Sunday. The long way back

At 825m north west of Carn a'Mhaim (1037m). I didn't want to tempt fate by planning it in, but checked through the guidebooks on Friday night to remind myself of what to watch for. George n Keith know i'm taking this way back to the car. Glorious weather but windy.

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George and Keith breaking camp

George and Keith heading away from Corrour Bothy, walking up the Lairig, and eventually to Aviemore.

There has been a lot of pathwork done to the bothy.

North up the Lairig Ghru with Braeriach on the far left.

Track up Allt Clach nan Taillear

Track is good at stages

Local wildlife

View of the Lairig and Braeriach from 750m

MBA Renewal

After a few days delay, eventually got to renew my Mountain Bothies Association subscription. I'll need to set up a direct debit nearer the end of the year.

No Alladale bothy

Reading the Mountain Bothies Association newsletter, they report that the Alladale bothy has been taken back by the estate. Any howls heard in the area just now will be from tourists - for that is what hillwalkers are - and not the wolves.

In the slogan that seems to being mentioned by the current Scottish leadership: Scotland is open for business. As is the improved Corrour bothy. It is ready for you to do your business too.

Fiery Red Plums

Tuesday night found me camped beside a full Corrour bothy below the Devil's Todjer. Hence this post's title. It seemed an appropriate destination. Weather forecast dodgy. But not being set to improve, i reached a soddit moment and left town. Took me 4 hours to walk in. I wasn't in a rush and there were a few boggy sections to negotiate. If low cloud lifts, i hope to trek from Bod an Deamhain to Braeriach on Wednesday.

CGNP 19th May

1030ish. Walked back to Bob Scott's with a couple of Challengers. Gave them a head start after the bothy stop as i didn't want folk to think i'd walked all that way too. Sorry there was no Telegraph in the bothy, Mr P and even the local papers were out of date.

SUW 2.2230

Beehive bothy. Father n son here and a couple in a tent. Only saw 3 dayhikers on track. Will see what can be done to recharge phone in morning.

SUW 3.0943

Left bothy. Heading towards Trool.

SUW Planning 2

Been feeding in bothy gridrefs for Southern Scotland. Finding some good sites along the way. Including:

A free 64-page booklet entitled "Short walks on the Eastern Section of the Southern Upland Way" [pdf file]. One up on the Scottish Border council for that, the western section by Dumfries & Galloway council is free for the price of postage [link].

TrailFAQs.com has some travel photos of the SUW here.

CyberHiker's trail log (trog?) is here.

Bothy listings at the DumGal (isn't that a "Little Britain" character?) here. I notice that there are more than the MBA list. Sweet.

Pulling Teeth

After a flash of inspiration last night, I tried the K750 battery in the K800, but no joy. Still, I found the usb charger cable hidden in a drysack in my rucksack (from 3 weekends back).

Added the North of England bothies to Memory Map. Hmm, I should have done the ones on the SUW first, ach well, I'll come back to that. Found this site when looking for info on a bothy: Northumberland University Mountaineering Club, and their worst night ever. Waking up with my face in an asthtray...sorry, must be hiking related.

Not horrendously bad, but the most uncomfortable pitch was this one above Bridge of Orchy. Not ideal, steep slope, on heather, in wet. But, hey, that's life. Or was the midge-one at Geldie Lodge worse? Hmm, I think I was annoyed to be caught out be the wee horrors, but nothing dangerous.

Back to working on the Secret Project.

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Useful site discovered after trying to use 'symbols' in the previous entry: http://www.foxinternet.co.uk/bloggerkeyboard.html

I can now be so passé about it. And thus it begins, from the α to the Θ

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BBC's "Click" tv prog talked to David Braben, co-creator of "Elite", the first 3d computer game. Ah, takes me back.

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Shout-outs on FrapprMap up to 23. So far only Chris is smiling - maybe it is because it is sunny in his photo.

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Been reading up on americanbushman.blogspot.com as he learns new outdoors skills and takes the reader along on his journey. To start at the beginning of his blog, click here.

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Downloaded the beta of Audacity 1.3 to see if it will clean up audio any better.

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Found this very early blog from Birmingham.

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Programme on Channel 4 just now about "The Last Slave". A descendant of the last slave transported from Africa by British slavers searches through his ancestor's life. The gent asks honest questions and is coping with the honest answers.

I had my eyes opened when I worked in Hull, and visited Wilberforce House. Also some of the writings of Frederick Douglass (who has a cameo re-creation in "Glory"). Man's inhumanity to their fellow man in the sake of making money. 1838 before slavery itself was abolished, it was just some of the trading that was abolished in 1807.

Having a Blast

Cold/flu got to me in the night. Not a good night, despite the Lemsip tabs. Been cutting interviews for work on Audacity. Think a pre-amp would make life better, or remembering to switch on the microphone boost. Hmm, wonder if the old 'handbag' iMac would work better for recording.

Post brings the subscription offer from TGO. I couldn't recall subscribing to TGO, when the mags appeared 6 months ago. Turns out it was through my NTS membership. Which was nice. I didn't like to ask in case it turned out to be a clerical error. Nice offer of a Colin Prior print too.

Someone at work was asking about the screensaver I have on the works laptop, as he likes landscapes. It is from Colin Prior's site [link].

OM having problems loading.

Other packet from the Mountain Bothies Association. With a glossy newsletter too. Also, two bothy report cards. And...[sfx]..the Members' Handbook with the grid refs for all the bothies, and not just in Scotland, but England and Wales too. I was not expecting that extra detail. Good work people. I'll plug the list into Memory Map (which also covers the North of England, woohoo).

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News from yesterday night...photos from Alan Sloman's trek have now been posted to his website (for example), with the help of John Hee.

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Added a 'listen again' feature in the sidebar. Off to the left, no, left, and down a wee bit. Just fired up "Out of Doors" on Radio Scotland from this morning. Competition.. height of Cairngorm in feet or metres to win an Osprey card ('card', not bag); and a kids competition to win a fluffy puffin.

Talking about lack of snow in Cairngorm, and "climate proofing" Cairngorm Mountain.

Also, taking someone up their first Munro, and a kit-trip to Tiso's (how is it pronounced? "Teeso-s", rather than "Tie-soe-s")

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Any suggestion that I've not got man-flu, and am sulking cos I got a knockback on my promotion can be taken up with my HR department, Betty.

TGO Marches On

Well, as January comes to an end, the March edition of TGO arrives on the mat. Makes sense. Gone are the snow-capped peaks, now replaced by desert-hiking in Jordan.

Editorial: Cameron's organising an ultralight mini-expo at the Backpackers' Club AGM in Northumberland in April.

Main features: National Trails. Excellent. I think I'll be coming back to that one time and again.

Reviews:

• Women's 50 litre packs (so why are many 60 litres plus?). Anyway, always good to read on the trends and advice on what to look for.
• Knives/pocket tools. I don't know why, but I've never been a fan of the Swiss army knife. I find multitools big and clunky. There is a wee SAK in my emergency kit, but I just have a 'Oddities' pocket-knife in by pocket-kit. The Gerber Revolt has been assigned to KP duty, or opening the mail.
• Judith Armstrong (the other one) talks about gear for her Alpine challenge. Bob's interview.
• Chris Townsend reviews lightweight cooksets - he didn't review the Snow*Peak that I use, so I'm in the huff ;-)
  In truth it's more a comparison piece between materials.

Colin Prior actually mentions his hikes out, rather than the thoughts and technicalities of his stunning photos.

Others: great photo of the ruins at Petra; some pages on Snowdonia; Jim Perrin's recollections always need a proper read; Mike Harding continues to drop French into his musings (is he secretly educating the readership?).

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I dropped into Nevisport this afternoon and ordered up a proper USB cable for my Geko unit. Thirty notes on a cable! It's only a cable! It's not even shiny :(

Being my usual cunning self, I took the opportunity to suggest to the boss that a course on cable-making might be interesting to the general public. Something the students could make money at on eBay.

Sadly it meant turning down Big Kev's soon to be eBay'd mapping gps unit. Even at a tempting price, I just couldn't justify it to myself (or the bank manager). I too must get round to eBaying my unused gear.

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Summary of March...err, January. Got out once, but at least it was an overnighter and tabbed 15 miles down a glen I'd passed but never been down before. Also, the overnighter was in my first shared bothy - having had Rowchoish to myself on the WHW. New boots worked well, nice and comfy, and I've been wearing them around town (and even in to work on one snowy day). A lot of spare time taken up with technical problems with PC. Hey ho.

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And finally: was the closing sequence in "Open all hours" an example of video-blogging?

24 hour flew

Breakfast of coffee and porridge the left bothy at 9am. I was outside all packed when I remembered that I hadn't signed the bothy book. I made the terrible decision to just crack on rather than step over and disturb the bodies in the bothy. Walking towards Derry Lodge, I pass an Akto pitched in the trees. I feel slightly guilty for choosing a warm bothy instead of a spacious tent.

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Luibeg Bridge.
Been walking for an hour and a half. Spotted another tent, some big orange TNF affair above the Derry Fords. Saw 2 deer, young ones, about 10m away - I wouldn't have seen them but they started moving. Only saw one small unspecified black bird. Heavy shower, light rain continuous. Nothing to see above low cloud. Speckled snow on the hills. River is in spate, which may cause me a problem in Glen Dee, as the map shows the path intersecting a number of streams.


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Got to the start of the Lairig Ghru. Was passed by 2 climbers who'd camped out last night and were heading up one of the ridges (if the weather was okay). Saw a few deer grazing on Creagan nan Gabhar, but nothing else. Had a fine view of the hills below the low cloud, highlighted by the snow. Like a living Wainwright sketch. Bod an Deamhain pictured above. Before I turned south down Glen Dee, one of the guys from last night (and his dog) came bounding up from Corrour Bothy. So, I wasn't the first out, and I hadn't even noticed that there was only one dog in the bothy that morning.

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Headed down to Glen Dee, and, apart from crossing some streams that were in spate, and the driving rain, there wasn't much else. Some good work has been done on the path (photo taken looking north):

Elsewhere, the work had been submerged by water, or hadn't started. It must take the teams years to do a stretch like this, and their efforts are much appreciated. Got to White Bridge just after 3pm.
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10 to 5 on Saturday, and the GPS says 24.5km (15 miles) tabbed since yesterday, and it's not even 5 o'clock. Hence the title. Heavens still falling. Getting changed out of wet gear in car park toilets. I'll need to apply Nikwax to the Salomon gloves, as they started frothing. I'll also need to organise the names of waypoints - I've too many in the Cairngorms and they are starting to cause me problems when I come to pick them out of the list.

Boots did well, but I can feel some dampness in the socks - checked later and no blisters. I don't know what the expectation is for Gore-Tex XCR, but the boots were getting rained on from above, and having to cope with ankle-deep puddles and streams.

Found it difficult to get the e+Lite comfortable on my forehead, but it was handy to have. I didn't get the feeling of losing my peripheral vision like I did with the Tikka. But I found that to get the torch low enough to see what was in front of me, it started to shine off my nose.

New leggings were warm, without feeling over-warm in the bothy. Car thermometer read 3'c, but I didn't feel it on my legs - though I was wearing overtrousers as well as Montane Terras.

High wind, bothy night

By 9.30 i'd crossed the Lui water and was tabbing it to Bob Scott's bothy. I'd planned to pitch the tent, but the rising wind was putting paid to that idea. A chap i'd met in the car park was heading there too, so the race was on. Past eyes reflecting torchlight back, switching torch to the red lens for that demon effect. With a clear sky but high gusts, i had a fine walk in. Turning off the track to follow the bothy path, i could smell woodsmoke before i saw the light from the bothy. Circling the bothy in case pitching was still an option, went into an 8+2dog bothy with roasting fire and chatty company. About 3 extra came in during night and stayed. I think 2 more popped in and left. (Written from my bit of floor below kitchen platform, friday night)

Clearing the Cobwebs

Bag packed last night - almost as much as for the WHW. Extra clothes just in case. MWIS says that the wind will die down to 20/25mph for trekking on Saturday. Staying low, not going out of the glens, just up Glen Lui and back down Glen Dee in the Cairngorm National Park. Test out the new Scarpa ZG65s.

I seem to be the only one happy about the gusting winds just now - I want to see how the Akto copes. I'll find some shelter in Glen Lui and stop out overnight. If too bad, I'll see what's going on in Bob Scott's Bothy instead.

Fought off the urge to go out to the nearby gear shops in my lunchbreak. I must be coming down with something! Got some marking to do, then one more class, some paperwork and offski for an all-too infrequent trek in the wilds. Woo hoo.

Day out:Quoich-Fhearnaig-Lui

Just back from a day out. First hike since October! How sad is that? Very sodding sad, that's how.

As I was heading into the Cairngorm NP with a mate, and the forecast was cold, with the chance of snow flurries, I packed survival gear just in case. Obviously the Akto was in there. I packed my big Scarpa SL's in case I needed them when we got there, but took (and wore) my Terrocs instead.

Parked at the Linn of Dee car park and road-walked round to Linn of Quoich. Snack break by the "Punchbowl", and noticed the flowers left by the bridge in memory of the poor wee lass who drowned there earlier in the year. The day was cold, even though we were only at around 400m. I'd already changed from my Sealskinz to new Aspen cold-weather gloves. Walking north-westerly, the wind was in our face.


Climbing up the path over the Quoich Water, we caught a stunning view of the snow on the peaks. Having already driven past a snow-capped Lochnagar, this wasn't a surprise, but was still stunning.

We pushed on to Clais Fhearnaig, where we planned to stop for a lunch. The snow-capped hills delayed us slightly, as we kept stopping to take photos. Two walkers passed us heading south, from their "Hellos", FJ reckoned they may have been German or Danish. She has more of an ear for that sort of thing.


A black&white spaniel (I think) came bounding over the heather of the Clais, followed by another dog and then a couple. More "hellos" and the dogs did their sniffing-investigation-bounding thing. Nice, well-behaved and non-intimidating behaviour. Even though I'm a cat person, I can appreciate the boundless enthusiasm of a dog in it's element.

As to other animals, we'd seen some stags when in the car, and a couple of female deer when on foot. Later on that day, a hovering-flying thing (kestrel? hawk of some sort), and a flight of black birds (not geese or grouse). I'm hopeless at bird-watching, if you haven't already guessed.

Stopped for lunch at the Lochan and got the Micron out. Took ages to boil 0.6 litres of water for cuppa-soups. I didn't time it, but the heat lost by stopping was not regained by drinking the warm drinks. Definitely needs a wind-shield. I'll take one next time.

Pushed on and into Glen Lui. A slight diversion to Bob Scott's Bothy to leave some presents for the OMers who were basing their weekend there. Although we didn't meet them, a gentleman called Neil was stopping there for a brew and meal before pushing on to camp overnight and then to the Lairig Ghru and Aviemore on Sunday. We had a brew too, rested up, repacked gear and headed back to the car. It was noticeable that the Micron took far less time to heat the same amount of water than outdoors. From the guest-book, Geoff had already headed off to Aviemore on foot, and we read about the heroic rescue of an entangled stag by a Dundonian hiker.

While Akto-spotting at the bothy, I went out to fix a tent that had blown down. Turned out to be be a perfectly OK hooped bivvy. My bad. Still, first one I'd seen in 'real life'.

Tabbed it back to the car in falling daylight, and kept our night-vision as a Landy went past. Far better chance of seeing things without using a head-torch. We were rewarded on the way back to the car by seeing 2 stags rushing away from us across a stream.

Stopped off in Banchory at the chipshop by the river, polished off a fine meal, then headed home.

Summary - 14 miles/23km. A fine day out. 0900 - 1630, including stops.

No blisters. Terrocs behaved well again. Had to keep feet dry as no drying in the weather at all. I had Sealskinz waterproof socks and liners with me in case needed. New jacket was nice and warm (temperature around/just above freezing).

For my legs I wore HH leggings and Montane Terra trousers. Any colder and I'd have added another layer. For snow walking, I reckon I'd really need some dedicated cold-weather trousers, or warmer leggings (or both).

Forgot to put on lip-salve and lost my camera's retaining clip. I'll put that down to still being groggy after fighting off the cold.

WHW day 3.9

By ferry to Ardlui, 7km north of Inversnaid. Walked part of way with a Western Australian called Aidan. Carrying everything he owns in his pack, he hopes to retire on the money from his writings. Good on ya.

After Doune Bothy I let him speed ahead. I won't mention the buff-wearer, but he annoyed me. Darren, do you want a contract? There are 3 red deer to my left, and sheep appearing out of the ferns. This is more like it. Doesn't take much to make me happy and glad to be on the 'Way'.

WHW day 3.1

Breakfasting outside the Rowchoish Bothy. Coffee and porridge, nice. Planning target. I'd like to get beyond Crianlarich today. Blisters to tape up, not nice.

I put 2 new duracell batteries in the solaruno last night and then connected it to my phone - it charged the phone. No sunlight involved. It doesn't appear to fully charge the phone, takes it to 3/4 charge; low power batteries seem to drain the phone battery, so I'll need to watch that.

I've made an entry in the bothy book. Shame that someone felt so selfish when they vandalised the book. Especially when they got free shelter thanks to others being unselfish. Coffee almost finished. Better get a move on. Looks a fine day ahead. Birdsong, cattle lowing and the background drone of traffic from across the loch. Hello hello, to anyone at work, it's grand out here. A couple of flies are using my texting-hand as a salt-lick. Best get on, just too comfy here.

WHW day 2.12

Finally found Rowchoish Bothy. Obvious when you can see where you're going. Not so when every track looks like it could lead to a shelter. I must remember to pack a nightlight next time a bothy is in vicinity of trek. First night in a bothy, but only me here. Guy at Row'n SYHA said someone had pitched their tent in here on tuesday - the bothy was leaking in the heavy rain. I haven't set a fire as it's only me.

That's 50km/31 miles in 2 days. Only 22km today. One new blister. Would the terrocs have been better? I don't know. The 'way' is different to anything I've done so far. Music in head today: Lily Allen 'if you look with your eyes' (IIRC) [*], Runrig's "once in a lifetime" (from 'protect and survive' I think) [*].