Camping in the NW Highlands. Book research!

Whilst my latest book is a guide to day walks in the Torridon region I actually did much of the research on backpacking trips, mostly in the last two years, and I have included some suggestions for such walks. There is one camping picture in the book. Here are a dozen more.   

The book can be ordered direct from the publishers -  https://www.cicerone.co.uk/9781786310286

New book with a rather long title out now!

My latest book has just been published, a guide to the huge region of dramatic mountains between Glen Carron and Little Loch Broom in the NW Highlands of Scotland. All the big names are in of course, as shown in the title and subtitle, but the book also includes all the other hills in the area and some of the smaller ones are real gems. There's 50 routes in all. 

The book has over sixty of my photographs, mostly taken over the last two years. Indeed, getting the photographs was more difficult than researching the routes. The latter could still be done on dull or misty days. As book full of cloud-shrouded hidden hills would not be a good idea (there are some pictures like this - I didn't want to give the impression it's always sunny in this region!) I made many visits to take pictures in good conditions. 

Slioch & Lochan Fada

Of course there are many photos I took that don't appear in the book, like the one above. I submitted 150 of the 1400 or so I took. Here are a few more of those that didn't make it into the book.

Ghlas Mheall Liath, An Teallach

Sgorr Ruadh

Beinn Damh & Loch Coire an Ruadh-staic

A'Mhaighdean & Fuar Loch Mor

The book can be ordered direct from the publishers -  https://www.cicerone.co.uk/9781786310286

New book coming soon

My next book will be published July 15th. It's a guide to the huge region of dramatic mountains between Glen Carron and Little Loch Broom in the NW Highlands of Scotland. All the big names are in of course, as shown in the title and subtitle, but the book also includes all the other hills in the area and some of the smaller ones are real gems. There's 50 routes in all. 

The book is also packed with my photographs, mostly taken over the last two years. Indeed, getting the photographs was more difficult than researching the routes. The latter could still be done on dull or misty days. A book full of cloud-shrouded hidden hills would not be a good idea (there are some) so I made many visits to take pictures in good conditions. 

My greatest success was on An Teallach. I'd traversed the mountain several times and visited it many more in the past but not once had it been clear. It seemed that whenever I went near it the clouds descended. With a forecast for clear weather I walked in one evening last July and camped not far from the mountain which was shining gold in the late sun. I didn't want just a long shot of its line of jagged peaks though, I wanted pictures taken on the mountain itself, showing it in all its glory. The next day the mist was down. My heart sank. Maybe this would be another ascent seeing nothing. 

On An Teallach

Then the mists began to clear high above and sink down below the summits. I climbed out of them to a brilliant sunny day, sharp, clear and perfect for photographs. I felt energised - and relieved. I wrote about that trip here.

The book can be ordered direct from the publishers -  https://www.cicerone.co.uk/9781786310286

Clouds, light, rocks, splendour, lessons from lower hills - a trip to Torridon

In a reversal to the usual weather pattern the forecast suggested it would be mostly fine in the west but wet and stormy in the east. So I went west and this turned out to be true, just. Throughout my trip to Torridon ominous dark clouds filled the eastern sky, sometimes approaching, sometimes retreating, but always there. Sometimes I felt I could reach out and touch them. On the fifth day they finally arrived and rain fell but that was my last day anyway.

My aim was to climb some of the lower hills I hadn't been up for many years, or in one case ever, and have some pleasant camps. The first two of the latter were spent on The Wee Campsite in Lochcarron, which is pleasant and quiet. I don't usually stay on camp sites but this one was situated just right for my first walks. After two nights I was ready for solitude and a remote camp though so I headed into the hills. For maybe the last time until the autumn I took my Trailstar tarp with just a groundsheet. Within a few weeks it will probably be too midgey for me to consider doing this.

However another aspect of the Trailstar I hadn't thought about was that my trekking poles were holding it up so when I went climbed a hill from camp I didn't have them with me. Now I often don't use poles on day walks and reckoned I wouldn't miss them. I was wrong. If I'd been on a big mountain with a good path - a Munro say - I'd have been fine without them. But I was climbing a lower, little-visited hill and there were no paths just steep slopes of bog, heather, tussocks and rocks. Clambering up and down this stuff I really longed for poles, especially when I went knee deep into one innocuous looking patch of ground. I was also learning that these lower hills are tougher than more popular higher ones. A path makes so much difference. 

So for my second camp I took a tent with its own pole - having driven to Torridon I had a car full of gear. Here I was joined by a companion, Liz Steel, who was spending a week backpacking in the area, and we camped together in a small grove of pines, a lovely sheltered site but not one for when the midges appear. Having pitched our tents we made our way up another lower hill that again gave tough terrain but also superb views.

The contrast between pathless and pathed hills was thrown into clear relief the next day. Liz went down to Torridon for coffee and cake and I went up a more popular hill, with a path and cairns all the way to the top. Even though there was more ascent and some quartzite boulders to cross the walking felt easy. No need to constantly look for the best route, no need to watch every step. I could walk along and just look at the hills and the clouds. I reckoned I went twice as fast with less effort.

This was the last day of fine weather. Indeed, the clouds thickened as I walked and the first drops of rain fell just before I was back at camp. The next morning the mountain was wreathed in clouds.

In Torridon with Alex Roddie on his winter Cape Wrath Trail walk

Below Meall a'Ghiubhais

Last week I joined my colleague and The Great Outdoors online editor Alex Roddie on his winter Cape Wrath Trail walk (see his blog for details). Now, long-distance walking in winter in Scotland is always an unpredictable challenge as the weather can vary between blizzards, severe cold and deep snow, and mild, wet and snowless. Other than at the start Alex has had the latter and so was ahead of schedule when I caught up with him in Glen Torridon as the walking was easier than if there had been snow.

Although warm for February the weather was also wet and windy with a big storm on the way. Having seen the forecast Alex had decided it was time for a rest day. This turned out to be very sensible. We camped on the boggy Torridon campsite, on slightly raised ground to avoid the puddles that had already formed. The rain hammered down all night. As it did the next day. Coffee and scones in the excellent Torridon cafe kept us out of the wet for a while then we headed round to Loch Maree as Alex fancied a stroll up the Beinn Eighe Mountain Trail. Climbing through the lovely woods and admiring the raging torrents crashing down through the trees we were sheltered from the wind. Once we left the forest we felt it though, driving the rain against us, so we decided to return the way we'd come. A few hours in this storm was enough. Back at the campsite the pools of water were approaching the tents. Thankfully though, after twenty-four hours, the rain eased off.

In Coire Mhic Nobuil

The next day was blustery with light showers but far calmer than the previous one. I accompanied Alex up Coire Mhic Nobuil between the great mountains of Beinn Alligin, Beinn Dearg and Liathach and then below equally fine Beinn Eighe to Allt Toll a'Ghuibhais. Unfortunately low cloud meant we only saw the lower slopes.

The Allt Coire Ruadh-staca

The last few hours of the walk were cross-country over rough terrain of bogs, boulders and tussocks. Despite the name the Cape Wrath Trail isn't a trail all the way and good route-finding skills are needed in many places. There were streams to cross too and whilst none were hazardous we did have to carefully pick spots to ford. Keeping boots dry was impossible.

Late afternoon light on Meall a'Ghuibhais

 
As the day wore on the clouds lifted a little and the sun cut below them lighting up Meall a'Ghiubhais, not normally a hill that catches the eye given the magnificent higher peaks all around. They were still in the cloud though.

Camp by the Allt Toll a'Ghiubhais

The flatlands around the meandering Allt Toll a'Ghiubhais looked suitable for a camp - if we could find some ground that wasn't waterlogged and that gave some shelter from the fierce wind. A little searching and an area of dryish ground slightly above the river and partly sheltered by a bank looked promising. It was and our camp was surprisingly comfortable. Gusts of wind did occasionally hit the tents but generally it was quite calm. And the location was spectacular.

Alex heads off

In the morning Alex set off for Kinlochewe and I set off back the way we'd come. The clouds had lifted though the sky was still grey. All the hills that had been hidden on the outward journey were now rising stark and ominous, ragged ridges of rocky teeth. The weather suited them. The wind was very strong and I had to fight into it until well down Coire Mhic Nobuil, realising just how sheltered our camp had been.

Liathach

I heard from Alex a day later, a brief text saying he was almost at Inverlael. I hope the weather improves for him and brings some real winter conditions - frosty mornings, crisp sunshine, even snow. Whatever, to walk the Cape Wrath Trail in February will be a big achievement.

A Stormy Day on Beinn Eighe with Torridon Outdoors

In the mist

Unusually my first venture into the hills after my GR5 walk wasn't in the Cairngorms but far to the west in Torridon. Back in the spring I'd been offered a couple of nights in The Torridon hotel and The Torridon Inn plus a day out with one of their instructors/guides, the deal being that I'd write about the experience. (There'll be a follow-up post on the hotel and the inn). I'd forgotten about this until a reminder came in just as I returned from the Alps. So a week after returning home I was away again for a couple of untypical luxury nights, with a day of storm inbetween.

View from the lip of Coire Mhic Fhearchair

The forecast being for very wet and windy weather that should ease a little in the afternoon the Head of Torridon Activities at Torridon Outdoors, Charlie Burrow, suggested Beinn Eighe as there's a long walk-in so the worst of the storm might have passed by the time we were high up. The walk-in certainly was wild with a gusty wind, heavy rain, and low clouds shrouding the hills.

The summit clears, briefly

On reaching Coire Mhic Fhearchair,a place that never fails to inspire and impress, the rain eased, though the wind was cold, and we stopped for a rest and a snack and the opportunity to admire the wild surroundings, the wave-swept lochan, and the great cliffs of the Triple Buttress, which faded in and out of the clouds.

In Coire Mhic Fhearchair

Threading a way through the rocky corrie we began the climb up the steep slopes to the col separating the high point of the mountain, Ruadh-stac Mor, from the main ridge. Looking back down the corrie we could see sunshine on hills to the north, which gave us hope the summit might clear.

Looking back across Coire Mhic Fhearchair

The ascent finishes up a loose scree and rock gully. We found the left-hand side a bit easier than the loose centre, with solid rock steps in places. The top of the gully disappeared into the mist and on emerging from it we also felt the full force of the wind. As it wasn't far now we went to the summit - and stood there in the mist a short while. It wasn't going to clear.

In the gully

Turning away we went onto the main ridge where we decided to see if there was a direct way down to join the outward path in Coire Dubh Mor. Both of us believed there was, though in my case my memory was faulty as the terrain I remembered from a descent on another wet misty day was nothing like as steep or stony as this turned out to be. A series of rock steps, steep loose scree chutes, and boulders had us traversing back and forth across the slope searching out the safest way. Far below we could see a path snaking across scree slopes. It took a while to reach. Much of the ground was so loose it slid beneath the feet. Care was needed! Lower down the larger rocks and little crags disappeared and there was just scree to slither down.

Liathach

Whenever we paused and looked up - when moving eyes to the ground were essential - the great mass of Liathach reared up before us. This really is a dramatic landscape, as fierce, wild and magnificent as anything I saw in the Alps.

On the descent

Despite the weather it was a great day out and it was good to have a companion for once. I learnt a bit about Torridon Outdoors too. A huge range of activities is on offer including mountain biking, sea kayaking, canoeing, wildlife watching, and gorge scrambling as well as guided high and low level walks. You don't have to stay in the hotel or inn to take part in them either. There's more about Charlie and Torridon Outdoors in this Q&A post from last year.