Thursday 22 November 2012

Plans For a Long Weekend on the Mullardoch Round

This weekend I'm off backpacking again with Colin.  Our plan is to walk the 12 Munros that surround Loch Mullardoch in the Northern Highlands over 4 days.  The plan is to start walking around lunchtime tomorrow and to finish around lunchtime on Monday.  Details of our planned route are below, together with Grough Route's estimated times - I doubt very much we'll be any faster than that!
  • Day 1 - Loch Mullardoch Dam (south side car-park) to Loch Tuill Bhearnach
    • Distance: 8.5km; Ascent: 815m; ~3hours
  • Day 2 - Loch Tuill Bhearnach to E of Loch an Droma
    • Distance:15km; Ascent: 1060m; ~5hours
  • Day 3 - E of Loch an Droma to Coire Lochan
    • Distance: 19.5km; Ascent: 1930m; ~7.5hours
  • Day 4 - Coire Lochan to Loch Mullardoch Dam
    • Distance: 15km; Ascent: 1000m; ~5hours
Obviously these plans may change dependent upon weather and whether there is any significant snow on the hills.  Also if conditions are good we might camp high instead, especially on Saturday as it would shorten Sunday's walk!

The following Social Hiking map shows our planned route (in pink), which should get overlaid with our progress (in orange) assuming that my new Spot works correctly!  I'll also be sending daily blog posts when I have signal too.

See map on Social Hiking site or full size in a new window
 
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10 comments:

  1. Martin Rye22 November 2012 at 21:22

    That is a classic round. Look forward to reading your reports.

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    1. A27 November 2012 at 15:25

      It does indeed sound like a classic round, and one that I'll have to have another attempt at (hopefully next year) after we unfortunately had to bail out due to deep snow.

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  2. Phreerunner22 November 2012 at 22:57

    Have a great time, Alistair. Although you should find it quite easy, we don't really expect to see you on Tuesday evening!
    I recommend dumping your bags for the outlier and doing a there and back route. You'll find some excellent spots for high camps, if my memory serves me...

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  3. Howellsey24 November 2012 at 13:08

    Sounds fantastic, hope that you get the weather for it......

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    1. A27 November 2012 at 15:26

      Well the bit we managed was fantastic, but unfortunately slow progress through deep snow put pay to us completing the round. A write up and photos will follow soon...

      Delete
  4. Phreerunner25 November 2012 at 09:39

    Sounds like a discreet retreat. I've always preferred day walks on bagging trips at this time of year. I wonder why! Incidentally, the book I'm reading at present (Hell of a Journey - Mike Cawthorne [crazy man]) has just described his Affric 1000 metre ascents at this time of year. It sounded quite different from my own summery visits to the area.

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    1. A27 November 2012 at 15:23

      Yes you are correct - we decided to retreat due to deep snow, which meant that our progress was going to be too slow to complete the round in time. However we did then manage a couple of day walks instead, of which write ups will appear at some point in the next week or so.

      Delete
  5. Phreerunner27 November 2012 at 15:26

    Good, I was faintly concerned, but at least the orange line ended at a car park!

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    1. A27 November 2012 at 15:33

      Thanks for your concern. I thought that I had posted a comment on Saturday evening, but evidently it never appeared - phone signal was somewhat sketchy!

      I think I'll have another attempt at it next year, preferably when the daylight hours are longer! Hope you have a good walk this evening.

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  6. Phreerunner27 November 2012 at 16:10

    Thanks, I think we'll need our wellies tonight...

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