a few more days out in 2004

Tollmount and Tom Buidhe

9th October 2004

Lovely day - up "Jock's Road" from the top of Glen Clova - through the forest - the massive craggy amphitheatre of Glen Doll - steep ascent to upper valley - easy walking over Crow Craigs, then Tollmount, Ca Whins and Tom Buidhe.
Munros 174 and 175 for me.


(left) view from top of Glen Doll cliffs towards Davy's Bourach and the path onwards towards Tom Buidhe

Stob Ban (Grey Corries)

20th October 2004

A week's holiday in a cottage near Spean Bridge - the weather was varied(!), but we managed two hill days.  

We left the car at the "tramway", a mile above Coirechoille, then tramped up the forest track through the pass to the Lairig Leacach bothy, occupied by Outward Bound campers. 

Followed a very muddy path up the NE ridge, getting drier as we went up.  Final 200m were very cold and steep.  Dusting of snow above 750m, so Stob Ban was even more "ban" than usual.  Excellent views in all directions, but not a day for lingering.  Descended north towards the Grey Corries (can it really be 23 years since we were up there?), then down beside the Giant's Staircase.  Long trudge back to the car.

(right) Stob Ban and the Giant's Staircase

(below) looking south from Carn Liath

a round of Coire Ardair       23rd October 2004

Creag Meaghaidh offers plenty of possibilities.  My first skirmish was a walk up Coire Ardair with Anne, as far as the lochan, but no further - wind, mist and snow - back in May 1982!  Next visit (also with Anne) was an ascent from the south taking in the southern tops and the summit, in 1992 - memorable for having to lie down on the plateau feeling really ill after eating a Mars Bar!  Then, in 2001, Iain and I climbed Carn Liath, and its eastern outlying top, then back over Carn Liath, on a wintry April day.  

So that left one Munro - Stob Poite Coire Ardair - and several tops still to be visited.

We set off from Aberarder at 10.30 and climbed the meandering path up to Carn Liath (third time on its summit!)  Nice to have the hardest work behind us by 12.45!  Enjoyed the high level walk over various humps and bumps round to Stob Poite Coire Ardair (the target Munro) for a late lunch.  The mist had been hanging around at about 1000m, but now lifted.  

(right) Coire Ardair from Stob Poite Coire Ardair

Continued down to "the window", then steeply up again and round the edge of the plateau, with great views down into Coire Ardair to the left, and Moy Corrie to the right.

Crossed the last top at 4pm, and made a slow descent down tussocky moorland and bog as darkness began to fall.  Glad to reach the car park at 6pm, with an owl swooping over our heads!

written 18/01/10

The many tops of Lochnagar

Summer holidays over - but a work commitment in Aberdeenshire, and a free day before it - and the weather was looking good.  Time to collect the scattered tops of Lochnagar.

I'd been there before - a quick up and down of Lochnagar back in 1980 with Anne, Mary and Conan - see earlier blog entry.  Then, my half-way Munro in 2002 was Broad Cairn, just across the Dubh Loch, another rich seam of top-collecting.

So, on 31st August 2004, I left Selkirk early, and reached the Glen Muick car park at 11am.  All looked good, with blue skies but a cool breeze from the NW.  Made rapid progress up the Land Rover track and up on to the first top of the day, Meikle Pap.  


Enjoyed the superb view across the coire to the cliffs below the summit, Cac Carn Beag (right).


Back down from Meikle Pap, and then up on to the plateau.  A short detour to the left to visit the summit of Cuidhe Crom.

(left) plateau and summit from Cuidhe Crom


Retraced steps to rejoin the path / motorway across the plateau, then up to Cac Carn Mor.


Peered down abysmal drops, then a short rocky scramble to the summit, Cac Carn Beag (14.10).  The views all round were extremely clear.


(below) Meikle Pap and Cuidhe Crom from the summit

From the summit, a pleasant amble across to The Stuic, then to Carn a' Choire Bhoidheach, (formerly known as The White Mounth) the 2nd Munro of the day.  It was quite windy, and I had to lie low behind some rocks to get shelter for a cuppa.  Seems hard to justify this as a separate Munro in my opinion, as the rise to its top is only 40m, except that the whole massif is possibly too big to be counted as a single Munro.

Anyway, I continued on my way, dropping slightly down now into Coire Boidheach.  Suddenly it felt warm, so it was 'change into shorts' time!  A short rise to the next top, Top of Eagle Crag.  A large herd of deer ran across just below the summit, and I descended slightly to get a better view.  Also, a great view across to Cairn Bannock and Broad Cairn across the Dubh Loch.  The photo here shows the view. 

An American artist, James Swanson, had read on my website about my trip over Broad Cairn, and was interested in the name Dubh Loch, and asked if he could turn my picture into a painting - here is the resulting painting!  You can read about the making of the painting on James' blog "painting from afar"

So, onwards towards the last two tops of the day:  firstly to Creag a' Ghlas Allt, nothing more than a gentle swelling on the plateau, then down to cross the Glas Allt and main path before contouring round the south side of Cuidhe Crom.  This was hard going, and not recommended.  it would have been easier and quicker to go back over the top of Cuidhe Crom - I'll know better next time!  Finally reached Little Pap at 17.00, and rested a while, admiring the view over Loch Muick, before descending back to the main path over heathery slopes, and back to the car park at 18.50.

A good day - 2 Munros, 6 other tops, 25km round trip in 8 hours.