An Stuc and other Munros

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Having awaited the end of the world at 6pm yesterday evening, and been let down, it was back to daily humdrum chores, laundry and suchlike.

Last night we were all in Markinch for Garys 2nd stag night, but having not drunk from the 'fountain of youth', I never managed an all night blowout and was home at a very reasonable hour.

I've just received an e-mail from Colin who I mentioned in an earlier posting when we teamed up to do the Lawers range and Meall nan Tarmachan, and he included a couple of pics of the day  So....

Me and Nimbus on Meall Garbh

(I'm sure I buried the sled here!!)

An Stuc behind us.

Colin

So...about this fish I was telling you I caught!!!

Harold Camping

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What to do with my last 6 hours on earth?
According to Harold Camping, it's the end and we're doomed.


On that basis, things I wished I had never done.

Paid my wood bill.
Topped up my phone yesterday.
Bought re-chargeable batteries.
Got next weeks shopping in.
Weeded the garden and washed the car this morning.
Gave up smoking.
Allowed the dentist to reschedule my appointment for next week.

SPENT THE END OF MY LIFE WRITING THIS RUBBISH!!   :-)

Deepest Devon

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It's a long, long drive to Devon.
I'm down at Fossfell installing a Hobbit Cascade and a Wee Hobbit.  That's all done now, but due to a bit of bad luck, one door never arrived from Ireland so I'm kicking my heels down here until Thursday when Gary arrives with the door.
Therefore, I decided to explore and found myself at Hartland Quay which has some wonderful rock formations and great beaches.
I also took the chance to get re-aquainted with Cornish Pasties...the real ones...

Geal Charn & Creag Pitridh

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So, on Friday, we had ordered all the gas boiler parts for the Hobbit Cascade, so there was little we could do over the weekend, so on that basis, I decided to accompany the Glenrothes Hillwalking club where a selection of Munros was on offer.
A small group of 6 decided to do 3 Munros whilst myself and the less daft minority would tackle just the 2.

The weather was very pleasant as we set off and had our first wee break at Lochan na Hearba. If you've never been here before, see the pic below.  It's like a sandy beach in the midst of the mountains.

Costa del Alba

Suitably refreshed, we followed the path gaining height, but all the time very aware of the worsening weather approaching from the South West, and just as we reached the plateau which takes you the last 10 minutes to the summit, we were hit by horizontal sleet and the wind picked up to about 35 knots.

This is most certainly not a difficult hill to climb, but the conditions of today made it a heck of an effort just to stay upright.

At the top, we huddled in abject misery and got as much food and hot drinks down as possible, and donned waterproofs over our already sodden clothes. Yep...it hit us that quickly.

We descended again to the path that leads between Charn & Pitridh, and after a wee chat, the group split into 2, the sensible ones re-tracing the path back to the warmth of the bus, leaving the rest of us to tackle Pitridh.

This was actually another easyish walk, but once again, come the summit, it was a case of leaning heavily into the wind to stay upright.  Suffice to say, we didn't hang around and headed off to lose altitude as rapidly as possible.

The walkout from here was through very boggy ground and I think that most of us had sodden boots and socks before long, as nothing could keep out the deluge.

Then....just as we reached the 'walkout' path, the skies cleared and the sun blazed.

The rest of the group were all lazed out on the grass munching sarnies and looking very smug by the time we returned to the bus.  A  'wringing out of socks' ceremony then ensued.

Well, it's now Monday night, and we spent today doing plumbing work in the Wee Hobbit whilst the sparkies wired the Cascade unit.   I'm still hurting from Sundays frivolities, so early to bed.   ZZZZZZZZ!!!!

Ben Vorlich, Stuc a'Chroin, Ben Lawers & Beinn Ghlas

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Hey Ho...back to work today after a glorious long bank holiday weekend.  We have a Wee Hobbit and a Hobbit Cascade to be finished and heading off down to Devon.  Long drive for us.

Gary is due back home from New York today also, so can't wait to catch up on his tales from the Stag weekend.

Me...

After doing 3 of the Lawers range midweek, I returned home, bought a comfy scissor camp bed due to the failure of my inflating mattresses to retain air through the night, and headed back up to tackle Ben Lawers and Beinn Ghlas, 2 Munros that I had missed on my previous outing.
I set up the tent again at the foot of Meall nan Tarmachan, and went to fit the aforementioned 'comfy bed' only to discover the bed was 18 inches longer than the tent. (there's planning for you).
Anyways, with a bit of jiggery pokery, I managed to get most of the bed in and fitted a tarp extension to the front of the tent.
The 2 mountains were to be honest a bit of a slog and the wind at the summits had fairly whipped up and it was bitterly cold, but the views over to Schiehallion and Ben Nevis made it worthwhile and I could also see tomorrows walk, which was to be Ben Vorlich, then on to Stuc a'Chroin.

Looking to Ben Lawers from Beinn Ghlas

After getting down, I set up a disposable bbq as I had left the stove back at home, duh!!  Therefore, tea that evening was a sustaining, if not visually appealing mixture of beans tatties and sausages.

Sunday evening was spent in the excellent Ben Lawers Hotel, where there were fiddlers a-fiddling, drummers a-drummin', pipes piping, whistles, accordians and drums plus a multitude of other instruments, and a wee jam session ensued and was top notch.  This happens on the first Sunday of every month.  Well worth the visit for this alone.

Once again, awoke to ice inside the tent and a cold head due to having to kip with it sticking out the door.  Idiot that I am.

Upon sunrise, I set off to the Post Office at Lochearnhead to meet up with Cathy and Digger (the dog), and after a much needed coffee, we set out to the farm at the base of Ben Vorlich.

Ben Vorlich

I was still a tad stiff from my latest excursions, but with the help of Digger on the lead, I was pulled up the first 1,000 feet until my leg muscles eased off.
It was still blowing a bitterly cold wind in places, but we summited in good time.

Then....the real fun begins.   We looked across to Stuc a'Chroin, translated as 'peak of danger' and were just a bit worried as the path seemed to fade away halfway up the daunting rock face.  Still, in for a penny, in for a pound, and we descended Vorlich and soon started the ascent after letting Digger frolic in some of the remaining snow patches.
Luckily, there were a few walkers ahead of us which gave some indication of a route through and upwards, and after a quite an exciting scramble/climb, with Cathy doing her best to look neither upward nor down the route we had taken, we summited.  Hurrah!!

Stuc a'Chroin

From then on, it was a good walk-out by skirting the side of Vorlich and back to the loch.  A good day out.