An out and back, in a round about way

Trigpointing #2

There’s a small, fairly isolated, rounded hill that we have passed on almost every journey down south for the past twenty odd years and I’ve walked passed it too on a few occasions and every time I’ve thought, “I really must climb that hill sometime.”

Well, today, we did.

We headed south towards Grantown-on-Spey and parked up in the layby so that we could pick up the Dava Way and head north. As we set off, the local chap using his sit on mower to cut the grass verge stopped us and persuaded David to move the car to a more convenient spot, just opposite the start of our walk. I walked along the verge and David moved the car. Then, we joined the Dava Way and headed north. Our goal, the Knock of Braemory, soon hove into view.

Information board

The Knock

Another information board

There are no paths or tracks leading up the Knock, so after following the Dava a short way, we left it and cut across what should normally be quite boggy ground to pick up a vague ancient track that runs parallel with the road, taking in a few gentle contours on the way. After not quite a mile of fairly dry bog and a bit of heatheriness, we started to head slightly more directly uphill, over rough ground. Very rough ground. With a choice of much longer heatheriness or very long grass with lots and lots of really jaggy thistles. It was a bit of a struggle either way. So we struggled. Or at least, I struggled, David found it a whole lot easier.

It was quite a warm day despite being overcast, a mere 25 deg C as we I toiled up hill. After a little while, and a brief pause sitting on a handy rock, we made it to the top of the little hill and to the trig point. The views are stunning up there! Or would have been without the haze, but still worth the hard work. I have never sat on a trip point before. It wasn’t until after David had persuaded me that I could, that I realised once up, I’d have to get back down again. I didn’t hurt myself too much…

Fence line, but we didn’t follow it

No wonder I was struggling, I was carrying a donkey!!

I look nothing like a garden gnome, they don’t wear Tilley hats…

Ben Rinnes

We don’t have matching Tilley hats, noooo….

Playing with panorama on my camera

Over the bog cotton to Lochindorb

Over the bog cotton to the Cairngorms

There were a couple of small pools at the top, I think normally they might be small lochans, but it’s been very dry over the last year or so. I was puzzled by the strange fluttering noise I could hear as I was taking photographs of the scenery but eventually spotted a dragonfly, then another, then a couple more!

In the middle of that photograph, there is a dragonfly. I did not have the right equipment with me!

We made our way off the little hill in a slightly different direction, knowing that we would eventually drop onto the the Dava Way again and could head south back to the car. From this view point, we could just about see the spot Laura and I camped just over a year ago on our Pre-TGO Challenge overnight camp at Bogeney

Camp spot, almost centre of the photograph

All in all, a really rather lovely walk and I’m glad that, at last, I won’t ever pass this small hill and think, “I really must climb that hill sometime!”

In total (roughly, as usual) 4.63 miles and 747 feet ascent

Reflections of The Great Outdoors Challenge 2014

Here we are, a week after my return home from the Challenge and I’ve posted my write up, washed all my kit, cleaned and waxed my beautiful boots and aired my tent and sleeping bag. What’s left to do?

Well, there has to be a few thoughts on how it all went and a bit of planning for next time of course!

So, how did it go?

I really enjoyed the route. It was, essentially, quite simple and I was familiar with quite a bit of it, but it was testing enough at times and certainly beautiful. I loved it. We loved it!

How did my gear perform?

Splendidly as expected, on the whole.

As food has become a bit of a Challenge issue for me, I tried different food this time, from Mountain Trails. I chose two of each of Minced Beef Dinner, Chicken in Cream and Mushroom Sauce, Four Cheese Pasta and Mushrooms, Creamy Mushroom and Tomato Pasta and Vegetarian Rainbow Couscous, Hot Chocolate Pudding and Hot Apple and Custard Dessert. I inadvertently found out that the apple pudding is still actually quite nice when cold, but then, I am known to eat cold apple pie or crumble with cold custard for breakfast, so this is no surprise.

I wasn’t keen on the couscous, too spicy for me whilst backpacking, but the rest was very good. I also thought it was very good value for money, there are two portion sizes available and the small size was perfect for me. They all rehydrated well. I’ve previously had problems with meat, mushrooms and pasta with rehydration, but these were good. I only accidentally made one pasta soup, but it was still very tasty! I do like my food, but I don’t like paying over £10 for a dried meal that I may not finish or that there aren’t enough that appeal to me to give a bit of variety. These meals ranged between £2.99-£5.99 in the size I chose. Over all, I intend to use them again, but as always, I would note that each to their own.

I also discovered that if I buy four crusty rolls for a £1 and two small camembert from Co-op they will last me four days and do lunch admirably or dinner if I have a tomato soup too. Sorted.

My new Paramo Quito trousers. I initially found them very comfortable and it was great to just wear the trousers with no need to stop and pull on over trousers. They were very quiet too, which is a pleasant change. I would say I found them a little warm towards the end of the Challenge and opted not to wear them for the long, warm stroll to North Water Bridge, (wearing my Ronhills instead) although I did not walk with them vented as I could have done. At that point, I just wanted them OFF! I also found them to be a little too delicate…

This is a little rip in my bottom, about 1.5” across

I didn’t rip my trousers during the gracefully controlled slide down the waterfall. This was probably done just sitting on a rock as we did the Lairig and Laoigh. Just sitting. No slipping, sliding or wriggling, just sat right down. On a rock. I also grazed the knee slightly as I threw myself gently at the ground on the way to Glenmuick and there may be one or two other nicks around the ankles caused by the heather we trudged through.

I do like them, but I don’t think they are rugged enough to cope with the Challenge. I shall save up and get them repaired, they will be useful for day walks or D of E.

My new camera, an Olympus Tough, is excellent. Easy to use, produced photographs good enough for me and was certainly waterproof as it got a good drenching in the two downpours we had.

My little Laser is my darling. I love it! I do need to do a bit of repair work though as some of the stitching is coming loose on the pegging point at the tail end. Nothing major, I just need to get my needle and thread out.

Just a stitch or two

I also love my Osprey Exos 58. Everything fits, there’s rummage room and it’s comfy to carry. This also needs a bit of repair however. On its first Challenge, I carried a tube of sun cream in the hip pocket. Now, these tubes have a sharp bottom and this one managed to wear a hole in the side of the mesh hip pocket and then also in the mesh on the frame. I don’t think I want to repair this myself, so I shall save up and send this away too. I know carry a handy pocket size bottle with no sharp edges. And I used it this year!

Not a brilliant illustration of the problem

My Meindl Burma boots are the dogs doodahs! My feet were dry the whole way across, although that had something to do with the almost complete lack of rain and the fact that the paths and tracks we used were not doing a good impression of a river bed! My feet were comfortable. Apart from the days when we had substantial or unexpected road walking at the end of the day. Then the soles of my feet felt a bit sore and bruised and a little pounded but nothing that wasn’t recovered by the next day after changing into my sandals and giving them a rest.

The only other issue I had were the joints of my left foot which felt sore and inflamed at the end of a long day. I’m not sure if it was due to the change in my footbeds, my right foot which usually has the problems was fine. We’ll see what happens.

My new fleece, whilst a bit chunkier and heavier than I would have liked, was comfy and cosy and really useful.

I found it easy enough to use my filter bottle to drink during the day and then treated my water as usual for my night meal and breakfast. Yes, yes, I know, it’s Scotland, I don’t need to do that, blah blah, but it’s what I’m drinking and cooking with and what I choose to do.

I think everything else did what I wanted it to do, so I’m happy.

As to next time? I have a route. And I’m very excited!

The importance of not overtraining

As soon as Laura returned home after her most recent travels, we arranged a meet at Ls Belles HQ for a stroll and a chat and a coffee.

And so it was I found myself dropping David off at work so that I could pinch the car, again. As I drove in a vaguely south westerly direction, the slight dampness of the weather became more of a persistent wetness, which was not overly inspiring. I soon found myself parking the car behind the Old Firestation Tea Rooms in Tomintoul but in a break with tradition, I was early and Laura was late. As I waited patiently, however, the persistent dampness eased and the skies began to lift, things were looking up. Laura arrived and we immediately went into the tea rooms to order cups of tea and take our usual seats in the window by the toy fire engine, ahhhh.

After our second cups, the weather had improved dramatically. We’d decided that any of the hills in the surrounding area were likely to be a bit damp underfoot, given their nature of being so and the recent persistent wetness, so we opted for a walk from Brig’ o’ Brown which I’ve done on a couple of occasions. We didn’t have the relevant map, but aided by two devices loaded with Viewranger and my reasonable memory of the route, we were quite happy to trundle without one.

I decided against my usual parking spot this time and instead we opted for the first car park with the information board, that neither of us photographed…

From the car park, towards the Cromdale Hills

The walk began with a quick trot along the slightly busy road before taking a track that leads steeply away from the road and becomes a bit, er, damp, underfoot. I’ve seen it worse. The track follows Glen Brown for roughly a mile until reaching the ruins at Tombrek, then it heads away from the Glen slightly uphill and joins the Dorback Lodge to Tomintoul track as it enters the trees.

Looking south west along the glen

Looking the other way

There’s a lot of history in this area and in this area alone, you can see the ruins of many abandoned steadings, a shame in such an idyllic setting, even with the sometimes harsh winters.

We were already looking for a lunch stop, but I thought the bench I remembered was too far ahead. We looked at every grassy bank, every fallen tree trunk, every rock, but to no avail. After wandering along this quiet track through the trees for a while, we headed out in to the open where there has been clear-felling since I was last here. The views are opened up brilliantly, but further along the track the remaining huge trees had suffered great losses during the recent storms. The devastation was astounding.

I found and we took the little soft, mossy path that leads up into the trees, still looking for a place to perch, nothing was forthcoming. Up through the tall, ancient pine trees which eventually give way to silver birch and a more open woodland, eventually leading to a couple of stiles. There was also quite a bit of barbed wire fencing running closely along the path, which is disappointing on what is generally and well run and welcoming estate.

After climbing the second stile and heading uphill towards more open moorland, it occurred to me that we were close to the bench and sure enough, it hove into view just in time to save us from starvation. Bums were swiftly parked and sandwiches made short work of and today, we had a view!

Looking along Strath Avon (A’an) towards the Cromdale Hills

Not taking a photograph of Laura…

Shortly after leaving our lunch bench, there was a second. It must be The Spot for lunch. We also met the only two other walkers we saw here. They weren’t overly chatty. We walked on. I wouldn’t let Laura take ‘the shortcut’, in case it wasn’t one, so instead, I made her follow the path along and down the moorland and into the trench, which is really an ancient and therefore very worn track. It runs along the edge of yet more woodland before suddenly dumping us at the car park where we left our vehicles. The weather was so lovely, we utilised the sun chairs Laura has in the van and enjoyed a few rays before we once again set off in our own vehicles and Laura followed me to Grantown-on-Spey in order to re-fuel and I headed home.

A remarkably pleasant day despite it’s rather inauspicious start, roughly 4.62 miles, 884 ft of upness, two cups of tea each but no cake…

So then, about a week later, we thought we should have one more training session and arranged to meet at the alternative Ls Belles HQ. I set off in reasonably cloudy weather but at Brig’ o’ Brown I could see that I couldn’t see the hills beyond Tomintoul. Sure enough, it was a bit cloudier and a bit more damp over The Lecht and decidedly more damp in Ballater than it had been in Tomintoul. I parked the car in my usual spot and headed off to find Laura, already ensconced with a cappuccino in The Bothy. So I purchased myself a latte with an extra shot and joined her at the table in the window.

A table in the window

We chatted a while whilst it dampened a bit more outside and then decided we should have a second coffee, this time I only had a single shot. We chatted quite a bit more and took it in turns to queue for the toilet without leaving our seats. Eventually we decided we should make a move and went to the van to collect Laura’s day pack. We then went to my car and as I rummaged in the boot of the car, Laura decided it was too wet to walk and that we should have our sandwiches seated in the car, so we did.

We ate our sandwiches and chatted quite a lot more before we decided that the day was a dead loss, we both needed the powder room and that we should retire once more to The Bothy for a cup of tea and some cake.

We have now completed our training, quite fully.

0 miles, 0 feet upness, 2 Cappuccinos, 2 Lattes, a cherry and almond scone and a millionaires slice, yum!!

The Great Outdoors Challenge 2014 Gear List

 

For those that may be interested.

In alphabetical order (sorry). All weights in grams (unless otherwise stated) and approximate and items may be subject to change (if I change my mind. I’m allowed!)

Carry

2 cards/cash in holder	30
3 inhalers	101
Bottle Water to Go	138
Blue towel	51
Camera	224
Charger	41
Compass	30
Cup	94
Exped packliner	115
Exped yellow	45
First Aid Kit	447
Gaiters Trekmates	68
Glasses case	34
Gloves	80
Handkerchief	15
Handwarmers (disposable)	175
Hat purple	20
Head torch Petzl e-llite	47
Icebreaker leggings	186
iPod Shuffle	12
Jetboil Flash/gas	661
Keens sandals	564
Laser Competition outer/inner	823
Maps x3	120
Mobile/GPS	141
Montane Prism jacket	388
Notepad/pen	18
Pants	46
Pegs and pole	295
Pillow case purple	49
Platty Soft Bottle x2	48
Podsacs L	66
Podsacs M	52
Raincover	121
Ronhills	222
Rucksack Osprey Exos 58	1140
Sitmat	32
Sleeping bag PHD	820
Smartwool base	154
Socks	50
Sun cream	69
Sunglasses	39
Synmat/pump	502
TGO Fleece	197
Trowel/paper	39
Washbag	433
Water treatment	78
Windproof	160
Total	9280

Food

1881

Total carried

11.161kg

 

Worn

Boots	1448
Buff	51
Gloves	43
Paramo Velez smock	734
Socks	50
Tilley	143
Trousers Paramo Quito	404
T-shirt Icebreaker	106
Underwear	20
Walking poles	515
Total	3514

And, my maths is notoriously dodgy…

EDIT Ah, that’s better.

The start of a new occasional series: Trigpointing

So today, we decided to go out for a little training (not least to avoid a little annual nonsense) before Laura returns to the continent for a short spell before the Challenge in May. We’d decided sometime ago that we should have a theme or purpose to our walks rather than just the tea and cake thing, so we thought that we could maybe start to visit trigs. Now, having had a look, it would appear that there are probably thousands across Moray and Aberdeenshire, so we might be a little choosy. Today we chose one that was easily accessible as we didn’t have quite all day.

We arranged to meet at the car park beside Castle Roy and I was a little early than expected, I still managed to arrive after Laura though, so I was true to form. After neatly abandoning my car, I quickly popped into the van for a natter before we set off. Unfortunately there were a few dark clouds around and there was a light sprinkling of rain which delayed the start of our walk for a little while, but as Laura hadn’t put the heating on in the van, we were soon starting to chill and the best option was to hop out, faff a while, then start to walk. As luck would have it, there is a portaloo in the church yard next to the castle, so we formed an orderly queue to powder our respective noses before setting off.

Castle Roy, under repair

Meall a’ Bhuachaille and Craiggowrie Ridge

We set off across the road to walk the start of the Castle Roy Circular, but I had no intention of doing a waymarked walk. Behind the Abernethy Activity Centre, we stayed on the main path which tracks up and away around the hill, through rather nice woodland. It was very peaceful and pleasant walking.

I have No Idea…

Lovely little treecreeper

We ignored a few tracks going off left and right in order to pick up a vague track following a fire break. I wasn’t expecting a path as such, but there were obvious signs of a vehicle track, but it was quite deeply overgrown and it wasn’t long before it became impossible to pass with heather and juniper bushes forming an impenetrable barrier.

The soon-to-be-impenetrable firebreak…

That had started so well

We veered slightly east off the track, but keeping it in view, to find an easier way. It was quite rough and tussocky, with the occasional fallen tree and hidden holes, but we were able to make reasonable progress. Using our GPS track, we knew that we were not far from our target, but the forestry had become quite dense by now and we were weaving through the trees and thick undergrowth to make headway.

Suddenly, the cry went up “I can see it!”

I forged ahead, a new lease of life pushing me uphill amongst the ever more dense trees. I lost sight of the “trig”, but kept going, until I suddenly realised it had been an optical illusion. Ho hum. At least we were closer now, so we continued bashing our way uphill.

Eventually, the ground began to level out and although the trees had finally begun to thin out, there were still the occasional clump over old trees and plenty of heather and gorse. Where was the darn trig!

GPS in hand, I knew I was within feet of the trig and suddenly, there it was! Hurrah!! The trig of Carn na Loinne.

A well hidden trig

In all this

We celebrated, enjoyed broken views of the mountains around us, then decided to find a route down, but preferably not the route we’d clambered up. And there was a demand for a lunch spot.

So, we headed off, with occasional pauses, the odd peer at the GPSs and maybe the odd consultation of the map whilst still trying to keep an eye out for a suitable lunch stop (some people are quite choosy…). The route we chose appeared alarmingly easy in comparison to the route we’d come up. We’d decided to had down the west sign of our original track in an aiming off fashion in order to hit either our original track at the bottom or a track to the south of it. Quite soon we’d ducked down out of the keen breeze and suddenly spied a fallen tree that would give a handy, deer poo free perch. Phew, a lunch stop! The view was more not being able to see the wood for the trees, but it was nice enough and we were visited be a few dear little birds that hid their identity very well.

After lunch, we set off down hill on what now appeared to be another old vehicle track, but one I suspect was perhaps a pervious forestry work track, so not adopted as a regular route.

Broken views

A nice a track to return on

However, it was not too rough or overgrown at all and in no time at all we found a real track at the bottom of it, just as we expected. Brilliant. Finally able to stride out properly we were soon on the track back to the cars and a quick trip to the coffee shop at Revack.

A visitor at the cafe

Roughly a total of 4.99 miles and 879 ft ascent.