Mike and Roger are friends from Oxford that I know for roughly 20 years. And after I had finished my round of the Munros in 2005, Mike started his round in earnest. Since then we have met for Munro trips and since I did not want my move to Munich to get in the way of Scottish mountaineering, I booked the EasyJet night flight on the 3.5.2018 and arrived in Edinburgh just before midnight. Two sugarfree Red Bulls and 4 hours later, I arrived with my hired red Fiat 500 in the Westward B&B in Cannich and followed Mike's signs to the bedroom. We got up at 8 am, ate breakfast and at around 10 am we arrived at our starting point in Glen Strathfarrar (the glen with the barrier guarded by that sometimes friendly lady from Yorkshire, called Margaret). The skies were heavy...
... and it drizzled whilst Mike, Roger and I exchanged stories and made our way up to the ridge. However, one team descended and our way was blocked by a cornice. I kicked a step ladder and also hacked steps through the cornice to allow our team to make it to the ridge. Here are Roger and Mike going for it...
It was a tough, windy and rainy Scottish day on the hills but I loved battling the wind as there is little wind in Munich. The Strathfarrar Munros are Sgurr na Fearstaig, Creag Ghorm a'Bealaich, Carn nan Gobhar (read by us as "go bar") and Sgur na Ruaidhe.
Here is the Strava track of our round.
We realised that we were in the only glen in Scotland with a gate and that the gate would be closed at 19 h by the Yorkshire lady. So we rushed back to our cars. After some dynamic Glen driving I reached the gate at 18.57 h and Roger and Mike at 18.59 h (which was uncharacteristic for an Epic prone team). Margaret was not amused. Dinner and Ale in the Struy Inn and then I fell asleep on my bed.
For the Saturday we had planned the Munros North of Loch Mullardoch. During my round of the Munros, I had done all the Mullardoch Munros in two days, with a glorious camp and a cloud inversion sunrise during a warm April weekend. Here is Roger walking up to the dam...
... and here we approach Mike's great idea which is Angus' speedboat. Angus' speedboad would help us to avoid a long walk in on a poor, boggy path.
Here is Angus...
... and here is Mike. Mike probably expected some pleasure boat trip but Angus meant business, it was windy and the combination was a white-knuckle ride down Loch Mollardoch. Every wave rammed our spine into our skull and so it felt more like the Streif in Kitzbühel than a cruise on lake Chiemsee. We exited near the end of the loch...
... and started to ascend on the pathless ground with some blue skies. A long way up to An Socach, our first Munro,...
... from the shores of Loch Mullardoch...
... past a stream of water...
... and the carcass of a red deer...
... up some shorter steps...
... through a wild country with endless peat hags...
... higher and higher...
... and so on...
... to reach the summit of An Socach. Here is Roger...
... and here is Mike.
We then followed the ridge to the East...
... for a long time...
... up to above 1100 m...
... to the second Munro of Creagan Toll an Lochain.
From there a 300 m descent and re-ascent Sgurr na Lapaich. I remember the hard slog up from the bealach from my first round of these Munros. I remember being shattered. At the summit we met a Scottish team that went our way and a Mancunian team that planned to do a two day trip around the loch. Their bags seemed very heavy and they were late in the day.
After that a descent with a great view to the East face of this mountain followed by a grassy descent into the valley.
Here is the Strava track of our round including Angus' pleasure cruise.
On the Sunday morning, I drove back to Edinburgh and decided to take some photos of the great Scottish bridges. I like Scotland as a country that builds bridges rather than walls. Here is the iconic Forth Bridge, the oldest of the three...
... and here is Scotlands new bridge, the Queensferry crossing.
Again, a hard but great weekend in the Scottish hills. Still plenty to do as Mike still needs to bag over 100 Munros.
HW
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