Wow, it's been a while since I've posted any photos from my hillwalks to Scotland's Munros, those peaks over 3,000 feet. My last post, I realise, was about 6 months ago, and it was shortly thereafter that my friend, Hazel, and I did our last hillwalk of the summer (yes, this post is a long-time coming!).
Beinn Chabhair
21 September 2014
It was a Sunday in September, and we weren't really looking to do anything big, but we wanted to get out into the hills before winter kicked in, and before I headed back to the US for the month of October. We decided that a short walk was in order, and according the Walk Highlands website, Beinn Chabhair should only be 5-6 hours, and that was about right. The walk is pretty much in three stages. The first stage is a walk up a steep, shrubby hill with nice passages of the Ben Glas Burn waterfall. On the way up, an elderly couple was on their way down, and they made a point of stopping to tell us to watch out for ticks, because they were, "jumping out of the bushes," and, "have four sets of jaws!!" Hazel looked a bit ill at that news and wondered if we should stop and go back. I wasn't planning on turning back, even though I only had shorts. Hazel at least had the option of covering up, which she did until we got high enough to feel that we'd gotten through the worst of it without seeing a single damn tick!
A bit more than halfway up the trail from Lochan Beinn Chabhair
to the summit.
The second stage of the walk is across mostly flat ground, but mucky, marshy ground in a landscape that was really disorienting, even with a map in clear weather. I definitely was happy we weren't doing this walk in the fog, rain, or snow. It was a long traverse up the valley to Lochan Beinn Chabhair where the third stage started up the rocky track to the exposed ridgeline up to the summit. The day was perfect for this type of scenery and we had amazing views back over Loch Lomond to the Arrochar Alps and to the Munros around Crianlarich, and we spent a lot of time taking photos! After chatting to a few sheep along the trail, we eventually made it to the summit of Beinn Chabhair at 933 m (3,061 ft) where we had a bit of lunch before turning around and heading back down. The walk back down didn't take too long, and since it was just going back up the same way we came, there wasn't any new scenery, but the haze had picked up making the sunlight and views a bit more mystical. Overall, a great walk for a quick day out!
This post continues for Ben Chonzie below the Beinn Chabhair slideshow, so keep scrolling!
Ben Chonzie
08 February 2015
It took about five months to get back out into the hills, but just last weekend a small group of friends and I took advantage of a clear, but cold, day to do some hillwalking in the southeast highlands, choosing Ben Chonzie, a gradual and easy walk up to a broad summit. The drive from Glasgow to the parking area for the walk, north of Comrie, took well more than an hour, and along some narrow country roads where you could see the sheen of ice over the road in places, but we eventually all made it and joined a host of other hillwalkers taking advantage of the nice weather.
Up along Ben Chonzie's summit ridge, with the snow-covered
Ben Lawyers range in the distance.
The walk up the hill was only clear of snow for the first little bit, but the trail quickly became snow covered, making for some slick moments and little falls, but luckily the trail followed a car track for most of the way up the Munro, but then the trail deviated up a few hundred metres of snowy patches and bare rock, and I was glad to have bought some slip-on YakTrax for my boots for a bit of extra traction. The last stretch of the walk is along a long flat ridge, totally exposed to the cold and the wind, which was really brisk, but the cold air gave us crisp views over to the Ben Lawyers Range and further on to the foothills of the Cairngorms! We were buffeted by the wind on the final approach to the summit at 931 m (3,054 ft) but got there just to find that the one wind-proof side of the summit cairn was occupied by another group of walkers, so we didn't stay long. The area around Ben Chonzie is known for being a suitable habitat for the Scottish mountain hare, and indeed, at the summit cairn, we spooked one and it took off running and was about halfway down the mountain in a few seconds! Pretty cool to see some of the more rare Scottish wildlife, though!
We definitely did not linger long at the summit, but quickly dropped back down into the valley with the car track to get out of the wind, but being winter, we couldn't leave without doing a bit of sledding (or sledging as they call it here...) on the big snow patches. Hazel had a plastic bag she used as a sled, which worked out pretty well, though I preferred my method of sliding down on my front, like a penguin! We slowly made it back to the cars, but before dispersing in our cars back to Glasgow, we stopped in to the Comrie Royal Hotel for a wee pint (not the drivers, of course), where I tried out the local Earthquake Ale, named so because Comrie lies right on the Highland Boundary Fault and experiences more earthquakes than any other part of the UK! Definitely worth a little stop after a long cold hike.
Christmas was once again spent away from family this year, but this year would at least be exciting. One of my friends and I decided to head west from Glasgow to Oban with some stops along the way. When I moved back to Glasgow from Australia a year ago, a friend of one of my friends was looking at a wall map of the British Isles in my flat, pointed to an area south of Oban, and said, "You must go here, to Kilmartin Glen." He said that Kilmartin Glen is one of the most overlooked destinations for anyone interested in Scottish history and neolithic sites. So, after a day of recovering form boxing day laziness, we headed out from Glasgow.
Driving along the A83 between Loch Lomond and Inverary
Winter is an absolutely beautiful time to visit Scotland. Sure, the days are incredibly short, but the snow on the hills makes it unlike anywhere else. Once away from the main cities, the roads get narrow and windy, which makes for getting anywhere quickly quite tricky! It took us a while to get out to Kilmartin Glen, via a coffee stop in Inverary, but a little after noon we pulled into our first stop, Dunadd, which was the first site of the first kings of Scotland, having been in use since the Iron Age. On the little hill above the glen is a rock with some footprints carved into them, possibly where the kings looked out - I imagine much like Mufasa and Simba from Pride Rock :)
A little bit further down the road are a series of standing stones dating back 5,000 years. We missed the winter solstice only by a few days, but it's pretty amazing how these stones would have lined up with the setting sun, even after 5,000 years! I'm often really amazed by how after thousands of years, and with all of our modern technology and knowledge, we still have no real idea what these stones or circles were used for! And while not as grand as the Ring of Brodgar in Orkney or as circular as the Drombeg Stone Circle in southwest Ireland, the stones are just as enigmatic, and there are a lot of them, including one site where five stones make an X figure in a field, apparently a very unusual arrangement. Starving, we stopped in at the Kilmartin Hotel and had a tasty pub supper before exploring the curchyard across the street with brilliant scenery looking down the Glen.
There were still a few things we wanted to see before it got dark and before we got to Oban, and even though it was only 3 o'clock in the afternoon, we were running short on daylight, so we hit the road again, winding around the coast, to the Bridge over the Atlantic. To be fair, this is a very nice looking stone bridge, arching high over a small tidal waterway, technically part of the Atlantic Ocean, separating the Scottish mainland from the small Isle of Seil. Apparently nowhere else (maybe in Scotland) is there a bridge over the Atlantic, so it is only here you can say you've "driven across the Atlantic Ocean." Not really much to see, we kept on to the small town on Seil of Ellenabeich, an old slate mining town that now consists of three rows of whitewash cottages. A beautifully small town that I would have liked to have stayed in a bit longer. Would have been a great place to write up my PhD thesis! While in Ellenabeich, the sun went down and we didn't want to be stuck on unlit country roads for too long, so we headed in to Oban, checked into our hotel, and met up with one of my Uni friends who was home visiting family for the holidays.
Snow-capped mountains on the Isle of Mull with Duart Castle in the foreground from the ferry from Oban to Mull.
We got up early the next morning, a brilliantly clear but chilly morning, to catch the ferry from Oban out to the Isle of Mull, a rugged island about an hour offshore from Oban. The views from the ferry back to the mainland of snow capped mountains were amazing, not to mention the snow capped peaks of Ben More, the only Munro on Mull. A little note for visiting Mull in the winter: Don't plan on relying on public transportation, especially on a Sunday! We were lucky to have a Range Rover, so the small single-track roads and ruts of Mull were a piece of cake, but be careful if you have a smaller car not to go off the edge of the road or you will get stuck! We headed immediately out to the westernmost point of Mull, a town called, Fionnphort, where we waited for the quick ferry out to the small Isle of Iona. Again, visiting in the winter and on a Sunday, you run the risk of either the ferry not running, or only making one trip out to Iona, but not back, so it's suggested you call the portmaster on Mull the day before to make sure the ferries are running!
Iona Abbey
The sky was crystal clear, and though it wasn't windy, it was really cold! But while waiting for the ferry we did get to see a small fishing boat loading up for the day, and it must be quite a regular occasion because there was a seal who sidled right up to the boat begging for a bit of breakfast! The ferry finally arrived and we walked on, making sure to ensure it would come back from Iona! Now, Iona is a beautiful little island and I wish we had more time to spend there, but with the two hours we did, we made sure to walk over to the famed Iona Abbey, the former Catholic monastery where the Book of Kells was written. The Abbey survived Viking raids as well as the Protestant Reformation, and is now part of the Church of Scotland. So many tourists come out to Iona in the summer, it was nice to experience the island in winter when even the hostels were closed for the season! BUT, if you go on the weekend, you don't have to pay to get in to the grounds! We took a little walk up to the highest point on Iona, Dun I, for some breathtaking views to Mull and so many other Inner Hebridean islands.
Running short on time, we headed back to the ferry and crossed back over to Fionnphort, accompanied by dolphins jumping out of the water and playing in the wake of the ferry! Back in the car, we decided to take the small winding road around the rest of Mull. Now, I thought the road from the Mull ferry to Fionnphort was small, but it was nothing compared to the B8035, which was tucked right along the coast with rocky cliffs on one side, but provided amazing scenery, especially during sunset on such a clear day! The B8035 turns onto the B8073 and the road climbs up some very steep hills that any small car would have some trouble getting up! If you're in a small car, you definitely want to take the B8073 counterclockwise from Tobermory where it will be easier to go down these roads than up. Daylight was nearly gone as we arrived to Calgary Beach in the small locality of Calgary, the same that the Canadian metropolis is named after! But we couldn't stay long since the sun had now set and we still had about 30 minutes to drive to Tobermory for a quick fish dinner (not many places open on a winter Sunday), very quick because we had to get back down to the ferry docks to catch the last ferry back to the mainland.
Gylen Castle on the southern end of Kerrera
The following morning was yet again a clear day on the western Scottish coast, though much colder! Not wanting to waste time, we grabbed some breakfast and went to the small local ferry from Oban out to the small island, Kerrera. A privately-owned ferry, you signal the owner that you want a ride by sliding a big panel open on the mainland, revealing a big black square, and upon seeing it, the ferryman comes over to pick you up for the 5 minute crossing. We decided to do the 3.5 hour loop down to Gylen Castle at the southern end of the Island and back. Though not a strenuous walk, it felt long because it was so cold, especially in the shade, but the destination was amazing - a square castle with a small footprint exposed on a tall rocky knob over the coast. The castle was besieged and burned in 1647, though recently the Clan MacDougall began restorations. It's surely not much of a castle, but its position in the grassy hills along the coast sure makes it a great place that we had to ourselves! The rest of the circuit along the west side of the island isn't as scenic, and was a bit mushy underfoot, but there were a few brilliant moments in the setting sunlight over to Mull. Back in time for the ferry back to the mainland, we hopped back into the car and headed back up to Oban to pick up my friend who was coming with us back to Glasgow, and with that we were off back home.
Though I think we lucked out, weather-wise, the weekend was a great and most welcome break from city life in Glasgow, and so easy for a few days! Enjoy the photos:
