A Spare Saturday in Scotland

Thanks to the vagaries of the Caledonian sleeper timetable, I had a spare Saturday in Scotland.
Oops ;o)

My lovely mate picked me up from the station (at twenty to eight in the morning), bought me breakfast, and drove us up to Whitewell. From there we walked via Lochan Deo, the Cairngorm Club footbridge and Piccadilly and up to the Lairig Ghru. A right turn joined the route I had taken in May, heading up Sron na Lairig towards Braeriach. We met the cloud before reaching the first top, and by the summit of Braeriach we could barely see ten yards ahead. Some careful navigating took us the shortest way to the falls of Dee (rather than following the coire edges) and up Carn na Criche, a flat 1,265m top with a helpful cairn.

From there we followed the edge round, and up the Angel's Peak - a new hill for me (if only I could have seen the view...) - and down the other side, before we dumped our bags and scrambled up Cairn Toul in strong wind and driving rain (and fog). Having made a late start (we'd been tempted by tea at a friend's house en route to Whitewell), it was now 7pm, still raining hard and with the wind-chill taking the temperature below freezing, we needed to firm up our plans for getting off the plateau.

The headwind and late hour had us deciding on a descent into Glen Einich, via the Coire Dhondail path. At the end of that path, where it meets the landrover track on the valley floor, we found a smashing patch of grass, pitched the tent, cooked, and zonked straight out. We were up at 5.30 the next morning to walk the 9km back to Whitewell, in time to take part in the Bikeathon. The weather was glorious, and we cursed and praised its fickleness in equal measure.


We made the walk out in two-hours, completing the whole 36km hike (+1,350m ascent) in 22 hours. I am happy to say my seventy-quid Craghopper coat kept me completely dry, despite spending the entire first day in constant rain. We reached the Bikeathon start in time, and completed the 26 mile ride - which felt like the easy bit - in a couple of hours (not including lunch...) A massive thank you to everyone who sponsored me. I raised £600+ for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research, and the event as a whole raised over £35,000.

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If you'd still like to contribute to my sponsorship fund, you can do so here: justgiving.com/leighforbes

Gruelling Weekend

I'm riding in the Scottish Bikeathon, 26 miles through the Highlands in aid of Leukeamia & Lymphoma Research. I'm doing it with the widow of my friend Piet Ketelaar, in his memory.

I've raised £255 in four days. My target is £1,000 by the day of the ride, June 19th.

If any blogmates out there are prepared to sponsor me, I'd be hugely grateful. You can make a payment online at justgiving.com/leighforbes.

It's not part of the event, but I'm also planning to climb Cairn Toul, the UK's 4th highest mountain, the day before the bikeathon... It's going to be a gruelling (but ace) weekend!

Situation Normal

So the weather turned in the end, but only on the last of seven fantastic days walking. This was just yesterday.

Day one of my final hike had been stunning: my mate, Alastair, and I had beautiful weather as we strolled up Glen Feshie.
It was only as we tramped up the Eidart that the showers began, heralding the foul conditions to come. We made and ditched plans as the weather worsened, finally deciding to set camp before making a packless-dash for Beinn Bhrotain; but as the cloud and rain came down in equal measure, thunder rumbled and the wind howled, we took cover and opted to sit it out until morning.

After a tent-testing night (gusting 83mph on nearby Cairngorm), we woke late to find the visibility had improved... from 10 yards to 20 yards. We gave up on Beinn Bhrotain (I had a train to catch), and turned towards Monadh Mor, heading for home.

The visibility got better as we dropped below cloud level, but we saw no other improvement. After a four-hour horizontal torrent on the Mòine Mhor finally put paid to my week of Scottish sun, we picked our way back down into Glen Feshie, and once again into glorious conditions (aside from the storm-force gale). We delighted in the knowledge that Beinn Bhrotain stayed cloudy all day :o)

The weather was fun in a way - a challenge for nav skills if nothing else. Staying upright was my next ambition, and I mostly made it. Alastair, a local-born scot, cheered me with such observations as, "There's a good chance this mist might soon turn to rain..." He was wearing shorts.

I caught the train, and have suffered the wretchedness of swapping, in the space of twenty-four hours, the slopes of Beinn Bhrotain for the Victoria line at rush hour. Shell-shocked just doesn't touch it.

Luck of the Devil

I am in Scotland.
When I came here last September, the weather was like this

When I came back in March, the weather was like this,

When I got here on Monday, the weather was like this,

and on Tuesday, like this

and Wednesday, like this

I can't believe my luck :o)

I started the week with Braeriach, reaching the summit five hours after getting off the train. The next day I took a leisurely stroll round the tops of Cairngorm's northern corries with a mate. On Wednesday I climbed Beinn Mheadhoin (my no.1 target for 2011). Yesterday, I walked over the Moor of Feshie to Loch an Eilean, but forgot my camera. Gutted.
Today I was going to climb Cairn Toul from Glen Feshie, but it's gusting 60mph with patchy showers and cloud on the tops. Weather situation now normal.
It's time for a day in the coffee shop with my book.

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Addendum: by lunchtime, the tops were clear and from my seat in the coffee shop, I was being summoned up Sgòran Shu Mor.
I didn't set off until 3.30pm, but had six fantastic hours on the Glen Feshie ridge.

This is Loch Einich from the summit of Sgor Gaoith, 2,000' above (in a force 7 gale):