A sure sign of a sad bagger is one that leave the car with full gore-tex already on. And so I cycled past the 'no mountain bikes' sign at Glen Dessarry in the rain on Saturday morning. The forecast was good in the morning on the East, not so good on the west. So there I was near Knoydart, the wettest part of the highlands. The forecast was that the rain wasn't so start until after noon. It was wrong and chucking it down by 11 am. As I free-wheeled down the hill to Strathan on my bike, a landrover drove up behind me. I tried to go fast to avoid holding it up, worried a little about what they might say. I turned off and gave a wave. it just drove on to the house, so no argument there. A wet, but easy cycle to above the bothy and up the slight ridge just west across the burn from the end of the trees. this is nice and leads to a nice ridge. Well, it would be a nice ridge in good weather. But I was there in bad weather. Wind, clag and snow in the air. A short drop down and onto the ridge coming down from the summit. The wind was intermittent, but now the ground was covered in snow. GPS told me I wasn't far. The final ridge and rocks would be neat in nice weather. But I was there in bad weather. On the summit, I noted that there are two rocks about 100ft apart looking the same height. Kicked myself for not going to Focus to buy a laser level like I planned. In good weather I could have checked this. But I was there in bad weather. So didn't look for the quartz outcrop of the landslip. Started to head down the ridge in the swirling snow. Right away it didn't look right. I quick look at my GPS and the upward track and I was about to go down the wrong ridge! Noticed soon enough so that no time was lost. I descended the ridge that drops to the glen just east of the summit. This would be a fine ridge in good weather. But I was there in bad weather ... Lots of little lochans and rock ribs. a fine way down to make a circuit. As I got low down, I could see a muddy path indicating where to cross the (now in spate) stream. The incremental wetness of my foot slipping off the rock as I jumped the stream was insignificant. A faint path leads along the hillside to where my bike was. I didn't get any wetter on the cycle out, since I was already soaked. A nice hill in good weather, but ....
"Rob Milne" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
A sure sign of a sad bagger is one that leave the car with full gore-tex already on. And so I cycled past the 'no mountain bikes' sign at Glen Dessarry in the rain on Saturday morning. The forecast was good in the morning on the East, not so good on the west. So there I was near Knoydart, the wettest part of the highlands. The forecast was that the rain wasn't so start until after noon. It was wrong and chucking it down by 11 am. As I free-wheeled down the hill to Strathan on my bike, a landrover drove up behind me. I tried to go fast to avoid holding it up, worried a little about what they might say. I turned off and gave a wave. it just drove on to the house, so no argument there. A wet, but easy cycle to above the bothy and up the slight ridge just west across the burn from the end of the trees. this is nice and leads to a nice ridge. Well, it would be a nice ridge in good weather. But I was there in bad weather. Wind, clag and snow in the air. A short drop down and onto the ridge coming down from the summit. The wind was intermittent, but now the ground was covered in snow. GPS told me I wasn't far. The final ridge and rocks would be neat in nice weather. But I was there in bad weather. On the summit, I noted that there are two rocks about 100ft apart looking the same height. Kicked myself for not going to Focus to buy a laser level like I planned. In good weather I could have checked this. But I was there in bad weather. So didn't look for the quartz outcrop of the landslip. Started to head down the ridge in the swirling snow. Right away it didn't look right. I quick look at my GPS and the upward track and I was about to go down the wrong ridge! Noticed soon enough so that no time was lost. I descended the ridge that drops to the glen just east of the summit. This would be a fine ridge in good weather. But I was there in bad weather ... Lots of little lochans and rock ribs. a fine way down to make a circuit. As I got low down, I could see a muddy path indicating where to cross the (now in spate) stream. The incremental wetness of my foot slipping off the rock as I jumped the stream was insignificant. A faint path leads along the hillside to where my bike was. I didn't get any wetter on the cycle out, since I was already soaked. A nice hill in good weather, but ....
Rob
no sign of re construction yet at the old lodge.
Well done Rob. I was on Sgurr Mor at the same time - which meant a rather unpleasant river crossing on the return leg. Weather at 1000M was absolutely diabolical, with my mate and I having to crawl over some very hard packed snow/ice just below the summit in order to avoid getting blown off the hill and ending up in Loch Quoich. So much for Spring!
I didn't get any wetter on the cycle out, since I was already
soaked.
Quoted message said:
A nice hill in good weather, but ....
Sounds like a pretty epic day and good news on the use of the bike. It is amazing how sometimes you get a run on an area where you either get all good weather or all bad weather. During my Munro bagging days I managed to get every one of the Cairngorms absolutely dry ! Did get soaked about a year ago on ascending to the plateau via the Fiacaill Ridge however ! Cheers Graham
Sounds like a pretty epic day and good news on the use of the bike. It is amazing how sometimes you get a run on an area where you either get all good weather or all bad weather. During my Munro bagging days I managed to get every one of the Cairngorms absolutely dry ! Did get soaked about a year ago on ascending to the plateau via the Fiacaill Ridge however ! Cheers Graham
I am cursed in Arrochar and Glen Sheil
Torridon, Skye and Ardgour are lovely to me though, and last year I started getting good days near Glenfinnan after years of faliure.
