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Carn Dearg Geal Charn Aonach Beag Beinn Eibheinn Ben Alder Beinn Bheoil Map I had driven up to Dalwhinnie from Ware the previous day (Saturday), a journey of just under 500 miles. Not much at Dalwhinnie and the only accommodation seemed to be at the local hotel, 'The Inn on Loch Ericht'. At £33.50 this didn't seem too bad although I found what looked suspiciously like a pubic hair in my mushroom fusili - I tried not to think about it. The Sunday morning dawned somewhat gloomily with dark clouds looming overhead and by the time I'd made my way to the railway level crossing where the outbound route starts, it was already doing some light rain. I got the stuff ready and then sat a while waiting hopefully for the rain to stop - well it's somehow dispiriting setting off in the rain. Anyway, obligingly enough it did stop, although the skies remained dark and gloomy, so I got on my bike and set off along the track which follows the north bank of Loch Ericht. (9.30) This was the first time I'd ever taken the bike with me and I soon found myself sweating and panting even though the going was mostly quite level.
I reached Loch Pattack and carried on as far as the Culra Bothy (11.00) where I left the bike and a few things I didn't need to carry up the hills - my sleeping bag, some food, the cycle repair kit and my spare inner tube.
From the bothy I cast around for a path up Carn Dearg but not finding one immediately I adopted the usual impatient approach of setting off directly up the hillside. This has the advantage of directness but the disadvantage of having to plod up the steep way through long grass and heather. At last I got onto the crest of the NE ridge and from there it was an easier walk along to the summit (1.05) The wind was strong on the ridge and there were some brief showers and even a bit of hail. Overall it's a grassy hillside with a bit more stone around at the summit where you are rewarded with some good views across to Beinn a Chlachair, Creag Pitridh and the other Geal Charn, all three of which I climbed back in 2001.
Leaving the summit of Carn Dearg at 1.25 it was an easy walk (apart from the wind) over the gentle rise of Diollaid a Chairn, past the lochan, Loch an Sgoir, to the sudden wall-like face of Geal Charn. It wasn't too bad though - a path led all the way up and no problems were encountered. At the top there's an extensive, grassy plateau and the summit cairn is situated atop a small hillock on the far side. I got there at 2.55. Beside the cairn there were these two flowers on the ground, still quite fresh, with a tag bearing the words: 'For Sean, with love'.
I left Geal Charn at 3.10, dropping quickly down to the col from where I climbed the short, steepish side of Aonach Beag. A good path once again and no difficulties. At the top of this stretch there's a small, grassy, plateau and a walk of a couple of hundred yards brought me to the rather undistinguished cairn. (3.35)
On to the next one… I left Aonach Beag at 3.45 and made my way towards Beinn Eibheinn - it was a fairly straightforward dip down to the col and then a climb up to a nice ridge. The wind had died down a bit now which was good but meant that the clouds lingered longer and the drizzle became more persistent. It also became a bit misty now. Walking through the cloud I came to a slight eminence topped with a small cairn. Was this the top? I thought it was and the GPS reading was close enough to make it seem possible so I sat down and took a picture. The mist was hiding anything beyond a hundred yards though and I felt a bit uneasy - shouldn't the top have had a bigger cairn, I wondered. I decided to carry on a bit further just to check and sure enough a hundred yards further on the ground began to rise again and it wasn't long before I reached the proper, unmistakeable summit - this time marked by a bigger cairn. Even so my confidence was shaken and I had to go a bit further yet to check - no mistake though, this was it. (4.25)
I returned to the col between Beinn Eibheinn and Aonach Beag, demolishing the false cairn on the way. I don't normally demolish anything but in this case I felt vindictive towards it as the cairn marked nothing in particular and could have quite unnecessarily undermined my munroist ambitions. I imagined myself in the Old Folks Home a few years later mumbling '… and here's me at the top of Beinn Eibheinn, my 189th munro…' only to be interrupted by some cackling crone saying 'Hehehe… that's not Beinn Eibheinn. See here it is in my summit pic…' And having to propel my wheel chair all the way back to Culra bothy to do it properly. I made up for the demolition by building a new cairn on the col, to mark the point where the path down leaves the ridge. Anyway from my new cairn I followed the path down; it was all grassy and straightforward and I eventually joined the path along the Bealach Dubh. A small slog up to the high point and then it was downhill all the way along a good path right back to the bothy (7.30). It had stopped raining by the time I got on the Bealach Dubh path and the weather was quite nice now - the wind had died down and the sun was out. It was a long walk to the bothy though and by the time it came in sight I was pretty knackered.
There were some other folk at the bothy when I got there. I said hi to a girl - she said hi back and then said 'we're staying in the other room'. I thought it would look a bit odd to move my stuff to the other room as well so I stayed where I was and consequently didn't see much of them after that. I made a fire with the logs already in the fire place - that warmed me up ok and I had a meal of spaghetti and olives, same as I'd had in Fisherfield. Strangely it didn't seem quite as nice this time. Still it filled me up and I went to bed early, sleeping ok-ish. At least the bothy was clean and dry and I was glad I'd decided to try it rather than lug my tent up all the peaks.
One other thing - someone had taken my spare inner tube. Annoying but at least they'd had the decency to leave a note and an offer to reimburse double the cost. [I emailed the chap and got the following reply: My valve blew out just before I reached the bothy. I hated to take your tube and believe it or not it was the first time ever that I have been anywhere on my bike without a spare. I was surprised that it was lying there and thought maybe someone had left it for such emergencies. I was back at the bothy on Saturday and left a new one for anyone else who might need it. I will happily send you a wee gift if you send me your address. I told him to just consider the tube as a gift but he repeated his offer and expanded by saying he'd like to send me a copy of his book 'Rock and Roll Mountains'. Well that sounded interesting so I reversed my decision and sent him my address. The next day I looked up the book on the internet and found it was by a chap called Graham Forbes who was a former member of the Incredible String Band. Wow. Famous people riding around on my inner tube! Apparently the book was about his band experiences mixed with hill-walking which he had taken to as an escape from the hard life of rock & roll, sex and drugs. Er… I'm still waiting for the book to arrive, Graham :-) ] 4/7/05 The next morning I looked out of the bothy window at 6.00 and it was raining so I turned over and had another 15 mins in the sleeping bag. I then got up and had some porridge and the day seemed a bit brighter. Unfortunately some pillock had used one of the tools stored in the bothy porch and on leaving had bolted the door. As this was also the porch leading to my room I found myself locked in! Grrr. I climbed out of the window with no difficulty and wrote it off to experience. Don't think they meant any harm. By 7.15 I was ready to set off so I left the bothy and crossed the Allt a Chaoil reidhe via a shaky suspension bridge a few hundred yards to the north. After that a good path took me gently uphill and along the Bealach Beithe until I came to the large lochan situated between Ben Alder and Beinn Bheoil. I walked along the east bank of this lochan and then climbed the slight incline to the head of the valley where there's a broad, grassy col between the two mountains.
At this point I turned right and began the slog up the steep side of the Ben Alder massif. It wasn't too difficult, mainly grass and rocky outcrops, and I soon came to the point where the terrain levels out onto an extensive, stone-littered plain and a fairly lengthy but easy walk around the horseshoe edge brought me to the summit of Ben Alder. (10.50)
After a quick bite to eat and a photo I left the top at 11.10 and retraced my steps to the bealach., where I saw a fine, large, orange moth on a patch of grass. Then it was an easy walk up the next hillside, taking in the 'Top', Sron Coire na h-Iolaire, on the way. The ground dropped down a bit as I headed north along the ridge then a gentle rise led up to the summit of Beinn Bheoil (1.00).
It was an easy descent along the ridge all the way to the final level section where, by turning left down the hillside, I was able to eventually rejoin my outbound path. From there it was a simple, speedy return to the bothy (14.35) where I picked up my sleeping bag and bike. I left the bothy at 3.00 and had an easier ride back than the ride in - less weight, of course, after eating and drinking my supplies, but also the overall trend this way was downhill. At any rate I was back at the level-crossing at 4.00, feeling very dehydrated. The Inn on Loch Ericht was full this time and the only other place for accommodation was the B&B at Balsporran Cottages run by Ann and Phil Nickson. I got fixed up here and found it to be an excellent place with a very friendly welcome and terrific meals available. (I had penne pasta and mushroom sauce with salad & garlic bread, followed by rhubarb sponge and custard - lovely). The breakfast next day was equally magnificent and left me barely needing anything more till the evening. Thanks Ann. | ||||||||||||||||
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