Caleb's List & Arthur's Seat

As usual when visiting Edinburgh for the Festivals last month I took a few hours off from the shows and exhibitions and street theatre to wander over ‘the mountain in the city’, Arthur’s Seat. In previous years I’d just found a way up to the summit, studied the view and the people, then ambled back down admiring the rocks and the plants and the birds and feeling happy to be away from busy streets for a while. Maps and guidebooks weren’t needed or carried. This year was different though. 

One of the books I’d read during my Scottish Watershed walk back in June and July was Caleb’s List by Kellan MacInnes, a book that is part personal story, part history and part a guidebook. It tells the story of mountaineer and geographer Caleb George Cash who, back in the 1890s, published a list of hills visible from Arthur’s Seat, and also has route descriptions for ascending those hills. Interwoven with Caleb’s tale and the guidebook details is the author’s own story and how discovering and climbing the ‘Arthur’s’ as he names Caleb’s hills, has helped him to cope with having AIDS.  The author is unflinching about the latter and there are some graphic and disturbing descriptions of living with this illness.

As well as route information for the hills on Caleb’s List the book has a description of a walk over Arthur’s Seat and I decided to use this on my last ascent, following the description on my tablet. This took me below Salisbury Crags, where some would-be rock climbers were almost getting stuck, and past Hutton’s Section, an important geological site, then up to the crowded summit where it was wonderful to see so many people enjoying the sunshine and the experience of being on a rocky hill. With Caleb’s List to accompany me I learnt much about Arthur’s Seat and its environs – previously all I knew was that it was the remnant of a volcano and was in Edinburgh – and saw parts of the hill I’d not visited before.

Caleb’s List is an excellent book, well worth reading even if you have no intention of climbing the hills described. Caleb Cash himself is an important if neglected figure in the history of the Scottish outdoors and the author’s personal story gives the book an emotional power unusual in a guidebook.

Next month, on the 4^th, I’ll be taking part in an event at the Portobello Book Festival in Edinburgh with Kellan MacInnes called ‘Wilderness Writing’. I have no idea how this will go but I am looking forward to meeting the author of Caleb’s List.

Rain, Wind & Rainbows: On Braeriach & Sgor Gaoith

View from the summit of Braeriach

A forecast of strong winds and showers, some of them wintry, didn’t bode well for two days leading groups in the Cairngorms for the Tomintoul & Glenlivet Walking/Cycling Festival. I hoped the weather wouldn’t lead to a failure to reach a summit, as it did last year when I attempted to lead a group up Ben Avon.

On the ascent of Braeriach

As ten of us gathered in the Sugar Bowl car park on the Cairngorm ski road clouds were racing overhead and gusts of wind shook the trees. We were aiming for Braeriach, which involves a long approach walk via the boulders of the Chalamain Gap followed by a descent into the Lairig Ghru. Buffeted by the wind I wondered just how far we would get as we began the climb up Braeriach itself. There were short, sharp and cold showers and as we neared the summit we were in and out of mist but the wind wasn’t strong enough to impede walking. The views came and went in the cloud; dramatic, atmospheric, magical. The air was cold and a shower near the summit had hints of sleet. Hats and gloves and hoods were essential. A suggestion and reminder of winter at the end of August.

Creag an Leth-choin & the Lairig Ghru from the slopes of Braeriach

Descending the same way the wind strengthened and grew more gusty. An hour or two later and we might not have reached the summit. At the same time though there were touches of sunshine and a brighter sky. Showers still blasted past, mostly only minutes long. As we clambered back through the Chalamain Gap a rainbow appeared ahead, welcoming us back to Glenmore.

Rainbow over Glenmore

A day later and I was in Glen Feshie with seven others, ready for an ascent of Sgor Gaoith. The skies were greyer and the wind stronger than the day before and we were in wet mist much of the time. Thin rain swept over us. There were no clearances and the group sadly missed the tremendous views from the summit. Arriving in thick mist I was initially confused at the top. The little cairn that decorated it was gone. Maybe this wasn’t the summit? A few yards walk and a look back showed that it was. The cairn had been there earlier in the year and, as far as I remembered, on all the other occasions I’d climbed the hill. There were no stones remaining and I guessed they’d been chucked over the cliffs down towards Loch Einich. It was only a little cairn and I guess another will appear but it seems a shame the old one has been destroyed. I’m not in favour of lines of cairns marking paths but cairns marking summits are useful and valid and often of great age.

Approaching the summit of Sgor Gaoith

We’d ascended via a high broad curving spur over two lower summits. To escape the wind we took a direct descent, straight down mossy slopes into Coire Ruadh and out of the mist. We followed a burn down and saw dippers beside it. There were red grouse in the heather too and one of the group saw a golden eagle flying up Glen Feshie. On the ascent we’d seen a solitary reindeer far from their usual haunts. This one was more wary than usual too and trotted away before we came near. Other than that the hills were empty, of people and wildlife.

First Scottish Watershed talk at the Isle of Harris Mountain Festival

On September 17th I'm giving the first talk on my Scottish Watershed Walk in Tarbert at the Isle of Harris Mountain Festival - probably as remote from the Watershed as you can get in Scotland!

The Festival lasts from the 14th to the 21st September and includes hill races, raft races, barefoot walks, non-barefoot walks, kayaking and surfing. Leading natural history photographer Laurie Campbell will be leading a photo workshop and also giving a talk entitled 'From Paxton to Patagonia'. There's also a talk from Cameron McNeish - 'A Wilderness Walk with John Muir'. There's much more too - see the Festival website for details - and of course there's beautiful Harris with its splendid beaches and remote hills to explore.

BBC Radio Scotland tomorrow - interview about the Cairngorms in Winter film.

A few days ago I was interviewed for the BBC's 'Out of Doors' programme about the Cairngorms in Winter film. The interview will be broadcast this weekend - the show is on from 06.30 a.m. on Saturday and 11.05 a.m. on Sunday. Then it'll be available on 'Listennow' for a week. The interview was around 15 minutes long. How much will be broadcast I don't know!

A Visit to Loch Avon

 

The head of the Loch Avon corrie

Motorbikes, leather jackets, tattoos and loud rock music are not the usual accompaniment to the start of a walk in the hills, especially at a high ski resort car park. That was the case in Coire Cas in the Cairngorms though, the reason being the annual ‘Thunder In The Glens’ Harley Davison motorbike rally, which brings thousands of bikers to Strathspey. I’d passed slowly through an Aviemore heaving with bikers and bikes, many shops draped with huge Harley Davison banners (the most incongruous being the one filling half the window of the Red Cross charity shop with a white wedding dress in the other half) but I hadn’t realised they came up into the hills.

Coire Cas, August 25, 2013

Leaving Coire Cas to the sound of revving bikes and Black Sabbath’s Paranoid I headed up to the Cairngorm Plateau. I could hear the bikes all the way up but once I dropped down slightly into shallow Coire Raibert the noise vanished, leaving just the gentle trickle of the burn the only sound. In the upper part of the corrie a work party was repairing the eroded path with big stones. Further down I could see animals grazing. Used to human beings the semi-domesticated reindeer paid little attention to me and I was able to walk right through the herd. It’s always a delight to come across these reindeer, which range widely over the Northern Cairngorms, a reminder that this is a northern sub-arctic landscape. 

At the lip of the corrie I took the steep, rocky path that follows the burn down to Loch Avon, one of the most spectacular places in the Cairngorms and my destination for the day. Situated in a deep narrow trench the long loch is surrounded by steep rocky hillsides with massive cliffs at its head. I’d looked down on the loch earlier in the year when filming the ‘Cairngorms in Winter’ but we’d not found time to descend to it. I like to do so at least once every year, often camping there at least one night. This was a day trip only but I had allowed time to sit and stare, revelling in the great rock architecture, the crashing streams and the overwhelming sense of wildness. I wandered along the lochside and then beside the stream at its head below the huge rock buttresses of Carn Etchachan and the Shelter Stone Crag. High on the latter two rock climbers were inching upwards, their tiny forms dwarfed by the massive, fractured wall.

Carn Etchachan & the Shelter Stone Crag

Leaving the Loch Avon basin I climbed steeply back up to Coire Domhain and the Cairngorm Plateau. The effort of the ascent was eased by turning back frequently to gaze over the splendid scene I was leaving. Again the roar of a tumbling burn, tearing down in cascades and water slides, accompanied me. A final walk over Stob Coire an t-Sneachda and then a descent to a now quiet and almost empty Coire Cas finished a fine day out. 

Loch Avon & Beinn Mheadhoin

Food for Long Distance Hiking

 

A few people have asked me what I ate on the Scottish Watershed Walk and how I resupplied with food. The answer is that mostly I bought food in shops along the way (my family did send me one parcel of tasty organic food from Real Foods in Edinburgh). Specialist backpacking foods can be convenient but they are expensive and have to be bought in advance and then posted ahead. Buying food in shops on or near my route was simpler and cheaper. (And also supports local communities). The picture above shows a weeks supplies purchased at the village store in Crianlarich. All that's missing are some sachets of hot chocolate.

Of course this involves some compromises and occasionally buying items that aren't that tasty (the latte sachets pictured above were pretty horrible) but overall I've been happy with this method of resupply, which I've used on other long walks including the Pacific Northwest Trail.

 

Above is my standard backpacking breakfast (and actually my standard breakfast at home too, though with fresh milk) - muesli (about 125 grams) with dried milk and sugar plus coffee (decaffeinated if I'm feeling awake, caffeinated if not) and dried milk. That's enough to keep me going for a few hours.

The picture also shows my stove and my two titanium pots - 600 and 900ml size.

During the day I snack regularly rather than have a big lunch. Oatcakes, cheese, flapjack, chocolate, dried fruit, nuts grain and fruit bars, boiled sweets (good for dry throats) all find their way into my pack.

The picture shows a day's snacks - though the dates and cheese spread would last several days.

 

Here is a typical evening repast. Two packets of Cup-A-Soup to start (good for restoring liquid and salt) then a dried pasta meal with added cheese, fresh garlic and, in this case, olives. If I have enough cheese and garlic I'll add some to the soup as well. Other flavourings I sometimes carry are dried herbs and spices such as chilli powder.

Immediately before going to sleep I'll have a mug of hot chocolate, made from two sachets.

I don't know how many calories this diet supplies but I never ran out of energy on the Watershed Walk though I did lose 9 kilos in weight.

The Cairngorms In Winter, Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, August 28

Terry Abraham filming in a stormy Lairig Ghru

The Cairngorms In Winter film has its Scottish premiere at 8pm on Wednesday August 28 at Eden Court in Inverness. I'll be there for a Q&A session afterwards.