Beinn Chabhair. A Loch Lomondside Munro.

This is one from early June  that I've just got around to posting now. On a warm sunny day Ron and I set off to climb Beinn Chabhair, a Munro which lies just above the northern end of Loch Lomond.
When you are collecting Munros most folk only do them once and this was certainly the case for me with over 80% of mountains climbed never getting a repeat ascent. Beinn Chabhair , 933metres,was different as I first attempted to climb it early on in my Munro bagging career in waist deep snow and high winds in winter. I was with five others and we floundered around for five hours before conceding defeat under the summit slopes. The second time was easier but maybe it stuck in my mind because of that initial failure. This is a view from the Loch Lomond road near Luss.

Beinn Lomond from Tarbet where Ian Brady once stayed on a tour of the highlands.

An hours drive from Glasgow we parked at the Inverarnan hotel, also known as the Drovers Inn.
It's a large car park here and the owners don't seem to mind hill walkers parking here as they get the custom afterwards with a couple of pints, soft drinks or a coffee after the hill. Good meals here too.
The Inverarnan of course is famous for its collection of stuffed animals and other relics scattered around the hotel and is a favourite place for tourists and locals alike as it has bags of character.

A photograph of the Ben Glas falls. Paths run up both sides of this scenic cascade which gives good ice climbing in severe winters. It's a steep ascent at this point but soon levels off into easy walking across a wide meadow  before a  climb onto the summit ridge. Under 6kms 3 hours to top. 2 hours down. An alternative and much longer route follows the ridge over Ben Glas, Stob Creag an Fhithich,
and Meall nan Tarmachan. Very scenic but only if you like your ridge lines to mimic an egg box pattern. Loads of ups and downs to sink your teeth into on this approach.

Ron under the summit slopes. I did invite Alex along but its not a Corbett so no show from him.

A view of Beinn Lui, at 1130 metres one of the highest peaks in the southern highlands which was certainly apparent as it had far more snow still on it than anything else around.

On the way back down we stopped off for a rest next to the stream running out of the upper meadow lochan at a point where it runs over slabs of bare rock. It was full of deep potholes filled with river water, perfect traps for flies and other wind blown insects to drown in. As I munched my lunch I rescued a varied collection of these creatures from these natural death traps formed by pebbles turning around and around endlessly drilling deeper under the influence of spate conditions.

  A damselfly in the nearby reeds. There are around fifteen to twenty different types of damselfly in the UK. Most live a few short weeks in the winged form then die after mating to restart the cycle.
This one is a blue tailed variety. My little summer fairies.

An iridescent green carabid beetle. I know it's a type of ground beetle that probably hunts caterpillars and smaller insects but I couldn't find it anywhere on the bug index list. Sometimes it helps clarification if you have a rough idea what your actually looking for rather than just sifting through hundreds of images as there are thousands to choose from just in the UK alone. Pleasant viewing and reading material late at night as some of these creepy crawlies have very unpleasant breeding cycles that boggle the mind. We are just a convenient incubation chamber for some of them.
Scary reading of an evening. Sometimes ignorance is preferable to too much insider knowledge. I closed all the windows securely that night.

Reflections in the placid River Falloch. Years ago I kayaked up here with my pal Alistair from Adlui ,paddling across Loch Lomond then up the river system to have a pint in the pub, leaving the kayaks on a handy small island of gravel in the middle of the River. For some reason it had a backwater, southern United States feel about it as a lot of the waterside houses at Ardlui sit out on stilts over the loch and the river has loads of sheltered off shoots and a hidden secret lagoon in the form of the Geal Loch. We even had a guy picking out bluegrass tunes on a guitar sitting on the veranda of one of them, Cajun style, as we passed. Deliverance vibes. 'Squeal like a pig you soft city boy!'
 A memorable outing as we also visited the bothy at Doune. Happy days with my twenty-seventh oldest friend Alistair. Not that I'm counting :)

You always get a friendly welcome in the Inverarnan afterwards... None more so from the tame wolf that guards the front door and deters riff raff, vagabonds and short sighted tourists from entering.
The last wolf stuffed in Scotland perhaps? Wonder if it was anally probed and that's why it looks so upset? A lot of the animals in here look as though they've had their dignity interfered with, giving them fierce or indignant expressions. The stuffed shark in the hallway always looks as if it suffered more than most under the skilled hands of the taxidermist.
A couple of weeks ago I was convinced I was watching the latest episode of 'The Walking Dead' which is filmed in and around the fine city of Atlanta, the peach tree capital of Georgia. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be The Rolling Stones performing at Glastonbury instead. Still, Mick J is remarkably fit and agile for his age. He must be drinking snake oil these days.
How will all these old classic bands be remembered by future generations though? With advanced technology, micro robotics and taxidermy combined surly we have the answer? They can live on forever now.

I therefore vote to have the Rolling Stones and selected other worthy popular culture veterans stuffed and reengineered to capture them in their prime, saved for future generations. Don't tell me we don't have the technology. Don't tell me some major corporation or business enterprise hasn't though of something similar already.... Tempted? After all, singing cowboy Roy Rogers had his faithful palomino horse Trigger stuffed without too many complaints..  well, apart from Trigger that is.



Video this week is a good un. Soul savers  Revival. A long time favourite of mine American singer Mark Lanegan has contributed some great vocals to a variety of bands over the years as well as recording his own work. A modern Rod Stewart in some ways as he has an equally distinctive voice and the same deceptive way of turning good songs into great ones and making it look easy.
Older filmgoers will notice this video seems to get its inspiration in part from Elmer Gantry, a brilliant movie starring Burt Lancaster as a conflicted snake oil preacher who hoodwinks a dustbowl town into believing he is the real deal and can perform miracles. Later remade as Leap of Faith.
Influential and beguiling ideas never die they just get recycled for new generations to enjoy.

Islay. Pap of Jura Trip.

Alex phoned me up a week ago with an idea. How do you fancy going to Jura for a day trip?
He had it all planned out. He would pick me up in Glasgow at 4:45 am in time to catch the early ferry from Kennacraig to Port Askaig on Islay. ( Port Askaig and Jura Ferry seen in the picture above from the top deck of larger ferry. MV Finlaggan) We would then cycle in by cunning means to bag the summit of Beinn An Oir then cycle back  to get the ferry and drive back to Glasgow, returning around 1:00am. A long day but a fine wee adventure.

I had walked over the Paps of Jura years ago with the club we were in at that time but Alex had missed that trip back then. Now he was keen to bag his Corbett and I was more than happy to revisit both islands again  A shot of  one of the Paps from the ferry heading for Islay. Looks like a pastel or watercolour here due to the diffuse light. It's a two hour trip to reach Port Askaig then a ten minute hop over to Jura on the smaller boat. The strength of the current pouring through the narrow gap between the two islands through the Sound of Islay is impressive and we hit it in full flow. If you fell in off the pier you would be sucked out to sea in minutes when it's at its wildest.

This wee ferry requires big engines for its short crossing.

We arrived on Jura shortly before 11:00 am and set off on the bikes, heading for the western slopes of Beinn An Oir (Mountain of Gold) near a long trail of scree and erratic boulders called 'The Witches Pavement.' Alex was a driven man as usual. No time to stop for photographs. He was off into the distance in a flash. Dumping the bikes at the end of the track we took to the slopes and came across a variety of animals.

A heavily pregnant lizard in the grass.

Then a frog dropped onto Alex's foot. Was it the work of the Cailleach or Carlin. Was the witch still using her pavement to get around?

Next we came across a nest. Wildlife was flinging itself under our feet. This is either a Skylark's nest or a meadow pipit's. The eggs look identical to my untrained eyes.

Likewise the bird. 'Which twins got the Toni?' An old American advert some of you might remember from the days when a home perm had just arrived. The skylark has a crest but it can flatten this down to look just like a meadow pipit. I think the latter bird here but I can only tell these two apart when they take to the air as they have completely different flight patterns but this one stayed grounded on the orders of the witch. Must have been that as it's normally hard to get so close to a skylark/meadow pipit. This one was only a few feet away. The eggs, lizard, frog and little brown bird omelette barely filled a hole and we stopped for lunch soon after. (I would have to eat both of them side by side on the same plate to tell if they taste identical.)
'How much food have you got with you? Alex asked me.
Not that it was any of his business but I had a packet of six pork and pickle pies, a Cornish pasty, three packets of ready salted crisps, a six pack of Bakewell slices, a slab of cheese, a large well known brand of smoked sausage and four king sized mars bars.
'I don't want to run short.' I informed him. 'It's going to be a long day. How? What have you got?'
'Packet of fags and two sausage rolls.' He looked at me in expectation.
'Well you cant have any of mine.' I protested. 'I'm down to one Mars Bar and a Bakewell Slice here. You should have asked earlier.'
We've hardly started walking!'
'Getting up early makes me hungry. I don't smoke so I have to eat food instead.'
'You fat greedy bastard.' Throw me a crumb here!'
'No! I need to ration myself now. Have another cigarette if you're hungry. All the fashion models swear by them so they must work.'
He settled for that.

Our mountain of choice loomed into view and we soon made it onto the ridge via easy slopes without too much scree. Scree seems to pour down the major gullies like lava on this island.

Checking our watches we realised we wouldn't have time to do the other two peaks that made up the classic traverse. Our descent route off Beinn An  Oir was the normal route up. Nice narrow arête then the infamous scree which was as bad as I remembered it. Too large to run down easily yet too loose underfoot to relax on. Very hard on the old knees as you had to brace yourself for a potential slide every step.. Glad we didn't go up this way.

  Not doing the full traverse didn't bother me as I'd bagged them years ago and Alex was focused only on Corbett's for the moment. Even at that we didn't have that much spare time left to catch the ferry. On the mad downhill dash back along the track Alex's front brake stopped working which made the brilliant kilometres long freewheel at a steep angle even more exciting for him.

One of the walk back. Alex a happy man with a new Corbett under his belt.

Deer on the witches pavement.

The Caol lla Distillery on Islay. One of many on this island famed for its whisky, it's flocks of wintering geese and its fertile landscape.

Ringed plover seen on the shore waiting for the Jura ferry. Saved us waiting for bar snacks on the MV Finlaggan. A plateful of these cute little birds are not so easy to catch however. Fairly worked up an appetite all over again! Tastes just like chicken in a sauce of melted bars bar.
We got back just after one o clock in the morning. A long but enjoyable day.

Video this week is one I found when searching for images of the Aiguille De La Vanoise.  The iconic needle of the Vanoise National Park. A 9000 foot blade of rock in the French Alps that I climbed years ago with three friends from my old club.
It was my first proper rock climb in the alps and my last. Scared the bejesus out of me so much that I decided to just walk up the Alpine peaks after that.
It was down in the guide book as a useful training climb for more serious alpine ascents. After bagging the sofa sized summit on this shark fin arête with massive exposure on both sides of the foot wide ridge I decided the serious stuff would have to manage without me. Worth a watch. Spectacular in full screen and 480 definition. These guys make it look easy though. We bailed out after the summit when we came to a hanging abseil into space. 'Continue without incident' was all the guide book said at this point. Useful training for what! Flying? I've climbed harder stuff technically in the UK but never with this level of screaming exposure on each side. Imagine a 9000 foot high INN Pin ( long side way up) on Skye and that's close in feel to this narrow blade of rock.' Mammy- daddy' was muttered several times on this. I last used that phrase when I was five years old. What a tick though! Thanks to Brian and JB and JT.
.

Glasgow's West End.Botanic Gardens.University Campus. Kelvingrove Park.

My favourite time of year has always been Spring and early Summer. April, May and June. The Kaleidoscope season when Tinkerbell  finally allows herself to be caught and that little fairy is shaken playfully over the drab grey lands of the north to produce an incredible abundance of colour and lush vegetation. The season of cream after a diet of watered down muddy milk all winter. Maybe it was the late Spring but this year has been astounding for the riot of colour her golden dust has given us.

In the Botanic Gardens lies one of the most impressive examples of Glasgow's Coat of Arms.
http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/coat-of-arms/
For those who don't know the story this University explanation is the most interesting one I could find. I will be covering the University campus later. This is the official site.

The Botanic Gardens are twinned with Oceania which is a perfect combination and must be one of the best twins for a place to have. Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. Even their names sound like exotic relations of our own fickle Tinkerbell. Oceania also includes New Zealand, Australia and a huge chunk of New Guinea of course. It makes perfect sense from a botanical specimen angle but also on a senses level. If I had to pick the most colourful and lush area of Glasgow it would have to be here in the West End. Not only do you have the wonders of the Botanic Gardens with their outdoor splendour and range of Victorian glasshouses...only a short distance away you descend into the leafy confines of the River Kelvin walkway with its deep gorge and hanging gardens of mature woodland climbing steeply above the river.

If you follow this walkway down river you end up here. Kelvingrove Park with its lush slopes spreading out on a hill overlooking the city with Glasgow University Campus nearby.

A few minutes walk from that you have the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and the Kelvin Hall. Here's the great man himself. Lord Kelvin. Not so well known now to the general public but his CV is bloody impressive. Check out what he's known for under the picture of him in here. He was a very busy chap.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Kelvin
 These two buildings are inspired by the exotic east and would not look out of place rising from the jungles of the Indian Subcontinent built when all things Indian completely fascinated the west.
Instead of a seagull just imagine flying foxes in the photograph below. Very like a temple.

An iconic building famous for hosting some world title boxing events, the annual Kelvin Hall Circus with its acrobats, clowns, peeing elephants and its athletics track. Do you know how much pee an elephant has in it? A lot when it sprays onto you. Trust me. Put me right off the circus that did. (There's no glamour in a backstage pass) Now getting a new lease of life yet again as it's revamped for the upcoming Commonwealth Games in 2014.

A very happy heron. Don't know why though as a new intruder has taken up residence in the pond.

This looks like a Red Eared Terrapin, originally from the swamps of the Southern United States. Invasive species are a real pest these days and while they may be cute a few of these things will strip a pond of all its animal life. This one is the size of a dinner plate. Give it a score of years and you may have hundreds of them invading every waterway in the city. I can see why folk do it as they don't want to kill them in front of their kids and think it's a good idea to set them free in the wild but they do not belong here. DO YOU WANT TO KILL A BRITISH FAIRY! DO YOU WANT TINKERBELL AND THE NATIVE WILDLIFE TO DIE!

 

 Going by the small dent in its shell in the first photo someone has either taken a shot at it with an air rifle or the heron has tried to stab it. These things are very hard to get rid of however as this article demonstrates vividly.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/may/04/animalwelfare.world

On a lighter note the West End Festival Parade was on a couple of weeks ago so I went along. This sets off every Mid June from the Botanic Gardens then goes down the length of Byres Road and past the Glasgow/Kelvingrove Art Gallery to end in Kelvingrove Park. Very pink theme this year.

Liked this toothy dragon.

A shot of the Lanes area off Byres Road. There are several of these and they run parallel to the main shopping street on both sides with boutique's, bars, restaurants, a cinema and trendy student coffee shops. This is Ashton Lane which leads to the University campus. One of the main reasons this area thrives is the large student population on its doorstep.

Three minutes walk from the noise and bustle of Byres Road/ Ashton lane you come to this tranquil spot. The peaceful walkways and buildings of Glasgow University and The Cloisters. The views from up here are stunning over most of Glasgow.( the first photograph at the start of this entry is from here beside the flagpole.)  Apart from its academic record that's one of the reasons Glasgow University is so popular with overseas students as it has a heady mix of city life and parkland settings so close to each other.

The University Café and Takeaway in Byres Road. Not all students are always up for a few cheeky beers and this is a good alternative. Especially when the head hurts next morning or you just need food to wash down the drink. Happy days. Being an old timer and thick I started work at sixteen. My gap year was thoughtfully supplied however by the Scottish workers best friend Maggie Thatcher. Several years in fact. She gave a lot of people gap years in Northern Britain..

Shake a fairy. See if any golden dust falls out on your life.        My post for Tinkerbell.

On the video front here's a very different kind of Tinkerbell. Just for the terrapin a visual and aural explosion of Southern Delta Blues to remind it of the heat and swamps of Louisiana. No cotton mouths or other swamp snakes slithering along on Byres Road although there maybe a few night crawlers from time to time. I first discovered the music of The Black Keys due to this underrated and largely misunderstood  film. It's an interesting modern fable about betrayal, salvation, redemption and love. Aw!  Black Snake Moan.
Maybe this is what Tinkerbell looks like in the modern age :) Samuel L Jackson learned to play guitar for this film (assisted by a lot of blues greats in the background). Great song and a film which really captures the atmosphere and sweltering humidity of the deep dark southern lands. Sweet home Alamama indeed.


Blistering song that introduced me to The Black Keys before they hit the big time.

Fisherfield. Loch Maree. Day Three. Meall a' Ghiubhais

With another early start we packed up the tents and set off for Alex's third mountain of the trip. Meall a' Ghiubhais. This is a view of Aultbea and Mellon Charles. Not a breath of wind at sea level.
This Corbett turned out to be the best of the trip for me. Not only was it shorter at around 10 kilometres uphill but it also started by using the Beinn Eighe Mountain Trail which is a beautiful circular path of great variety and interest. It is steep and rugged in places but well made. If anyone is in this area with adventurous teenage children used to walking in the outdoors this is a great summer route even in dull weather. It would be tricky in snow or ice due to sections of bare quartz rock.  Beinn Eighe was Britain's first national nature reserve established in the 1950's and a lot of time and effort has obviously gone into this trail to make a viable path through some stunning terrain and natural native woodland habitats.

It was still early when we parked in the purpose built car park on the shores of Loch Maree a few kilometres west of Kinlochewe. This is early morning mist burning off the summit cliffs of Slioch, the iconic cube shaped Munro regally isolated at the  eastern end of the loch.
Next to the wooden visitor information shelter  in the car park you follow a quiet underpass beside a stream flowing into the loch which then leads uphill climbing through rugged terrain.

As you climb higher through the Caledonian pine woods, home to red squirrels and pine martins, the views open out over Loch Maree and its surrounding mountains. It felt nice to be climbing in the shade of the trees in the crisp cool of morning as it was shaping up to be another hot day.

A zoom of A Mhaighdean with the sun just burning off the mist from its summit cliffs.

The shores around Loch Maree  contain a range of seasonal insects that have found a living here since the retreat of the last ice age allowed them to return. As a life form they are almost as old as the surrounding rocks themselves yet only live for a brief fleeting period in a continuous cycle of  autumn death and spring rebirth. Makes you think of how we as a species fit in to the natural landscape when we have the Godlike power to destroy or save this miracle of evolution along with the rest of nature.
The whole of human evolution compared against a dragonfly is measured in the same brief time span we judge their short existence to be. They may live fast, short individual life's on the wing after an underwater stage but their time line history is on an impressive scale. Over 300 million years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meganeura
 This modern example is a four spotted chaser, a fast flying predator that catches other insects on the wing. Looks like some sort of fly is on the menu here as a pair of small wings seem to be sticking out its mouth. Hope its a cleg.

 Loch Maree has a fascinating archipelago of wooded islands. One island even has a loch in its centre with small islands within it making it unique in Scotland for this feature. It also has numerous sandy beaches but access to the islands is now firmly controlled as they are home to a variety of rare birds and animals. I 've only visited them once in the early 1970's and access is much tighter now. There is a telescopic observation visitor centre where you can view the islands from a safe distance.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Maree

Isle Maree has a long and fascinating history being home in its day to Vikings, Druids, and Saint Maelruba who reputedly lived as a hermit in the ruined chapel here. Queen Victoria visited the famous tree filled with hammered in coins and unfortunate folk were rowed out here in a misguided but well meaning attempt to cure them of lunacy.

 Another of the islands in the loch. this one has inlets and lochans of its own. I've always considered it a unique place and a world set apart.

After the trail led us up through woodlands and amazing slabs of gleaming white quartz we reached a lumpy plateau area filled with stunning blue lochans which hasn't changed greatly since glaciers roamed across it. This is Alex putting on a spurt now that his prize is in sight. Around this point the mountains of Torridon, Fisherfield and the main ridge of Beinn Eighe itself  catches the visitors eye.
A superb panorama.
The summit of Meall a' Ghiubhais itself ( I notice it's down as Ghiuthais on my other sheet 19 map for Gairloch and Ullapool) is a great viewpoint with views over a wide area.

 With a noticeable whirr of wings this flying beetle landed in our laps as we sat at the summit cairn. It's a two banded Longhorn beetle and didn't seem afraid of us in the slightest. Being good weather the air was full of flying, buzzing, biting things. This large beetle prefers wood instead and bores into trees to brood its young. Luckily my fine head of hair repulsed its attack but Alex with his bare dome kept a concerned eye on its movements. Being a mountain surrounded by forest Pinocchio is this post's theme.

On the way down we descended via the Cnoc na Gaoithe and a dramatic deep gorge which felt very similar to Alligator Gorge in the Flinder's Range area of South Australia. All red soaring cliffs and  almost eucalyptus like vegetation. There is a viewpoint here that looks out over Loch Maree and this is it.

The first time I visited this area I was knocked out by the mouth of the Kinlochewe River where it enters Loch Maree. In sunshine in spring and early summer its a fantastic mix of yellow gorse bushes, white sand and blue water. A very special place.

A last view of Beinn Alligin and its horns seen on the left.

Travelling back down the road I've always wanted to capture this view of  Pitlochry seen from the car.

When I arrived back at the house I had a look at my poor feet. Over seventy kilometres of rugged terrain in three days had left the sole of each foot bruised and tender. Funnily enough my toes felt fine even when I seemed to be in danger of losing  both toe nails.
Sorry to put you off your dinner. I'm away now for mine. In the words of a popular carrot muncher. That's all folks!

Might as well end with a final Emilie Simon video. Best known for her skills sitting behind a piano here she straps on an electric guitar to play live in a very different interpretation of the old Iggy Pop Classic.
'I Wanna be your Dog.' Moody and very atmospheric. Beauty, elegant grace, Belle Epoque flair and Rock and Roll. Not often that happens together at the one time.