Gentian Summer Trip: Stubaier Höhenweg (19th-27th July 2025)

I’m treating myself to two foreign holidays this summer, and the first came in July with a week in Stubaital in the Tyrolean alps of Austria. I was meeting up with friends from the Gentian Club for a circuit of the Stubaier Höhenweg, a high level hut-to-hut tour of the valley. The only catch was that I preferred to fit the expedition into a single week whereas the others (mostly retired) did not place such a premium on holiday days! Consequently, they started the tour on the Friday whereas I travelled out on Saturday and set off in pursuit on Sunday! I had previously visited Stubaital with university friends in 2017 but this tour still appealed as there wasn’t much overlap between the routes covered on the two trips.

My flight from Stansted was at 8:10am and I hadn’t booked a hotel, so I was up at 3am and on the road 45 minutes later to drive down! Thankfully an overnight closure on the A14 at Huntingdon had re-opened by the time I got that far, allowing a straightforward and undelayed journey. Parking at Mid Stay, the bus shuttle to the terminal, and passage through security all went smoothly so I had an hour or so to wait in departures over a coffee before the gate was announced.

The flight was also on time and Salzburg airport is quite a small and quiet one, so it wasn’t long before I was on the bus into the city centre. I had a couple of hours to spare before my booked train to Innsbruck, which gave me some time to explore parts of the city not too far from the main station, most attractively the Salzach riverbank and the gardens of Schloss Mirabell.

I paused at a bakery / café for lunch before heading back to the station for an uneventful two-hour ride west, partly spent having a much needed snooze! In Innsbruck, it was around a 40 minute walk from the Hauptbahnhof (main station) to the Jugendherberge (youth hostel) where I had a dormitory bed for the night. Once I’d checked in, I popped back out to a nearby Eurospar for dinner provisions and some snacks for the coming days in the mountains. Back at the hostel, I ate, had a shower and got an early night.

The next morning, I had hostel breakfast at the earliest opportunity then packed up my stuff and walked briskly back to the main station to catch the 0805 bus up Stubaital – free with a voucher available to all overnight visitors to the valley. Soon I was at the roadside in Neder and setting off, steadily uphill into Pinnistal. Although it was a sunny morning, I was in the welcome shade of the steep mountainside for at least an hour. Once past Pinnisalm, the forests gave way to more open meadows and, beyond Karalm, the ascent became steeper with lots of zigzags all the way up to the Pinnisjoch. There I also reached my destination for the night, the Innsbrucker Hütte at 2369m.

Looking up to the Habicht from the Innsbrucker Hütte

I had made excellent time, yomping up in 2h30 compared with the 4h30 suggested by the footpath signs, so I had plenty of time to add an ascent of the Habicht. The walking was much steeper and rougher, often crossing boulders and with some sections protected by fixed cables. Having started the day at around 500m, I really noticed the altitude once above 3000m, and felt I was going very slowly on the final section to the summit (although I again got there in about 60% of the signpost time!). This was the highest point of the whole trip, at a lofty 3277m.

The clouds had been gradually building and were swirling around the summit, intermittently blocking the views up the valley towards the highest Stubai peaks. Once I’d taken a few photos, signed the summit book and had a quick bite of lunch, I set off back down, keen to be off the highest ground before any storms came in. I needn’t have worried though, as it stayed dry with sunny spells all the way back down to the hut.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3057999

Looking towards the Kirchdachspitze from the slopes of the Habicht. Note the hut, bottom right.

Looking over Stubaital towards the Ruderhofspitze

I was lucky to have been allocated a single bed in a room of Matrazenlager. I spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the view and trying to keep well hydrated to help with acclimatising to the altitude. Very unusually, the Innsbrucker Hütte does not offer a fixed half board menu to visitors except for larger groups, so dinner was an à la carte affair. Very tasty food, but it was a less sociable arrangement for the solo visitor as each party just sat at their own small table and waited for the waitress service, rather than the normal assigned seating with a few strangers for company.

Fine views of the Tribulaun, from the hut window

I had a very poor night’s sleep – probably due to the altitude as the bed was comfortable and the room generally quiet. Monday was forecast to be a wet day, and unfortunately I had two stages of the Höhenweg to cover as I started to chase down the Gentian group! I had heard rain in the small hours and, although it was only spitting when I set out, it soon set in more heavily as I followed the rough and steeply-undulating path across a series of steep cirques and over numerous spurs towards the Bremer Hütte. I was mostly in the mist, with only occasional breaks for cloudscape views and fleeting glimpses of the mountainside above. When I reached the one route choice, I decided to take the shorter but trickier route via the Lauterersee lake and a short protected scramble up to the hut.

A clearer moment below the Wetterspitze and Rotenspitze

I was starting to get a bit damp and cold, so I paused briefly in the shelter of the hut porch to put on an extra layer and have some snacks before heading back out into the wet. It was a short but steep climb up to the Simmingjöchl, the day’s high-point at 2754m, and my passing over the ridge helpfully coincided with a half-hour dry spell and some slightly better visibility.

Simmingjöchl – a small border police hut still stands although this is no longer the Italian border

I was not so lucky for the descent on the west side of the pass though, with the heaviest and most persistent rain of the day. I was glad of the numerous fixed cables that allowed my progress to remain rapid over some very rough and steep ground in the very wet conditions. The most unnerving section was crossing the swollen Langental river: the largest branch of the river was spanned by a slippery wooden two-plank bridge, which I edged across very cautiously above the raging torrent! Then I was faced with several smaller branches of the river that required heading well upstream of the paint-marked line of the normal footpath to find safe crossing points!

That obstacle safely passed, there was a final short ascent and descent to cross another rocky ridge to reach the Nürnberger Hütte (2297m) – a very welcome sight in the mist! Thankfully I had taken under 7 hours to complete the walk, not the 11 hours suggested by the signposts! Nevertheless, I was one of the last to arrive (before 2pm!) and found the large drying room already crammed full with every hanging place taken. Luckily people were being pretty diligent about popping in to remove up their dry kit over the course of the afternoon and I was soon able to bag a spot for my wet boots on the heated boot rack and by dinnertime there was also somewhere to hang my jacket, trousers and rucksack!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3058001

The evening was more enjoyable than the previous as I was seated at a table with a Dutch couple – walking a section of the trail in the opposite direction – and a solo German walker – on his day off from work at the higher-level Hildesheimer Hütte – all of whom were happy to converse in English! Again, the altitude resulted in a very poor night’s sleep despite a comfortable bed and near-silent room.

Thankfully Tuesday was much brighter and the drying room had done a very good job of drying out all my gear by morning – just a little dampness in the boots still but not enough for them to be unpleasant to put on! I was tackling another double stage, but only signposted as 7.5 hours this time so a relatively short day! First up was a pleasant ascent on a good path up to the summit cross on the Mairspitze (2775m but actually not the highest point of the mountain). This was an excellent viewpoint, down Stubaital but particularly up the glacier to the Wilder Freiger, which I had climbed on my 2017 visit. On the descent to the blue-green waters of the Grünausee, there were several smaller lakes offering superb reflections. Then it was an easy descent down moraine to the Sulzenauhütte, where my friends had spent the previous night.

Looking up to the Feuerstein from the Nürnberger Hütte

The valley below the Wilder-Freiger-Ferner

As the weather was good, I opted for the more mountainous route variant for the next section, via the Groẞer Trögler (2902m). The ascent was on a long sequence of steep zigzags, protected with cables for the rockiest section, followed by some fun grade-1 scrambling up the ridge. I was surprised only to see one group going the other direction. There were fantastic views up to the high glaciers of the Zuckerhütl – also visited last time I was in the area. The descent was on easier paths, except for one short section where it seemed a relatively recent landslide had littered the path with debris. All felt stable underfoot and I had no particular reason to expect further rockfall, but signposts at the far end of the route were warning people not to go that way, which explained why I’d seen so few others! It turned out my Gentian friends had also been warned at the Sulzenauhütte and taken the easier route via the Peiljoch.

The Zuckerhütl from the ridge of the Groẞer Trögler

I arrived at the Dresdner Hütte (2308m) in around 4.5 hours, once again well ahead of the suggested time, and just a few minutes after my friends had completed their more leisurely walk over. Soon we had met up and we ate lunch together overlooking the hut in the sunshine. In the afternoon, Claire and I took a bit of a stroll to a nearby waterfall. Sadly the hut surroundings are somewhat spoilt by ski infrastructure including the adjacent middle station of the gondola up to Eisgrat. Our group of six (Ned, Vivienne, Claire, Sheena, Mike and I) had a private room and our own table at dinner, and this hut felt more like a hotel in some ways. After dinner, we played cards until bed. I finally got a decent night’s sleep!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3058004

Soon after setting off on Wednesday morning, we realised that we would be treated to a spectacular cloud inversion over Stubaital! Sadly Mike decided, after five days of tough walking, that he was too tired to continue with us and opted to take the lift back down to the valley instead. Having said our goodbyes, we followed a zigzagging path up to the Egesensee and, from an unnamed pass at little further on, had awesome views over the clouds towards the Schwarzenbergspitze and Ruderhofspitze. There were also brocken spectres for a few minutes, although I did not manage to get a good photo of one.

After a short downhill section on a ski road, we were back into unspoilt terrain for the long northerly traverse to the Grawagrubennieder pass – at 2881m, the highest point on the Stubaier Höhenweg. On the way, we passed the beautiful Mutterberger See, with amazing reflections of the Schaufelspitze, Stubaier Wildspitze and Daunkogel. Further on, we took a short detour along a bouldery ridge to the Schafspitze, a narrow spur with great views over Stubaital towards the Habicht.

Reflections in the Mutterberger See: Schaufelspitze, Stubaier Wildspitze and Daunkogel

Looking up the valley to the Zuckerhütl and Stubaier Wildspitze

We had some lunch at the high pass, and took photos towards the adjacent pointy peaks of the Nockwand and Grawawand, before beginning the final descent of Höhes Moos. The first section was down some very steep, loose zigzags to reach the top of a cable that one could use to almost abseil down the remaining scree slope to more solid ground! Then there were several boulderfields to cross, and a section where we were obviously walking on the rock-topped remains of the old Hochmoosferner (glacier), with a few visible crevasses.

Sheena, Claire, Vivienne and Ned at Grawagrubennieder, below the Nockwand

The final half hour to the Neue Regensburger Hütte (2287m) was through greener meadows beside the river. It was a hut of two halves, with a modern wing attached to the original building. Our room was in the old half, and we shared it with just one other, a keen walker from near Munich. The rest of the afternoon and evening were spent over refreshments, dinner and card games as usual. Unusually, this hut offers only vegetarian food. The lentil and dumpling-based meal was very tasty nonetheless, and the salad was (appropriately) the best of the trip! Again, I slept pretty well.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3058006

Thursday’s walk to the Franz Senn Hütte was shorter, which was well timed with a few showers in the forecast and heavier rain expected by mid afternoon. We set off through thick mist in drizzle and full waterproofs on the path traversing Windtratten, but were able to remove the waterproofs for the subsequent steeper ascent to the Schrimmennieder (2714m). Claire and I took the optional detour to the nearby peak of the Basslerjoch (2829m) and were rewarded with a few fleeting views of the Schrimmenkopf and fragments of blue sky, while the others started the descent straight away.

We had a few more fleeting views of the Schrimmenkopf as we descended through Platzengrube on a decent path. Then came a bouldery section, although it was not nearly as tricky as the guidebook had suggested! We paused for a few minutes to watch a group of ibex on a nearby ridge – too far away to properly photograph though. Soon after that, we caught up with Ned, Vivienne and Sheena, and we walked together the rest of the way on a well-built traversing path, more light rain falling for a while.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3058011

The Franz Senn Hütte (2147m) was a relatively large one, apparently offering a base for alpine skills training courses as well as touring and mountaineering groups. We were on Matrazenlager on the third floor but this actually turned out to be quite comfortable as it had been partitioned into two-person cubicles each with dedicated light, power socket and storage, and I ended up with one to myself! In good weather and visibility, I’d have been tempted to go out for an afternoon blast up the nearby (but 900m higher) Rinnenspitze to collect my last of the so-called ‘Stubai Seven Summits’, but that will have to wait for my third visit to the valley! We passed the evening in the usual way.

Friday was a mostly dry but very misty day. Our route took us on another long northerly traverse, with relatively easy footpaths and not many steep undulations this time. We only had fleeting views between cloud layers in the two hours it took us to walk to the small hut at Seducker Hochalm, where we paused for a drink and a slice of very tasty apple strudel.

A few kilometres later, we reached the crest of the main ridge at the Sendersjöchl, which was high enough to be generally above the cloud. There were some excellent views over the inversion to the Schlicker Seespitze and Höher Burgstall. We visited a couple of minor tops on our way to the day’s highpoint, the Gamskogel (2659m). The descent from there to the Seejöchl gave more superb close-up views of the Schlicker Seespitze – very reminiscent of the Dolomites – followed by a dramatic traverse of the steep scree slopes below the limestone cliffs.

Looking over the inversion to the Höher Burgstall

Looking towards the Gamskogel and Schlicker Seespitze

As it was still dry when we reached the Schlicker Schartl pass, we opted to include the ascent of the Höher Burgstall before dropping down to the hut. This involved another interesting traverse at the foot of impressive cliffs, followed by a steep scramble up to the summit aided by cables and staples. A little light rain fell, but not really enough to make us wet. It was just a short descent on an easier path to reach our final hut, the Starkenburger Hütte (2237m).
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3058014

This time our dormitory was in a recently renovated annexe building, around 100m from the main building and its dining room – not quite so convenient. It was another good meal, and the hut staff brought a round of Schnapps for us to enjoy after dinner for us to celebrate having completed the Stubaier Höhenweg! The evening was not so enjoyable for me though as I was in the thick of a heavy cold that had started to set in the previous evening, and my night’s sleep was also somewhat disturbed by that.

I felt a little better in the morning for our two-hour descent in continuous rain back into Stubaital. The path zigzagged down through the forest to emerge in the village of Neustift. There I said my goodbyes to the others as they went to fetch some left luggage while I caught the bus back to Innsbruck.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3058035

Damp and misty in the forest above Neustift

I bought some lunch at the station to eat on my train journey back to Salzburg, where I arrived in the early afternoon. A half hour walk brought me to my hostel accommodation at Stadtalm Naturfreundehaus – just a few rooms above a small restaurant on the defensive walls of the Mönchsberg hill.

Looking over Salzburg from near my hostel

I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the historic city centre, including passing the Hohensalzburg fortress, cathedral, Mozart’s statue, Mozart’s birth house, and the fortifications of the Kapuzinerberg hill the other side of the river. I got some street-food for dinner before returning to the hostel for a lazy evening, not feeling particularly energetic with my continuing cold. Surprisingly, I slept well despite the cold, a very lumpy pillow and an excessively warm room!

The river and fortress from Kapuzinerberg

In the morning, it was a fairly early start to walk back into the city centre and catch the bus to the airport. I had breakfast in the departure lounge while I waited for my 1040 flight back to Stansted, which was on time. Nice quiet roads got me back to Derby in good time to end another excellent week in high mountains.

I’d highly recommend the Stubaier Höhenweg for its challenging terrain, impressive scenery and comfortable huts with consistently delicious food. My unusual itinerary of three long, fast days followed by four more leisurely ones with the group worked out really well and provided a good contrast. And despite significant rain on Monday and Saturday, the weather was pretty decent overall, with three bright days and two mostly dry despite a lot of walking in mist! My full photo album can be viewed here. Now I just have four weeks at work before my next adventure!

Woodlands Valley (6th July 2025)

Claire suggested we meet up for a bit of a training walk ahead of the Gentian trip to the Austrian Alps later this month. Options are a bit limited in the Peak District to meet her requests for “hilly” and “some easy scrambling” but I did my best with a circuit around the Woodlands Valley and Alport Dale.

We met at mine around 8am and I drove us up to the start point, a large layby about a mile short of the old Snake Inn. Heavy rain had fallen as I ate my breakfast but it had only been showery on the drive and we started up the lower reaches of Blackden Brook in the dry. Drizzle soon arrived though, and gradually intensified to be more like rain as we ascended. The scrambling opportunities in the stream-bed are intermittent and optional but were just about dry enough to be enjoyable towards the top.

One of the more interesting scrambly sections

Claire reaching the top of Blackden Brook

There were only a couple of short breaks in the rain as we continued west along Seal Edge, which had some interesting wind-carved rocks and, briefly, a rainbow that appeared unusually far below us. After a while we reached the top of Fair Brook, which we descended by the good path, not opting to include any scrambling this time as there was a good amount of water flowing down right from the start. Lower down, the rain did stop properly and we paused for first lunch below some pretty cascades that were being ascended by a gorge-walking group.

Once back down in the valley, we crossed the River Ashop and followed its east bank up below the Snake Inn, then took the forest path up Lady Clough as far as Birchin Clough. A short but steep climb up the steps in very humid, misty air brought us onto the open moorland of Alport Moor with a welcome breeze making it feel fresher.

There’s a clear and not-too-boggy (at least at the moment) path across the moor towards Hern Clough. We followed it as far as Over Wood Moss, from where we descended steeply, off-piste into Alport Dale, crossing the river just above an attractive set of waterfalls. Not far back up the opposite slope, we joined a fairly obvious path that traversed southeast with great views up and down the steep-sided valley, and across to the waterfalls in Nether Reddale Clough. I had not explored these impressive upper reaches of Alport Dale previously. Some sections are being reafforested with deciduous trees that seem to be establishing quite nicely in their plastic tubes.

After a pause for second lunch, we clambered up the steep grassy slopes to join the larger path on the rim of the dale, which gave easier walking to Alport Castles – always an impressive sight. We took the scenic detour down the lumpy, bouldery valley created by the landslip, and I enjoyed the easy scramble up to the summit of The Tower. Then we returned to the public footpath to descend back into Alport Dale. That just left a half hour or so down the track and back up the road to the car.

Looking back up Alport Dale from The Tower

It didn’t rain significantly after first lunch, so we finished with mostly dry kit and felt we’d had a good day out overall. It was good to catch up with Claire too. My full photo album can be viewed here, and a route map here.

Gentian Newlands Trip (7th-8th June 2025)

June’s Gentian Club meet was to the North-western Fells of the Lake District. Due to a mix-up with the hut booking, there had been a late rescheduling of the trip, a week earlier than originally planned – not particularly convenient for me as I had entered and was keen not to miss the Carsington Hill Race on the Friday evening! A good choice as it was a perfect dry and breezy evening for a fell race, and it turned out to be a very enjoyable course with a very steep (walked) ascent from the village to start off, then nice runnable undulations on bridleways and footpaths around the back of Harborough Rocks, and a lovely fast descent on grass to finish. Surprisingly, I was not the only Gentian Club member running – Sue was also there and we had chance to chat briefly before the start and after the finish. I was pleased to finish in 10th place, accruing a useful 27 points for the Rolls-Royce Harriers championship!

The view from Carsington Pastures (taken on my warm-up!)

Chilli and cake were available in the church after the race, and that was a convenient option for me, avoiding the need for a separate dinner stop on my drive north. To avoid an extremely late arrival in the Newlands Valley, I only drove as far as my parents’ house in Kendal that night, getting there a little before 11pm. Mum kindly stayed up to welcome me, and got up to see me off again the next morning! Another hour’s driving got me to Little Town, from where it was a very slow 10-minute drive up the gravel track to the Carlisle Mountaineering Club hut, near the head of the Newlands Valley. It was my first visit to this hut and it’s a delightfully secluded spot!

The remote and basic Carlisle Mountaineering Club hut

The others were just discussing their routes for the day when I arrived. The fairly wet forecast had convinced them that lower-level walks were the best option but, obviously, I was more optimistic and offered to lead an anticlockwise round of the Newlands Horseshoe. Sheena chose to join me, and Vivienne as far as Hindscarth (but then she wanted to turn the other way to bag Robinson!).

It’s a scenic ascent up the north ridge, clambering up a few easy rocky outcrops to reach the terrace of Scope End, then up steep grass to the summit. After a mostly dry start, a spell of moderate rain did blow in for the second half of the climb, lasting a bit over half an hour and just about petering out by the time we got to the top. There were fleeting views through breaks in the cloud across Buttermere to Haystacks, High Stile and beyond.

Looking back down to the hut from Scope End

Looking down the Newlands Valley from Scope End, as the rain arrived

As planned, Vivienne went her own way at Littledale Edge, and Sheena and I continued up to Dale Head in brightening conditions. We paused at Dale Head Tarn for first lunch, then continued along the ridge over High Spy and Maiden Moor. Keeping to the left hand side gave the best views over the impressive crags.

Looking towards Coledale over the crags of High Spy

Coincidentally, just as we arrived at the saddle between Maiden Moor and Catbells, Howard and Claire also arrived, coming up from the Derwent Water side having been to Castle Crag! We merged groups for the rest of the walk. We didn’t pause long at the summit of Catbells – a great viewpoint but busy as always – but dropped down to Skelgill Bank for a quieter second lunch. Then it was an easy walk walk back up the track to the hut, finishing with dry kit thanks to the sunny spells and fresh breeze. A better day than expected, with just the one heavy shower and plenty of sunshine.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3005308

The very green Newlands Valley, from Catbells

The evening followed the usual format with plentiful tea, dinner together, then drinks and chat until bed. Steve did a tasty chilli for main course for the meat-eaters, and generously shared around a bottle of port afterwards. The pot-bellied coke stove was very effective at keeping the room warm, but not particularly well sealed and it was smokier than I would have liked.

Sunday’s forecast was better and the day started brightly, so I proposed a round of the Coledale Horseshoe. That would also be very productive for Claire’s Wainwright-bagging! She, Sheena and Vivienne opted to join me. Sadly, the early sunshine had gone by the time we had packed up and left the hut, and we drove in rain down the valley to Braithwaite, parking near the bottom of the Whinlatter Pass.

On-and-off rain, with only short dry interludes, continued for our ascent up the grassy ridge to Barrow, then across the heathery saddle to Outerside, and it was only when we completed the rising traverse back to our left onto Causey Pike that it really felt like it might brighten again. I had forgotten what an excellent viewpoint it is over the Newlands Valley – I think I have gone straight from Scar Crags to Outerside on my last few (anticlockwise) rounds.

Sheena, Claire and Vivienne at the summit of Causey Pike, looking towards misty Skiddaw

Thankfully, after a damp couple of hours, it did stay generally dry from then on. We continued, in and out of mist, over Scar Crags and up the unattractive bulldozed zigzags to Sail, then stopped for lunch in a sheltered spot on the slopes of Crag Hill, with excellent views down Coledale.

The cloud base was hanging persistently around 800m so it didn’t seem worth including Grasmoor this time – we descended by the upper part of Gasgale Gill instead to reach Coledale Hause, followed by the short climb up the scree path to Hopegill Head. It’s a lovely well defined ridge from there to the final peak of the day, Grisedale Pike – which was another one on Vivienne’s wish list – and mostly easy walking on the descent back to Braithwaite. Again, the late sunshine and breeze had dried us out nicely – always good not to have a pile of wet gear to dry on getting home!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/3005314

Looking towards Grisedale Pike, with Blencathra and Clough Head beyond

Looking back from Grisedale Pike – Grasmoor had cleared eventually!

I paused on the way home to join Mum and Dad for roast chicken dinner in Kendal, then had a quiet drive the rest of the way to Derby. A busy weekend squeezing in the fell race as well as the club meet, but definitely worth the effort for two good ridge walks and time spent with friends. You can see my full photo album here.

Tump-bagging in southern Nottinghamshire (31st May 2025)

I’ve established a tradition of visiting my favourite local parkrun, Bestwood Village, to celebrate the milestone whenever I reach a multiple of 50 parkruns. This week was my 200th, and thus my 4th visit to Bestwood! I love the hilly challenge (100m ascent equals or matches anything else in the area), the mixed parkland and woodland scenery, and the fact it’s a genuine single-lap course with no out-and-back or repeated sections. Jeff and Helen, Will and Jane, Jonathan and Andy kindly turned out to celebrate with me.

I’m in pretty good form at the moment so was hopeful of setting a course PB and ran hard from the off. As always, I’m better on the ups than the downs, and I was leading at the top of the first hill, dropped to third place on the descent, regained the lead by the top of the second hill, and dropped back to second soon after that. I was glad of the pacer to drag me along though, and finished about 10s behind him, in 20:05, a full minute ahead of third place. Tantalisingly close to a sub-20 (would have been well within if the course were not 150m over distance, but that’s part of the challenge at Bestwood)!

Will, Jane, Helen, Jeff, me, Andy and Jonathan after parkrun (thanks Will for the photo!)

Afterwards, I decided to make the most of having driven to central Nottinghamshire by having a drive-bag-repeat day, touring around some of the county’s Tumps. Not the most inspiring list but it’s been in the back of my mind as a small local project for a while.

1) First on the list was Ramsdale Hill, near Calverton. This one’s a drive-up, the highest natural ground being within the car park of the Priory mental health hospital. I walked a few metres to a nearby artificial mound in the grounds, then got back in the car!

2) Next up was Loath Hill, north of Oxton, which at least had a rural setting. The highest point is near the trig point and a couple of transmitters, on a field edge above some woodland. Better views were on offer from the adjacent Robin Hood Hill.

3) I continued north to Redgate Wood, near Eakring, for the next summit. After visiting the trig point and nearby high-point in the woods, I took the time to explore the marked trail around the adjoining Duke’s Wood, where I was surprised to find several restored ‘nodding donkey’ oil pumps. I associate these with childhood walks in Purbeck when visiting my uncle Michael. The information boards advised that this was the UK’s first onshore oil field, established urgently and in great secrecy at the start of World War 2, when German U-boats were very effective at cutting off our previous supplies from the USA and Iran. A number of American oil-men came across to help establish the field, and there’s a also memorial to their efforts on the site. It remained operational until the 60’s.

Memorial to the US oilmen who helped establish the field

4) I had to drive through the rather congested centre of Newark to reach my next objective, Beacon Hill. The highest natural ground is just outside a fenced reservoir compound, although the embankments inside are obviously higher. I followed the advice of previous visiting baggers and went up through some woodlands on the south side of the hill. It didn’t seem worth exploring further.

5) Starting to head back towards home, the next stop was near East Bridgford for Old Hill, situated above the south-eastern bank of the River Trent. There’s an attractive escarpment here with several spurs and re-entrants, and an undulating bridleway crossing over them leads very close to the summit, with decent views over the river. Unfortunately the only way into the (private) summit field (without coming from the other side and blatantly trespassing in view of houses) is to crawl under/through a prickly hedge – not much fun! As so often with these obscure hills, there was a transmitter near the high point.

Looking over the Trent valley from near Old Hill

6) Continuing southwest to Radcliffe-on-Trent, I reached Dewberry Hill. The western slopes are a nature reserve with a good signposted circular route through it, but nothing particularly memorable to see. Reaching the high-point just required hopping over a fence onto the adjacent golf course. I think I managed not to disrupt any of the golfers’ games!

7) The seventh hill of the day was another very quick one – Wilford Hill is just a short stroll up a bridleway behind Wilford cemetery, with another transmitter at the summit. There were quite a few locals out for a walk.

8) I parked in Barton-in-Fabis for my walk up nearby Brands Hill, another one on the escarpment south of the River Trent. A bridleway leads through the woods below the ridge, but then it’s a very steep clamber up the slopes to reach the summit at the edge of a crop field. The woods unfortunately block any view of the river.

Looking down from Brands Hill to the recently-decommissioned Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station

9) The final stop of the day had the bonus of offering two Tumps that it actually seemed worthwhile to walk between! I parked by the church in Gotham village and followed bridleways onto Gotham Hill then a footpath through the woods to the highest point in the woods. A wide bridleway, gravel and then grass, led directly to the final summit, Court Hill, on the edge of another golf course. A short descent on a bridleway through sheep pastures led me back to Gotham.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2997341 (don’t think I’ll bother for the others, which were no more than a couple of kilometres each!).

That’s ten new Tumps bagged in total. Added to the three Nottinghamshire hills I’d already done, that takes me almost half way through the county’s 27 in total! If you’re really keen, there are a few more photos here!

Mostly Marilyns around Dolgellau (23rd-27th May 2025)

Having enjoyed two trips to the Highlands in the past month, I decided not to head north of the border for Spring Bank Holiday this year. Instead I headed west of the border, to Wales! I based myself at the Tan-y-Fron campsite in Dolgellau, where I’ve stayed a couple of times before. Even leaving at 5pm on the Friday of Bank Holiday weekend, I wasn’t significantly delayed by traffic, the drive taking around three hours plus a dinner stop, so I was able to get pitched up before dark.

Saturday looked dry until evening, but with increasing winds and very low cloud. I started the day with a parkrun, choosing Y Promenâd parkrun, Abermaw as I thought it would be more scenic than the (much closer) Dolgellau parkrun! I had wondered whether the wind would slow me down on the sea-front, but it turned out to be just a light onshore breeze, and I was very pleased to finish in 18:37, my fastest time since 2019 and my second best age grade ever (73.32%)!

Once I’d got my breath back and taken a few photos, I headed back inland for a walk up the Marilyn, Foel Offrwm, just north of Dolgellau. I was surprised to find a marked trail up the hill from the Precipice Walk car park. Even at just 405m, the hill was well in the cloud, so I didn’t get any summit views, but the woods were attractive on the lower slopes. I continued my walk by heading around the Precipice Walk itself, with a detour to the summit of Foel Cynwch (a Hump). The precipice was underwhelming, to someone who often walks above much larger crags!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2987822

I still had plenty of dry hours left, so I then took a drive east to the village of Aberangell, and from there up to the top of the high pass through Dyfi Forest. That gave easy access to nearby Mynydd Cymcelli, another Marilyn, which had some unusual earthworks around the summit and good views of Maesglase.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2987859

Looking towards Maesglase from Mynydd Cwmcelli

Earthworks at the summit of Mynydd Cwmcelli

I took the slow route back to Dolgellau, continuing over the narrow pass through Aberllefenni to rejoin the main road at Corris. With rain expected by 6pm, I showered and cooked early, eating my pasta in the car as the first spots started to fall. It was a very wet evening, the rain eventually easing around 10pm to leave a dry night.

Sunday looked like it would offer the best weather of the trip, although still windy, so I planned a walk to include Cadair Idris. Walking directly from Dolgellau, I headed first to the nearby Marilyn of Moel Fynydd (shown on the OS maps as Craig y Castell). Lanes and tracks led most of the way but the summit ridge was rather unpleasant with even the sheep trods overgrown with bracken. At least it was less than waist deep at this time of year! A heavy shower fell as I approached the top. There were views towards the Rhinogs, Rhobell Fawr and the Arans, but Cadair Idris was cloaked in cloud.

Looking towards Braich Ddu and Pared y Cefn-hir, from Moel Fynydd

I improvised a descent route very steeply south through the fields and then the forest towards Llyn Gwernan – pathless, overgrown and not recommended! However, I couldn’t see a better way to reach the bottom of the Fox’s Path up Cadair without a large detour or blatant trespass. The sky was brightening nicely as I set off up the grassy path – clearly not heavily used – and the steep buttress of Cyfrwy was almost clear above. I hadn’t been up that way before, and enjoyed passing by Llyn Gafr and Llyn y Gadair with fine views of the mountain’s northern crags.

Brightening conditions on the Fox’s Path below Cyfrwy

Even the final section up the scree to emerge on the ridge just east of Cadair Idris wasn’t anywhere near as loose as it looked, with a zigzagging path making its way up to the left of the main gully. Impressively, for a walk up Cadair Idris on a dry day of a Bank Holiday weekend, I didn’t pass a single other person until I reached the summit! It was very blustery on the highest ground, so I didn’t hang around long before setting off west to find a more sheltered spot for lunch above the crags on the way to Mynydd Moel. I continued east to Gau Graig then followed the obvious quad-bike track down to Bwlch-coch – familiar as Ruth and I had ascended that way on our Dragon’s Back backpack a few years ago.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2988707

Back in town before 3pm, I was in plenty of time to buy dinner supplies at the Co-op and had a leisurely evening chatting with a German couple who were backpacking the Snowdonia Way. There was a lovely sunset over the Rhinogs before bed.

Monday was forecast to start bright and deteriorate around lunchtime, so I got an early start, up at 6am and on the road by 7. I was not a long drive around the eastern end of the Cadair Idris massif to Llanfihangel-y-pennant in the Dysynni valley, where I parked opposite the church.

I had planned a circular route that would link together a couple of Marilyns as well as the impressive (but not so prominent) Birds Rock. I followed the attractive bridleway east to the saddle at the ruined farmhouse of Nant-yr-eira, then climbed steeply south to gain the east ridge of Foel Cae’rberllan, surprising a few sheep and cows grazing among the bracken as I passed! It was a small and rather overgrown path beside the wall to the summit, but it was nice to traverse the full length of this shapely hill’s well-defined ridge. There were excellent views over the valley to Graig Goch, as well as towards Cadair Idris.

Graig Goch, and a glimpse of Tal-y-llyn Lake

The descent to Caerberllan farm was much easier, mostly on a well-made zigzag track. I followed the lane a short distance to Pont Ystumanner then re-ascended steeply on a footpath to gain the ridge of my next objective, Gamallt. This also gave excellent views, particularly back towards Foel Cae’rberllan and over Abergynolwyn to the Tarren hills. The actual summit, though, is over the fence into the forest, with no view at all!

Foel Cae’rberllan, Abergynolwyn and the Tarrens

I improvised a descent of the forestry tracks towards Rhiwerfa, having to backtrack a bit and choose a different track when I encountered forestry machines working ahead – not what I had expected on a Bank Holiday Monday! Soon I was onto the main track, which I followed up to Bwlch-y-maen. From there, I found small paths over all three summits of Birds Rock, a popular family walk from the adjacent campsite, I think. The north top has impressive cliffs on its north side but I found they couldn’t really be appreciated from the summit!

The first spots of rain began to fall as I descended back into the valley, but I made it half way back along the lanes to Llanfihangel before deciding a waterproof jacket was worthwhile. It didn’t seem to be deteriorating fast, so I decided I’d gamble on a second walk for a bonus Marilyn, Foel Cocyn, starting in Bryncrug. Although not a right of way, other baggers had reported no issues using the obvious zigzag track up the west ridge above Gwyddelfynydd, and so it proved for me – easy going for a quick yomp up and down, with views over the coast and Dysynni valley. Although the very light rain continued throughout, the strong breeze was drying me just as fast as I was getting wet, and I made it back to the car without needing waterproof trousers.
Route maps: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2989 8 57 and https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2989862

Looking inland to Birds Rock and Gamallt, from Foel Cocyn

It was still only around 1pm. I drove up the coast to Fairbourne and ate my lunch in the car overlooking the estuary as heavier rain began to set in. That deterred any further exploration, so I headed straight back to Dolgellau, where I just spent the afternoon reading in the car! It was so wet that I took the lazy option and drove the half mile into town to get fish and chips for dinner. The rain only began to ease as I was thinking of heading to bed, around 9:30pm – one of the wettest eight-hour spells I can remember!

After a rather restless night, disturbed by squally showers, I got up early again on Tuesday. This time the forecast suggested it would start raining by 9am, so there wasn’t much of a weather window to play with, but I was keen to clear up my remaining two unbagged Marilyns in the vicinity. I decamped in little over an hour and was on the road just after 7am for the 20 minute drive around to near Aberangell.

My objective was Esgair Ddu, the highest point of the Mynydd Cemmaes massif. Most baggers had reported going up from the east, but their descriptions of awkward parking spots, and indistinct and overgrown paths didn’t really appeal, so I followed a small minority who’d gone up the west side of the hill. This proved an excellent choice, with a good layby to park in and attractive tracks that zigzagged up through deciduous woodland then steeper bracken-covered slopes to reach a grassy bridleway leading almost all the way to the summit. There were good views back over the Dovey valley to Maesglase, and a couple of red kites circled overhead near the summit.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2991243

Looking over the upper Dovey valley to Maesglase

The summit of Esgair Ddu, looking towards Carnedd Wen (in the forest)

The first spots of rain fell just as I started back down. I donned my waterproof jacket but, like the previous day, did not feel the need for trousers before reaching the car. A few minutes’ drive into the Banwy valley got me to Cae’r-lloi, the start point of my final walk of the trip. From a look at the radar map, I was pretty sure heavier rain would soon arrive, but I decided to go up the hill anyway. I knew that it was an easy walk up a large track all the way to the summit of Carnedd Wen and that I would be sheltered by forest on the upper half. I covered the 5km in just over an hour, and the descent a bit quicker than that, so didn’t have time to get totally soaked although the rain had been pretty persistent. Not much to say about the summit – just a trig point in a forest clearing. Not one to return to!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2991247

The drive back to Derby was pretty slow with various tractors, lorries and minor jams, and wet all the way, but generally uneventful. Getting home by early afternoon, I was able to get most of my unpacking, sorting and drying done before bed, as well as writing this blog. The tent-drying will have to wait for a dryer day though!

My full photo album can be viewed on Google Photos here.

Gentian Torridon Trip (2nd-11th May 2025)

With a late Easter this year and the Gentian Scottish Spring meet falling earlier than usual, I found myself heading back up the motorway to the Highlands only a week and a half after I’d returned from Angus! This time I had passengers to help the journey pass more quickly: Claire and Sheena met me at my house after work on Thursday evening and we drove up to Natland, where Ruth and Josh kindly accommodated us for the night.

We were up quite early on Saturday to drive up to Drumochter in time for an afternoon walk. I had picked the southern two of the four Munros west of the pass, as Claire and I had done the northern two on our way back from last year’s trip. Disappointingly, it was a bit drizzly as we set off up the track up Coire Dhomhain, but I trusted the forecast saying that it would soon brighten. Claire’s knee was causing her pain and she soon opted to stroll back to the road and start the week with a rest day! Sheena and I continued up a rough ATV track onto the east ridge of Sgairneach Mhor, and paused for lunch in a sheltered spot on our way up to the summit. The rain had cleared out, as expected, and the summit was just below the cloud, but the wind was pretty strong and cold! We heard, then saw, a couple of ptarmigan nearby, their bodies grey for summer but wings still holding their white winter plumage.

We continued west to the bealach with Beinn Udlamain, eventually gaining a view of Loch Ericht, with Ben Alder opposite. We watched another pair of ptarmigan near the ridge. Once we’d reached the summit of Beinn Udlamain, we descended by the broad northeast ridge, then more steeply east on a better-than-expected path down a spur to regain the main track in Coire Dhomhain. Thankfully Claire didn’t seem to have got too bored waiting for us!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2963465
We drove up to Inverness Youth Hostel for the night, delayed a bit queueing to pass an accident at Aviemore, and just spent the evening in the hostel.

As the forecast for Saturday was again better in the afternoon, I was keen to fit in a parkrun, and Sheena decided she’d like to join me. We took the short drive east to Nairn Links, where it turned out the event was only on its sixth week! The course was three laps of tarmac paths behind the dunes, with good views over the Moray Firth. I ran my fastest time this year, exactly 19 minutes, then joined Sheena for the second half of her final lap. She also ran very well, taking advantage of new running shoes to achieve a PB and an impressive age grade over 72% (half a percent better than mine)!

Our next stop was Tesco Extra at Inverness, to buy lunch provisions for the week, and ingredients for our allocated evening meal courses – a main and a dessert in my case. That gave us a very full car for the final drive to Torridon! We stopped at Achnasheen for a walk up the easy Munro of Fionn Bheinn. The ascent goes up fairly gentle but (even after the recent dry weather) rather boggy grassy slopes, with improving views west to Beinn Eighe and south over Strath Bran to the distinctive Corbett of Sgurr a’ Mhuilinn. We paused for lunch part-way up, and reached the ridge in a brighter spell with good views over Toll Mor to the summit.

Looking over Achnasheen to Sgurr a’ Mhuilinn

Sheena and Claire on the ridge of Fionn Bheinn (before the cloud dropped!)

The cloud dropped as we ascended the ridge though, so we missed out on summit views this time. We made a round walk by returning east along the ridge then beside a very smart dry-stone wall to gain another boggy path back down to the forest and glen, with a final kilometre on the road back to Achnasheen.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2964616

Another half hour’s driving got us to Torridon, where our accommodation for the week was the National Trust for Scotland’s ‘Mol Mor’ bunkhouse, right on the shore of Upper Loch Torridon. Stuart and new member Amanda had arrived before us and unlocked. Soon we had unloaded the car, chosen beds, and packed our groceries into the fridge. Within a couple of hours, the rest of the group had also arrived – nine of us in total. Sheena kindly cooked dinner for me.

With dry weather forecast for the entire week, we were all keen to start with one of the “big three” Torridon peaks on Sunday. Beinn Alligin was the chosen hill, and we drove in three cars to the Coire Mhic Nobaill car park, finding it already nearly full at 9am. We expected to split into a faster and a slower group and the members of each assigned themselves based on walking pace up the lower slopes of the hill. Claire, Sheena, Amanda, Ned and Vivienne were with me in the faster group.

It’s a well built path all the way, and we made good progress up into Coire nan Laogh, with impressive views east over the other Torridon peaks and south over Upper Loch Torridon to Beinn Damh. There was a dusting of fresh snow above about 800m to start off but it gradually retreated as the sunny spells warmed the air and ground, and there were only traces remaining by the time we reached the summit of Tom na Gruagaich. It’s a magnificent end to the ascent as one approaches the east facing cliffs from the west and is suddenly rewarded with a stunning view over Torridon on reaching the trig point!

Sgurr Mor and the Horns of Alligin, from the path up Tom na Gruagaich

Looking back down Coire nan Laogh, and across Upper Loch Torridon to Beinn Damh

The awesome summit view from Tom na Gruagaich: Sgurr Mor, Beinn Dearg and Liathach

We stopped for first lunch on the way down to the bealach, then climbed easily back up to the second Munro, Sgurr Mor, admiring the huge vertical-sided gully of Eag Dhubh na h-Eigheachd near the top. We continued the traverse, enjoying some short sections of grade 1-2 scrambling over the three peaks of the Horns of Alligin (Na Rathanan).

Looking back across the gully and bealach to Tom na Gruagaich

Looking past the third Horn to Beinn Dearg

Once past all difficulties on the final descent, we paused for second lunch. The path back to the car follows the riverside and several waterfalls, looking pretty even though presumably far less impressive than they would in normal (wetter) conditions.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2965716
Back at the bunkhouse, it was the usual routine of tea and biscuits, showers, then dinner. I was on main course duty in the evening and prepared a creamy chicken dish for the meat eaters.

I had arranged to meet up with Amy (who lives relatively nearby in Plockton) on Monday for her 40th birthday walk (a week late) up Beinn Dearg. This is considered the fourth classic Torridon peak, but is much the quietest due to being 70cm below Munro height and therefore ‘only’ a Corbett! Amy arrived around 8:45am and Ned, Amanda, Sheena and Claire decided they’d like to join us for the day.

We parked at Coire Mhic Nobaill again and set off up the previous day’s descent path, the waterfalls looking even better in sunnier weather! The path continues below the Horns of Alligin to reach the Bealach a’ Chomhla. We crossed the small river there then ascended very steeply on a faint path to Stuc Loch na Cabhaig, pausing for a snack break towards the top. There were particularly good views north to the Corbetts of Baosbheinn and Beinn an Eoin.

Looking over the Abhainn Coire Mhic Nobuil to Beinn Dearg

The ridge south to the summit of Beinn Dearg was very attractive, with a few easy rocky steps to negotiate. We had first lunch near the top, then continued east, helping each other down the three scrambly pitches of a buttress on the ridge to reach easier ground leading eventually to Carn na Feola. This was a great viewpiont for Beinn Eighe and Liathach, and over many small blue lochans to the northeast. We descended steep and mainly pathless gullies and slopes south to reach the path west of Loch Grobaig, and followed that easily down the valley back to the car. A lovely day out on an excellent mountain in sunshine, and great to catch up with Amy in person for the first time in about a year.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2966756

Amy, Sheena, Amanda, Claire and Ned at the summit of Beinn Dearg

The weather was milder but cloudier for Tuesday’s walk up Beinn Eighe, again with Claire, Sheena, Amanda, Ned and Vivienne. Martin and Mike formed a slower group while Stuart headed north for an overnight trip to Cape Wrath! We dropped Amanda and Martin’s cars at the finish point then returned to the start in Ned’s. The walk starts up a well-built path through Coire Dubh Mor then traverses below Sail Mhor and climbs up into the grand northwestern corrie, Coire Mhic Fhearchair, with its eponymous lochan and much celebrated Triple Buttress.

Ned, Claire, Vivienne, Sheena and Amanda in Coire Mhic Fhearchair

A smaller path leads through rockier ground past three smaller lochans then up a scree gully (pretty solid and stable towards the side walls) onto the bealach south of the first Munro, Ruadh-stac Mor. From there it was an easy walk up the ridge to the quartzite summit. We paused for first lunch on the way back to the bealach. We were not sure how Martin would have got on with the steep scree, so were pleased to see him and Mike emerge onto the ridge just as we were approaching.

Looking past the Triple Buttress to Liathach, from Ruadh-stac Mor

Our traverse continued over the grassy eastern end of Coinneach Mhor then along a well-defined rocky arete all the way to the trig point (for second lunch) then a short distance beyond to the second Munro, Spidean Coire nan Clach. There were great views down Beinn Eighe’s northern and eastern corries and along the awesome ridge of Liathach. The steep descent goes down scree then a better-made path to reach the road 900m below in only a couple of kilometres. Everyone’s knees were glad to reach the bottom!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2967939

The eastern Tops of Beinn Eighe: Sgurr Ban and Sgurr nan Fhir Duibhe

A few of the group fancied a rest day on Wednesday. I fancied a change of scenery and I led the rest (Claire, Sheena and Amanda) on a walk in Glen Carron. We left Amanda’s car west of Loch Sgamhain then continued down to Craig in mine, again taking the opportunity to do a linear traverse route. We crossed the railway then followed tracks up the forested valley above the Allt a’ Chonais. Lazy navigation on my part got us onto the wrong branch at one point but a short off-piste scrabble through the brush got us back onto the right track! Further up, we reached a two-wire bridge across the river, which we dutifully crossed for fun then crossed back.

Claire on the track below Sgurr nan Ceannaichean

The zigzagging stalkers’ path up from Pollan Buidhe gave improving views of the opposite Munros, Sgurr Choinnich and Sgurr a’ Chaorachain, and later of the distinctive pointy summit of “Cheesecake” (Bidein a’ Choire Sheasgaich). When we reached the end of the improved path, a short, rising grassy traverse got us to the rim of Am Fliuch-choire, where we paused for first lunch in the sunshine, with a couple of eagles circling high overhead in a thermal.

Sgurr Choinnich, from the stalkers’ path

First lunch, with pointy “Cheesecake” in the distance

A short further climb got us up to the summit of Sgurr nan Ceannaichean, once thought to be a Munro but actually slightly too low and now a Corbett. The views were very extensive, particularly to the north and west, over the Glen Carron hills to Torridon, Fisherfield, and the Fannaichs.

Claire, Sheena and Amanda at the summit of Sgurr nan Ceannaichean

We followed the grassy ridge east to the day’s Munro, Moruisg, which is a much less interesting hill than its Corbett neighbour, although with comparable views. After second lunch near the summit, we made an easy descent of the broad northern slopes, soon picking up a well-used path, under the railway at an underpass and directly to the car.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2969163

As there was plenty of afternoon left, we decided to take the slightly longer but more scenic route back to Torridon, down Glen Carron to Lochcarron for an ice cream stop and then over the low pass to Shieldaig.

Back at the bunkhouse, I prepared my bread and butter pudding for the evening’s dessert, ready to pop in the oven at the necessary time. Always good to get the somewhat-stressful catering duties over with on these longer club trips!

On Thursday, another sunny day, we tackled the trickiest of the Torridon peaks, Liathach, a solid grade 2 scramble, touching grade 3 depending on the chosen line. Claire and Sheena were daunted by the prospect but plucked up the courage to attempt it with Ned and my support. I’m sure Amanda would also have enjoyed it but sadly she had to head home early for a family event. I drove us the three miles up Glen Torridon to the start point near Glen Cottage.

The ascent is very steep but on a good path all the way up the grand corrie of Toll a’ Meitheach to the bealach west of Stuc a’ Choire Dhuibh Bhig.

We took the short detour to that eastern Top to take in the fine views of Beinn Eighe, then followed the easy ridge west over a couple of other minor summits to the first Munro, Spidean a’ Choire Leith, passing a couple of ptarmigan on the way.

Looking up the ridge to Spidean a’ Choire Leith

Torridon from Stuc a’ Choire Dhuibh Bhig

Beinn Eighe from Spidean a’ Choire Leith

The descent from there is a rough and not particularly pleasant one, over quartzite boulders and scree, so it was good to reach the next bealach and start the fun scrambly traverse over the numerous sandstone pinnacles of Am Fasarinen. We were able to keep mostly to the crest, at least visiting the top of each pinnacle even if not always following the most direct descent lines! All too soon, we were on the easy grassy slopes that lead up to the second Munro, Mullach an Rathain. We watched an eagle fly quite close-by and, even more unusually, a sea-plane fly up the valley! It was also great to look back along the ridge we’d traversed. My one previous visit had been in mist and rain, back in 2007. The scrambling certainly seemed a lot more straightforward in the dry!

Mullach an Rathain, and Beinn Alligin in the distance

Ned, Claire and Sheena before the pinnacles

As we had made good time, I decided to have a go at improvising a route through the corrie of Glas-Toll a’ Bothain to reach the Munro Top at the end of the ‘Northern Pinnacles’ ridge. This is one of only four Munro Tops I had not visited, the other three also being scrambly ones on the Black Cuillin. Descending west and then north from Mullach an Rathain, down the western ridge of the corrie, I was able to drop down steep but straightforward grassy slopes and then cross a couple of stable scree gullies to reach the bottom of the Northern Pinnacles crags. I clambered up extremely steep grassy slopes broken by scattered boulders, weaving between any small crags, to gain an easy ledge that traversed left (north) to the bealach. This was fine in the dry but I certainly would not have fancied it if the grass were wet! It was an easy walk up a surprisingly well-trodden path from there the short distance up to the summit of Meall Dearg.

Mullach an Rathain from the north Top, Meall Dearg

Spidean a’ Choire Leith, from Meall Dearg

After a short pause to catch my breath and take a few photos of the main ridge, I retraced my steps most of the way back up to the Munro, but traversing around the easy western slopes to gain the top of the main descent path by the Allt an Tuill Bhain. The others had set off down in the meantime, but moving fast on my own I was soon able to catch them up and we descended the lower slopes together. Another punishing descent of 1000m in around 2.5km that it was good to reach the bottom of! We walked the 1.5km back along the road to the bunkhouse, and Ned dropped me back up the valley to collect my car. A grand day out to complete the Torridon set for the week, and we couldn’t have been luckier with the weather!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2970176

Looking back over Glas-Toll a’ Bothain to Meall Dearg

In the evening we drove then 9 miles from Torridon, west along the twisty coast road and over the Bealach na Gaoithe to the small village of Diabaig, for dinner at a lovely little restaurant, Gille Brighde by the pier. We enjoyed three very tasty courses served by the genial Dutch owner, and got the drive back to the bunkhouse done just before dark!

For the final walking day of the club meet, Claire, Sheena and I headed up to Kinlochewe for a walk up Slioch, an impressive distinctive peak defended on three sides by high cliffs. It’s another Munro I had only done once before, back in 2011 at the end of a strenuous three-day backpacking route through Fisherfield with Ruth! The walk starts with a very pretty flat 5km beside the Kinlochewe River to reach the eastern end of Loch Maree. The flowering gorse, fresh green foliage and blue water and sky made a particularly attractive scene, with good views of Beinn Eighe and the neighbouring Corbett, Meall a’ Ghiuthais.

Once we’d crossed the bridge at the bottom of Gleann Bianasdail, we turned right to follow the well-walked path up over the shoulder of Meall Each and into Coire na Sleaghaich, then up again to one of two unnamed lochans on the ridge above Sgurr Dubh.

A final, zigzagging climb up scree led to the summit ridge, with the actual summit perched at the clifftop a little beyond the trig point. It’s a wonderful viewpoint over Letterewe and Fisherfield, and further north to An Teallach and Beinn Dearg, with Ben More Assynt in the far distance. We found shelter from the breeze just below the rim of the plateau and had a leisurely lunch in the sunshine admiring the vista.

Looking back over Sgurr Dubh to Kinlochewe

A closer view of A’ Mhaighdean and An Teallach

We then completed the circuit of the corrie by following the narrow ridge to Sgurr an Tuill Bhain, before descending south to regain the ascent path near Meall Each. That just left the easy descent back to Loch Maree and the pleasant walk back up the riverbank to Kinlochewe.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2971574

Claire and Sheena and the view to Beinn Lair and A’ Mhaighdean

After dinner back at the bunkhouse, we spent some time sorting and packing our belongings ready for departure the next morning, and had a fairly late night chatting before bed. Atter a quick breakfast and cleaning session the next morning, we were on the road before 9am. Claire, Sheena and I made full use of the weekend by staying an extra night in Stirling, allowing us to stop off en route for another Munro walk up Schiehallion, which was my completion hill back in 2013.

A return to the gentle, heathery slopes of the eastern Highlands made quite a contrast after our week on the steep and rocky Torridonian peaks! We must also have seen more people that day than in the entire week in Torridon, with many families descending the easy path as we made our early-afternoon ascent. It was good to be well behind them and have the hill mostly to ourselves as we descended a couple of hours later. Some people had set up some kind of temporary radio transmitter at the summit, but we were not sure for what purpose! The views covered most of the southern Highlands, the most easily identified summits being Ben Nevis and Ben Lawers. Braeriach and Ben Macdui were just about visible through the haze too, with a few snow patches remaining.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2972426

The summit of Schiehallion, looking towards Loch Rannoch

Another 90 minutes of driving brought us to Stirling, where we popped into Sainsbury’s for provisions before driving up the hill to the Youth Hostel, just down the road from the Castle. After dinner and showers, we took a stroll around the Castle, enjoying the sunset behind Ben Vorlich, and then around the attractive town centre.

We started Sunday with an easy stroll up the popular nearby peak, Dumyat, at the western end of the Ochils. Again we were accompanied by lots of family groups and dog-walkers enjoying the sunshine, and a few fellrunners too. It’s an attractive little hill with craggy, gorse-clad slopes and extensive views over the Central Belt and up to the southern edge of the Highlands. Beside the Forth we could see Diageo’s huge complex of whisky cask warehouses, and a munitions depot on the opposite bank.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2978243

After a couple of hours of fresh air and sunshine, we hit the road, having a very good drive back to Derby with stops at Annandale Water for lunch and at Lancaster a bit later, arriving before 5pm. That gave plenty of time to get everything unpacked and sorted and some laundry done before bed and the return to work the next morning.

To summarise, a brilliant May week in the Highlands! It was great to revisit some a few of the most exciting and scenic Munros, and to spend time with good friends. Already looking forward to next year’s meet in Braemar but I’m sure I’ll be back in the Highlands in the meantime in October (after the midge season) and at New Year as usual!
My full photo album can be found on Google Photos here.

Easter Grahams in Angus (17th-22nd April 2025)

I took my usual Easter long weekend in the Highlands, this year a solo trip to Angus, where I chose to camp as I hoped the late Easter would give mild temperatures. To get a head start on the drive up, I worked from my parents’ house in Kendal on the Thursday, and set off from there at around 3:30pm. Traffic was mostly quiet and, after a dinner stop at Stirling services, I arrived at Foresterseat Campsite, just outside Forfar, soon after 8pm. That meant I was able to get my tent set up well before dark and spend some time looking at the maps and guidebooks. It looked like I’d be the only tent that night, but one other arrived as I was going to bed.

Although there was a light ground frost, Friday started sunny. There was a forecast of some light rain by evening so I got away promptly. I chose to head to Glen Isla to bag three Grahams over two walks. The first walk started at the top of the low pass between Glen Isla and Glen Shee. An easy grassy ridge with good ATV tracks led me quickly up to Duchray Hill, which gave good views north towards the Munros of Creag Leacach and Glas Maol, and over Glen Shee to the West Mounth.

Continuing round the horseshoe, the descent to the pass was made a little more awkward by newly planted forestry. Once across the road, it was an easy climb up Mount Blair on a large path through grass and then heather. The summit has a transmitter mast and trig point and, unusually for a Graham, a view-finder indicating all the surrounding peaks that could be seen. The visibility was excellent and I was able to pick out summits including Ben Lawers, Bidean nam Bian, Ben Nevis, Beinn a’ Ghlo, Cairn Toul and Ben Macdui. Those high Munros were mostly capped with snow, but there was none left at lower levels. Again I continued around the horseshoe for an easy descent back to the car.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2947331

Looking over Glen Shee to Schiehallion and Ben Vrackie, with the Glen Coe and Glen Nevis hills just about visible in the distance!

The second walk of the day started a little further up Glen Isla at Fergus. I followed good grouse-shooting tracks up beside Fergus Burn to the minor summit of Craig Lair, then onward to the Graham, Badandun Hill. The views were not as extensive as from the morning’s hills, but Mayar and Driesh were closer at hand (at least their undramatic southwestern slopes!). Surprisingly, I saw two other pairs of walkers further down the ridge.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2947335

Looking up Glen Isla to Monamenach and Glas Maol

I popped into Tesco for provisions on my way back to camp, and cooked and ate relatively early to be done before any rain. As it turned out, it had still barely drizzled by bedtime, so I needn’t have rushed. The campsite felt busier now, with three more tents arriving and numerous caravans and vans (but I don’t think any of them were occupied by hillwalkers!). A few light showers did come through overnight.

On Saturday morning I was well placed for a visit to Forfar Loch parkrun. This is an attractive, flat and quite fast course, once around the loch with a short extra loop at the western end to make up the distance. I was happy with my pace and was in third place most of the way but the two others who’d been hanging on my heels were able to outsprint me at the end to leave me as fifth finisher.

Afterwards, I drove up to the foot of Glen Lethnot for the day’s chosen Graham, Hill of Wirren. It was dry and clear but there was quite a chilly wind as I walked up more shooting tracks up the ridge then across rough heather to the summit. Mount Keen and Mount Battock were the most identifiable hills in the view. I continued to East Wirren, which gave better views of the Aberdeenshire coast, and descended by another ridge, pausing for a late lunch in the lee of a well-appointed but locked luncheon hut.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2948198

Sunday looked like the brightest day of the trip, so I headed to the most exciting of the hills on my to-do list, Hunt Hill at the head of Glen Esk. This was nearly an hour’s drive from Forfar, the second half of it all on the dead-end road up the glen! The car park was quite busy as it’s also the start point for the southern approach to Mount Keen. I had bagged that one from the north when I did it.

To make the most of the good weather, I took the long and scenic route, a full horseshoe around the Loch Lee skyline. This meant setting off a couple of kilometres down the valley to Glen Effock to begin. Good tracks led from there up onto Cairn Caidloch and Burnt Hill, which gave views of the craggier hills ahead. Then it was harder walking across pathless long grass and short heather all the way to the rocky spur of Craig Maskeldie. This is a fine vantage point over Loch Lee and Hunt Hill, and a good place to pause for first lunch.

Looking over Loch Lee to Hunt Hill, from Burnt Hill. Lochnagar is visible in the distance.

It was just a short descent to a good footbridge over the Water of Unich above the impressive Falls of Damff, where I passed two girls who I think were there for the waterfall rather than the hill. A steep climb led along the top of the crags to the summit of Hunt Hill, a very fine viewpoint, particularly looking back towards Craig Maskeldie.

A short but steep descent on soft heather brought me to the Stables of Lee, where I was surprised to find actual stables that looked in recent use. Then I climbed steeply back up to the summit of Wolf Craig, where I sheltered behind one of the numerous cairns for lunch with a view of Mount Keen. It was also a good viewpoint towards Lochnagar and the snowy plateaux of Beinn a’ Bhuird and Ben Avon. There were intermittent ATV tracks and deer trods to ease progress along the flat ridge to the final summit of the day, Monawee. From just below the eastern cairn marked on the map, a newish hydro track gave a quick descent through the forest to Kirkton, followed by a short walk along the lane past Invermark Castle back to the car.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2949358

That left just two Angus Grahams for me to tackle on Monday: Cat Law and Corwharn on the west side of Glen Prosen. The cloud was lower than expected to start the day. I parked by the roadside at Easter Lednathie and was soon in the cloud as I walked up the track to Peat Shank and then up small trods to the summit of Cat Law. Once I’d visited the boundary stone, cairn and trig point, I used the compass to identify which of the many trods would lead me off the right way.

At around 550m I broke free of the cloud, which had clearly risen quite a bit since I’d set out, and had a view along the ridge to Cormaud. There was a good shooting track to follow for a while, then rough heather along the ridge of Tarapetmile and down to the top of the pass between Glen Uig and Glen Quharity. More shooting tracks led easily from there up to the summit of Corwharn, by then just about below the cloud.

I decided I’d stop for lunch whenever I found somewhere sheltered, but it turned out that didn’t happen until I’d trudged along the mostly-pathless ridge all the way over Adenaich Hill and Finlet to Broom Hill, almost the end of my walk! I did eventually find a good spot on the final descent, with a view of Long Goat across Glen Uig.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2950268

As on Friday, I had an early dinner to get my cooking done before forecast evening drizzle, and this time it was a good decision. I got an early night as I planned to be up at 6am on Tuesday, with a lot to pack into my day!

The day dawned sunny, so it wasn’t too chilly as I had breakfast and broke camp. I was on the road at quarter past seven, driving around an hour via Coupar Angus and Dunkeld to Glen Cochill, just south of Aberfeldy. I was surprised to find another car parked at the entrance of the Calliacher Wind Farm – it turned out to be a dog-walker rather than a Graham bagger! My route followed the wind farm tracks through Griffin Forest to near Loch Hoil, then shooting tracks most of the way up to the minor summit of Creag an Loch. This gave view over Loch Fender to the Graham, Meall Dearg.

A rough descent and reascent through long heather led me to the summit, with pretty good views of Ben Lawers, Schiehallion and Beinn a’ Ghlo. Then a short descent east got me back onto tracks. The guidebook’s recommended route through the forest back to the wind farm track turned out to have a fairly well-walked path and the full descent to the car took less than an hour.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2952082

Back on the road by 11:30, I stopped in Stirling for petrol, at Abington for lunch, and at Lancaster for a stretch of the legs. The final section back to Derby was delayed a bit by an accident near Warrington. Google re-routed me via the M61 and M62 to avoid the worst of the queue, but inevitably found other rush-hour queues that way. Nevertheless, I was home just after 6pm and a quick turn-around for food and a shower allowed me to head out to band rehearsal in the evening!

Overall, a productive long weekend of bagging, ticking off eight new Grahams and taking me to 126 out of 231 in total. Although the southern Cairngorms don’t have the most spectacular hills in the Highlands, they were a good choice this time as I’d seen that the weather on the west coast had been much wetter. Not long until I’m heading back up the M6, M74 and beyond, for the Gentian trip to Torridon in early May! After a good Graham fix at Easter, I expect I’ll be content mainly to revisit that area’s exciting Munros on that trip!

You can see my full photo album on Google Photos here.

Gentian Rydal Trip (11th-13th April 2025)

I haven’t found time for much hillwalking this year so it was great to get away to the Lake District for the Gentian Club’s April meet at the Rydal Hall bunkhouse. Claire and I travelled together again, leaving my house just before 6:30pm, and had a good drive up the motorway, arriving soon after 9. I was glad I had investigated the location of the bunkhouse on the aerial photo as it would otherwise have been tricky to locate in the dark! With this trip surprisingly not very well subscribed, there was plenty of space in the large hut, and plenty of bottom bunks to choose from despite being the last to arrive.

I was up early on Saturday as I was on breakfast duty for the trip and had to make the porridge and lay the table ready for the appointed breakfast time of 7am. We were keen to get out promptly on what was a sunny day after a largely sunny month! I had looked at Claire’s Wainwright bagging list in advance and planned a circular route from Grasmere village that would visit some quieter places and four new Wainwrights. Sheena decided to join us too.

After a short drive from Rydal, we parked in the large layby on the main road and walked through Grasmere village and up into Easedale. We followed the main track up to Easedale Tarn, which looked lovely in the sunshine with Tarn Crag above. That was one of the hills on our route, but we took an indirect route, first ascending southwest onto Blea Rigg, which looks more impressive from that side than when approaching up the ridge from Silver How! The summit rewarded us with fine views towards the Coniston Fells and over Langdale, and back over Easedale towards Helvellyn and Fairfield.

We headed up the ridge of Blea Rigg a bit then dropped down over easy but pathless ground to Codale Tarn. There we picked up a small path that led up easily to Tarn Crag, perhaps the highlight of the day and a place I have not visited many times. Another passing bagger took our photo on the summit.

Me, Sheena and Claire at the summit of Tarn Crag

We then followed small paths and trods west up to Codale Head, from where it was only a small detour to visit Sergeant Man (not on our original plan) for first lunch. Then we continued up to the broad whaleback summit of High Raise. There were extensive views over most of the Lake District (although hazy in the distance) with the panorama towards the Scafell range looking particularly fine. The ridge north to Ullscarf gave easy walking on short grass, not at all boggy after the prolonged dry weather.

Pavey Ark and the Coniston Fells, from Sergeant Man

Crinkle Crags, Bow Fell and Scafell Pike, from High Raise

We improvised a rough and fairly steep descent of Green Comb into Wythburn Head, finding a large group of red deer by Greenhow Crags, and pausing for second lunch half way down. Once across the stream at the bottom, it was just a short climb back up onto the ridge of Steel Fell, our final Wainwright of the day. We descended by the southeast ridge, then the lanes back to Grasmere for an ice cream before returning to the car and bunkhouse by around 4:30pm.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2940579

The others had also had a good day tackling the Fairfield Horseshoe, and got back a little before us. After a few cups of tea and a shower, I took a short stroll around the grounds of Rydal Hall before dinner. We enjoyed Simon’s vegetable soup, Martin’s chicken curry, and Claire’s lemon tart, then chatted until late-ish.

A few light showers fell overnight, but it was bright again by the morning. I prepared breakfast again, which was followed by the daily meeting to discuss plans. Sheena had left early for a choir reunion, and surprisingly, most others were not up for another full day out despite the good weather. Consequently it was just Claire and me for my proposed ‘Inverted Hartsop Horseshoe’, starting at the top of Kirkstone Pass, reached by just a few minutes of steep uphill driving up The Struggle from Ambleside!

We walked clockwise, starting with the ascent of Red Screes on the good path that weaves between the crags. There was a cold breeze on the top so we didn’t linger long before continuing down to our next objective, Middle Dodd. We traversed around to Scandale Pass and reascended a little to Little Hart Crag, which gives wonderful views over the head of Dovedale, then continued down the ridge to High Hartsop Dodd and on down to Brothers Water. The distant views were much less hazy than the previous day, presumably thanks to the overnight showers, and there had been plenty of sunny spells.

Claire above Brothers Water, on the descent from High Hartsop Dodd

We made our way through the pretty hamlet of Hartsop, then ascended very steeply up the north ridge of Hartsop Dodd, pausing near the top for first lunch with a view over Hayeswater Gill and Patterdale.

A few spots of rain fell as we passed over the summit of Hartsop Dodd, but were not enough to need waterproofs. We continued up the gentle ridge to the indistinct summit of Stony Cove Pike, visiting various candidates for the high point before continuing to the west top, Caudale Moor, with its large cairn. That just left an easy descent along the ridge to St Raven’s Edge – I bagged the Dewey as I don’t think I had ever actually visited the highest point before! – then steeply back down to the Pass. Surprisingly we had only passed around a dozen other walkers all day!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2941659

St Raven’s Edge and Red Screes, from Caudale Moor

The drive back to Derby was mostly free flowing, again taking around 2 hours and 45 minutes. Another really enjoyable weekend with the club, with very scenic walks and good company on the hill and at the bunkhouse. It was great that the good weather continued even on the Sunday when showers had been forecast. Next up for me, a long Easter weekend in Angus!

You can find more of my photos from the weekend here.

A weekend in Kendal (28th-30th March 2025)

I spent a weekend visiting my parents in Kendal, by chance coinciding with Mother’s Day. On Saturday the forecast was for a bright start then a wet afternoon, so a parkrun seemed the ideal activity. We took the short drive to Fell Foot parkrun, at the south end of Windermere, which I had not visited since 2019 despite it being the closest to Kendal. The summer course was in use for the second week this year, and the recent dry and breezy weather had done a good job of eliminating all mud from the grassy path around the meadow. I had a reasonable run, a little under 20 minutes but nearly a minute slower than my previous visit, then joined Dad for his second lap.

Once back in Kendal and showered, I spent an hour or so pressure washing the patio. In the afternoon, Mum and I enjoyed a game of Scrabble, then I walked down to town in the rain for a chat wiht the Patricks over a cup of tea – good to catch up for the first time since Ruth’s wedding nearly a year earlier.

Sunday was a sunny day, although quite breezy in the morning. We took a half hour drive to Dentdale for a scenic walk from Dent village. We started with a short but steep ascent on the bridleway beside Flinter Gill, lined with attractive old trees and with sporadic views of the unusual slabby stream-bed (but with very little water flowing down that day!).

Near the top we passed an unexpected viewpoint with a topograph identifying the surrounding peaks, including the Howgill Fells to the northwest, Aye Gill Pike across the valley and Great Knoutberry Hill to the east.

A little higher, we reached Green Lane, a traversing track, which we followed to the east, boggy in places, for around a mile. Whernside gradually came into view ahead as we rounded the hillside. We paused for a lunch break below the eponymous Great Combe of Great Coum, then descended by another bridleway, Nun House Outrake. Then it was easy walking along the lane to Double Croft. There we were surprised to find the bridleway down to the riverside flooded, so instead of joining the Dales Way we followed parallel footpaths beside a smaller beck back to Dent. A lovely day out in the sunshine!

We returned to Kendal for the rest of the day, and I headed back home to Derby after roast pork for dinner. You can find more photos here, and a map of our Dentdale route here.

Hilton, Lathkill Dale and Edale (1st-9th March 2025)

The blog has been very quiet lately as a combination of poor weekend weather, the cross-country running season, and brass band rehearsals and competitions kept me off the hills from mid-January through February. I’ve been pleased to get out for a few local walks since the start of March though, my availability finally coinciding with some dryer and brighter weather!

On Saturday the 1st it was just an afternoon walk from home to Hatton, but I explored the path along the Dove riverbank from Marston-on-Dove – not strictly a public right of way but clearly in fairly regular use by dogwalkers and fishermen. Thankfully much less overgrown than the section the other side of Marston, which was my last exploratory route near home!

On Saturday the 8th, I started the day with a visit to the relatively new Black Rocks parkrun near Wirksworth. It was a lovely sunny morning and a scenic course on the High Peak Trail with views over Cromford, although I thought it would have been more fun if the course had included one of the nearby inclines rather than sticking on the flat section with multiple 180-degree turns!

Afterwards, I headed into the nearby corner of the Peak District for a walk through Lathkill Dale, starting at the Moor Lane car park west of Youlgreave. My route took me across Cales Dale to One Ash Grange, then down towards the head of Lathkill Dale.

I followed the dale all the way down to Alport: a narrow gorge with slippery limestone boulders in the base to start off, then a wider but deeper dale with scree and crags, then a wooded valley with the clear waters of the River Lathkill flowing beside the path. It’s a pretty spot in any season but particularly beautiful on a sunny day like this one!

From Alport, I followed Bradford Dale upstream for a few kilometres, pausing for a late lunch below Youlgreave, then returned to the car by a steep final climb up the Limestone Way.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2902549

The next day I had a band rehearsal late afternoon but the forecast was similarly sunny and I was feeling motivated so I got up early to drive up to Edale. Even though I arrived in the valley by 8:45am, I found the Barber Booth car park full, and the main Edale car park also full! There had also been a large number of cars abandoned on double-yellow lines near Mam Tor, despite all the publicity this problem has received recently. I was glad to see they had all been given parking tickets while they watched the sunrise! Luckily there were still a few spaces left in the Edale overflow charity car park beyond the railway station.

I was pleased to get away from the crowds quickly as I set off west up the valley footpaths to Barber Booth and Upper Booth, enjoying views of Broadlee Bank Tor to the right and Horsehill Tor to the left.

From Upper Booth, I climbed steeply up the front of Broadlee Bank then more gently to the rocky summit of Grindslow Knoll, which gave some good views over Grindsbrook and Crowden Cloughs.

I followed the edge of the plateau east, around the top of Grindsbrook Clough and Ringing Roger, then above Oller Brook and Jaggers Clough to reach Crookstone Knoll, from where there’s a gentle descent to Hope Cross. I then followed the high-level traversing footpaths past the youth hostel at Rowland Cote and back to Edale village, with a lunch break in the warm sunshine about 1km before the end of the walk. That gave me plenty of time to drive home, shower and change before band, and the lovely walk was definitely worth the early start.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2903357

Looking past Ringer Roger and over Grinds Brook to Lose Hill

Looiking down Jaggers Clough to Win Hill and Lose Hill

Hopefully the next couple of months will see me head to the hills more often!
My full photo album can be seen here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/YeiSEiY8cnq5tsrA7

Gentian Snowdonia Trip (18th-19th January 2025)

The 2025 ‘Welsh’ Winter’ weekend marks three years since my first trip with the Gentian Hillwalking and Mountaineering Club. I’ve been a pretty regular participant over that time, attending more than 20 meets, and this trip was a great chance to catch up with many of those who have now become good friends.

On the Friday night, I didn’t want to miss my annual pilgrimage to Worksop College to see Voces8 in concert, so my drive to Snowdonia was very early on Saturday instead. I left home at around 5:15am and, thanks to predictably quiet roads, arrived at the bunkhouse near Penygroes before 8am, in time to join in with the day’s route-planning session. The mountain forecasts suggested there could be an inversion at 700m so I decided to maximise the chances by going up the highest hill in the area, Snowdon (well, properly Yr Wyddfa these days!). Sheena, Claire and Ned joined me, while the others gambled on the forecast being spot on and tackled some or all of the Nantlle Ridge (with its highest peaks just exceeding 700m).

It was a short drive up the valley to Rhyd Ddu where there was plenty of roadside parking. We followed the start of the Rhyd Ddu path towards Snowdon but, rather than bearing left to climb to the Llechog Ridge, carried on up the old mine track to Bwlch Cwm Llan. There was only a little dissent among the group as we took the scenic detour (with 250m bonus ascent) to the summit of Yr Aran, the upper parts being in the mist but with some attractive hoar frost on the grass.

Looking back across the bwlch to Allt Maenderyn and Cwm Llan

Then we returned to the bwlch and ascended the ridge over Allt Maenderyn, with a little easy scrambling in places, to rejoin the Rhyd Ddu path on Bwlch Main. Even there, at 900m, where some people descending had reported the inversion level to be, we had not escaped the mist, so I was beginning to feel unlucky. But just a little further on, around 950m, we did finally break out into sunshine. We took our time on the final approach to the summit of Snowdon, with lots of photo stops to appreciate the best inversion I’ve seen since 2023’s trip to Norway.

The wider inversion southeast of Snowdon

We found a relatively quiet spot on the east side of the summit – inevitably disturbed by a drone overhead – for a leisurely lunch overlooking Crib Goch and the inversion. The Glyders were also above the cloud, while the Carneddau were totally cloud free to the north.

The view from our lunch spot, with cloud cloaking Y Lliwedd

Crib Goch, with the Glyderau and Carneddau beyond

It would have been easy to stay there longer in the warmth of the sunshine, but the dwindling daylight hours pushed us onward. We followed the main track down to Bwlch Glas with the tourists, then forked left onto the much quieter Snowdon Ranger path down Clogwyn Du’r Arddu, soon re-entering the mist, but getting back below the cloud at around 700m. Moel Cynghorion was just below the cloud base so we included that bonus peak on our walk, as planned.

Looking over Glaslyn and Llyn Llydaw from Bwlch Glas

An easy grassy descent took us to Bwlch Maesgwm, from where we followed the footpath fairly directly back to Rhyd Ddu. Beyond where it crossed the Ranger path, it was quite indistinct underfoot and boggy in places, although well marked with signposts. The evening sunshine beyond the Nantlle Ridge and Mynydd Mawr gave good views as we wiggled through the old quarries, and we got back to the car just before sunset.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2855720
Our decision to go high was definitely vindicated when we discovered the Nantlle groups had not escaped the mist all day!

Sheena in the sunshine below Cwm Clogwyn

Late-afternoon sunshine beyond the Nantlle Ridge

Dinner for the meat-eaters was the ubiquitous (but tasty) pasta bolognese, with crumble and custard for dessert. Most of the group who’ve signed up for July’s hut-to-hut tour in the Stubai Alps were present, so we spent the latter part of the evening agreeing our itinerary and possible travel plans. After the very early morning, I didn’t stay up late!

Sunday was a greyer day, with the forecast again saying an inversion was possible at 800m. Although it would have been good to do the Nantlle Ridge when staying so close-by, it didn’t seem like there was much chance it would not be in mist all day. The Carneddau had the best forecast so, after we’d packed up our stuff and tidied the bunkhouse, I headed to the Ogwen Valley with Claire and Sheena. The others chose lower hills near the hut, near Beddgelert, and on the Lleyn Peninsula.

We followed the standard route – although new to Claire – via Ffynnon Lloer and the mildly-scrambly east ridge to Pen yr Ole Wen. The lower part of the scramble was made more interesting by a layer of verglas on the rocks! Chances of inversion didn’t seem good when the cloud base was not far below 900m, but we did at least get some good views over the lake and between layers of cloud in the Ogwen Valley.

Mist in the Ogwen Valley, from the path beside Afon Lloer

Claire and Sheena, high above Ffynnon Lloer

We continued over Carnedd Dafydd to Carnedd Llewelyn, getting views from the bwlchs but not the summits, and had lunch there next to the shelter cairn. Then we headed down the ridge of Penywaun-wen, soon dropping back below the cloud for some great views over Cwm Eigiau. A little bit of easy scrambling – not icy this time – led us to Bwlch Eryl Farchog. We descended south from there on the well-built zigzag path down to Ffynnon Llugwy, where there were excellent reflections of the snow-patch covered south-eastern slopes of Carnedd Llewelyn.

That just left an easy walk down the reservoir road and along the old valley road back to the cars. I was on the road by 4pm and home before 7 after another good drive.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2855722

In summary, another great weekend in the hills with friends. Dry and fairly calm weather with not much snow on the ground wasn’t particularly wintry, but was made particularly special by Saturday’s excursion above the clouds. Well worth the very early start to drive over on Saturday morning! You can find my full photo album on Google Photo here.

New Year in Aviemore (28th December 2024 – 4th January 2025)

This year, for the first time, my New Year week in the Highlands was a solo one. Ruth and Josh had decided they would instead stay with some of the younger Duffers, and a swarm of Dufflings, in a large holiday cottage in Glenelg on the west coast. But I don’t have sufficient tolerance for living among small children to do so for a full week, nor as close a friendship with that group, and preferred to do my own thing. I found that Aviemore Youth Hostel have a couple of private single rooms, so that was a convenient and inexpensive choice with plenty of walking options nearby to suit all weather conditions.

I drove north from Kendal on Saturday 28th, pausing at Talkin Tarn Country Park, east of Carlisle, for a parkrun on the way. I wasn’t feeling very energetic and finished in a disappointing 20:30 despite the course being a little under distance, not muddy and only slightly undulating. Nevertheless, it’s a scenic course and it was good to get a little exercise before continuing my drive.

The roads were quiet and I made good time to Aviemore, pausing in Perth for lunch, petrol and some groceries. I arrived around 3pm and was able to check in earlier than advertised. The room was basic but fairly spacious and had everything I needed, and I was pleased to find that the kitchen also had plenty of storage and fridge space to share.

Sunday’s forecast was for a moderately windy day with some rain arriving later, so I got a dawn start at Glenmore Lodge for a walk up Bynack More. While walking up to An Lochan Uaine, I passed a couple of pairs of walkers going the other way with overnight kit. We didn’t stop to talk but I assume they’d spent the night at Ryvoan bothy. The track gives easy walking and I was soon at the bridge over the River Nethy, and could see that the summit of Bynack More was clear although there was lower cloud over Cairn Gorm. After a spell of mild weather, there was almost no snow on the hills.

Looking across the River Nethy to Bynack More

As I continued up the ridge path, I passed two young men descending, who had been to the summit and warned it was extremely windy. They must have started well before first light! The gusts did get extremely strong as I got higher up, but I wasn’t worried about sometimes getting blown a few paces off the path as the ground to the side was not steep. Before long I was at the summit, where I was able to find a bit of shelter behind the tors.

There were good views southeast to Ben Avon, Beinn a’ Bhuird and Beinn a’ Chaorainn, but the higher hills further west were in the cloud. I decided to pop down the ridge to the Barns of Bynack for a different vantage point, somewhat regretting that decision when it was a real battle against the wind to return to the summit! Soon, though, I was heading back down the north ridge, the wind gradually dropping as I lost height, and I was back at the car before any rain arrived.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2837131

Looking towards Beinn a’ Chaorainn and Beinn Mheadhoin

Monday was forecast to improve to showers after overnight rain cleared. I opted to head to the Monadhliath hills, where I could bag a new Graham, Creag Liath, with the option of continuing over one or more Munros if conditions and motivation suited. I parked at the head of Glen Banchor a bit before 10am and waited a few minutes for the rain to stop as I could see brighter skies approaching. Sure enough, it did stop and I was able to avoid putting my full waterproofs on. A group of five walkers set off towards A’ Chailleach (Munro) while I waited.

Allt a’ Chaorainn in spate, just beyond the Glen Banchor car park

Creag Liath is actually only a short detour from the standard route up the Munro Carn Dearg, so the path most of the way is pretty well-walked and there’s a helpful footbridge over the Allt Fionndrigh – essential as the rivers were in spate after the wet night. The summit gave decent views over flooded Speyside. As I could see Carn Dearg was also just about clear, I decided to continue that way.

Carn Ballach and Geal Charn, from Creag Liath

Glen Ballach was very boggy so it was good to reach the firmer ground of the final ramp up to the Munro summit. The ridge has attractive crags on its east side. An unusual fogbow briefly appeared as cloud swirled below them.

I sheltered behind the cairn to put on an extra layer, as the wind was cold, and to consult the map. I reckoned if I walked fast I’d be able to visit the other two Munros and get back to the car before dark, so that became the plan. It’s about 8km along the ridge to Carn Sgulain, but it must be some of the easiest terrain between Munros, with no large or steep ascents or descents, and navigation made easy by a faint path and very clear line of old fenceposts the entire way.

Carn Sgulain was in mist and time was short, so I didn’t linger there, setting a compass bearing to cross the upper reaches of the Allt Cuil na Caillich northwest of A’ Chailleach. It was only a ten minute climb from there to the summit, which was just about clear with blue skies to the south of the large cairn.

It was only an hour before sunset, so I pressed on quickly, following the ridge a short distance west then descending the obvious but very boggy ATV track into the valley of Allt a’ Chaorainn. It was clear that the river was not crossable where the main path is marked, so I continued down the west bank to find the footbridge marked further downstream – somewhat hidden out of sight among trees but it’s there if you need it!

That just left 1.5km down a track to the car. I was not expecting to find a runner doing hill sprint repeats in that fairly remote spot, in the twilight ten minutes after sunset! Presumably he’d run up from Newtonmore for his workout as he was running back down the lane that way as I drove out. With the three Munros added, it had ended up being quite a long day (27km) but it was good to have made the most of the dry weather.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2838191

Tuesday looked wetter, with warnings of more flooding, so I decided to climb a Graham north of Carrbridge. I parked on the B-road near Auchterteang, and set off when there seemed to be the biggest gap between showers on the rainfall radar! That worked pretty well as I got almost to the summit before the next rain arrived. Most of the ascent was on a good Land Rover track, with just a short trot along the boggy ridge to the trig point. There was a light dusting of fresh snow on the ground, unlike the previous two days, and the temperature was much lower. I got brief views of the high Cairngorms in the brightest moments.

To make a circular route, I continued along the heathery ridge to Creag na h-Iolaire, visiting a few rocky ‘cnaps’ along the way, before descending by another track to reach my outward route a couple of kilometres above Auchterteang. I had need to put on full waterproofs, but the rain had only amounted to a couple of sharp showers.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2838964

I didn’t bother to stay up to see the New Year in. There didn’t seem to be any kind of celebration at the hostel as the residents who wanted to party headed into town for the purpose. More snow fell overnight, and the weather was set to improve through New Year’s Day, so I decided to head for another Munro, Meall Chuaich, which has an adjacent Graham I could include on the way up. The A9 was clear of snow so it was an easy drive up to Dalwhinnie to park in a layby around 10am. There were several other cars parked there, with one group of four just setting off – clearly a popular choice for New Year’s Day, thanks to the easy road access after snowfall I suppose.

After a couple of kilometres on the access road beside the Cuaich aqueduct, I diverted off the main Munro-baggers’ route to cross over the small hydro dam and ascend the heathery slopes the other side of the valley. That led me quite quickly to the summit of Creag Ruadh, the Graham. There were some reasonable views over Speyside, Drumochter and the surrounding hills, but all the Munro summits were in cloud.

Misty Meall Chuaich from the summit of Creag Ruadh

A short descent took me to the dam of Loch Cuaich, then a short walk along tracks got me back onto the main Munro route from the bridge over the Allt Coire Chuaich. I could see the group of four, now well ahead of course, as well as a couple of solo walkers descending. The ascent was straightforward, with the snow soft and not too slippery. Sadly the summit did not clear by the time I got there, just as the group were setting off back down.

The wind was bitterly cold so I only paused very briefly at the large cairn. It was only when I was back on the track in the valley that the summit actually cleared and some decent blue patches began to appear in the sky. There were some glimpses of Ben Alder along Loch Ericht, and the large corries of Carn na Caim looked good in the snow. I was back at the car by 3pm, so perhaps starting an hour later might have given me better conditions, but 11am seems too late to start on a winter Munro day!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2839678

Looking back along the aqueduct to Creag Ruadh and Meall Chuaich

The Met Office thought there was a good chance of cloud-free summits by afternoon on Thursday (although the MWIS did not agree!). I decided to be optimistic and have a go at climbing Braeriach, as it would be good to visit one of the very high Cairngorm peaks during my trip. My plan was again to start at 10am and move fast to get the best of the day. There had been more fresh snow overnight, but the road up to the Sugarbowl car park was fully clear. I was surprised to find someone gritting the steps on the footpath down to the Allt Mor bridge, soon after I set off!

Initially, I was following several other sets of footprints towards the Chalamain Gap, and I hoped these would continue towards Braeriach. However, after a while I caught up with the family who had made them and it was clear that the high mountains were not their objective for the day, so I had to make my own footsteps thereafter. The boulder-filled groove of the Chalamain Gap was just as awkward in fresh snow as I remembered it from my last winter ascent of Braeriach with a few duffers 17 years earlier (to the day!). Nevertheless, I had soon clambered through without any twisted ankles and was back on the easy path down into the Lairig Ghru.

Soon after starting to ascend the other side, I reached the cloud-base at around 700m. The path was quite distinct to start off, but became invisible under the snow higher up the ridge to Sron na Lairige. From the 1180m cairn, it was pretty much white-out with navigation to the 1184m cairn and across the next bealach entirely by compass bearing and pacing. I was glad to reach the rim of Coire Bhrochain, helpfully not corniced so it was safe to use the steep edge as a navigational handrail to the summit. The right hand side of my jacket and trousers were well frosted up with ice thanks to a snow shower, blowing from the north.

It had taken nearly three-and-a-half hours to reach the top – a bit longer than I’d bargained for with the tricky navigation – so I turned straight around to get as far down as possible before dark. More pacing and bearings got me back across the bealach and Sron na Lairige and onto the right descent ridge. Although less precision was required on the descent, it felt trickier with worse visibility going into the wind!

The cloud had risen a little over the afternoon, and I started getting views over Lochan Odhar, Gleann Eineach and the Lairig Ghru when I reached around 900m (still 400m below the summit of Breariach)! By that point I had found the visible path and my own footprints (not being re-filled by the wind at that level), which sped progress the rest of the way. There was some brightness in the sky over Speyside but not over the Cairngorm hills.

I found that a few other people had walked as far as the Lairig Ghru during the day, adding to my morning footprints. It was after sunset by the time I got back up to the Chalamain Gap, so I expected that I might need my torch for the last bit of my walk. But thanks to the clearing sky and reflective white ground, I was actually able to keep walking without headtorch all the way, reaching the car at 4:30pm, 40 minutes after sunset. I hadn’t had the dramatic corrie views I’d hoped for, but I’d certainly had a large dose of Type 2 Fun and done some very useful practice of my winter navigation skills!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2840625

Looking back to Creag a’ Chalamain at dusk

I fancied something less taxing for my final walking day of the trip, so on Friday I did some more Graham bagging on the Hills of Cromdale, east of Grantown. My preferred route was from Strath Avon, to the east of the hills, but that meant a fairly long drive. This ended up taking nearly an hour as, although all the roads had been ploughed after more overnight snow, they had not yet been driven enough for the grit to have full effect, and it was safest just to roll along at 30mph. I parked by the phone box at Ballcorach, rather than risking getting stuck in the unploughed car park the other side of the river.

The ascent via Knock was on a decent track to start with. This was snow-covered but a set of fresh footprints led up and down – I concluded someone had taken their dog for a walk up and run down. Beyond the end of the vehicle track was undisturbed snow, which was pretty hard work to wade through all the way up to the minor top of Carn Eachie and from there along the ridge to the first Graham summit, Carn a’ Ghille Chearr. I was surprised to pass a group of reindeer! I did not know that part of the tame Cairngorm herd actually live here on the Glenlivet estate!

It was cold in the wind and the summit was just in the mist, so I didn’t hang about before heading back south, diverging from my footprints after a while to stay on the ridge line. It was very hard going across the bealach as the snow was deeper there, generally around a foot, and the ground underneath was unfrozen and boggy. I passed another large group of reindeer here, which were happy for me to take a fairly close-up photo.

Eventually I reached the tall memorial cairn on An Sgoran, where I was surprised to see a pair of walkers coming up from the Cromdale side. They were locals making a regular visit, but only as far as the cairn. We chatted a little as we had some food in the shelter of the cairn.

Then I continued, finding shallower and firmer snow generally, to the second Graham summit, Creagan a’ Chaise, which has an even larger memorial cairn. That just left a gentle descent east through more soft and deep snow to pick up another vehicle track down to Milton, and then a couple of kilometres along the lane back to the car. The roads had cleared fully of snow by that time, knocking 15 minutes off the journey time back to Aviemore.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2841544

My plan had been to break Saturday’s drive back to Kendal with a visit to Perth parkrun, but it was cancelled due to ice. With my knee a bit sore from the snowy walking anyway, I didn’t bother to go to Faskally Forest parkrun, which did go ahead near Pitlochry (I wasn’t so motivated by a repeat location!) and was in Kendal by lunchtime. I decided to spend the afternoon and night there and spend the time with my parents rather than rushing straight home. And despite the widespread amber weather warning for snow, I found the motorways clear on Sunday morning all the way to Hilton.

Overall, a pretty good trip, bagging five new Grahams and revisiting six Munros. That takes me past the half way point on the Grahams list: 118 down, 113 to go. I reached at least one summit every day, despite the usual mixture of wet, windy and snowy Scottish winter weather. Not much sunshine this year, but still a good selection of contrasting walks with views from some of the tops. My full photo album can be found here.

Fort William and Invermoriston (26th October – 2nd November 2024)

I always like to take a trip to the Highlands in the autumn – although the weather is often unsettled, the vibrant colours and low sunlight are often beautiful. This year I took a full week’s holiday and based myself in Fort William for four nights then by Loch Ness for three, with a focus on bagging a few Grahams.

I drove up as far as my parents’ house in Kendal on the Friday evening and got an early start from there on Saturday to head to Lanark Moor parkrun. The later 9:30 start in Scotland made this a fairly civilised choice despite the two hour drive. The course was an attractive and unusual one, starting with a loop of a small loch (with beautiful reflections) on flat tarmac, followed by a twisty and undulating loop of a mountain bike course through the woods (surprisingly suitable for road shoes, as the Run Director had advised me beforehand), with another lap of the loch to finish. I ran well but ended up with a time a little over 20 minutes, due to the hilly middle section and the distance being (by my reckoning) well over 5km!

I didn’t hang around long afterwards as I had plans to bag a Graham on my way north. I had picked Creag Mhor in the Trossachs near Balquhidder, as it was not far off my driving route and only required a circular walk of around 8km. I parked at the end of the Glen Buckie road in Ballimore and headed directly up the hill by the grassy southeastern slopes. From the ridge, there were good views over Loch Voil towards the Crianlarich Munros, as well as east towards Loch Earn and Ben Vorlich. I descended into the upper reaches of Fathan Glinne and followed tracks and paths back down the valley to the car. Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2791183

Looking towards Loch Earn and Ben Vorlich

Looking over Loch Voil towards the Crianlarich hills

Afternoon rain had been forecast but luckily did not arrive before I finished the walk. It was certainly very wet as I drove over Rannoch Moor and down Glen Coe though! Once in Fort William, I picked up some provisions at Morrison’s then headed to the Backpackers hostel, where I had a bed in a fairly spacious four-bed ensuite dormitory. Cooking, eating and route planning filled the rest of the evening.

Sunday was again forecast to start dry but become wet by lunchtime, so I got up promptly. I decided to bag a pair of Grahams on the north side of Loch Arkaig: Sgurr Choinnich and Meall Blair. My route started at the Coire Mhuic nature reserve, where rare butterflies can apparently be seen in the Spring. It did not look like many visitors ever walk the poorly-signed loop through the woods either side of the river, and there were no butterflies to be seen on a grey October morning! Nevertheless, the path gave easy access to a hydro track higher up, which led me easily into the head of Coire Mhuic.

Autumn colours and a little blue sky by Loch Arkaig

Once off the track, I found a series of helpful deer trods that making a rising traverse across the eastern slopes of Sgurr Choinnich, and I was soon at the foot of its well-defined northeast ridge. There were excellent views northeast over Loch Garry and west to the hills around Loch Cuaich (formerly Quoich).

I only paused briefly at the summit as the wind was cold and fairly strong. It was a welcome surprised that the cloud-base was well above the summit. A line of old fenceposts led west, about half way along the watershed towards my second peak, Meall Blair. The remainder of the broad ridge was unmarked and pathless, but the way was clear, over Meall Lochan nan Dubh Lochan then up rough slopes to the summit trig point. The cloud had dropped by this point, and the top 50m or so was in damp mist – worth putting on the waterproof jacket but not trousers.

I descended southeast then south to reach the Loch Arkaig road pretty easily near Rubha Cheanna Mhuir, enjoying good views both directions along the loch once I got off the plateau onto the steeper lower slopes. That just left a couple of kilometres along the almost traffic-free lane through the beautiful mixed woodland back to the car. Again I was pleased to finish in the dry – as it turned out, rain never really arrived that day. Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2792079

Looking over Loch Arkaig towards Beinn Bhan

The forecast for Monday was dry but with very low cloud, and that was pretty accurate! I decided it would be a good day to do two short walks up Grahams that would not be too fiddly to navigate in poor visibility. The first was Stob a’ Ghrianain (a.k.a. Druim Fada) on the south side of Glen Loy. Surprisingly, there’s a dedicated car parking area at the bottom of the forest track near Inverskilavulin, with a signposted route up into Coire an Lightuinn. I suspect extremely few people seek to climb this obscure hill, but perhaps its proximity to Fort William makes it an occasional bad-weather choice among Munro-baggers!

Once out of the trees, a small bridge gave an easy way across the burn and an ATV track led most of the way up the waterlogged east ridge. I must have entered the cloud at around 400m, but visibility was not too bad. Higher up, the ground got much rockier and there were a few crags around the top of Coire Odhar, with a large cairn above them. A short distance beyond that, the actual summit was marked only by a small pile of stones.

Misty glasses by the large cairn just below the summit of Stob a’ Ghrianain!

I continued around the adjacent lochan then descended beside a small waterfall and burn onto the rough southeast ridge. It was pretty slow going with a few peat groughs on the way to the minor top of Sron Liath, and it was only as I started to descend north back into the corrie that I broke back out of the cloud, still around 400m. That just left a short walk back along the marked forest path to the car. Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2792946

Back below the cloud with a view over Glen Loy

For my second walk of the day, I returned to the shore of Loch Arkaig, parking near Achnasaul to climb nearby Glas Bheinn. A good hydro track led well up beside the Allt Dubh, turning into a smaller stalkers’ track higher up. I had started in mist almost down to loch level, but broke out into a clear layer between clouds for much of the ascent. I doubled back up the steep northwestern slopes of the hill to reach the ridge half a kilometre north of the summit, which was sadly again in mist. I found the cloud had dropped significantly since I’d ascended, and I had to descend quite a long way on compass bearings, south then west, before eventually getting back into the clear and gaining very murky views along the loch for the final section down the track. Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2792950

As clear as it got on the way up Glas Bheinn

Tuesday’s forecast was again for low cloud so I was pleased to find there were a few sunny breaks when I got up. My targets for the day were a pair of Grahams in Ardgour, up the Callop glen near Glenfinnan. I parked by the bridge and set off briskly up the valley track with an extensive area of blue sky over the Corbett to the west, Sgurr Craobh a’ Chaorainn. Once beyond the forest I crossed easily over the burn and gained the well-defined north ridge of Meall nan Damh. It was clear much of the way up but did have a cap of fairly thick mist over both summits.

Brightness over Glas Bheinn but gloomier over Meall nan Damh

Sgorr Craobh a’ Chaorainn hogged the sunshine most of the day!

Continuing along the ridge, I did drop just below the cloud as I crossed the bealach to Glas Bheinn, and had fleeting views of Loch Eil through sunny breaks as I reascended. It was still mostly misty around the trig point but I was optimistic of getting views and found a sheltered spot for lunch. It did gradually get brighter and by the time I was ready to continue I could see more of Loch Eil and Callop with some very atmospheric light conditions.

Dramatic cloud and sunshine at the summit of Glas Bheinn

The north-western slopes gave an easy descent to pick up a disused (and quite boggy) hydro track back through the forest and regain the main Callop track. Sgurr Craobh a’ Chaorainn was still mostly in sunshine – apparently the gaps in the cloud were created by the terrain rather than passing in the wind! Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2793759

The cap of cloud never shifted off Meall nan Damh

I stayed at Fort William Backpackers for one more night but was moving on towards Loch Ness in the morning, so I bought more groceries and filled with petrol on my way back from the walk. Wednesday looked like the sunniest day of the week so I decided to do what looked like the most scenic of the three walks I had planned in the Invermoriston area. It was about an hour’s drive up the Great Glen to my start point at Alltsigh, actually just across the road from my hostel for the rest of the trip.

The first few kilometres of the walk were up hydro tracks through scattered trees. Once outside the deer fencing I struck off across the moor on an ATV track to gain the ridge of Meall Fuar-mhonaidh, sticking close to the left hand side for the best views along the cliffs to Loch nam Breac Dearga. The guidebook had said that this is quite a popular hill but the standard route is from the north so there were only faint traces of path on my route. The summit area did have several large cairns and well-worn paths between them though. There were excellent views along the full length of Loch Ness – I would guess this is the best vantage point over the loch, explaining its popularity (for a Graham!). I did not actually see any other walkers though.

Heading through the scattered trees above Alltsigh

As it was clear and bright, I included a few minor tops on the way to my second Graham, heading over Nighean a’ Mhill and Mac a’ Mhill to reach Glas-bheinn Bheag, with good views back along the crags and lochan. After some lunch, I continued along the broad ridge to Glas-bheinn Mhor, which was a particularly good viewpoint for many distant Munros, including the ones around Loch Cluanie, Glen Affric, Loch Mullardoch, Loch Monar and Glen Strathfarrar. The wind was chilly though, so I only paused for a few minutes before descending south over easy moorland to reach the end of the hydro track and follow it back to the car. Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2794641

Glas-bheinn Mhor over Loch nam Breac Dearga

Loch Ruighe an t-Seilich, with Meall Fuar-mhonaidh beyond

Looking towards the Cluanie, Affric and Mullardoch hills, from Glas-bheinn Mhor

The Lochside Hostel is a former SYHA hostel but now privately run. I’d probably have preferred it in its SYHA days as there was unwanted (by me) organised entertainment that took over the common room every evening, catering mainly for the 20-something international backpacker market rather than hillwalkers and families! Nevertheless, the four-bed dorm was comfortable and the kitchen well-equipped, and the location right on the shore of the loch was pretty.

Thursday was another day with a poor forecast that turned out not so bad. With wind and rain expected, I opted for my shortest walk option, up Burach. This is one of the hills only recently promoted to Graham status thanks to the change in minimum height from 2000ft to 600m. The guidebooks and most previous visitor reports described a rough ascent beside Allt na Criche but that wasn’t particularly appealing. I knew that the new high-level variant of the Great Glen Way would get me up from Invermoriston to near Loch a’ Mhuilinn, east of the summit, and it looked like one could easily ascend the ridge from there. This proved a good choice, as the Great Glen Way was a very well-made path with excellent views over Loch Ness, and I picked up a good deer trod all the way across the moor from the lochan to the foot of the ridge, only leaving about a kilometre of pathless ground to cross.

Although it was as windy as expected, it was dry and the summit just about clear to give views over Glen Moriston from the large cairn. I descended the same way, surprised to get back to the car with dry kit again, and had a quick stroll around the Invermoriston Falls before returning to the hostel. In the evening, I avoided the official Halloween party by sitting in the dormitory doing some brass band admin and solving a cryptic crossword! Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2795384

My final walking day was up two more Grahams on the north side of Glen Moriston. The weather was supposed to improve as the day went on, so I started as late as I thought I could while finishing in daylight. I parked on the verge at Bhlaraidh and marched up the massive new wind-farm roads past numerous turbines to reach almost 550m near the far end of Loch a’ Chrathaich. It wasn’t raining hard but the low cloud above about 450m was wet enough to need full waterproofs for the first time this trip. I traversed the ridge from Meall nan Oighreagan to Meall a’ Chrathaich, bagging three extra Simms as well as the Graham, then picked up the end of another branch of the wind farm track network.

The wind farm road had regular height markers

I had dropped back out of the cloud by the time I passed Loch Liath and stopped for a bite to eat before setting off across the rough moor via Carn na Caorach to the day’s second Graham, Carn Mhic an Tosich. The summit was in damp cloud again so I didn’t get any views. It did begin to clear out as I began the descent back to Loch Liath, with a layer of wispy cloud sitting on the ridge of Burach to the south. I was finally able to take off my waterproofs for the 6km walk back along the tracks to the car, arriving in hazy sunshine just before sunset. Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2796396

Brightening conditions over Loch Liath and the wind farm

I started Saturday with another tourist parkrun, at Torvean on the edge of Inverness. This was a fairly fast course, two and a half laps around a purpose-built compacted gravel path loop that was bent into a U-shape to feel more like five loops! Although there was nearly 50m of ascent, I ran well and equalled my best recent time of 18:49.

That just left the long drive back to Derby. I paused for a comfort break at Perth and lunch at Abington, and took a three-hour break for dinner with my parents in Kendal. That just left the final couple of hours to get home a bit before 10pm ready for a cross-country race the next morning!

In summary, the trip was a good break and a productive one for Graham-bagging (12 in total). Perhaps not a vintage autumn week to remember though, thanks to very grey weather most days. I had not been tempted to venture up larger hills any day and if I had it would generally have meant even cloudier summits. My full photo album can be viewed on Google Photos here.

Ladybower Loop (13th October 2024)

I made the most of a bright, if not actually sunny, day for a fairly long walk over some of the hills around Ladybower Reservoir. Starting around 9:30am at the Carr Lane car park near Thornhill, I headed down the valley a little to Bamford Village then climbed steeply up onto Bamford Edge, stopping regularly to take in the excellent views of Shatton Moor, Win Hill and Ladybower Reservoir.

Looking over the Hope Valley to Shatton Moor

The view from Bamford Edge to Win Hill, Kinder Scout, Bleaklow and Ladybower Reservoir

I continued on the heavily-trodden path down to Cutthroat Bridge then followed the bridleway west to Whinstone Lee Tor, then continued up Derwent Edge all the way to Back Tor, appreciating the early-autumn colours of the moorland and the forest around the reservoirs.

Looking up Ladybower Reservoir from Whinstone Lee Tor

I descended to the foot of Howden Dean then followed the shore of Derwent Reservoir south to the dam, pausing part-way on a bench for lunch. Once past Fairholmes, I re-ascended steeply to Lockerbrook then followed the grassy ridge southeast to the twin rocky summits of Crook Hill, another excellent vantage point. That just left the short descent to Ashopton and a few kilometres beside the road, over the Ladybower dam then along the Thornhill Trail back to the car.

Looking back up to Derwent Edge, from Crook Hill

Looking along the western branch of Ladybower towards Kinder Scout

A map of my route can be found here, and more photos here.

40th Birthday Weekend (27th-29th September 2024)

I thought it would be nice to mark my round-number birthday with a trip to the Lake District, and was really pleased that 19 of my friends from the band running club, Gentian Club and Old Duffers were able to join me. Our base for the weekend was YHA Borrowdale, but Kate and I travelled up as far as Ruth’s house on Thursday night to get an extra day on the hill.

On Friday morning, we drove up to Buttermere to meet up with Gentians Claire, Sheena and Vivienne for a walk along the High Stile ridge. Sunny spells and crystal-clear visibility made for a super day on the hill. We ascended fairly steeply to Red Pike via Bleaberry Tarn, pausing regularly to enjoy the views over Buttermere and Crummock Water. From the summit, we gained views the other direction to Ennerdale Water, Pillar, and the Isle of Man in the distance.

Looking along Buttermere to Fleetwith Pike

The rest of the walk was much less strenuous, with easy going on the undulating ridge over High Stile to High Crag, where we paused for a lunch break overlooking Ennerdale with fine views of Great Gable and Scafell Pike. We had plenty of time so opted to continue over Haystacks and descend by Warnscale Bottom then the north shore of Buttermere, getting back to the cars around 4:45pm – perfect for getting over Honister Pass to the hostel in time for first check-in at 5! I had a bar meal at the hostel for dinner and relaxed over a couple of drinks as the others gradually arrived between 5:15 and 11:30.
High Stile route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2769130

Vivienne, Sheena, Claire and Kate on Haystacks

We had a prompt start on Saturday as most of us were keen to go to parkrun, Keswick being the nearest and one that I’d been looking forward to trying. The course is a fairly flat out-and-back on the old railway line, now a cycle path, and had beautiful views of the River Greta below the numerous viaducts and of the surrounding hills, particularly Blencathra. The benefit of the slightly uphill first half was a flying second half and I was surprised to cover the final 2km in little over 7 minutes and achieve my best parkrun time since 2019 (1 second quicker than 2 weeks ago in Lichfield!). Thanks to my birthday, my age grade was also pleasingly boosted by around 0.5% to 72.54%. Several of the others also had good runs, with Jeff, Jo and Steve all beating their all-time PBs!

Once we’d caught our breath, we strolled down to the Museum Café for a quick coffee. Then we returned to the cars and drove the few miles east to Threlkeld, parking at the cricket club (except for the Farrows, who headed to Latrigg for a more child-friendly stroll). I had picked Blencathra as the destination for our walk, a 10km loop ascending via the Doddick Fell ridge and returning via Blease Fell.

The weather was still quite bright as we set out and traversed below the end of Hall’s Fell, but we could see drizzle blowing in over the valley by the time we started to ascend the steep nose of Doddick Fell. It got gradually damper as we climbed, and was pretty heavy for the final 250m or so of ascent! Ruth and Josh turned up at Threlkeld about an hour later (Ruth had had DofE commitments in the morning) and set off in pursuit, catching us shortly before we reached the summit. Despite the rain, mist and chilly wind, everyone managed to look happy for the summit photo and tuneful rendition of Happy Birthday (the advantage of hillwalking mostly with musicians!).

Heading up the Doddick Fell ridge (Heather, Heather, Will, Steve, Jake, Ashleigh, Helen and Rob)

The wet summit of Blencathra (Heather, Heather, Jeff, Helen, Will, Jane, Jake, Ruth, me, Rob, Claire, Sheena, Ashleigh, Kate and Steve. Photo by Josh.)

Soon after we set off walking again, it began to clear, with intermittent views appearing towards Skiddaw and Great Calva. By the time we were heading down the easy slopes of Blease Fell, the rain had pretty much stopped and we enjoyed some good views of Derwent Water, the Vale of Keswick, and St John’s in the Vale. As we descended the lane from the Blencathra Centre back to Threlkeld, we passed lots of participants in the Five Valleys Ultra race going the other way, generally walking but not looking especially tired considering they were 45km into their 55km race! We were back at the cars at around 4:30pm and at the hostel half an hour later for tea, hot showers and a pre-dinner drink.
Blencathra route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2769132

Based on a second-hand recommendation via Ruth, I had reserved us tables for dinner at the recently-opened Yew Tree pub in Seatoller. This was around a 20 minute walk up the lane from the youth hostel. Although only a small place, they were able to accommodate us comfortably on two tables of 10. Everyone enjoyed the excellent food and a few drinks after a busy day (and a couple of cold and wet hours) in the fresh air. We walked back by headtorch and chatted for a while longer in the bar before heading to bed.

The brass banders all declared themselves too tired to walk again on Sunday, and duly headed to the Pencil Museum in Keswick. Naturally, the walkers were full of energy and raring to turn out again. The Farrows headed to Fleetwith Pike while the others joined me for a walk from Seathwaite up Scafell Pike – the most scenic route, in my opinion.

It was an overcast day with barely a glimpse of the sun, but stayed dry and we had views almost all the time. We ascended via Stockley Bridge to Sty Head then followed the Corridor Route – with its dramatic views of Great Gable and Piers Gill – up to Lingmell Col, pausing on the way for first lunch. Claire had not bagged Lingmell so we took that short detour before joining the busy tourist path for the final short climb to Scafell Pike, where the mist was intermittently clearing to give fleeting views of Mickledore and into Eskdale.

Kate, Ruth, Claire, Sheena and Josh on Lingmell

It was a cold wind, so we didn’t delay long before continuing along the bouldery ridge to Broad Crag – again making the short detour to the summit despite its non-Wainwright status – and on to Great End, another new tick for Claire. We dropped down to Esk Hause and were glad to drop back out of the wind for second lunch at the head of Ruddy Gill. That just left an easy descent of the fairly gentle path beside Grains Gill back to reach Seathwaite around 4pm.
Scafell Pike route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2769133

The view from Broad Crag to Lingmell and Great Gable

Despite a short queue on the M6 near Lancaster in the aftermath of an earlier vehicle fire, I was able to get Kate to Derby station to catch her train back to Leicester soon after 8:30 and was home by 9pm.

All in all, a brilliant weekend with a selection of my best friends to start my fifth decade! Thanks to everyone for taking the trip and putting up with the poor weather on Blencathra. You can find my full photo album here.

Ethel completion on Ashway Moss (22nd September 2024)

More than a year after I ticked off my penultimate Ethel, I decided the time had come to take a trip to the far northwest of the Peak District and complete the list. The final hill was Ashway Moss, a flat-topped, moorland hill above Dove Stone Reservoir. With a reasonable forecast for the day, I advertised my intention to the Gentian Club WhatsApp group, and despite the short notice, Claire said she would like to join me for the walk. It’s quite a long drive up to Greenfield, so we shared a lift from Derby and back.

We arrived at the car park below the dam at Dove Stone Reservoir around 10am and found the cloud hanging low over the water, and quite a strong breeze, but no rain. We followed the track around the back of the reservoir then ascended steeply beyond Ashway Gap to reach the edge of the Black Hill plateau. A short walk north and east along the edges brought us to the much-photographed ‘Trinnacle’ rock, although it was shrouded in mist and did not offer any views. We took the short and straightforward scramble to the top anyway, then continued on a compass bearing across the plateau to what seemed like the highest point. The phone confirmed we had indeed reached the “summit” of Ashway Moss!

Me on the featureless summit of Ashway Moss!

Continuing west, we returned to the gritstone edge and paused by the memorial to 19th-century local MP, James Platt. He was killed on that spot by the accidental firing of one of his companions’ gun while out shooting. We followed the edges south for a few kilometres, pausing in a ruined (roofless) hut for a snack, then took a boggy path across the moor to Chew Reservoir, where the mist was so thick we could barely even see the water from the dam! The light drizzle had also been gradually strengthening, and we had put on our full waterproofs.

Claire above the crags near Charnel Clough

We then followed the southern rim of the Chew Brook clough, pausing for a late lunch in the lee of a rocky outcrop at Stable Stones, eventually reaching the trig point on Alphin Pike, another Ethel. Then it was an easy descent northwest to White Lee and along the track from there back to the car. This final section gave the best views of the day, over the valley and villages towards Oldham and Saddleworth.

In summary, although it was disappointing to be in the mist for most of the walk and to have rain for the second half, it was good finally to tick off that last Ethel and to catch up with Claire as we walked!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2761443
Full photo album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/gxHpkB7yVqnL7Kru5

Marilyn bagging around Builth Wells (6th-8th September 2024)

My plan for this weekend had been to attend the Gentian Club trip to the Ogwen Valley in Snowdonia, but sadly that meet was cancelled due to a problem with the bunkhouse. Instead, I headed to mid-Wales for a long weekend of Marilyn bagging.

On Friday morning, it was about a two-and-a-half hour drive to my chosen start point near Llanfihangel-nant-Melan. I arrived around 11am. My first objective, the only Marilyn of the walk, was Gwaunceste Hill. I followed bridleways up onto the plateau, past a stone-row and tumulus, then traipsed through rough heather for the final climb to the summit trig point. The skies had been grey to start off, but were already brightening nicely.

To make a circular walk, I continued to a couple of nearby Humps. First up was Glascwm Hill, reached by an attractive grassy ridge then across the flanks of Little Hill. Then I headed east to the minor (but steep-sided) summit of Yr Allt. Four barky dogs greeted me intimidatingly at the farmyard to the west of the hill, and their owner came out to investigate. When I asked him if that was the line of the bridleway, he gave a disgruntled nod, got the dogs under control, and beckoned me through , then grumpily added “Don’t you have anywhere better to walk than through my b****y yard?”. I didn’t bother to explain that I’ve run out of better places and now have to climb obscure lumps and bumps in Powys to scratch my bagging itch! Anyway, Yr Allt was an attractive ridge with good views, and I had a late lunch on the summit.

The ridge towards Little Hill and Glascwm Hill

Looking back to Little Hill and Gwaunceste Hill, from Yr Allt

The final Hump of the day was Llanfihangel Hill, reached by the moorland ridge of Colva Hill, and covered in colourful heather and gorse. With not a tree in sight, I was surprised to encounter a squirrel near the summit! Descending to the west, I passed the very remote cottage at Pant-glas, which looked barely weathertight but surprisingly had three small wind turbines and a satellite dish! From there, it was only a short distance further to reach the well-worn byway climbing out of Cwm Ceste, and I followed that most of the way back to Llanfihangel.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2745179

Once back at the car, I drove the few miles to Builth Wells, pausing at the Co-op for provisions before heading to the Noyadd Farm campsite a little south of town. This proved a good choice with nobody else staying on the tent field, good flat grass, and a handy picnic bench and tap next to my pitch. I had a quiet evening and, once it was dark, an early night.

I started Saturday with a tourist run at Groe parkrun, beside the River Wye in Builth. By chance it was their 200th event, but that didn’t seem to attract any more participants than usual – probably for the best as, even with just 99 runners, it was a little congested lapping the back-markers on the three-lap course. I managed 3rd place in 19:28.

Afterwards, I drove the short distance to Llanelwedd to start my main walk of the day. I began by ascending to the north over the old hill fort of Caer Fawr. From there, I made my way north across the plateau of Carneddau, taking a short detour to the trig point before going to the 445m Marilyn summit. Significant parts of the hill were covered in thick bracken, and the paths that I followed were unpleasantly overgrown in places. I was glad that there were grassier lines available for the descent towards Cilberllan!

Descending through the bracken on Carneddau

After a couple of kilometres on roads, I followed a footpath climbing steeply up the northern slopes of Aberedw Hill, pausing for lunch when I reached the ridge. A bit of misty drizzle passed over as I continued up to the trig point at the Marilyn summit. I descended via the Rhiw Rhwstyn ridge which gave a quick and easy route back to Llanelwedd.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2745881

As it was only around 2:30pm, I decided to drive a few miles south for a bonus walk along the ridge of The Begwns, the highest point being another Marilyn. This broad ridge of bracken criss-crossed by grassy paths reminded me of parts of Dartmoor. The summit itself is within an incongruous small circular, wooded enclosure named ‘The Roundabout’. I picked a different set of grassy paths for the 3km return to the car. Sadly I didn’t get any views of the relatively-nearby Black Mountains as there was thin mist all the way.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2745883

I went to the campsite to shower and change then popped into Builth to get fish and chips for dinner – particularly tasty despite not being near the coast! Rain was forecast for the evening but arrived a bit later than expected, around 8:30pm. I sat in the car for a while then got another early night. My sleep was frequently interrupted by the heavy rain but at least there was no wind and everything stayed bone dry inside the tent.

The rain had eased by morning, and conveniently it was only spitting as I had my breakfast and packed up camp. The forecast for the day looked very poor but I set off for Llangammarch Wells anyway for a walk up Mynydd Epynt. Actually I managed to get all the way to the summit before the rain started to increase, so I had some good views across the Irfon valley on the ascent.

The summit gave views towards the Brecon Beacons, with some of those distinctive peaks clear of cloud. It was pretty wet, but again windless, as I walked southwest along the edge of the plateau on the waymarked Epynt Way to reach the mapped monument – unremarkable close-up – and not much better for the descent via Troed-y-rhiw to the car.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2746911

Distant views of Fan Gyhirych and the Black Mountains

Perhaps surprisingly, I had retained enough motivation to drive a short distance and set out for a short second walk of the morning, up the forested Marilyn, Pen y Garn-goch. On a brighter day, I’d have walked up from Llanwrted Wells, but this time I opted for the shortest option, zigzagging up forestry tracks from the east. A ride between the conifers gave easy access to the small summit clearing, which has a large ancient cairn and a trig point. I was glad I’d made the effort, as the rain had been very light throughout the walk.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2746914

Looking back across the Irfon valley to Mynydd Epynt

The drive home was very wet as far as Telford, then increasingly sunny. Back at home by 4pm, I was able to get the tent mostly dry in the garden, a load of laundry partly dry on the line, and the car washed, before dinner.

In summary, quite a productive three days of bagging, visiting six new Marilyns plus two Humps. These are very quiet, rolling hills with a colourful mixture of grass, heather, bracken and gorse, and not much exposed rock. The original plans in Snowdonia would have been rewarded with grander scenery and I think better weather though! My full photo album can be found here.

Balkan Three Peaks Challenge (17th-24th August 2024)

For the second of this year’s summer holidays, I decided to try something a little different: a guided group trip with Much Better Adventures, entitled the “Balkan Three Peaks Challenge”. The goal of the six-night tour was to climb the highest peaks of Albania (shared with North Macedonia), Kosovo and Montenegro.

The meeting point was in Tirana, Albania’s capital city, at lunchtime on the Sunday. I decided it would be more relaxing to get there the night before, so added onto my booking the optional extra of a hotel night on Saturday. My Ryanair flight from Stansted was scheduled at 13:15, so it didn’t require a particularly early start to drive down from Derby that morning. Although the airport processed us efficiently and we were waiting at the foot of the aircraft steps before the arriving passengers had even finished disembarking, our departure was delayed by around an hour due to staff shortages in European air traffic control. We eventually arrived in Tirana around 40 minutes late, at 17:50. It seemed unlikely I’d be able to catch the 6pm bus into the city centre but I rushed through passport control – with no queue – and ran to the bus stop to get there a minute or two before its slightly late departure – good to avoid an hour’s wait for the next bus or the expense of a taxi!

It was only a few minutes’ walk from the bus station to my accommodation at Hotel Vila 60, a pleasant place but hidden in rather a tatty courtyard. After checking in, I walked back into the city to grab some dinner at a takeaway restaurant and have a bit of a look around Skanderbeg Square in the twilight.

The mosque and clock tower in Skanderbeg Square

On Sunday morning I continued my exploration of the main city centre sights, most interestingly the ‘Pyramid of Tirana’ and the large ‘Tirana Park’ where it was actually a decent walk of several kilometres through the woods and around the lake.

I, and about half the group, met up with our guide Renis behind the opera house at 12:30 and we soon set off by minibus to the airport to collect the other half who had flown out that morning. There were 14 of us in total. From the airport, it was around a four-hour drive, initially along the toll motorway then on increasingly rough and twisty minor roads, to the small village of Radomirë. We picked up up our other guide Deni part-way. We could see Korab, our peak for the next day, from the hotel garden, and later on a beautiful sunset in the opposite direction.

We spent the evening over a vegetarian meal and getting to know each other. Deni briefed us that, due to morning thunderstorms, our only real chance of reaching the summit of Korab was to get a pre-dawn start around 4am, and try to walk quickly. Everyone was up for that so we got an early night. My sleep in a four-bed dormitory was somewhat disturbed by the heat and one of the group’s intermittent snoring!

We were up at 3:30am for a coffee, and set off with a packed breakfast by torchlight, walking in the dark for around the first hour. The route headed up through grassy pastures to a spring, where we paused for breakfast, then up rockier ground to the Korab Pass, on the border with North Macedonia. Deni set a purposeful pace (although it was comfortable for me) and discouraged long stops to maximise our chances of reaching the peak. The route was waymarked as being on the award-winning High Scardus Trail, recently set up through the work of Deni and others – something I might like to tackle in the future. A short walk north up the ridge from there brought us to the 2764m summit with a pyramidal marker and flag, and we were able to get a few photos before the cloud rolled in just seconds later!

Our descent was initially by the same route. We were accompanied some of the way by a large sheep guard-dog, finding its flock and eventually the shepherd on horseback further down. There was one fairly heavy shower of about 10 minutes, and one distant clap of thunder, but it was otherwise good weather. Towards the bottom, we varied the route a bit by dropping down to the right into a steep-sided river valley with some dramatic crags on the right.
Approximate route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2730655

The group on the descent (photo by Louise).
Front: Kevin, Calum, Jess, Sarah, Katie, Mike. Rear: Steve, me, Renis, Jussi, Deni, Becca, Claire and George.

Once back at the hotel, we had some lunch then set off on our minibus journey into Kosovo. Renis had managed to change the booking to bring the departure forward a few hours (following our very early start) which enabled us to take an extra stop for ice cream and a drink in the attractive Kosovar city of Prizren, which we learned is Deni’s hometown.

After that, we continued for about an hour to the city of Gjakova, where our home for the night was the luxurious Hotel Ҫarshia e Jupave. I shared a twin room with George. The main course at dinner was steak cooked at the table to personal taste on a super-hot stone slab – quite a spectacle!

The next day, the guides were unsure whether more storms around lunchtime would prevent us from reaching our next peak, Gjeravica. Three Land Rover Defenders picked us up in Gjakova and took us an hour or so up roads then a rough track to the small settlement at Gropa e Erenikut. The ascent followed paths across colourful blueberry-covered slopes up the Ereniku valley then traversed north onto rockier terrain below the peak.

We paused briefly for water and photos by Liqeni i Gjeravicës (Gjeravica Lake) then zigzagged up through the boulders on a fairly clear path to the saddle. Deni encouraged us to press on as the clouds were building fast. It was only a short further climb up to the summit, at 2656m the highest entirely in Kosovo (although it’s now known that one point on the North Macedonia border is a couple of metres higher). We took a few photos then headed back down to the saddle.

Looking over the two lakes towards the neighbouring peak, Gusan

The route then traversed left below a craggy peak to reach a higher saddle below the peak of Gusan, then zigzagged steeply down to another lake, Liqeni i Zemrës, where we paused for food. As clouds were continuing to build, Deni opted to take the lower of the two possible routes to our guest house for the night, descending a grassy valley to the top of the remote settlement at Junicka bacija, then traversing through the forest on good tracks.

The destination, Gacaferi Guest House, was different from advertised, the itinerary recently having been updated to stay at this lovely new hostel rather than a more basic shepherd’s hut previously used. That meant we unexpectedly had hot showers, power and wifi for the night! Also unexpectedly, we arrived before the rain, and were able to watch an impressive thunderstorm a little later from the shelter of the veranda instead!

The mother of the host family prepared a delicious spread for dinner, including meatballs and cow’s lung. Deni told us about her impressive past achievements, setting up an NGO to support women after the Kosovo War. I had my first really good night’s sleep of the trip, in a four-bed room with stunning views from the windows!
Approximate route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2730673

Dinner at Gacaferi Guest House.
Left to right: Deni, Renis, Jess, Becca, Katie, me, Claire, Louise, Mike, George, Kevin, Calum, Sarah, Steve, Jussi, and two other hostel guests not with our group.

Wednesday’s route followed the ‘Peaks of the Balkans’ trail. We ascended through forest and pastures to reach a small peak, Trekufiri, at the point where the borders of Kosovo, Albania and Montenegro meet. This was a very popular destination, the busiest place we would visit on this tour. The views into Montenegro were particularly good with a cloud inversion in the valleys.

Looking into Montenegro, with cloud inversion, from Trekufiri

We continued by descending to the collection of shepherd’s huts and guest houses at Dobërdoll, where we bought drinks and had a rest for a while. The remainder of the day’s walk roughly followed the Albania – Montenegro border, initially through forests on the Albanian side with impressive views down into the UNESCO-protected Gashi Gorge. We paused in a roofed sheepfold to wait for one heavy rainstorm to pass, then again for refreshments at a friendly mountain café just before reaching the Aljuci pass, again avoiding a heavy rain shower by doing so!

Looking down to Dobërdoll and the Gashi Gorge

A packhorse train ascending out of Dobërdoll

Then we crossed over to the Montenegrin side for an hour or so, and finally back into Albania for the final descent from the Vranica Pass to Guest House Vita in Ҫerem. Although the day had not included a major peak, it was the longest of the trip in terms of distance, at around 24km. We quickly showered then convened for dinner in the separate dining room, followed by sampling the local spirit, raki.
Approximate route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2730688

Views of Kolata on the descent to Ҫerem,

Thursday’s walk was shorter but covered the most technical terrain of the trip, on the limestone karst of the Kolata massif. From Ҫerem, we ascended through forest then pastures to reach another mountain café at a shepherd’s hut, where we purchased drinks chilling in a water trough and left the payment inside as the owners were not present. Shortly after continuing, we passed them descending to the hut having been foraging for blueberries.

It was not much further up to the Borit Pass, which Deni explained was a geological boundary between grassy / forest terrain to the north and exposed limestone karst to the south. We descended a short distance, back in Montenegro for this section, then turned left to climb up the Persllopit Pass, winding through limestone crags with a few easy scrambling steps. We passed a cave entrance from which there surprisingly emanated a very chilly breeze!

Eventually we reached the pass, and paused for lunch before continuing towards the peak on a well-marked path. The route led into a hanging valley – no glacier now but there was a terminal moraine at the front of the cirque and a small snow patch at the back. Then we made a rising traverse of the eastern slopes on some fairly exposed but technically easy ledges to reach grassier ground on the summit ridge. It was just a short final climb up to Zla Kolata, at 2535m the highest point in Montenegro. Neighbouring Kolata itself is slightly higher, but not on the border. It looked a lovely easy ridge walk to get there, but sadly it was not included on our tour.

Looking up into the hanging valley below Zla Kolata

Mist had been swirling around the summit throughout our ascent but had just about cleared by the time we arrived, and it continued to brighten while we were there, giving quite sunny views to the higher peaks to the west. There were also good views down the Persllopit Pass to the north, and into Valbonë to the south.

After a while, we set off back down to the Persllopit Pass by the same route, then descended the south side of the pass through more pastures and forest to our accommodation at Guest House Rosi in Kukaj, After dinner, we had our final expedition briefing around a bonfire in the yard. It was great that we had managed to bag all three of our target peaks, despite the fairly poor forecast the first two days, and done so without even having to walk in the rain (except for 10 minutes on day 1)! Chatting with Deni, we learned that he is in fact the chief of mountain rescue in Kosovo, as well as an international mountain guide – highly qualified indeed!
Approximate route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2730695

Friday’s itinerary was much more relaxing – most of the group were glad of that with tired legs and sore feet but I would happily have set off for another mountain day! We started with a short drive down into the main Valbonë valley in a 4×4 minibus, then switching to a regular minibus for the drive on asphalt to Fierze at the top end of Lake Koman. There we boarded a vehicle ferry for a two-hour cruise along the reservoir to the dam at Koman, admiring the fjord-like scenery from the top deck.

Another bus met us in Koman to take us to the celebrated Mrizi i Zanave agritourism restaurant. After a sweltering journey in outside temperatures of around 35°C, we were glad to arrive and enjoy a slap-up lunch in the air-conditioned restaurant. It was a fixed, taster-style menu, with a wide range of delicious items to sample, all made from locally-produced, seasonal ingredients. A great way to celebrate the conclusion of a wonderful few days in the mountains!

Finally we continued to Tirana, where we stayed in the comfortable Hotel Theatro. I had again been paired with George, but he and a couple of others had booked accommodation elsewhere, so I ended up with the room to myself. I went for another stroll around the city centre before meeting up with most of the group for a final meal together – although we were not that hungry after the very big lunch a few hours before!

That just left the journey back to Derby. On Saturday morning, a taxi took me and Becca to the airport at 7:30am as we were on the same Ryanair flight. We departed on time and the drive back to Derby also went well, getting me home at around 4:30pm.

In summary, it was an excellent week in some very scenic mountains. Travelling with Much Better Adventures definitely enabled me to visit places that I probably would not have had the confidence to visit alone, and the logistical arrangements of a guided tour enabled us to tackle linear routes that would have been very difficult to arrange independently. As someone in the habit of doing substantial mountain walks back-to-back on every holiday, the “Three Peaks Challenge” was not especially challenging, particularly at the steady pace of a large group, but the days were definitely substantial enough to keep me entertained. The food was tasty and quantities suited me (generous breakfasts and dinners, and lighter lunches supplemented by personal snacks), and the accommodation was more luxurious than expected, with comfortable single beds, hot showers, electricity and wifi available every night.

It was really interesting to spend time in a place that’s culturally so different from Western Europe – different cuisine and lots of Islamic influence to the art and music. The group got on well, and worked well together in good spirits to achieve our common goal. I suspect I will return to the Balkans in the future – perhaps self-guiding with the help of a tour company’s organisation. And I’m pretty sure I will go on another MBA trip – I’d better get browsing the catalogue to find suitably challenging ones!

My full photo album can be found on Google Photos here.

Gentian Day Trip: Great Longstone (11th August 2024)

Steve organised a day walk in the White Peak. Eight of us met by the cross in Great Longstone at 10:30am on a particularly warm and sunny morning.

The easy but scenic route took us up onto Longstone Edge, over Longstone Moor, down the ridge as far as Hassop Common, then back down to the Great Longstone. We enjoyed good conversation, extensive views, and fine displays of wild flowers, and paused for a drink at the White Lion before heading home.

You can see a few more photos here and a route map here.

Dolomites: Alta Via 4 (20th-28th July 2024)

This year, instead of my usual two week summer break, I opted for two separate one-week holidays, a month apart. The first was to the Dolomites, where I joined Ruth and Josh for an expedition along the Alta Via 4. Ruth and I had enjoyed the longer but less technical Alta Via 2 in 2019, and had fancied returning for one with more via ferrata and scrambling.

The easiest way for me to get to the start was to fly out to Innsbruck and get a lift with Ruth and Josh from there (they were driving out over a few days). And the easiest way back from the finish was to fly from Venice. Unfortunately Gatwick appeared to be the only airport offering suitable flights in both directions so I had to make the tedious drive down to London and half way around the M25. The traffic was alright on the Friday evening though, and I reached my hotel in Horley in a little over three hours.

After a poor night’s sleep in a very warm room, I was up early to catch the 5am shuttle bus to the airport, leaving my car in the hotel car park as that was much cheaper than the official airport car parks. After extensive disruption to global air travel the previous day due to the Crowdstrike IT problems, I was relieved that flights were generally running close to schedule, and we were in the air within half an hour of the timetabled departure, apparently delaying a few minutes to let some storms pass over Innsbruck! Sure enough, the ground was very wet on arrival but the sky was brightening.

With a very rapid transit through passport control at the small airport, I was soon walking the 2km into the city centre, where I checked out the location of my hostel, got some Euros from an ATM, and bought lunch supplies. Then I set off for an afternoon walk on the slopes of the Nordkette ridge, north of the city. It was a steep and unrelenting climb up past Gramartboden and through the forest and meadows to Höttinger Alm – very sweaty work in the hot and humid conditions! After a short lunch break, I continued on traversing paths west for a few kilometres, with good views over the city and airport, before a final steep descent.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2691174

I checked into the hostel – sharing a spacious four-person dormitory with two others – then returned to the supermarket to pick up dinner, breakfast and lunch supplies. I had a lazy evening, except for a pre-sunset stroll along the river, and another poor night’s sleep thanks to the high temperatures and a noisy Italian roommate getting up and re-packing for half an hour before departing at 4:30am!

Ruth and Josh were expecting to reach Innsbruck in the early-to-mid afternoon on Sunday, and it was quite a walk to any of the other surrounding mountains. I therefore opted for a morning exploring the city, taking in a few of the landmarks that Google suggested were the highlights: the Hofgarten park, the Goldenes Dachl and clock tower, the Bergisel ski jump, and the castle of Schloss Ambras. I followed the river back into the city centre, pausing for lunch on the way, then picked a suitably accessible but quiet street for my van pick-up.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2692019

Once on the road, it was only about an hour and a quarter to our campsite for the night, across the Italian border in St Lorenzen. Ruth and Josh had helpfully brought out my tent, Thermarest and sleeping bag. We used the very luxurious shower facilities and then walked into the village for dinner at a pizzeria on the main square. Then we got a fairly early night, and I slept much less badly this time!

The next morning we had breakfast, packed up camp, popped back into the village to buy lunch supplies for the first few days of walking, and then drove the half hour or so to San Candido (a.k.a Innichen, but I’ve decided to use the Italian names for this blog). Soon we were underway, following a gently-rising cycle path for a few kilometres up the valley then turning right on a quieter footpath up Val Campo di Dentro. The impressive pinnacles of Cime di Sesto and Rocca dei Baranci towered above the forest on either side.

Heading up the valley with Rocca dei Baranci above

The route steepened as we zigzagged up the head of the valley to Forcella di San Candido, passing below Monte Mattina and Punta dei Tre Scarperi. From the top, the spires of Torre di Tobin and Torre dei Scarperi dominated the view. Continuing a little further, the famous (and much celebrated on Instagram) Tre Cime di Lavaredo came into view ahead.

Ideally we would have finished the day’s walk at Rifugio Locatelli, before the Tre Cime, but it had been fully booked when we enquired, so we continued for another 5km, traversing around the right hand side of the Tre Cime to reach Rifugio Auronzo. The hut is located at the head of a road, packed out with day visitors, and consequently had more of a hotel feel, with a cafeteria rather than a cosy dining room. By evening though, all the day trippers had disappeared back into the valley, and it was a very peaceful and attractive place to spend the night, with dramatic views of the many peaks of Cadin de Misurina. We were lucky to have a six-bed dormitory to share between the three of us.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2695510

Tuesday’s weather looked the worst of the week, so it was fortunate that it was also our shortest planned walking day (thanks to having done half of the ideal stage the previous afternoon!). It was only around 5km to Rifugio Fonda Savio, but the route around the east side of Cadin de Misurina on the ‘Sentiero Bonacossa’ was interesting, following a series of exposed ledges. There were a couple of short via ferrata sections, but we decided they did not merit putting on harnesses and clipping on, especially as this would have involved faffing in the light rain.

Ruth and Josh on Le Cianpedele, with the Tre Cime in the background

It was only mid morning when we reached the attractively-located hut, nestled below Torre Wundt, and we didn’t have a great deal to do for the rest of the day! We knew there was a proper via ferrata just up the valley, so we went to take a look, although the forecast of showers wasn’t ideal for it. The peaks were in thick mist much of time, but the temporary breaks revealed a very exposed set of ladders straight up the cliff face. We had lunch in the dry below an overhanging cliff and watched a couple of other groups head across to the start of the via ferrata, go up a bit, then turn back. We unanimously agreed that we did not fancy attempting it in the damp conditions!

It had still filled a few hours though, and by the time we got back to the hut, we were able to check in. This time we were allocated bunks in the overflow accommodation in the attic, squeezed in just below the roof beams! The hut was more typical, in a remote spot and serviced only by a luggage lift, and provided us with a very tasty evening meal. I slept fairly well, despite the cramped berth!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2695513

There were three possible variants of the AV4 that we could choose from on Wednesday. As we again did not have very far to go, we opted for the longest one, along ‘Sentiero Durissini’, This exposed path traversed across the back of a series of steep cirques, separated by steep cols crossed on gravelly zigzag paths. There were excellent views of the many surrounding rock spires, and the Tre Cime in the distance.

After a while, we reached the grassier ground of Ciadin de la Pere, but soon turned away from it over another rocky col – Forcella de la Neve – to reach a short via ferrata ascent up to Forcella de Misurina. This time we did put our gear on and clip on properly, although the exposure and technicality did not really merit it. Nevertheless, it was good to practice with the equipment before the trickier passages of the coming days.

Once over that pass, it was a short traverse to Rifugio Col di Varda, from where a 4×4 track led down to the village of Misurina. We sat by the lake eating a late lunch of fresh supplies from the small supermarket, watching the tourists in hired rowing boats and pedaloes, and lots of cyclists passing on very expensive road bikes,

Again, our preferred hut a few miles further on was unavailable, so we had a more luxurious night at the Grand Hotel, sharing a ‘triple room’ that turned out to be more of a family apartment with kitchen, living room, two bedrooms and two bathrooms! Later in the afternoon, we walked a lap of the lake, then had a fairly lacklustre evening meal in the hotel restaurant – we were not particularly surprised that the mountain huts offer tastier food than the 4-star hotel in the valley! I found the bed rather firm and didn’t sleep particularly well.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2695519

At guidebook pace, Thursday’s walk would take nearly 12 hours, so we were up and away early, armed with our packed breakfasts from the hotel reception! The first 90 minutes or so were up the road to Passo Tre Croci – not very inspiring walking but at least we were there before the traffic picked up. It was also good to be early on the path from the pass to Lago del Sorapis, another spot much prized by Instagrammers! The heavy erosion was testament to the high numbers of visitors who would follow later on. The emerald-blue waters below limestone cliffs were certainly a pretty destination worthy of the popularity.

After a short break, we continued past Rifugio Vandelli (where we would ideally have spent the previous night!) and up over some limestone pavements in Circo del Sorapis to reach the bottom of the Via Ferrata Vandelli, the longest and most challenging one of our trip. There were a few short ladders at the start, but the majority of the route was aided only by the cable itself, following a very exposed but fairly logical line, diagonally up the cliff face on a series of rising ledges. Part-way up, we overtook an Italian group (one of whom told us he lives in London) and were overtaken by a British pair. The views over the cirque were very impressive, with lots of folded strata, and the blue lake below, with Misurina and the Tre Cime still visible in the distance.

Heading across the limestone pavement towards the Via Ferrata Vandelli

We had lunch on the easy ground at the top of the via ferrata, then dropped down, via a couple more protected sections, to the small bivvy hut of Bivacco Comici. The final section of the day’s route made a gradual ascent of Val de San Vido up to Forcella Grande. The peak of Cima Bel Pra on the other side of the valley dominated the impressive views. Josh and Ruth seemed to be struggling a lot more than I was with the fairly warm and humid conditions (I didn’t think it was that bad!)

Circo del Sorapis, Monte Cristallo and Misurina

We knew that the hut was not far beyond the col, but were disappointed when we realised that there was a steep 400m descent to tackle – not what my sore knees wanted at the end of a ten-hour day! It was definitely a relief to reach Rifugio San Marco. It was also good to arrive soon after 4pm, with plenty of time to relax and rehydrate before dinner – another hearty and very tasty meal. We spent the rest of the evening sitting under a pergola just up from the hut, with stunning views of Monte Antelao and Monte Pelmo, chatting with a couple from Salt Lake City (who we had previously met at Rifugio Fonda Savio) and the Italian group who we’d overtaken on the via ferrata. I slept very well, for the first time this trip!
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2700129

The view of Monte Antelao from Rifugio San Marco

The final full day’s walking was the only one that both started and ended at our first choice of huts! It began with a gentle, zigzagging climb up to Forcella Piccola, where I took a group photo for a large group of youngsters, then a short descent to the huge Rifugio Galassi (where the big group had presumably stayed). From there, the path led gradually up over scree, slabs and a few small snow patches towards Forcella del Ghiacciaio (pass of the glaciers). Little remains of the glaciers on Monte Antelao though – just a few snow patches on the ‘Inferiore’ glacier on the north side.

The final section of the ascent to the pass was another proper via ferrata, again just a cable with no other aids, going directly up a huge slab. It was just about possible to walk up most sections without using hands, but I would certainly not have gone up there without the security of the cable! From the top, we saw an ibex a little further up the ridge, and enjoyed the view over what remains of the ‘Superiore’ glacier on the south side.

A short scramble led us down onto the moraine, where we decided to remove our via ferrata kit. That proved the wrong decision though, as we reached another protected section further down the valley where the path descended steeply across a cliff band. Surprisingly that section had not been marked in the usual way on the map! Below that, we passed a larger group of ibex, surprisingly happy for walkers to pass within a few metres of them. Once we were down into grassier terrain, we removed our via ferrata gear for the second time and paused for lunch.

On the moraine below the glacier on Monte Antelao

There remained only one more climb, just a couple of hundred metres up to Forcella Piria, where we paused for another snack break. Then a few kilometres of gentle descent led to our hut for the night, Rifugio Antelao, where we were greeted cheerily by the eccentric Italian guardians. We were first to arrive and so had first choice of beds in a 13-bed dormitory. We spent the rest of the afternoon chatting over drinks on the terrace.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2700131

Dinner was a much livelier affair than usual, with a group of around 15 local mountain bikers who had come up just for the evening, and bottles of red wine and mineral water being handed out liberally throughout for no additional charge! It was quite surprising that the place did quieten down completely by 10:30pm and I got another good night’s sleep.

The next morning, Saturday, we had only a downhill walk of 8km on forest tracks to reach the end of the Alta Via 4, in Pieve di Cadore. A few minutes further down the road was Tai di Cadore, from where I was catching a bus to Mestre and Ruth and Josh a bus back to their van in San Candido. We had time to enjoy panini for lunch together at a café before heading our separate ways.
Route map: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/2700133

A very smooth, modern and comfortable coach made for a pleasant two hour journey to Mestre, the mainland town across the bridge from Venice. I checked into my hostel then went for a walk around the town centre – pretty unremarkable – before buying my bus ticket to the airport for the next morning, cooking some dinner in the guest kitchen, and getting a fairly early night. The journey home on Sunday – bus to Marco Polo airport, flight to Gatwick, and drive back to Derby – all went to plan, and I was home by mid-afternoon with plenty of time to get my smelly laundry washed and dried before the return to work on Monday.

In summary, another excellent week in the dramatic limestone mountains of the Dolomites. It was really good to tackle a couple of proper via ferrata en route, something for which the area is much celebrated. The six-day expedition along the Alta Via 4 was a lot less physically strenuous than our 11-day expedition on the Alta Via 2 had been five years earlier, but no less impressive. I’m sure I’ll be back for more at some point!

You can find my full photo album on Google Photos here.