Saturday 11 May 2024
Scotland 2024: Glen Affric!
Plans are afoot for Scotland 2024! We have secured a group of properties in Tomich, near Glen Affric (one of the finest in Scotland) for the week 11-18 May 2024. For more information on the area, please see Glen Affric. For more information on the trip and to register interest, please contact goepfertkarenATyahooDOTcom.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
If anyone wants inspiration before the Scotland trip a film is showing next week as part of the London mountain film festival 2024.
http://kevinwoods.co.uk/winter282.php
Apparently there'll be a lot of geomagnetic activity from the Sun over the weekend and the aurora borealis may well be visible all over the UK, but more so further north and in areas of low light pollution. So Tomich trippers may like to consider looking skywards after dusk if the skies remain clear
There's some info at https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/ should you wish to find out more 💫
Thanks for the info. can see northern lights in London.. amazing, just got a few photos!
Down to n=30 after a late cancellation after a broken thumb (best wishes for a quick recovery from all of us). 29 of those had an uneventful journey up, apart from a slight delay on one of the flights. Walker 30 compensated for that with an array of railway problems, missed flights and other frustrations en route. All 30 out on the 2 walks on offer today.
Mountain Walk: Tom a'Choinnich (hill of the moss) and Toll Creagach (rocky hollow). 16 walkers on this walk. Mostly good paths, a shortish boggy stretch, a wonderful forest at the start but then mostly bare hillsides. No trees above the 400m line at all! Just grasses, mosses, heather, higher up good to walk bouldery ground plus some naturally stepped rocky stretches on the steepest bits of the ascent. Lots of snow patches and fields still around, some as low as 850m.
We started with the continuous steep ascent of the Tom, from 250m above sea to 1112m in a neat 3 hours.
3 of us then added the 40 mins out and back to the nearby 'small' Tom. They caught up with the others on the top of the Toll. After a sunny start, it had clouded over but stayed dry, but dark clouds were racing in but they never dropped any rain. The descent then was a field study in mosses, grasses and heather, really interesting and good to walk on.
Back to the outbound path along the river where it finally started to rain. Done by quarter to 5. 21 km with 1200+ metres ascent.
Wildlife heard or seen: not much.
1 cuckoo (passed out and back), 1 ptarmigan (could have been a grouse, was short and far away), a handful of deer far down in the valley, plenty of ground nesting birds.
Valley Walk: Loch Affric Circumnavigation
14 on this outing through one of Scotland 's loveliest glens with one of its most famous lochs. Done by 3, which left time for a swim in the loch for one, with others paddling.
A forecast of low cloud levels and potential 'thunderstorms' shaped our choice of walks today.
High Mountain Walk: An Sidhean (The Fairy Hill)
18 on this expedition into the most northerly of the three glens we are walking in: Glen Strathfarrar. This has access restrictions regarding number of vehicles and days and times that access is allowed at all.
It is a magnificent drive up the glen from the gatekeeper's cottage for about 35 minutes, made especially so today with low clouds countered by the sun breaking through in places. The walk starts with a long stretch along the very scenic Loch Monar, although it is more complicated than a lochshore path. Plenty of up and down, stream crossings, a rocky knoll and gorge to go through, some magnificent long vistas to some high mountains etc.
Eventually we turned up a stream through a beautiful valley, with picnic spots by waterfalls and all, to get to the back of our mountain for a steepish but pain free ascent. Some clever chops thought a shortcut from the gpx line would be just the trick, only to find energy sapping terrain and uncertainty about where to go. The others followed map and screen and eventually we all got to the plateau.
Great views to the North, the hills near Achnasheen, and a ridge that looked strikingly like An Teallach. On to the top, which was a mini plateau on the plateau, at all but 814m above sea. But with the most fantastic 360 deg views to the higher hills.
The descent then was a mere formality, to a lochan, down the emerging stream, down a steep tussocky slope to a stalker's path along ab stream back to the outbound route along the Loch, from where it was still more than an hour to get back to the cars. Only now, with tired legs, it became clear how much up and down that shore side path had!
The group had stretched out quite a bit and the fear was that the tailenders would get back too late for the 7 o'clock closure of the gate, but we all made it.
A splendid day on a mountain that punches well above it's weight!
22 km, 1087 metres ascent.
Seen: 1 grouse, 2 ptarmigan, 1 goat family with kids, dozens of deer that had descended from the hills for evening grazing on the river meadows.
Heard: 1 cuckoo, 2 curlew (I think)
Low Mountain Walk: Mealfuarvonie
12 on this walk up into a middling hill by Loch Ness, that - similar to above Corbett _ provides for excellent views from a low vantage point, along Loch Ness and across to neighbouring higher hills. And with a tea room at the end of the walk.
Most of not all them added the Plodda Falls to their day.
Dry all day
Another day with a forecast of low clouds and fresher winds than the first couple of days, which affected our plans for suggested routes.
Mountain Walk: Sgorr na Diollaid (Peak of the Saddle)
4 on this walk, which has rather harrowing write ups in all the four sources that we had access to that are featuring variations of the route we took. Steep (true), pathless (not true) and with lots of rough terrain (somewhat true).
We started by Muchrachd Farm, rather scenically in a beautiful part of Glen Cannich, with low whispy clouds passing through and mist rising out of the trees. Steeply up a churned argo cat track, muddy but with hindsight avoidable by finding the path earlier that we then did find up the first incline. Cross a grassy, boggy plateau (on a path) to commence the next bit of steep ascent, up to Point 496m, a rocky promontory. From there it was pleasant to get up to the 650m level and on with gentle gradient to near the summit. The views along the valley were cracking and the summit itself is grassy and mildly undulating with several bands of near vertical rock sticking out (tilted by tectonic action).
The highest of those is the 'Peak of the Saddle', as it's two rocky tops of similar height with a saddle in-between. We scrambled up to the higher of the two tops (a first for 1 of us) and then descended to a protected spot for lunch, with fantastic views out into Glen Strathfarrar and to Loch Monar, yesterday's walking area. The higher tops around us were by now completely cloud free, so it was another day with overly alarmist weather forecasts.
On via Peak 777 (metres) to Peak 713 (metres), the first one with a very interesting quartzite outcrop at the top. And then the long descent over tussocky and marshy ground along an infant stream, with some waterfalls, many frogs in the marshes and brilliant vistas.
Only 11 km or so, with about 830m ascent.
We reached the road by Loch Carrie shortly after 3 pm, where lots cows and calves were grazing and looked slightly astonished to see someone come down the mountain side.
There was also a herd of about 40 deer in the same field. Time to walk down the road to find our chauffeur as communication via mobile phones had proven to be somewhat difficult.
All 5 then stopped at the rather brilliant Affric Bar & Café, a splendidy converted double decker bus, run by the folk at the Spar supermarket in Cannich.
Heard: 3 cuckoos
Seen: a mountain hare and those deer I mentioned.
Local Walk: Plodda Falls and a ruined mansion house (I think)
4 on this walk, out from the accommodation to the Falls and back via the ruin.
Lowland Walk with add-ons: Beauly Circular + Dog Falls OR boat trip in Beauly Firth to watch dolphins
A rather large contingent of 22 people, 13 of which cut short the walk after half the distance to make their appointment with the boat. Plenty of dolphins were spotted, including some jumping for joy. The other 9 finished the walk, had picnic and also visited the Dog Falls (but 1 drove back to be the chauffeur mentioned above, many thanks for that).
Tomorrow then: sunshine, a dry day, and the BIG WALK!
Local excursion: lift to Cannich, Kintail + Affric Trail from there to Loch Affric, cut across to near Tomich, Plodda Falls, home. 20+ km, but a lot of forestry tracks. 3 walkers
Mountain Walk: Carn nan Gobhar, up to 16 km with 1069m ascent
This is the most easterly and fourth Munro of the walk featured below, and in Glen Cannich. A first Munro for some on this walk, with a steep ascent, some pathless terrain but grand views from the top. The group then split, with about half taking a direct route back down, while others descended to a saddle and picked up an infant stream, which in its lower stages provided for cascades, waterfalls and small pools, and which some used for an impromptu swim! 19 on this walk.
Mountain Extravaganza: Loch Mullardochs Hills, early start, boat trip down the Loch, 21.5 km with 1840m ascent, 4 Munros
Logistics worked well, Angus the ferryman awaited us at the jetty for the 8.5 km ride down the Loch (10 mins, £40), from whence we started the 800 height metres ascent along a stream then through so bogland and up a mega steep grassy flank onto Me all a' Chaisg, then An Socach. We got there by 12.30 and the whole western hills and seaboard were on view. A little hazy but you could make out the Isle of Skye, and all the ranges up to the Fannichs, is most of what we had walked in over the last years.
On down and up to the rather featureless An Riabhachan, reaches at 14.30.
The most dramatic hill came next: Sgurr na Lapaig. This really is a Sgurr, ie spear and a mountain with lots of character. Deep drop to the saddle, very steep and long ascent, tiny top plateau, boulder fall on the far side, steeply down it trying to locate a path that was not buried by snow fields or boulders or with more exposure then the by now weak knees would tolerate.
The 8 of us had split into 2x4 to account for the different paces within the group, but all also conquered Munro 4, Carn nan Gobhar (as above). Descent along that stream with it's waterfalls. Back at the car at 20.00, for the first group at least.
A stunner of a day.
Sunny during the whole ascent, later clouding over.
Addendum to yesterday: 1 ptarmigan, 3 cuckoos
And if you ever wondered what all the deer do during the day before descending from the hills for grazing riverside: they go into the lochs and lochans high up in the corries for a bout of paddling or swimming, of course! Seen from the ridge above ...
Mountain Walk: Aonach Shasuinn (The Sassenach:s Spur), 20 km with 700m ascent
Supposedly named after a Hanoverian Regiment that was stationed beneath it (Sassenachs = Saxons or Anglo-Saxons in Scottish parlance), this Corbett brought us back to Glen Affric (a side valley if it).
15 walkers started under low clouds and with mist rising from the forest, but that burned off by noon and the hills were revealed. The group split at a water intake for a hydro electric scheme, about 430m above sea, some following a shorter but quite obviously tougher route, while others followed the above stated 20km route, further up the glen, then across a stream (one of us slipped and got a bit wet) and across quite easily negotiable bog and up a grassy steep slope to the saddle between Shasuinn and it's westerly neighbour. Time for picnic with fantastic views along the meandering stream and towards Loch Affric.
250m or so of ascent to the top plateau were waiting where we bumped into the other group.
Onwards along the curving ridge and over a neighbouring hill, Carn nan Coireachan Cruaidh. A lonely red deer was shadowing us there for a while. Down steeply to the outbound track which we reached at 16.30. Back to the car park, reached 90 mins later.
And we had beaten the short route walkers to it!
1 ptarmigan, many cuckoos, a lizard, many frogs, newts, caterpillars and that deer
Drumnadrochit Expedition
A visit to Urquhart Castle was on the agenda plus a local walk, but the Castle did not accept walk-ins, so after the local short walk plus a visit to the beach on Loch Ness, a visit to the Dog Falls in Glen Affric was added to the day. 9 on this trip.
Plodda Falls
Our local tourist hotspot, combined with a bout of forest walking: 2 walkers.
Mealfuarvonie
A walk that had been done by others earlier in the week, today found another 4 people interested in it.
The final day of walking...
1 had to take a lunchtime bus to get out of here, so she and 1 other walked to Plodda Falls and back in the morning.
1 bused it to Drumnadrochit for a bit of shopping.
1 walked to Cannich for an ice cream and then back.
5 drove a long way to a Corbett that was most easily doable, from a car park high up. Somewhere near Garve, I believe.
Mountain Walk: Strathfarrar Horseshoe, 4 Munros, 1550m ascent and 19 km.
Quite a few people (21) on this one, but that was because we had restructured the written versions to go clockwise, so that punters could just walk 1 Munro and go back, which would also mean we'd have 2 or more drivers and could cut out the tarmac 6 km at the end.
The first car reached the gate at 8.58, ie 2 minutes before the glen officially opens
We got started with the walking at 9.50 and - after a very pleasant ascent - reached the plateau at noon, I think. At the first Munro (Sgurr Fhúar-thuill at 1049 metres) we split into the 4 Munros group (5 of us) and the go back a different way group (16 of us).
The returnees took the high road (following the scarp of the Corrie) and found it difficult. Some up and down, some pathless stretches and a very steep descent to get back into the outbound route. And then somebody got soaked in the stream.
The 4 Munro group fared better by comparison. Compared to Wednesday's extravaganza, this had relatively modest descents and re-ascents, no bad paths and all in felt easier.
The final descent from Sgurr na Ruaidhe also was straight forward as it picked up an Argocat track quickly, leading all the way to where we had dropped our car. Done at 17.15. A visit to the Affric Bar and Bistro ensued.
The other group had some misfortune insofar as one of them lost their phone and retreated back to the tops to try to locate it. They were eventually reunited.
1 cuckoo
4 ptarmigan (2 couples, one of which was teasing us by flying up from just ahead of us and doing circles around us before setting down higher up the hill).
All in then:
some fine weather (a total of less than an hour of rain during walking hours), especially if compared to the forecasts; no major injuries (as far as I know); no major strops (as far as I know); no organisational snafus; some fine accommodation (although there were some grumblings of discontent from the Woodland Lodgers about missing mod cons); wonderful scenery (three magnificent glens); fantastic vistas; a varied programme of walks and activities and mostly satifying numbers on the more ambitious walks; bluebell strips at roadside, gorse-covered hillsides, deer, deer, deer, hardly any sheep, frogs, frogs, frogs, lizards, newts, ptarmigans, cuckoos, many other birds, wild swimming opportunities.
Many thanks to the organisers (Stargazer and John L), walk selecters and 'leaders', chefs and sous-chefs, drivers and chauffeurs, walkers and strollers.
Thanks for reading!
Post a Comment