Neve in Glencoe

Who needs the Himalayas when the mountain here look like this. Perfect neve in Glencoe. Time for a visit you aspiring mountaineers??

Cape Wrath Trail - the final bit!

The Final Stage from Kylesku to Cape Wrath

Met up with Steve Brailey, Richard Scothorne and Rick Galusha at Kylesku in a developing storm on the 2nd October 2009. The Hotel sits overlooking the Loch and is in a fine position to watch the wind breaking white caps over the Fjord. In the summer I sat here watching Seals play - today its even too wet and wild for Seals!
Started at 9.00 crossing the new bridge to follow a path along the Loch to the Hydro Plant where an uphill path leads to a ruined Steading. Our original plan was to summit Ben something or another route finding away to the B666. However the wind was so wild blowing cold rain horizontally that we took the easier option to join the B666. at the Duke of Westminster' posh hunting lodge.
Stopped for lunch using the shelter of the porch of the Community Hall to get out of the weather
We pressed on along the road. Temptation arrived in the form of an offer of a lift...but being tuff we declined. Turning inland toward Foinaven on a good Stalkers path we made steady progress in the lee of the wind. As we turned into the Rhicconich valley we shook hands because we knew it would be hard going over rough ground with a dodgy river crossing.
It proved to be what we expected. The river crossing was just possible after a couple of failed attempts a novel approach and a celebration of lateral thinking won the day. As the photo shows a old bit of metal gave us the weight and stability to manage a crossing. Even Meg the Dog knew this was dodgy and didn't move an inch! I'm sure this method of spate river crossing is not in 'the book'
We were all very wet but happy to reach Rhiconich and to crack open the Whisky - out of relief and satisfaction.
Stayed at the Kinlochbervie Hotel where we were joined by John & Elizabeth Young and Alan & Sue Kimber for a celebration dinner. Excellent good company/food and just too much drink!!
Much better weather the next and final day of the Trail
Starting on the John Muir Path to Sandewood Bay a good pace is possible. The beach in my opinion is one of the best in the world. It was a fantastic empty wild place that blew all our minds with its raw beauty. The lighthouse at Cape Wrath is visible someway off. To exit the beach another river had to be crossed. At high tide in spate this could be really impassable.
The next stage proved to be very tough indeed - a real sting in the tail after such a long walk. There is no path across this Sutherland wilderness. Its bog and undulating and we averaged only 1.5 mile per hour. Another problem is that this is a military firing range. If the range is in use you cannot access the Cape - so if your planning to do this route - check that NATO is not at play!
Eventually much later than planned we reached the Cape and by pure fluke a minibus was about and was available to give us a lift to the ferry at Durness. Divine salvation from a return hike that would have been a killer!
Great celebration that night to mark the conclusion of a magnificent walk from Fort William which took us a total of 16 days walking - a bloody good pace

Cape Wrath Trail Route

A revised walk by people who live in the West Highlands with a brief to avoid roads and travel through the best scenery, without the need to carry tents (unless you want to!)

Day1 Take Camus na Geal Ferry from Fort William across Loch Linnhe. Head west towards Cona Glen. Follow Cona Glen to an interesting pass that takes you to Glenfinnan.
Day2 Glenfinnan towards Corryhollie pass. Follow valley to Glen Dessary - the Sgur Finistaig Pass (The Witches Finger) Do not enter the main gorge cos its dangerous! a small and not very obvious path takes you down to the Sourlis Bothy at the head of Loch Nevis
Day3 Follow the coast - along the beach at low tide to cross a big river over a rickety bridge - dont ford this river unless you have too as people have died here. Climb a big pass under Meal a Buide (right) into the 'Kingdom of Knoydart' follow the good path to Inverie.
Day 4 Either have an easy day following the good path to Barrisdale Bothy or further to the Barn Accommodation at Kinlochourn or Traverse Lada Bheinn to Bealach Dhorcail to the Barrisdale Bothy
Day 5 Kinlochourn enter the Victorian Eucalyptus Forest working your way across open fell towards the Bealach at Stob Coir nan Forcan. Feeling fit the Forcan ridge becons and a steady descent towards Sheil Bridge or alternatively carry on over the Bealach into a remote valley running parallel to the road valley which brings you out at Sheil Bridge
Day6 Sheil Bridge Hotel towards Falls of Glomach - exposed descent path. Long valley another pass to Strathcarron
Day7 Either cross the Cuilin Pass to Torrien

West Highland Cycle Tour

Eriskay Ferry

Fantastic offer on Cal Mac at the moment - Island Hopscotch - Steve Brailey and I did the following tour for £29.00

Start:

Lime Tree Fort William - Camus na Gael Ferry or Corran Ferry to Lochaline via Kingairloch -40miles. Stay at the Lochaline Hotel. Eat at the Whitehouse Restaurant

Day2. Easy or Hard day. Take the Fishnish ferry from lochaline to Mull. Take it easy for a cruise down to Craignure Ferry or 26 mile tour of Mull to Craignure. Ferry to Oban. Ferry from Oban to Barra. Stay at the Isle of Mull Hotel.

Sunset on Barra

Atlantic Beach - Harris

Day3. Fantastic roads of Barra to the Eriskay Ferry. Cross over to Eriskay to take the new causeway to South Uist. Move north on good roads to Benbecula thence by more causeway to North Uist. On to Lochmaddy - stay at the Lochmaddy Hotel. 60-70 miles

Day4. Up to new causeway to Bernaray and ferry to Leverbourgh on Harris. Take Atlantic road past world heritage beaches cut inland to Tarbet for ferry to Uigg, Isle of Skye. We banged on to Portree which makes it a long day!

Day5. As we were feeling strong we pushed south to Atmadale to catch the ferry to Mallaig. Refreshed by excellent Fish and Chips we made a really big push back to Fort William. - a feat I will not repeat!

Ideally this is a very feasable 7 day tour and such good value for money!

'Marvelous' said in a posh persons accent!

The Cape Wrath Trail is a serious long distance walk in the back-country starting in Fort William and finishing at Cape Wrath - the very most north-westerly tip of the UK.

Over the last few years in good the good company of several friends, Ive walked from the Lime Tree in Fort William to Kylesku in Sutherland. This has taken 13 days so far. In all the route should take 21 days.

Days 10 - 13

From the Ullapool road, Richard, Meg and I headed towards the Oykel Bridge Hotel 18 miles distant. The walk up to another pass is helped by Scottish Water new Hydro Scheme who have put good paths in everywhere. The guide 'Cape Wrath Trail' published by Cicerone really lost the plot on this section - the excuse being bad visibility - with the authors complaining about poor quality paths and a massive peat bog to cross. Well the path is good and a old drove trail marked by a cairn keeps you out of the Bog!

After the pass you enter a broad Strath in real wild country to discover amazing peat profiles showing excellent evidence of the post glacial Caledonian Forest.

The real find of the day is discovering the gorge at the head of the Valley which is just Paradise.

The gorge has very steep sides and the river deep pools and large waterfalls protecting the gorge bottom from Deer and Sheep - the result a paradise of different types of natural vegetation - truly the most magnificent gorge Ive seen in Scotland.

Over the watershed by a small Loch the Bothy at Knockdamph is in excellent condition. Ensconced was two American 'hard core' walkers researching the addition of the CWT in the Appalachian Trail - good for business!!!

Bad estate signage will result in a letter to the Local Access Forum. I thought landowners knew by now that such signs are unacceptable!

Great Hotel at Oykel Bridge - full of Posh 'Marvelous' fisher folk!

Day 2

Follow the beautiful bountiful River Oykel to a handy open Fishing Hut for some distance before turning into forestry to Loch. sat on the Vesty Bench to nosh the Lunch and dreamed in vain of a Toon win!!. Up the Glen to ascend a high pass next to Conival. Then down to Inchnadamph Hotel

Geology galore Cambrian quartz to Limestone in a few short miles! Another 18 mile day.

Day 3

Another pass over to Kylesku. The guide is completely wrong about the route here. The obvious route to the pass is great and we saw a Golden Eagle to make it better. However from the pass the route is just naff. In the book they foreshorten the journey by dragging you up and down all over the Corrie only to bring you out for a 5 mile walk on a road. If the road is your objective from the Coll do another 200m up hill the crest the ridge to the road and save a couple of hours. If your wanting to be true to the ethos of the CWT and want excellent back country landscape the descent all the way to the valley floor at the head of the Fjord below the UK's highest waterfall and make your way to Kylesku that way. I really think the authors of the guide book have lost it by now - the guide needs a rewrite to bring it up to date and get these mistakes sorted!

New Zealand Cycle Tour

November - December 2009 - North to South New Zealand

This is a fine cycle touring route at a great time of year.

Started in Wellington - on the North Island crossing the Cook Strait to start Cycling from the Port of Picton.

The crossing is spectacular a great start to a long journey. The entrance to Charlotte Sound must be fun in 'sticky weather'.

Met up with Aussie Nick on the boat, who made the journey more fun with a bit of drinking and good craic.

Picton once made claim to be capital of New Zealand but was unsuccessful. Its now a really nice starting point for a 'tour' with good bars/restaurants. Indeed ensconced in the 'Flying Haggis' Picton's legendary Scottish Bar - home from home drinking Bellhaven with my new friend Gunther Gras!

The first day is a big one - a bit much really. Starts with a climb out of Picton then into the 'Sounds' proper. The Sounds are drowned valleys - Fjords really, are beautiful. Little beaches and isolated 'Batches' - holiday cottages. The vegetation is verdant, lush and dense. The roads good, empty but pretty undulating. Stopped for lunch at Havelock in deteriorating weather. The landscape changes here to farmland with long straight sections. I was pretty pleased to find the Brick Oven at about 40 miles.

After St.Arnaud and the 'Cakey' delights of the 'Brick' the route takes in the first mountain pass of the route. Pretty steep and a shock to the system. However a first of many high speed descents.

This climb is then followed by an even bigger climb and and even more exhilarating descent! I was starting to realise I was in New Zealand. I was also starting to realise that NZ Truckers, particularly gigantic Logging Trucks seemed to be incapable of seeing my brightly coloured clothing and were determined to claim every inch of the road for themselves. A person of more insecure sentiments than myself may start to develop a persecution complex! Indeed the first cyclists I met were two Dutch cyclists who had given up their tour because of these fearsome trucks. Discussing this with Kiwis I was assured that this behaviour was not because NZ Truckers hated cyclist = it was that they just hated everybody!! In their mind a good enough reason to scare the living daylights out of you. I got to know pretty quick if a Truck was very close by the intensity of the smell of brake fluid as they passed me. This was the one black spot on the entire journey. I cannot think what the NZ government could do about this, but if they want to remain the number one touring destination for cyclists some serious pressure/education/violence needs to be used to get these guys to stop behaving so 'mad'!
Day one ends in the great town of Nelson allegedly the sunniest place in NZ. In the pouring rain I arrived knacked having covered 71.63 miles and found a great Hotel. On reflection this was too much for day one and I should have taken it easier. However in Nelson I got a tip from a guy that I should go off route for the next stage to Murchison that although a bit father and more uphill would have less big Trucks on it. Well that's all the information needed - off route it was to be to the beautiful Lakeside town of St.Arnaud.

Leaving Nelson was the last of the City like traffic until I reached Dunedin - miles and miles away. The first part of the day is on dead straight flat roads and as I carried on, and on along this straight flat road I realised again that this was so different to home and that made me smile and stop for a beer! The weather improved too and when I left R9 turning onto the back road to St.Arnaud the traffic disappeared and I was doing the kind of touring I had come so far to find.

NZ here is a big beautiful farm. Farmland cleared from the wilderness. A pastoral paradise carved out by hard graft to the great credit of the people who travelled so far to make a new life here. I guess it is not a popular or PC view but the European settlers who did this, who made this struggle get my greatest respect. The sweat and toil that must have gone into making this place how it is today is monumental. I know that Maori people were displaced for this to happen, but I don't think Kiwi's should apologise for this. Indeed I think they should be incredibly proud of what their ancestors achieved in such a short period of time.

Cultural change was inevitable when the Europeans arrived in NZ. The Maori were earlier settlers to this 'Terra Nova' and just because they arrived earlier, in my mind does not give them any precedence to be able to claim cultural precedence. Kiwis I talked too in Dunedin were horrified by this viewpoint and were keen to point out to me the terrible acts the Europeans perpetrated on the Maori. Their historical viewpoint was one of the colonial exploitation of NZ and the subjugation and depletion of Maori culture. Unforgivable acts in their eyes which should be recognised and reparation to the Maori made.

As an outsider, NZ seemed a place of many peoples. Islands where the ideals of multicultural tolerance should be successful because all the peoples that arrived here had to travel here.

The Maori arrived in NZ due to population pressures in their home islands driving them towards NZ in search of a better life. Living in the Highlands of Scotland the idea struck me that in the later part of the 19th century the Highlands went through 'The Clearances.' Scots forced from their land due to economic pressure travelled to the other side of the world where they in turn 'cleared' the land and in the case of the South Island of NZ re-modelling it on the land where they had come from Scotland.

In Scotland to my annoyance the PC view is to apologise for what is seen as the triumph of Anglo-Saxon culture over Gaelic culture. Now we have the nonsense in Scotland who es overwhelming language is English of having road signs in Gaelic first, English second. I am happy to live with and celebrate Gaelic culture but I refuse to accept that just because it was precedent culture of the west highlands that I should apologise for our history and the actions of my ancestors and put my culture second.

It seems a great parallel can be drawn between how Gaelic culture is being stimulated in Scotland and how Maori culture is being promoted and supported in NZ.

The ride to St.Arnaud is great but hard. Two big mountain passes and no shops, pubs, garages or anywhere to get a drink. I was glad of my little 'Billy stove' and my hourly Tea stops. However I soon ran out of fluids and was parched and sun burnt by the time I made my destination - the beautiful campsite beside the Lake. I'd been warned about the power of the NZ sun, but like a fool I didn't take that seriously. That was a mistake and I was a painful, dehydrated 'Lobster'.
Total distance 55.78 miles

I needed an easy day and day three from St.Arnaud to Murchison provided just that. A tail wind and a route profile of about 90% downhill, magnificent scenery, great weather and you have the ingredients for a enjoyable day!

This 'cruise' follows the Buller River from its source, starting as a stream leaving the Lake at St.Arnaud it progresively picks up water building into a fine powerful river that you follow towards the sea for the next couple of days

Total distance 38 miles

Murchison is the kind of sleepy NZ town I imagined I'd find.

What I also found was a fantastic pub and my first NZ 'Roast Dinner' - a real nosh for about £6.00 add a couple or three beers an easy day. I was in heaven. Cycled back to the campsite, drank more beers overlooking the turbid Buller River. I must have had a good drink because despite sleeping on the ground I failed to notice the 5.00 Richter scale earthquake that shook Murchison that night!

Leaving Murchison you follow the Buller river as it drops into the impressive Buller Gorge. The route undulates through this steep sided valley but is mostly downhill and a pleasure to ride. At Inangahua which is famous for its deadly earthquakes you have a choice of route. Leave the Bulller river and head towards the Mining town of Reefton or carry on to .........

After discussing it with the locals at the one shop/garage where I discovered the NZ delights of 'Hokey Pokey' Reefton was sold to me on the description of the people who live and work there - 'Cowboys, Gold, Hard Rock and Coal Miners' must be something happening there then! - the bars should be 'interesting' at least.

The next section was hard going not because its all up hill with a strong headwind but because for the next 24 miles the road is totally straight - stretching ahead to the far horizon - never seeming to finish.

Total distance 44 miles

Reefton was not what I expected - a nice, clean, safe small town with the best Bakery/Breakfast of the tour! Mind you a pub called 'Wilsons' run by two friendly guys and the other run by two friendly girls! - Interestingly one of the girls stem from Northumberland and organise a team of sheep shearers visit each year to fleece the sheep of the Cheviots - now that is a canny commute!

From Reefton you cross the watershed after a short climb to reach the Grey River Valley. The journey to the mouth of the Grey River takes all day - on one straight road, dotted with small villages, miles of flat farmland with fantastic blue mountain backdrops. The wind was strong and in my face all day so I was glad to roll into Greymouth and my first sight of the Tasman sea. I had crossed New Zealand!

Total distance 49 miles

Greymouth is a Town. A good place to recharge the batteries - in other words eat big roast dinners, drink beer and seek preparatory medicines to sooth the increasigly irritating Sand Fly bites that was starting to turn my skin 'reptilian' (and this was before the buggers get bad!)

It was also nice to check into the Kingsgate Hotel to get cleaned up - Camping is fun and cheap but I am getting old!. The Manager at the Kingsgate, Vaughan Brown was very kind and hospitable. It turned out Vaughan used to play cricket for NZ and had toured the UK in his youth. Disturbed by my route which had missed out the famous 'Pancake Rocks' some 70klm north of Greymouth, he took time out and drove me up the spectacular coast north of Greymouth just to see this spot. What it also showed me was the tip to turn off the Bulller and head for Reefton missing out this beautiful stretch of coastline was a good one because their are some serious up and downs on this stretch!

It is worth mentioning that Vaughan's hospitality was entirely typical of the Kiwis I met on this trip. The Kiwis to a one were kind and welcoming, very happy to hear your tail and generous with hospitality. Shakespeare said 'what is the city but the people' well the true joy of this journey, spectacular yes, but the people I met helped make it more memorable.

Leaving Greymouth in the first bad weather of the trip on the road again after a couple of days off was great despite the weather. Great showers rolled in off the Tasman as I headed south towards Hokitika. The route is south along the coast, so no escape from the weather.

Hokitika is the 'Jade Capital' which through some quirk of pro Maori legislation is controlled by the Maori people for their benefit. The stuff is beautifully cut mostly into tradional designs.

The weather improved in the afternoon and I rolled into the 'Historic Gold Minning Town' of Ross in the early afternoon - this is good cos Ross is the home of the 'Historic Empire Hotel' which is without doubt my favourite pub in NZ

Total distance 42 miles

(left finishing this Blog entry too long!)

To finish off: From Ross I cycled down to Franz Joseph Glacier - a long pull through Maritime rainforest
Reaching Tasmine sea thence inland in increasingly Alpine landscape. FJG is a 'Mini Chamonix' and as such like Chamonix
is full of Tourist, over developed and not that nice - not like the typical NZ towns I had experienced up to then.

The next section to Fox Glacier is short but steep - an easy day really - as it was my 49th Birthday! Fox is much nicer than FJG - a smaller version less developed.

The next section is a big day from Fox to Haast - over 100 miles! of up and down and the last coastal section is a bit brutal! Haast is more like it - a small clean town in a fantastic wide valley with high mountain backdrop and a great pub/roast dinner!

From Haast you follow the Haast river for miles - pretty level then until the Gates of Haast/ Haast Pass where you climb steeply for several miles out of the Alpine Haast valley. This is one of the big passes on this journey - hard but enjoyable and a fantastic high speed free wheel to the perfectly located Wakarora Resort where I holed up in bad weather for a couple of days.

The ride from here to Wanaka is spectacular- Lakes and Mountain scenery. Wanaka is a pretty lakeside community a wee bit like FJG but less 'tacky'. Eat lunch here cos you have a big steady pull up the Cardrona Road Pass. The descent of this alpine pass is fast and exciting but meant I had to replace my break pads in Queeenstown! Beautiful scenery here in this part of NZ reminds me of Scotland

To remember Freddy

Last Wednesady, the 28th January was the first anniversary on my Dad 'Freddy's death. The best place for me on such a day was on the mountains with my dog Meg.

Starting at the Steall Car Park in Glen Nevis at 10.20am - 5C I quickly moved through the Gorge to the Steall meadow. Followed by a group of Stalkers from the John Muir Trust I hoped I wasn't going to be dodging bullets on such a nice day.

Turning up hill just before the ruin of the old Steall Farmhouse you climb up towards a hidden valley protected by huge boulders. At around 1000 feet the snow depth started to increase to the point that I really should have been on skis.

After about one and a half hours I reached the Coll between Aonach Beag and Carn Mor Dhearg (Big Red Mountain) This was hard going and even Meg was tired.

Stopped here for lunch in the cold. Temperature was well below zero yet the snow pack was still 'strange'. From here you climb the long corniced ridge of Carn Mor Dhearg. Meg was on a cord because of her disturbing habit of peering over 'big drops' and with cornices she could get her big drop a little sooner than even she would like! The view as you climb this ridge is really first class. To the North the sky formed a heavy leaden line of cloud. To the South the mountain of Lochaber spread out as far as the eye could see - a winter panorama - and on such a sad day an uplifting experience.

It took about another hour to get up this long ridge to the summit of Carn Mor Dhearg

Meg enjoyed the view

On the summit of Carn Mor Dhear the wind was full on so the windchill was close to minus -15C At first no visibility of the great North Face f Ben Nevis - the UK's highest mountain then the cloud started to clear to show a fantastic panorama of the route ahead.

The CMD arete over to the Ben is one of the great winter days out in the UK - Although Ive done this a few times! this was Megs fourth winter ascent - every time you do this the route is different. This time it was very windy and a lot of snow on the ridge - still very 'clingy' snow. The wind though wa close to 70- 100mph - making great spindrift plumes - but difficult climbing for an old man like me. Started with Meg on a line, but found her route finding a little suspect and then realised I was following a dog - which is a bit silly really - how that Dog does'nt know about Windslab - I just don't know!!

On any winter route no matter how many times you may have climbed it you have to focus and use your skills and experinence not to do something stupid that could kill you. So I was concentrating on staying on the mountain but never far from my thoughts that day was Freddy, my great Dad. I was happy I was up in the mountains - a place I love- particularly on such a dramatic day but sad day - It was perfect then to be able to think of my Father in the right place for me, with a smile, thinking how much Freddy would have said about what I was doing!