Cape Wrath Trail Gear Changes

Heading for Rhiconich

When I returned in early October to continue my Cape Wrath Trail walk (see this post) I made some changes to the gear I used for various reasons which I’ll describe below.

Much of the gear was the same though – the Atom Packs The Prospector EP60 pack, Atom Packs The Roo bum bag, Pacerpoles, Therm-A-Rest NeoAir XLite mat, Multimat Camper 8 closed cell foam mat, Altra Lone Peak 8 trail shoes, Montane Minimus overtrousers, Berghaus MTN Arete Synthetic Hoody, BAM T-Shirt, Rab MeCo merino wool/polyester  long sleeve base layer, Patagonia Houdini windshirt, and all the smaller items. I wrote about this gear here.  It all performed just the same.

Here's what I changed.

Shelter: Mountain Laurel Designs Trailstar

Camp at Lone by Loch Stack

On the earlier trip I took the MLD SoloMid XL because it has a zipped door, useful in midge season and for privacy on campsites. I wasn’t expecting midges or campsites on this trip so I took my old Trailstar plus a groundsheet. This is a roomier, more versatile, and more wind resistant shelter. After hundreds of nights use it feels reliable and familiar – even though I needed Tony Hobbs to remind me how best to fit the shaped groundsheet as I hadn’t used it for so long! It was as excellent as ever.

Sleeping Bag: Sierra Designs Cloud 20

Expecting colder temperatures on this trip I brought a warmer sleeping bag, the Sierra Designs Cloud 20. As it was, early October turned out to be warmer than early June and the Rab Mythic Ultra bag would have been fine. The temperature on the coldest night in October was the same as the warmest in June, 8.5°C. I’d hoped for frosts and clear starry skies. Neither occurred.

The zipless Cloud 20 with its foldover comforter is one of the most of the comfortable sleeping bags I’ve ever used but it weighs over 2.5 times as much as the Rab. Even so I was glad to have it in case the weather turned frosty.

Stove & Pot: Soto Windmaster Triflex & Fire Maple Petrel

Kitchen setup in Glendhu Bothy

This change was so I compare this combination with the Windmaster 4Flex and Jetboil Stash pot I’d used on the earlier trip. The stove was the same in fact, just the legs changed for the shorter Triflex ones that fit into the slots in the heat exchanger on the base of the Petrel. The weight of the two setups is almost the same. The Windmaster Triflex is 20g lighter than the 4Flex but the Petrel pot is 25g heavier than the Stash, so just a 5g difference.

In use the Triflex/Petrel seems just as fast boiling and fuel efficient (I haven’t done a direct comparison test) and simmers well. I did find I needed to turn the stove down a little to stop flames emerging from the side of the heat exchanger, which wastes fuel, as the Petrel is narrower than the Stash. The shape made the Petrel a little harder to eat out of it and stirring to stop food sticking was needed a little more often. Overall there’s little difference though.

Waterproof Jacket: Montane Cetus Lite

Montane Cetus Lite in the rain

Shortly before the trip a new waterproof arrived for test made from Montane’s new Petrichor fabric, which I was keen to try. The DWR on the Ascentshell jacket I’d used before is in needs restoring, which I hadn’t done, so I’d already decided to take a different one. The Cetus Lite weighs exactly the same at 330g and worked just as well, which was good as it got far more use than I’d hoped.

Other Clothing:

Reckoning I’d be wearing a jacket most days I didn’t take a trekking shirt. I didn’t miss it. I did take an ultralight down jacket, the PHD Wafer K, in case of frosty nights. I never wore it but it took up little room and actually weighed less than the trekking shirt at 222g.

Autumn colours before Storm Ashley arrives and blows them all away

With the first named storm of the autumn forecast to bring very strong winds over the next two days (there is a Met Office weather warning) I thought I'd go for a local to see the autumn colours before more leaves are stripped from the trees.

The day was pleasant and warm with sunshine, an occasional breeze, and fluffy white clouds. No sign of the big storm that's on the way. The autumn colours were glorious, startlingly bright in places, subtle and gentle in others.

Some trees have already lost their leaves. On others the colour has hardly started to change. The woodland here is mixed outside the pine and spruce plantations, dominated by birch but also with aspen, rowan, oak, willow, cherry, and  hazel, giving a wonderful mix of colours and shapes. 

A few hours wandering in this glorious woodland was relaxing and invigorating at the same time. Several buzzards circled overhead, one rising from the ground just ahead of me. A raucous was a jay, flitting through the trees. A flock of starling perched high on the already leafless top branches of an aspen. Two roe deer watched me warily before disappearing into the dense trees.

Out of the trees the view towards the Cairngorms was hazy and bright, the hills cloud-capped. But here the sky was blue and the air sharp and clear.

 After the storm I'll return and see how much the woods have changed, how many more leaves have fallen, whether any trees have come down. But for now all is peaceful and calm in the autumn forest.

High Summer new edition - available November 1st!

I'm very pleased to announce that High Summer, the story of my walk the length of the Canadian Rockies in 1988, will be published in a new updated edition through Andrew Terrill's independent publishing imprint, the Enchanted Rock Press, on November 1st.

 

 Rereading the book for the first time in many, many years for this edition reminded me how different it was to undertake such a walk in the days before GPS, the Internet, smartphones, and satellite communicators. I really was out of touch for days and weeks at a time. Some of the stories in the book made me feel nervous! I've written a new introduction about what a different world it was then and put in some footnotes to clarify or explain things that might be puzzling but left the story as originally written.

On Kiwetinok Pass, Yoho National Park, July 2, 1988

High Summer was first published in 1989, in an edition long out of print. Back then all photography was on film and I took over 3000 colour slides during the walk. Just 21 appeared in that first edition. For the new edition there are 98 black and white photos in the paperback and 105 colour photos in the ebook, most of them never published before. One of my main tasks for the new book has been selecting and scanning slides, work that took time but which was very enjoyable. Even so it made me grateful for digital photography!

Working with Andrew Terrill has been a delight. His enthusiasm for my work is infectious and the magic he works on my old slides is astonishing. The new book is his design and I think it looks much better than the original one. Andrew has also redrawn the maps and made them far more attractive and informative. I never thought I would see the book in print again and I am very grateful to Andrew for republishing it and putting in so much work to make it look as good as possible.

 

High Summer will be available on Amazon from November 1^st, 2024 as a paperback and an ebook, and from other online book retailers shortly after.

Ebook pre-orders can now be made on Amazon.

For UK readers HERE

US readers HERE

Canadian readers HERE

A Look At The November Issue Of The Great Outdoors

 In the November issue of The Great Outdoors I review eight head torches and the Paramo Alta Trek trousers. Also in the gear pages Kirsty Pallas and James Roddie review four pairs of warm gloves each.

There's a Scottish theme to this issue as it's the annual TGO Challenge one with stories and pictures from this year's event. Alex Nail describes the many trips and false starts needed in the four years it took to compile his latest photographic book on the NW Highlands, The Great Wilderness (which I review here) in a photo essay packed with mouthwatering images. Also in the NW Highlands Gemma Smith explores Assynt and looks at the Gaelic placenames and the history of the area.

Away from Scotland, and indeed Britain, Rudolf Abraham walks across the Massif de Vercors in France and finds solitude, beauty and wildlife.

In the shorter pieces composer and violinist Lisa Robertson is Creator of the Month, Mary Ann-Ochota argues there is a place for music in the hills in the Opinion column, Jim Perrin looks at Mow Cop in Cheshire in his Mountain Portrait, James Roddie looks at Portree on the Isle of Skye as a base for a weekend, Maymana Arefin gives a beginner's guide to mushroom identification, and Emma Schroeder falls for autumn in her Notes From The Edge column. 

As the autumn colours develop in the woods Wild Walks concentrates on forests in this issue.In Scotland Craig Weldon explores the pines of Culbin Forest in Moray, Alex Roddie climbs little Creag Bheag above Kingussie through the woodlands on its flanks and also visits Loch an Eilein and Rothiemurchus Forest in the Cairngorms where he ascends another little hill, Ord Ban. In England Ian Battersby explores Kidland Forest and Bloodybush Edge in Northumberland, Vivienne Crow visits the fragments of temperate rainforest in Borrowdale and on Castle Crag in the Lake District, Norman Hadley doesn't find many trees on Ward's Stone and Grit Fell in the Forest of Bowland, and Fiona Barltrop enjoys the autumn colours on Alder Hill and Fritham Plain in the New Forest. In Wales Phillipa Cherryson does find trees on a walk over Ysgyryd Fach and Ysgyryd Fawr above Abergavenney in Monmouthshire, Roger Butler climbs Moel Hebog and descends into the jumble of Beddgelert Forest in Eryri/Snowdonia, and Ian Battersby visits Stackpole Woods and Stackpole Head in Pembrokeshire.

October Snow in the Cairngorms

"It's like the North Pole!" The Cairngorm Weather Station

Snow has been lying high in the Cairngorms for the last few days so I thought I’d go up and have a look. Snow in October isn’t unusual. It also isn’t unusual for it to thaw and then no more fall for several weeks or even a couple of months. Snow now is no indication of the type of winter to come. With warmer temperatures forecast the next few days I expect this early touch of winter will soon be over.

The snow had fallen down to 600 metres but had mostly thawed at this level. Freezing conditions had then frozen the melt water and formed icy patches on the path up the east ridge of Coire na Ciste and there was verglas on some stones. I soon learnt not to tread on the latter as the thin veneer of ice was impossible to see. Much more and I’d have worn the micro spikes I was carrying. However as soon as I reached the freezing level the slipperiness disappeared. The snow and the rocks were dry. Higher up the snow had drifted and was shin deep in places, barely covering the stony ground in others.

On the ascent.View across Coire Laogh Mor.

The sky was overcast but the clouds were high, well above the summits, and quite thin – occasionally the hazy white disk of the sun appeared. The intermittent breeze was bitterly cold. This was winter.

As Cairn Gorm came into view I could see a few people descending the main path, the first I’d seen. I shared the summit with just one other walker who looked up at the rime ice clad weather station and called out “it’s like the North Pole!”.

I wandered round for a short while looking at the views and taking photographs. Handling the camera with just thin gloves on froze my hands and before heading down I changed to thicker ones. I had my hood up over my wool hat and there was ice in my beard.

Ben Macdui

Across the frozen Cairngorm Plateau clouds touched the summit of Ben Macdui. Across the rocky Northern Corries Braeriach was backed by a line of undulating white cloud with solid grey above it. All was colourless, cold and hard. But still grand and harshly beautiful. I love this landscape.

View across the Northern Corries to Braeriach

Turning away I descended the same way. Once out of the bitter breeze I stopped for a snack and a hot drink, sitting on my pack. A walker passed me also heading down, grunting a brief hello. He didn’t look happy. Probably because he was carrying skis. I’d seen nowhere with enough snow for more than a few turns. The air had warmed slightly lower down and the ice had melted off the rocks and was crunchy rather than slippery on the path.

The first day out in winter conditions each autumn always feels significant, the start of a different outdoor season.

Almost To The End: Back On The Cape Wrath Trail

Ben Stack from Lone

Back in June I decided to stop my Cape Wrath Trail walk at Inchnadamph, some 47 miles/75km from the finish, due to an unseasonally cold and windy storm (see here). I didn’t feel like battling into the weather just to reach the end especially as it’s not too far from home so I could easily return later when the weather was better.

Early October looked promising and so it was for a few days but then another big storm blew down from the north. With gusts forecast to reach 55mph/88kph at sea level finding sheltered camp sites would be difficult and walking into the wind arduous. After the first day of this storm I decided retreat was again a sensible choice even though I was only 7 miles/11km from Cape Wrath (plus twice that distance to then reach the nearest road). I will go back again!

The weather was benign when I set off with Tony Hobbs, who’d been with me for the last five days of the June walk, with a mix of sunshine, high clouds, and light breezes. We climbed steadily to the last high pass as you head north, 623 metre Bealach na h-Uidhe, then crossed boggy terrain dotted with little pools and streams. Here we met the only other CWT walkers, a couple heading south to Fort William. They assured us the terrain got wetter and boggier further north and wet feet were inevitable. They were in leather boots, we were in trail shoes. We didn’t expect dry feet. Perhaps they did.

Camp below the Eas a' Chual Aluinn

A steep descent took us down to the Abhainn an Loch Bhig and a camp opposite the highest waterfall in Britain, the Eas a’ Chual Aluinn, which has a 200-metre drop. As there hadn’t been much rain for a while this was a thin tracery of water over the cliffs rather than a tremendous torrent, though we could still here it’s roar and it still looked impressive. We could here other roaring too. This is the rutting season and red deer stags were in full deep-throated cry, a sound that accompanied us throughout the walk. Autumn colours, russet, gold, orange, made the landscape shine, another feature every day.

Loch Beag

The next section of the walk, from Eas a’Chual Aluinn to Loch Glendhu via Loch Glencoul, is one of the most glorious of the whole route in my opinion. It’s not long, around 8 miles/12km, but the going is tough in places and anyway this is not a place to rush through but to savour. This landscape is rugged, rocky, rough and complex, mixing sea and mountain in a wonderful array of forms and patterns. 

The Stack of Glencoul, Eas a'Chual Aluinn, & Loch Beag

Initially the big waterfall and the great rock buttress of the Stack of Glencoul stand out in the views as the route passes along Loch Beag and then climbs above Loch Glencoul to round a promontory. Here the views are of Loch Glendhu and a line of slanting coloured cliffs. 

Loch Glendhu

The boggy path, such as it was, angled muddily down steep slopes through thick vegetation, rocks, and patches of lovely birch woodland to eventually reach the loch shore. Here in places we were walking on seaweed below huge boulders that had come down long ago from the cliffs high above. At the highest tides the path must be underwater here.

Below the high tide mark!

Rain was starting and the wind picking up as we reached Glendhu Bothy so we decided to stay. No-one else was there and from the bothy book it seemed not many had stayed recently. The space and shelter was welcome.

Bothy kitchen

The weather had changed and wind and rain were now the norm for the rest of the walk. The walk alongside Loch Glendhu was pleasant but then the rain began.

Beside Loch Glendhu

I had intended to take the route over 510 metre Ben Dreavie and round the west end of Ben Stack but the summit was in cloud and I didn’t fancy a boggy plod in the mist so we opted to descend to the road at Achfary and pass Ben Stack to the east before wandering along the track by Loch Stack to the abandoned building at Lone where we found a reasonably sheltered site with a view of the fine mountain Arkle rising into the clouds. This was the only day when the walking was on good paths and tracks the whole way.

Camping at Lone

Day 4 of the trip was the opposite and mostly on rough boggy ground with only a poor intermittent path. The wind blew and it rained on and off. We were heading for the road at Rhiconich as we wanted to reach the shop called London Stores to resupply the next day. A long line of narrow lochs linked by streams and with a minor watershed at 77 metres runs almost straight from Lone to Rhiconich. No route finding problems here, just a case of plodding on through the bogs. 

Ben Stack

Above us Arkle and Ben Stack faded in and out of the clouds. Magnificent Foinaven, the biggest mountain in the area, showed itself occasionally too as the day progressed. Iain Harper’s Cape Wrath Trail guidebook says there is a potentially difficult ford of the Garbh Allt in this section but though knee deep it wasn’t a problem. The next day it would have been as heavy rain fell all night.

Fording the Garbh Allt

The boggy ground, as through most of the walk, was deer-trodden and bitten. There were very few trees. I wrote about this back in June re my earlier CWT walk. It applies just as much to this northern section. We had hoped to camp by the Rhiconich River somewhere in the last few kilometres before the road but could nowhere suitable amongst the sodden tussocks. In the end we walked up the road a little then turned off down a track to some sheep pastures that were bumpy but at least dry and somewhat sheltered from the increasing wind.

En route to Rhiconich

Having resupplied at the excellent London Stores the next day we set off for the cross-country route to Sandwood Bay, the alternative being to walk up the road for some 5 miles/8km and then take a track. I don’t like road walking so chose the off-road route. This was a mistake. The way over low moorland hills to Strath Shinary is wet, boggy and rough. The walk down the strath and alongside Sandwood Loch is wetter, boggier, and rougher- some of the toughest walking on the whole CWT. Maybe on a hot sunny day it would seem worth it. In wind and rain it wasn’t. The wind had shifted to the north-east and was strengthening and getting colder. From a weather forecast at London Stores we knew it was meant to gust to over 40mph overnight and then increase the next day. We’d be fighting it all the way to Cape Wrath if we went on.

Sandwood Bay comes into view.

We reached Sandwood Bay at dusk. Finding a sheltered site proved difficult. As we’d decided to head out to the road the next day we started along the path south and found some protection from the wind in a bog by Loch Clais nan Coinneal. It was wet and bumpy but we wouldn’t be blown away.

Rainbow in the rain

The next morning we walked out to the John Muir Trust car park in wind and rain, which were at least behind us. At one point a rainbow curved over the moors. We met two pairs of day walkers heading to Sandwood Bay. Both asked us the same question “is it worth it”?  Yes, I replied, it’s beautiful, even in a storm. And it is.

Book Review: Scottish Hill Tracks by ScotWays

Back in 1977 I bought two little booklets by D.G.Moir called Scottish Hill Tracks Southern Scotland and Scottish Hill Tracks Northern Scotland as part of my planning for a Land’s End to John O’Groats walk the next year. I’d done little walking in Scotland at the time and these booklets proved invaluable. I carried them all the way through Scotland. In future years they were useful for planning TGO Challenge walks.

The booklets were first published in 1947 and then revised for a second edition in 1975. There have been four subsequent editions with the latest just published as a handsome 396 page book by the Scottish Mountaineering Press on behalf of ScotWays (the Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society).

Every one of the 350 routes has been resurveyed for this sixth edition with around 130 ScotWays volunteers spending two years checking every one, which involved 7,600km of distance and 194,000 metres of ascent. The result is a book that I think is just as invaluable as the original booklets for anyone interested in walking in Scotland, especially long-distance walking. The wealth of information it contains is astonishing.

Scottish Hill Tracks is beautifully produced, as has come to be expected of the Scottish Mountaineering Press, with attractive maps and many colour photographs. The layout is clear and it’s easy to find the information you want. The routes are divided into 25 geographical sections from the Cheviot Hills to Caithness, each with a brief introduction including landscape, cultural and historical information plus an overview map of all the routes. Each route then starts with the OS Landranger map numbers, grid reference for the start and finish, distance, amount of ascent and descent, high point, and any alternative options.

This a lovely book that as well as practical is wonderful for browsing and daydreaming. I’ve planned several long walks already! I just have one complaint – the weight! At 680g I wouldn’t carry this on a long walk. My original booklets weigh 100g each. The new edition is far more comprehensive of course. Congratulations to all involved in its production.

The book costs £25 and is available from the Scottish Mountaineering Press. Highly recommended.

A High Camp & A Walk On Sgor Gaoith

Ben Alder at dusk from Carn Ban Mor

The longest spell of fine weather since May has brought the hottest temperatures of the year in the Cairngorms. Wanting to enjoy the sunshine I decided to head up high to camp for the second time this month, and for the second time since my two-month layoff due to a hand operation. That first trip (see here) went well but I did suffer aching legs the following days, something I am unused to! Due to that I decided not to push myself but to split a one-day walk in two.

The forecast was for sunshine both days with a touch of cloud and a gusty wind overnight. It was to prove almost correct. As the wind was from the SSE I picked a camp spot high on the slopes of Sgor Gaoith that should provide some shelter from that direction. It was somewhere I’d thought about camping before but had never got round to doing so.

Forest colour

I set off in afternoon sunshine through the lovely forest of the Invereshie & Inshriach National Nature Reserve in Glen Feshie. Stands of birches amongst the pines were showing the first touches of autumn colour.

As the path left the last trees behind the sun vanished too as flat grey clouds covered the sky. The air, already hot, became heavy and humid. No breeze blew and I was soon soaked in sweat. Reaching the broad ridge that runs above the deep trench holding Loch Eanaich I crossed the wide path to Sgor Gaoith into the damp shallow hollow of the Fuaran Diotach spring. Here there’s the ruin of a small stone shelter on the edge of a little pool with just enough flat ground in front of it for a tent.

This ruin is called Ross’s Bothy, apparently from a deer watcher who used it in the distant past. There is a steep path running up to it from Loch Eanaich called Ross’s Path. The age of the ruin isn’t certain. The Highland Historic Environment Record gives information from Ann Wakeling that “Mae Marshall, whose family were gamekeepers in Glen Einich believes that there was a bothy here in pre-sporting times”. 

Evening light at Fuaran Diotach

It is a lovely spot with water and shelter from southerly winds. A Colonel Thorton was here in 1786 and described it as “a charming spring”. Ian R. Mitchell  in Scotland’s Mountains Before The Mountaineers says Thornton may have made the first recorded ascent of Sgor Gaoith on this trip in time taken off from his usual activity of slaughtering the local wildlife. Thornton reckoned Sgor Gaoith was 18,000 feet high (it’s 3,668 feet/1118 metres) with a drop of 13,000 feet to Loch Eanaich! Mitchell suggests that “the potent mixture of excitement, heat and champagne had affected his judgement” (Thorton describes his party “depositing our champagne, lime, shrub, porter etc. in one of the large snow drifts” in his 1804 book A Sporting Tour).

Having pitched my tent I was delighted to see the clouds begin to break up and shafts of sunshine illuminate the landscape. Maybe the night would be clear. Maybe I would see the full moon, the Harvest Moon. Maybe.

Creag Meagaidh at dusk from Carn Ban Mor

An hour later I noticed bands of pink, orange and yellow streaking the sky to the west as the sun set. I was the wrong side of the ridge for the view. This was a site for the morning sun. The sky looked wonderful though so I grabbed my camera and hurried up the slope above camp, knowing the gorgeous light would not last long. When the landscape of Strathspey stretching out the hills in the west appeared I knew the effort was well worthwhile. Waves of ridges in shades of grey rolled away to Creag Meagaidh and Ben Alder under rippling bands of clouds above the sunset colours, glorious and mysterious. I gazed until the colour faded and darkness started to descend, remembering then that in my haste I hadn’t bothered to pick up my headlamp. Luckily it wasn’t far back to camp and the ground was fairly flat and soft – a wet foot was more likely than tripping over a rock.

The promise of clear skies was false. Soon the clouds were thick again. The forecast wind did begin though, sweeping the clouds past not far above. Only occasional gusts reached the tent, however. I woke a few times during the night. Once there was a faint glow from the cloud-shrouded moon. Once the tent was enveloped in mist, as it was when dawn came. The tent was soaked inside and out.

The clouds begin to clear

Knowing the day was meant to be hot and sunny I lingered in camp a while. The clouds did begin to lift and by mid-morning the sky was clear and I was on my way up Sgor Gaoith, thrilled as always by the dizzying views down the crags to Loch Eanaich. 

Loch Eanaich

Two others were on the summit and I was to see several more walkers during the day, though fewer than I expected given the weather.

Sgor Gaoith from Sgoran Dubh Mor

From Sgor Gaoith I continued along the ridge to Sgoran Dubh Mor, which is just seven metres lower, then turned onto the long north-west spur over Meall Buidhe and Geal Charn. Like the other two the latter is now classed as a subsidiary Top of Sgor Gaoith in Munro’s Tables but until the revision of 1981 it was listed as a separate mountain. Whatever their position in a list the traverse of these hills this is a good walk with splendid views. On this day Loch an Eilein stood out, a deep blue in the green forest.

Loch an Eilein

Geal Charn is a stony hill with steep bouldery slopes on its west side. I’ve never found a comfortable way down these, except when the snow is deep enough for skis. The difficult walking ends at the col with Creag Mhigeachaidh where a path runs south down to the forest and my outward path. Underfoot may have been much easier but down here the breeze that had kept me reasonably cool high up had gone and the heat was stifling. I was relieved to reach the shade of the pines. Later I heard that Aviemore was the hottest place in Britain that day at 25.5°C.

Cairn Gorm & Cairn Lochan

Across the shoulders of Sgor Gaoith & Braeriach to Creag an Leth-choin

Sgor Gaoith