Ben Nevis.

It was getting on a bit now around 6.30 pm and we had a fair way to get back to the car, and yes I had taken a torch this time. I informed Susan we should try and hurry up a bit to get to the car before dark. After a while we came on the tourist path down from Nevis summit and joined onto it at Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe. Not many people about now. Susan did not like the rocky path down from here and was taking it carefully as she made her way down, quite tired by this time. As we walked down a fell runner came belting up past us at a good rate with a comment from Susan something like B****y H**l as she carefully picked her way down the stones and the guy leapt from stone to stone as if it were a flat path.  I went ahead trying to encourage Susan to speed up a bit but I think her brain had decided fast means fall and was not having it. Slow progress down the tourist path with the fell runner passing us on the way down just as fast if not faster than when he was on the way up. On one of the bends there is a seat so we stopped there for a last fly cup and a rest for 5 minutes. Getting late now and I informed Susan we really don't want to be going down this path in the dark. We reached the style about 9.30pm and it was hard work getting up the steps and down the other side.  Followed the path back to the bridge and reached the car around 10pm just as it was getting dark. "Phew". The facilities are open all the time but the lights come on when you enter and are on a timer so don't sit too long or you will be singing in the dark.

 Kit changed we set off on the long drive home to Alford around 10.30pm. 125 miles to go. I was a wee bit tired by this time but drove on, Susan yapping to me to make sure I was still awake. About 5 miles before we got to Newtonmore we came round a bend to see 2 young blokes, one standing up straight and the other oddly in a crouching position with his trousers and pants down round his ankles. Bare backside in our faces as we drove past thinking what the **** was that about? Not what you expect to see in the middle of the highlands at 11.59 pm'ish on a Saturday night. Or maybe it was normal for round there?  After all that hilarity we drove on chuckling to ourselves for a while. Now when we got near to Grantown I was pretty tired so I decided to pull into a layby on the bypass. I got out in the dark to get some fresh air and have a wee walk about, next thing there were people running across the bypass shouting at each other - eventful night.  Don't think it was a full moon but should have been, I went straight back to the car and drove off. Susan yapped to me all the way home to keep me awake, got home about 1.30am and dropped Susan off at her house and got home shattered.

Slept well that night for some reason can't think why!

Ben Nevis or bust? Yep bust again but got to bag Cairn Mor Dearg which added to my Munro count. I was happy about that and Susan enjoyed most of her day out.

                                              Ben Nevis towering over Carn Mor Dearg.

Dino60

Beinn Bhrotain and Monadh Mor 2011 Part 3 ,The return

Beinn Bhrotain and Monadh Mor 2011, Part 3

The return - 21/8/2011

  My other walking buddy Brian had done Beinn Bhrotain in the snow with a YMCA party. They had called a halt due to the weather and the time until dark. I suggested that I would go with him to do Monadh Mor this weekend 21/8/11. The original plan was to go to Bridge of Orchy but the weather did not look too good with the fog down to 400m. So I suggested  I would come with him and re-climb my nemesis, see part one and two.

  Brian picked me up at 6am with my bike and we headed off to Linn of Dee 50 miles away. Brian was low on petrol so he took it easy all the way there keeping to the speed limits.(space here for Grahams comment                ) We pulled into the garage at Braemar to see what time it closed at night and the sign said 4pm. Brian did not think we would make it back in time to get petrol, and the dash was showing 70 miles to go.Nothing we could do and headed off up to Linn of Dee, getting there at around 7.20am. Got the bikes unloaded and kitted up.

                                      Brian ready to go.

We set off up the Landrover track for White bridge, Brian leading the way

  It's around one hours walk to White bridge and we got there in around 40 minutes on the bikes, uphill most of the way.
Brian was waiting on the bridge with the camera ready as I got there.

                                              Picture by Brian Cruickshank Brads44
 http://www.flickr.com/photos/44907198@N00/ more of Brian's photos.

 As I got level with Brian he was doing the midge shuffle, as I had my hat on I did not see the cloud of the little sods till I looked up and the two of us took off on the bikes to get away from them.

   Taking the right fork just after White bridge we headed up the west side of the river Dee. The path is a bit rough and narrow with quite a few drains in it as you make your way along. We were having to dismount the bikes and push them over the drains. We made slower progress along this track.

   About 3km along this track we came to a small burn in a big ditch and decided to dump the bikes there. This burn should be named, "The attack of the killer midges burn". Got the Deet 50 out and sprayed Brian and myself to ward them off. Had to resort to midge nets in the end. We were breakfast to them and they were hungry.
 
  After we dumped the bikes we had a bit to walk to hit the path up Beinn Bhrotain, Brian pointing the way.

 

                         Fresh from Milan fashion show week, Brian with latest in Midge nets.

  Carn Fiaclach beag, ahead with the Devil's Point behind Brian in the distance. Bog trot for a good bit as we climbed following the path, skirting south of Carn Fiaclach we made our way up to Carn Cloich-mhuilinn about a 3km climb up from the river. It gets a bit steeper further up but not quite so boggy.

The boggy path can be seen on the left with the river Dee in the distance. Approaching the top of  Carn Cloich-mhuilinn it's much drier and the heather is much shorter.

 Brian near the summit of Carn Cloich-mhuilinn. Midges not bothering us up here as the wind had picked up.

Carn Cloich-mhuilinn is a Munro top at 942m and quite a steady climb up from the river.
 Reaching the top we stopped for a fly-cup and something to eat.

               Brian on the top of Carn Cloich-mhuilinn.

A bit windy on the top so we ducked down the east side to find a more sheltered spot.

Found a nice rock to sit on and watched Brian doing a juggling act with a pork pie, which did not go his way. Then the great pork pie hunt got under way as Brian searched for the elusive pie. After a bit of searching around under the rocks the pie was retrieved.

                                   

                               Brian hunting for the pie.

   After an inspection of the pie, and a clean it was ditched due to where it had been - good job he had two.  Had been having some trouble myself with dry food on the last couple of walks so had decided to have a change on this one. Took ham rolls which worked out ok and more water , 2ltr's in all. Had taken 1,1/2 ltr on the hill leaving 1/2ltr with the bike for the return. This unusually worked out perfect. It can be difficult to judge what to take with you on the hills.
   Fed and watered we set off down the north west side of Carn Cloich-mhuilinn, you drop down to about 872m and then across a flattish bit - ok I am lying it's uphill, for about 1km then it's steep again with a 200m accent over about 1km and quite steep in bits.

 

Brian climbing up the south side of Beinn Bhrotain. (Near the top)

                                     

                       Looking back to Carn Cloich-mhuilinn.

  As we got near the top we came on a cairn about 100m south of the top. Did not seem to be any reason for it to be here, if you were up here in the thick mist it would be easy to mistake it for the top.

          Brian at the cairn with the main top to the right in the distance.
   We reached the top at 10.39am, 3hours and 10minutes ish from the car park and had covered a distance of 12.9km to here. Not bad for two 50 year olds. (Brian is usually faster) Sunday service today.
  We had good views all around and could even see the top of Ben Macdui which is usually in the cloud.

Brian right and me left of shot at the trig point on Beinn Bhrotain.
 This was Brian's 176th Munro, I did not count this one as I had climbed it before. I think I have to count it as 142/8 the 8 being the ones I have climbed twice.
  We have a debate about the second round of the Munros. Can you start counting before you finish the 183 or it could be 182 Munros  now - or do you have to do them all and start again? Anyone know?
  Pictures taken we set off for Monadh Mor about 3km north west ish from here. We could see rain in the distance out to the west and wondered if we were about to get wet? There is a big drop down to the bealach between the two hills quite rocky on the Beinn Bhrotain side and steep as well.

 

Brian on the north side of Beinn Bhrorain with  Monadh Mor in the distance. Came on this pointed rock some one had stuck upright here.

 Stopped to take a few photos on bealach of Glen Geuschan and the big Munros in the Lairig Ghru.

   I took this exact same picture 7 years before (see part 2) with 35mm film camera then.

 975m at the bealach and a reasonable climb up to 1069m where it levels out a good bit, and an easy walk to the north top 2km from the bealach .

 

 Brian on the bealach with the climb up to Monadh Mor behind him.
 We reached the 1113m north top at 11.42am and decided to have lunch after taking a few pictures.

  Brian on Monadh Mor north top with The Angels peak and Cairn Toul behind him. The 5th and 4th biggest Munros. Munro 177 for Brian.

  Me on Monadh Mor north summit 1113m.Got a bit colder so I had put my jacket on to sit and eat lunch. As we were eating lunch a chap appeared from the north and walked past up saying hello as he did. This guy must have been a hill runner as he was going at a good speed. What a difference 10 minutes makes in the Cairngorms, the rain came in from the west and with it the low cloud. Got the water proofs out and sheltered behind the cairn till the worst had past. Brian feeling the cold sitting so we made a move for the south top.

         Just don't ask!:- Brian at south top Beinn Bhrotain.
View after the rain came in.

  We headed off in the rough direction of where we had seen the south top, south as it happens around 1km away. In the mist you don't seem to know if you are going up or down if it's not too steep until you turn round to see where you have come from. About half way there Brian got the map and compass out to get a bearing and we walked the bearing till we could see the south top.

                                              Me at the south top in the mist.

  We both decided on a rough direction to take us back to the bealach and headed off in the mist unable to see where we wanted to be. Its just over 1km back to the bealach and as we were getting nearer to what we thought was the bealach Brian was going to get the map and compass out. I asked him to get my gps out of my pack as it has what I call a snail trail. As you walk along it puts down a line on the screen and records it.

   So it showed us just about where we had walked to the first top. As the two lines crossed we were back on our path and I turned  the GPS so the line matched the older line and we followed it. Brian has a GPS but only switches it on to find out where he is on a hill. As we were following the GPS line Brian was sure we were walking round in a circle in the mist. I assured him we were not and would be at the bealach soon.

Sure enough right to the bealach and we dropped down on to it.

 Big up on to Beinn Bhrotain next. We met a chap who had come up from Nottingham making his way to Monadh Mor and could see the hill runner making his way down from the summit of Beinn Bhrotain.

 Boulder field most of the way up to the top. About 1/2 way up we saw the hill runner fly past the chap from Nottingham going up Monadh Mor and then we climbed almost back to the top of Beinn Bhrotain,  turned east heading for the other top of Beinn Bhrotain at 1108m and around 1 km away the mist beginning to lift, down hill for 1/2 off it and an easy climb to the top.

                                                 Beinn Bhrotain south top 1108m.

    We arrived at the south top at 1.21pm took a few pictures and headed down to the path along the Dee 3km ahead, The descent was steep in places with slippy wet grass, Brian stumbled a few times on the way down.

                                     
                             Brian making his way down to the river.

   We got down to the river around 2.15pm and started heading for the bikes about a 3km walk ahead. Had a stop for a fly cup and something to eat just after we got on to the main path along side the river. Brian did some calculation about distance and time back to the car and reckoned we could make it in time for the petrol station.

  
Changed gear about here and sped up walking back to bikes. When we got to the bikes no midges due to the wind, magic. Sorted out kit and bikes with Brian setting off  first to get back to car a bit earlier that me and put the bike rack on to save time.
  I followed not long after but as the track is rough and narrow with a lot of drains we made slow progress to the White bridge. As I was about 1/2 km from the bridge I saw Brian crossing it and made an effort to speed up. Last drain 50m from the bridge jumped off and pushed the bike across it. On to the bike going a bit faster now passing the horses and on to the bridge where I stopped for a minute to take a drink of water.

  Right - car park as fast as I can 4.23km to go. The Landrover track is not too smooth in some places but I just went as fast as I could in 15th gear going at around 25km on the flatter bits and hitting 32km on the down hills, only jumping off once to go up a small hill. It had taken 40 minutes in the morning to get to White bridge on the bikes but we had done the same distance in 13 minutes on the way back. When I got to the car park Brian had his bike on the rack and was sorting out his kit. "You must have been moving" I got from Brian as I arrived at the car - tired. "I think we can make the petrol station if we get a move on" said Brian, as it was 3.30pm.

  We quickly loaded up my bike and I got into the car with my boots and water proof trousers still on so Brian could set off. Planning to get changed on the way.
  Why is there always a very slow driver when you're trying to get somewhere before it closes? Sure enough captain slow was out for a Sunday run and on this narrow twisty road not much chance of passing, by good luck when we got to Inverey the guy pulled off to the side and indicated for us to pass. Great, just as we were getting near Braemar a bus on the road was taking up most of it, so we had to follow it and it was not going fast. Got in to Braemar and hundreds of people and cars all over the place, what next? - a BMW driver thinking he could fit in the 3 feet between the bus and a wall. Don't think he knew where reverse gear in his car was. The bus squeezed into a space between two cars with us tucked in behind it to let (I don't know where reverse is) past. 2 mph through the village with 1/2 the people on the road , would we make it to the garage on time? When we got to the junction on the main road the bus turned south letting us head swiftly to the petrol station which was still open, Phew!! Brian put in petrol and went to pay. When he came out he told me that the garage was open till 5pm and they had not taken down the old sign. Lol.(Did not have to rush then!!)
     Next stop Inver hotel for a pint. Into the hotel as the bar door was shut and could not find anyone to serve so we left only to be intercepted in the car park by the publican so back into the bar and got our pints. She told us about her son and some others climbing and biking  the 283 Munros in 49 days around 1600 miles, to raise money for DecAid honouring 10 years in Afghanistan.   

See   www.decaid.co.uk  for more info.

And I got a good cold pint of Guinness this time, then home.

No major calamities this time round these 2 hills.
Did not fall in the river or have to walk in the dark.

The end. (Bet you're glad this is over.)

P.S. If you don't climb the mountain you can't see the view.( On a clear day)

Dino60