Tough Cookie: Beinn Nan Aighenan

A favourable forecast Thursday afternoon into Friday prompted me to head for the hills and squeeze in a wee wilderness camp before the weekend proper. So, I packed enough grub, stove, sleeping bag and tent and headed north straight from work on Thursday, as I had Friday off seeing as it was my first week back. A gentle introduction back to work always helps, especially as Monday - Thursday had gone particularly well, and I zoomed up the A82 in a good mood and very much looking forward to what lay in store.

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings" John Muir

Similarly, a gentle introduction to my wee micro-adventure meant that I headed into Glen Kinglas from Forest Lodge, only as far as beautiful Loch Dochard, where I pitched ma wee wan-man tent in a bit of a hurry as the bloodthirsty midges were intent on mainlining my supply of RH Negative. Once inside and armed with a copy of The Times, I whiled away the next hour reading by torchlight - very civilised! Then, once the hungry cloud of Culicoides Impunctatis had dissipated, I got the stove fired up and tucked into a very tasty chilli from Mountain House, which was nearly as good as the pasta lasagne I'd sampled recently on my Lairig Ghru trip. Consequently, it was a very full and satisfied adventurer who climbed into his sleeping bag at the ridiculous hour of 9.00pm to get some shut-eye in preparation for the morrow. No need to set the alarm, the early dawn daylight of late summer would rouse me from slumber for the prompt start required on an epic day.

On the walk-in, at dusk

An idyllic spot! Loch Dochard.

Beinn Nan Aighenan is usually tackled from Glen Etive, as part of a smash and grab including Ben Starav et al, as other approaches involve a rather long walk-in. Makes sense really - drive all the way down the tortuous Glen Etive road and make things easy for yourself. Unfortunately, however, I wasn't in the mood for an easy ride and planned to head up Coire na Caime to the col between Glas Bheinn Mhor and Beinn Nan Aighenan, before heading in a southerly direction to the summit.

A glorious day in prospect

I woke around 6.00am. The combined efforts of dawn and a squadron of ducks undertaking take-off and landing procedures on Loch Dochard put paid to any hopes of a lie in on my super-comfy Thermarest (getting the correct level of inflation is key!). Instead, I got a brew on and scoffed an apple and cinnamon cereal bar, followed by a Fredo (chocolate in the morning, I hear you say, aghast!). However, normal nutritional rules don't apply when I'm on mountain manoeuvres, as I relish the opportunity to break free of the strictures of normality and resurrect old school rules, namely - the spirit of 'custard before main course' (lest it gets cold). It's a state of mind!

Morning has broken!

An epic day it turned out to be too, as there was no path up Coire na Caime and I found myself following the Clashgour estate's all-terrain vehicle tracks - an extremely boggy experience! In fact, I think that this corrie is the wettest place on earth! No, really! 

Additionally, the fact that, in my haste I'd forgotten to pack my gaiters, meant that my lower legs were saturated pretty much from the off. Thank goodness for Gore-Tex boots! Anyways, almost three hours later I crested the col, located a proper path and made a beeline for the summit.

Summit pic

Only half an hour later saw me summiting what proved to be a tough cookie. Elated, I strode the final few yards to the top, when something caught my eye: a laminated sheet of paper, folded and stuffed under a boulder in the summit cairn. I removed the paper to discover a rather touching tribute to a young guy who had passed away - he obviously loved the hills, and the person who laid the tribute had gone to a lot of trouble to reach this remote spot. Turns out it was his dad - made me quite emotional. Oh, and the Golden eagle circling the summit added a certain poignancy to the occasion. Wow!!!

Touching tribute

However, the only trouble with long and troublesome walk-in is that you have to walk back out again, so I turned tail and headed downhill into Coire na Torture and re-aquainted myself with deep, tussocky grass and the Tolkienesque 'Dead Marshes'. By the time I'd re-located the tent and trekked back out to Forest Lodge, I'd been on my feet for over eight hours, with a quick ten minute lunch stop.

A Day of Two Halves on Ben Vane

It's been quite some time since my last blog and it seems like ages since Rach and I were on Arran to climb Goat Fell. Weather was a bit different from the day on Arran, at least the first half of the day anyway. The forecast was for rain and wind to hang around most of the morning and vacate the tops by early afternoon. However, due to a prior engagement, we were due back in the real world by 5.00pm and had to make an early start. So, having left the house at 6.45am, we found ourselves at Inveruglas, ready for the off at 8.15am. The weather was pants, but this is what it's all about: the desire to head for the hills is strong, there's an excitement about heading up the Loch Lomond road, craning your neck to see where the cloud base is. Or even not having to crane, as the base is so low, as to require no extraordinary neck manipulation - it was an in between sort of day today. On a scale of 1-5, with 1 being clear blue skies and 5 being cloud almost at loch level, we were sitting somewhere around a 3.5.

Hill Happy!

Today's outing was to climb Ben Vane (last blogged about in January, when I ventured out on my own). This was Rachel's 5th Munro and we couldn't wait around for good weather any longer, forecast or no forecast (we had a prior engagement and had to be home by tea time) it was now or never, and so we strode up the tarmac track past the dismantling of the old electricity sub station and replacement of same with another, highly modern, installation.

To be honest, there's not a lot that can be said to describe the first half of our outing, enveloped in cloud and drizzle as we were for the entire morning. Suffice to say that we struck up another 'name that US state and it's capital' game again, idling away the time as we slowly gained elevation. And as we rose to the challenge of reaching that higher state, geographically speaking, we simultaneously scaled the heights of our combined (limited) intellect, as the game morphed into alphabetical lists of bands and names (yeah, really!!!).

At the summit

Plenty of false summits later, and with some tricky wee crags negotiated, despite the slippery wet rock, we emerged at the true summit, happed up against the wind and rain and looking for a quick turnaround. We managed a couple of photos before heading back downwards to find a more sheltered spot for lunch.

Selfie at the summit

And then, on our descent, the clag slowly started to lift, revealing the beautiful day that had remained hidden from view all morning. Good things come to those who wait!

Blue skies up yonder

So bright now, my eyes taking time to adjust.

Needless to say, the way down was a tad more pleasant than the ascent, and we managed to scoff some rolls, crisps and lashings of chocolate - it's all good!

Sporting some go faster stripes and soaking up the rays

Sometimes the rewards are hard-earned, but they're always welcomed and appreciated, and a wee bit of sunbathing was in order before we headed back down the track from Corriegrogain to Inveruglas.