An Exploratory ATP Walk in Knoydart

Monday 17th September

Distance: 10km; Ascent:150m; Sunny and windy with occasional showers; with Lynsey & Isabel

See tracked route in new window

Today we decided to spend the day in Knoydart.  Lynsey had never been there before and I had only been once previously, on the start of my 2010 TGO Challenge crossing, and I had been thinking of returning at some point.  I remembered that there were a few vehicle tracks around Inverie so we decided to take the pushchair over for some exploratory ATP walking!

Since my previous visit, there was now a much greater choice of passenger ferry options from Mallaig to Inverie so we booked ourselves on the first of the day, leaving at 9:30.  After a swift crossing, we found ourselves on the pier in Inverie just as the heavens opened.  Luckily there was a small shelter at the end of the pier for us to shelter in whilst we sorted ourselves out for a walk, and by the time we were ready the rain had stopped :-)

Sgurr an Eilein Ghiubhais across Loch Nevis from Inverie Pier

Inverie Bay

We popped into the Knoydart Foundation visitor centre and picked up a leaflet about the "Knoydart in a Knutshell" walk; this sounded interesting so we thought we'd see how much we could manage with an ATP!

After ascending steeply from the village we picked up a pleasant narrow path descending through the woods for just under a kilometre.  Here we met the Barrisdale path, which we followed steeply up through more woodland to emerge in a small clearing with good views up towards Sgurr Coire Choinnichean.  Here the "Knoydart in a Knutshell" walk takes an abrupt right-turn down some steps; however the way was partially blocked by a fallen tree, which looked tricky to get round with the pushchair.

The Knutshell Walk

Instead we opted to stay on the vehicle track and head towards the mountains.  After passing through a couple more areas of woodland the scenery opened out in front of us, with good views over to a monument on a hillock above the track.  We continued a short distance beyond here, with good views towards Meall Buidhe and surrounding hills, before deciding it was time to retrace our steps.

Monument near Inverie

Meall Buidhe

At around 12:30pm we were back in the village and headed for The Old Forge for a tasty lunch of haddock and chips washed down with fine ale from the Glenfinnan brewery.  Shortly before 2pm we left the cosy interior of the pub and wandered north-west along the shore-side road for a kilometre or so before returning to the pier to catch the 3pm ferry back to Mallaig after an excellent day in Knoydart.

Inverie Bay

Inverie Bay

Mallaig harbour

N.B. 30/10/12 - Post date updated to actual date of walk, i.e. 17/09/12, (from 19/09/12)

The Silver Sands of Morar

Sunday 16th September

After a very long day on the road yesterday (not helped by the M6 being shut, resulting in long delays) we arrived for our week in Morar on the Scottish West Coast.  Today we had a much more leisurely day, and here are a couple of photos from a drive along the coast road and then a few more from our afternoon stroll on the Silver Sands of Morar :-)

Looking out over the beach towards Rum

River Morar

The Silver Sands

The Silver Sands

Rainbow over Morar

N.B. 30/10/12 - Post date updated to actual date of walk, i.e. 16/09/12, (from 18/09/12)

The Great Orme

Sunday 9th September

Distance: 8km; Ascent: 330m; dry and windy; with Lynsey & Isabel

See tracked route in new window

It had been a while since we had taken Isabel up a hill, and so this is what we did today!  We considered various hills closer to Porthmadog before settling on Great Orme, as a) it wasn't a long day, b) it was on our way home and c) I've been wanting to go and explore it for a while.  Therefore it seemed like an ideal plan for the day!

We parked in Llandudno and, after a picnic lunch in the car, we set off walking at around 12:30pm and wandered down towards the beach before picking up a well waymarked path towards the summit, which ascended steeply up through the Happy Valley Gardens.

Waymarks

A ski slope!

Once out of the gardens we stumbled upon a ski slope and toboggan run, which looked to be a popular place to be today.  Higher up the angle of the ground eased and we soon spotted the cable car and half-way tram station; there seemed to be a multitude of possible ways to climb this hill!

Cable car

The busy looking upper slopes of the Great Orme

An ancient copper mine

At around 2pm we reached the trig point on the summit of Great Orme (Marilyn).  It was quite windy up here but the views were excellent, especially across Conwy Bay towards the northern Carneddau.  There were however a large complex of buildings near the summit, complete with a car park, which did detract slightly from the views.

Summit trig point on the Great Orme

Lots of buildings on the summit of Great Orme

We left the summit buildings, with their masses of people, and descended down a much quieter path :-)  After heading south west for a few hundred metres, we made an abrupt right turn to follow another path north west with steep ground to our left; this section was very windy!  There were good views though:

Looking across Conwy Bay towards the Carneddau

We descended down a steep traversing path to reach the road, before picking up another less obvious path.  This had some interesting short steep ascents below the cliffs but eventually brought us to Haulfre Gardens, where we stopped for an excellent ice cream before returning to the car at around 4pm.  A pleasant afternoon stroll :-)

Looking across Conwy Bay

N.B. 30/10/12 - Post date updated to actual date of walk, i.e. 09/09/12, (from 17/09/12)

Llyn Mair and a Welsh Rainforest

Saturday 8th September

Distance: 3km; Ascent: minimal; Sunny and warm; with Lynsey, Isabel, Rachel, Jim, Edward and Rebekah

See tracked route in new window

We were away for the weekend with friends for Kim's birthday in a hostel in Tremadog.  The weather was excellent today so we arranged to go out for a nearby ATP walk with Rachel.  Isabel decided that she wanted to be carried rather than sitting in the pushchair, and so soon after 10am we set off walking with me carrying Isabel in her rucksack carrier.

Waterfall near Llyn Mair

Llyn Mair

It was nice weather for early September, and there were pleasant views across the lake to the woods beyond.  After a while we left the lake shore and gently ascended on a broad track, which was intriguingly waymarked as the Wales Coast Path; however we were several miles from the coast!  I assume that there must be a reason for this perplexing choice of route as there is a bridge further down the valley.

The Wales Coast Path, yet we were several miles inland!

Strange post

Once the walk was over we met Jim, Edward and Rebekah by the lake shore and opted for a second short walk; this time up through the intrigingly signposted Welsh rainforest to reach Tan-y-Bwlch station.

Tan-y-Bwlch

A Welsh Rainforest!

We returned to the hostel for lunch and later that afternoon Lynsey, Isabel and I headed to the beach for an hour or so.  We chose Black Rock Sands, which unfortunately seems to get used as a car park that somewhat detracts from the beauty of what would otherwise be a lovely spot!

Black Rock Sands

N.B. 30/10/12 - Post date updated to actual date of walk, i.e. 08/09/12, (from 15/09/12)

A Backpack in the Central Cairngorms

Last weekend, Gwilym and I spent a couple of excellent days backpacking on the some of the hills of the Central Cairngorms.  For me this was a bit of a "rematch backpack", as I have previously planned to climb these hills at various points over the last few years, but weather conditions prevented me reaching the summits of three of them:  Carn a' Mhaim, Derry Cairngorm and Beinn Mheadhoin.  Therefore I was pleased to discover that relatively benign conditions were forecast for the hills for the Saturday and Sunday of the bank holiday weekend, and thus we set off from Linn of Dee for the rematch!

The weather proved to be even better than originally forecast (well apart from Saturday evening when it rained heavily for several hours!) and we even got some views from the summits of all six Munros that we climbed.  We had a pleasant high camp by the shore of Loch Etchachan on the Saturday evening and once away from the main valley paths, we only saw one other walker on Saturday and two others on Sunday.  

This post is an index on my blog posts on the trip, which I have updated to include more photos and maps of our routes, and there's also a link to more of my photos from the weekend, my original plans and my Social Hiking map from the trip.

• Original plans for the weekend
• Day 1 - Linn of Dee to Loch Etchachan, via Carn a' Mhaim, Ben Macdui and Derry Cairngorm
• Day 2 - Loch Etchachan to Linn of Dee, via Beinn Mheadhoin, Beinn a' Chaorainn and Beinn Bhreac
• Photos from the trip (geotagged)
• Social Hiking map, with occasional tweets and photos

Loch Etchachan and Ben Macdui from slopes of Beinn Mheadhoin

Cairngorms Backpack August 2012 - Day 2

Distance: 21.5km; Ascent: 830m; Dry and sunny; with Gwilym

See tracked route in new window

After last nights near constant rain, it was pleasant to hear no rain on the tent when I woke up at around 6:30 ish due to the daylight.  After failing to get back to sleep, I went outside to discover that most of the cloud had lifted and there were even a few patches of blue sky :-)  It was noticeably colder than yesterday though; my thermometer in the tent porch read 5°C, so it can't have been much above freezing overnight!

Gwilym had brought along some backpacking coffee he had found in Tiso so we had an unusually civilised start to the day with freshly brewed coffee!  By the time we were packing up the tent the cloud had pretty much lifted above all the peaks we could see, and we could admire the majesty of our location next to Loch Etchachan.

Overnight camp at Loch Etchachan

Our original plan had been to bag Beinn Mheadhoin as a there and back walk from Loch Etchachan before descending into the head of Glen Derry and then ascending alongside the Glas Allt Mor up to the Moine Bealach.  However when viewed from Derry Cairngorm yesterday this burn didn't look to be an attractive route of ascent as it appeared to be in a quite steep sided little gully.  So instead as the weather was so good we opted to take in the extra peak of Beinn a' Chaorainn.

Loch Etchachan and Ben Macdui from slopes of Beinn Mheadhoin

Therefore after packing the tent up we began the steep ascent up onto the plateau of Beinn Mheadhoin, with excellent views back over Loch Etchachan towards Ben Macdui and the crags above Loch Avon.  We continued over the plateau past several granite tors to reach the summit tor of Beinn Mheadhoin (Munro, Marilyn), which was an impressively large lump of granite.

The summit tor of Beinn Mheadhoin

I had been here previously, but declined to scramble up the summit tor that time due to it being plastered in ice.  However that wasn't going to be a problem today and after a relatively easy scramble we were soon on the ~4x4m flat top of the tor, where we met our first other walker of the day.

Looking towards Ben Macdui from summit of Beinn Mheadhoin

On the summit of Beinn Mheadhoin

The views up here were excellent, and we rested a while in the warm sunshine, although there was also a chilly breeze.  The descent of the tor was unsurprisingly trickier than the ascent, with one slightly off balance move.  However we were soon safely back on the ground, but I was glad I hadn't attempted it when I was here in winter some years ago!

Cairn Gorm from N slopes of Beinn Mheadhoin

Descending the N slopes of Beinn Mheadhoin

The descent down to the north east took quite a while due to having to avoid a number of crags, and the ground being quite steep, broken and heathery; perhaps a route to avoid in mist!  We stopped for a break part way down in a sunny sheltered spot to remove layers as it had warmed up significantly.  And by now I concluded that it was a tad too warm to be wearing leggings under my trousers, although their warmth had been much appreciated first thing this morning!

Dubh Lochan

Eventually we reached the midge ridden path through the Lairig an Laoigh, where we detoured south briefly to pick up more water as it was so hot!  After following the path northwards for a few hundred metres, we took a traversing line up through the heather onto the steep northern slopes of Beinn a' Chaorainn.  The ascent seemed to go on for ages, and as we were sheltered from the wind we dared not stop for long lest the midges find us!

Looking down Glen Avon from N slopes of Beinn a' Chaorainn

Higher up the ground began to ease and after a final ascent up bouldery slopes we reached the summit cairn of Beinn a' Chaorainn (Munro, Marilyn) and our second other walker of the day, who had walked in this morning.  As it was now well past one o'clock, and we were both quite hungry, we stopped here for lunch in the sunshine :-)  The views from here were excellent: we could pick out all our hills from yesterday along with many others much further away; we could also make out the Moray Firth in the distance.

Summit of Beinn a' Chaorainn

After a walk across the seemingly endless plateau of the Moine Bhealaidh, which was boggy in places, we began the ascent up to our final hill of the day: Beinn Bhreac (Munro), whose summit we reached at around 2:30pm.  Again the views from here were excellent and we took possibly our last opportunity for a midge free break!

Summit of Beinn Bhreac

Fungi on the southern slopes of Beinn Bhreac

We descended south before picking up a small path down to the 673m bealach and then on downwards over progressively boggier ground to reach the easternmost of the two main paths through Glen Derry.

Pinewoods in Glen Derry

Pinewoods in Glen Derry

We headed southwards on this much better path through the pinewoods, surrounded by heather resplendent in purple flowers to reach Derry Lodge.  Here we met several day walkers preparing to cycle back to Linn of Dee; we were envious as we would have to walk the 5km instead!

Heading back towards Linn of Dee down Glen Lui

There was a pleasant breeze most of the way down Glen Lui to keep the midges at bay, and eventually we reached the car at Linn of Dee at around 6pm.  It had been an excellent couple of days walking, with much better weather than I expected :-)  We headed south to Edinburgh for dinner at Gwilym's flat, where I also stayed the night - many thanks!  Home tomorrow...

More photos and route map will follow once I get home.

Post updated on 01/09/12 to include route map, photos and links to hills; post date also altered to actual date of walk (from 27/08/12).
 

Mobile phone photo uploaded whilst on walk

Cairngorms Backpack August 2012 - Day 1

Distance: 23.5km; Ascent: 1460m; Mostly dry; with Gwilym

See tracked route in new window

It had been a while since my last visit to the Cairngorms, and with the Met Office forecasting that there would only be a low risk of strong sunlight today I decided that it would be safe to visit!!  And so late yesterday afternoon I took a train up to Edinburgh to meet Gwilym before heading north to find a reasonable spot to camp for the night in Glen Clunie.  The sky was clear and the stars were excellent :-)

First glimpses of the some of the Cairngorms from Glen Lui

We set off this morning from Linn of Dee soon after half nine surrounded by a large swarm of evil midges.  However it soon became apparent that if we walked fast enough they didn't seem to be able to keep up; so that's what we did!  Soon it began to rain, which it continued doing until around Derry Lodge.  We dared not take a break as the midges would soon find us, so we pressed on over the boggy ground in improving weather to reach a better path a few hundred metres away.  It is somewhat perplexing that this path was so well maintained yet the previous section wasn't.

After passing what looked to be a DofE group out on expedition, a breeze soon appeared and we felt it was safe for a break!  And it was :-)  The rivers didn't seem too high so we decided to take the shorter option of fording the Luibeg Burn, which didn't prove too tricky today.

Looking back down Glen Lui from lower slopes of Carn a' Mhaim

Fungi on way up Carn a' Mhaim

We refilled our water bottles and begin the ascent of our first hill in earnest, on a surprising good path, with a strengthening wind.  The low cloud seemed to be gradually lifting, with good views towards the hills south of the Dee and also back towards Derry Lodge.  After much steep ascent, the ground gradually began to ease and we found a reasonably sheltered spot to have lunch a few hundred metres short of the summit of Carn a' Mhaim.

Summit slopes of Carn a' Mhaim

On the summit of Carn a' Mhaim

After feeling suitably refreshed for the daunting climb ahead, we ambled over to the summit cairn of Carn a' Mhaim (Munro, Marilyn) to admire the fantastic views, although they were a bit intermittent!  Strangely it didn't seem to be particularly windy here despite the exposed location.  We descended the pleasant north ridge of the hill, which seemed to be acting as a barrier for the cloud, as there was loads of low cloud to the west but little to the east.

Looking down the north ridge of Carn a' Mhaim

The ridge became quite narrow and the stronger winds returned, although they weren't strong enough to pose a problem.  The cloud to the west began to lift, and soon we had good views down towards Corrour bothy and the Devil's Point.  The cloud lifted further as we ascended the steep slopes of Ben Macdui, and soon it was clear of Braeriach, Sgor an Lochain Uaine and Carn Toul, which meant we had excellent views across the Lairig Ghru towards them :-)

The Devil's Point and Beinn Bhrotain

Cairn Toul and Braeriach

The scree and bouldery ground was unpleasant to ascend, but eventually we reached the Cairngorm plateau at around 1200m.  A kilometre or so of more gentle ascent brought us to the summit trig point on Ben Macdui (Munro, Marilyn), the second highest hill in the UK.  There was a handy viewpoint indicator that told us all the far off hills we would be able to see from here on a clear day, including the Pentland Hills and Ben More Assant!  Due to the cloud not having completed cleared Ben Macdui, our only view today was across the Lairig Ghru.

Ben Macdui summit trig point

After a bit of a rest, we descended west, then north west, on an improving path.  Soon we dropped back out of the cloud and there were good views down to Loch Etchachan, our planned camping spot for the evening.  However we still had another hill to climb today: Derry Cairngorm.  Therefore we left the path and headed south.  Shortly before the bealach we left our sacks to avoid lugging them unnecessarily up the hill.

First views of Loch Etchachan

There were two summit cairns on Derry Cairngorm (Munro, HuMP), which appeared to be of near equal height so we visited them both just to be sure!  There were good views from here over to Lochan Uaine and the impressive looking crags on the south east side of Ben Macdui.  Over to the north east the sky was turning darker indicating rain was on it's way; would we get the tent up before its arrival?

Summit cairns on Derry Cairngorm

After returning to our bags, we began the sort ascent to the summit of Creagan a' Choire Etchachan (Munro Top).  Soon it began to rain, and it soon turned heavy and persistent.  We descended north west to pick up some water near the head of Loch Etchachan, before trying to find a flat area to camp that wasn't boggy and/or covered in stones.  Eventually we found somewhere near the spit of land which almost separates the Loch in two.

Approaching rain clouds over Beinn Mheadhoin

Soon we had the tent up and retreated inside from the incessant rain at around 7pm.  Dinner was couscous followed by a choice of single malt :-)  It was still raining when I went to bed at 10 ish; I hoped tomorrow would be drier than this evening!

More photos and a route map will follow once I'm back home.   

Post updated on 01/09/12 to include route map, photos and links to hills; post date also altered to actual date of walk (from 26/08/12 due to lack of signal).