TGO Challenge 2010 - Day 3 Plan

Distance: 29.5km, Ascent: 1930m

See route in new window with live progress
(Backup link without live progress)
I have a long day planned for today, but at least there's a pub to look forward to at the end! Hopefully I should be able to climb the two Munros and one Corbett south of Loch Quoich before dropping down into Glen Kingie and the walk through the forest to Tomdoun.

TGO Challenge 2010 - Day 2: Barrisdale to Sourlies

I woke up to the sound of rain on the tent, which resulted in me having a leisurely start to the day. However, by the time I left Barrisdale at 09:30, it was dry and sunny.  It was very windy on the ascent of Luinne Bheinn and I reached the summit just before one. The views were excellent and it looked like it had snowed last night on the hills further north.

The ground was quite rough it places and I made relatively slow progress around the top of Choire Odhair to Meall Buidhe. The coire looked quite impressive and was filled with glaciated slabs.  Descending down to Mam Meadail was quite slow going as I picked a way down through the crags. The stalkers path provided easy going down to Carnoch, where I crossed the notorious rickerty footbridge.

Sourlies bothy was reached by a scramble around the bottom of the headland as the tide was now too far in to walk along the shore.  It had been a tough day so I decided to stop for the night at Sourlies, which is a lovely spot at the head of Loch Nevis. Hopefully tomorrow will be easier going.

Position: llz=56.99732,-5.51274

TGO Challenge 2010 - Day 2 Plan

Distance: 21km, Ascent: 1600m

See route in new window with live progress
(Backup link without live progress)
Assuming that the weather isn't bad, today's plan is to bag my two remaining Munros in Knoydart: Luinne Bheinn and Meall Buidhe.  After that I intend to drop back down to sea level at the head of Loch Nevis and then head east into upper Glen Dessarry.

TGO Challenge 2010 - Day 1: Inverie to Barrisdale

Starting from Inverie meant that I had a much more leisurely first morning than in previous years as the boat doesn't leave Mallaig until 10:15.  The boat was full of challengers and their backpacks, together with various assorted items for the villagers in Inverie because the boat is the mail boat. I popped into the Old Forge for a quick drink with the majority of the other challengers.

I left Inverie on my own at midday and headed north to Gleann na Guiserein. Everyone else was heading for Barrisdale or Sourlies.  The cloud started to lift above the summits as I started to climb Ladhar Bheinn. Unfortuantly by the time I got to the summit it was in the cloud again. Nevertheless, on the way up I got excellent views over the neighbouring hills and over to Skye & Eigg.

The SE ridge of Ladhar Bheinn turned out to be quite rocky, with several scrambly down-climbs, which therefore took a while to descend. After ascending over another peak, I dropped down to Mam Barrisdale where the plan was to camp for the night. However it was quite windy so I instead chose to descend to Barrisdale to camp.  I arrived at Barrisdale around 8 ish and found several other challengers also camped there, including Dennis, Lou & Phyllis and Jeff & Joke.

Position: llz=57.07934,-5.51320

TGO Challenge 2010 - Day 1 Plan

Distance: 13.5km, Ascent: 1290m

See route in new window with live progress
(Backup link without live progress)
The plan for my first day is to take the morning ferry from Mallaig across to Inverie and then head up Ladhar Bheinn, before dropping down to camp at Mam Barrisdale.

TGO Challenge 2010 - Day 0

Lynsey dropped me off at Stockport station at 7am for my 10.5 hour journey to Mallaig. I met the first challengers when I changed trains at Carlisle.

The gathering at Glasgow Queen St was impressive, having managed to miss out on this the last 2 years. The journey to Mallaig was excellent with good views and company.  Fish & chips for dinner followed by a couple of pints of Red Cuillin in the West Highland Hotel.

Position: llz=57.00537,-5.82998

Live mapping for my TGO Challenge progress

I leave home tomorrow to take the train up to Mallaig for the TGO Challenge.  I will be updating my blog, with photos and comments, hopefully daily (but it depends on phone signal).  I will also be using the ViewRanger software on my mobile phone to provide updates on my position.  This blog should automatically display a map with my planned route on every morning, together with a link that will open an OS map in a new window that should display my recent positions together with my planned route.  Thank you to Jim for kindly hosting my files and also thanks to those who had made some helpful postings on the OS OpenSpace forum.

Here is an example from my walk in the Lake District last weekend:

See route in new window with live progress
(Backup link without live progress)