2016 definitely hasn’t been year of the salmon,
what it has been though is year of the mountains. Helen and I bought ourselves
new bikes and began planning a year of Scottish adventures. As the snow melted
across Scotland we came up with our challenge for the remainder of the year
ahead – 50 Munros in 2016.
The first was a Ben Alder weekend, trying out the
new bikes and getting some classic hills under our belts. The cycle in
confirmed our choice of hard tail bikes was the correct one, with the rocky track almost defeating Helen! A very
windy but clear couple of days under canvas followed and left us six hills
lighter and with very sore back sides! The best of the hills by far being Ben
Alder itself, with a fair amount of snow still on the tops.
Next big trip was a sunny weekend just south of
Torridon, again with the now not so shiny new bikes. The first midges of the
year reminded us why you should always make sure bags are packed before you
open the car door. We set off from Achnaschellach at 10.30pm after a Friday
flyer from work and a good five hour drive north. Tired, covered in midges and
faced with a seriously steep forest track - morale wasn’t great, and it didn’t
improve when I took a wrong turn and cycled up an even steeper track, which
eventually defeated me (and lopsided heavy bag) by dropping me into the ditch.
We finally reached the top of the valley as darkness fell and pitched the tent
in a swarm of midges just before midnight… things could only get better!
Thankfully they did get better, but not before we
got through a very misty morning and some tricky navigation. The mist was so
thick at one point that before 10am we passed a couple heading home off the ridge,
as they couldn’t find the way! Our first hill of the day, Bidein A' Choire
Sheasgaich (Cheesecake), finally poked through the cloud and as we scrambled
up, we were left with an amazing inversion. The day only got better and as we
lay down for a nap on our second top in blazing sunshine I couldn’t help but
chuckle at the couple we had seen earlier who had called it a day! We heaved
our heavy bags over a couple more hills before finally pitching our tents at
9.30pm just short of our 5th Munro of the weekend.
And without a midge in sight ate a well-earned mountain of pasta as we watched
the sun set over the hills or Torridon. Our spectacular campsite has more
surprises in store as we awoke early enough to be above a full inversion with
clouds filling the valleys below. The tough couple of hills left, were soon
polished of and we finished the weekend with an awesome 10 min downhill cycle
back to the car. That had to be one of my top weekends this year.
50 hills is a big ask and we really did try and
make the most of weekends… too many to go into the detail but other notable
weekends include a wet 50 mile cycle/march cairngorm epic over 2 days and eight
munros and an amazing long weekend in Torridon which we managed to get up one
of my now favorite hills – Beinn Eighe (the photo says it all) and the brilliant
Strath Farrar horseshoe. Throw in some big single days, including Glenshee
hills, Lochnagar five, a pair in Blair Athol and we soon found ourselves with
only a handful to go.
The last two outings couldn’t have been more
different. Autumn is my favorite time of year, and it was on a fine crisp
autumn morning that we jumped off the sleeper train at Corrour Halt (the most
remote station in Britain), and climbed the three hills surrounding loch
Ossian. With stags roaring in the valley below and Ptarmigan coveys lifting on
each of the three tops, we were spoilt to another fine day in the Scottish
hills. Our challenge finished a couple of weeks later in Glen Shiel. After a
wet and windy blow out on Saturday, the clouds parted on Sunday and we joined
the north ridge heading east along the brothers of Kintail towards Aonach
Meadhoin, our 50th Munro in 6 months! We
were treated to a final highland scene from the top as half a dozen stags
roared at the harem of hinds below them, with the king pin stag herding the
ladies away from us.
I’m already planning which ones to do next! Bring
on winter.
Below are some highlights from the year...
Labels: Cairngorms, Glen Affric Munro's, Glen Farrar Munros, Glen Shiel Munros, Lochnagar, Mark Roxburgh, Mountaineering Scotland, Munro blog, sea river hill, Sea River Hill Blog, Torridon
Next big trip was a sunny weekend just south of
Torridon, again with the now not so shiny new bikes. The first midges of the
year reminded us why you should always make sure bags are packed before you
open the car door. We set off from Achnaschellach at 10.30pm after a Friday
flyer from work and a good five hour drive north. Tired, covered in midges and
faced with a seriously steep forest track - morale wasn’t great, and it didn’t
improve when I took a wrong turn and cycled up an even steeper track, which
eventually defeated me (and lopsided heavy bag) by dropping me into the ditch.
We finally reached the top of the valley as darkness fell and pitched the tent
in a swarm of midges just before midnight… things could only get better!
Thankfully they did get better, but not before we
got through a very misty morning and some tricky navigation. The mist was so
thick at one point that before 10am we passed a couple heading home off the ridge,
as they couldn’t find the way! Our first hill of the day, Bidein A' Choire
Sheasgaich (Cheesecake), finally poked through the cloud and as we scrambled
up, we were left with an amazing inversion. The day only got better and as we
lay down for a nap on our second top in blazing sunshine I couldn’t help but
chuckle at the couple we had seen earlier who had called it a day! We heaved
our heavy bags over a couple more hills before finally pitching our tents at
9.30pm just short of our 5th Munro of the weekend.
And without a midge in sight ate a well-earned mountain of pasta as we watched
the sun set over the hills or Torridon. Our spectacular campsite has more
surprises in store as we awoke early enough to be above a full inversion with
clouds filling the valleys below. The tough couple of hills left, were soon
polished of and we finished the weekend with an awesome 10 min downhill cycle
back to the car. That had to be one of my top weekends this year.
