Day 80 - 82 'Forging on...'

21/22 June 2023 Days 80/81

This was the start of a two-day expedition to Slioch, the Fisherfield Six (5 Munros and 1 Corbett) and An Teallach (2 Munros). Euan set off promptly at 7.30am from Kinlochewe at the boundary to the Letterewe Estate. He set off with a full pack which he planned to stash and then recollect at a couple of points on the route to Dundonnell on the A832. A recce on the previous day had discovered that a potential use of a bike for the first 5k of the route would not be an advantage as Euan soon confirmed as he walked the whole route. Euan did his first stash at the bottom of Slioch, thus easing the climb with no heavy sack to carry uphill. After Slioch, he then proceeded on to the Fisherfield Six which are normally tackled from the north as opposed to Euan’s south to north traverse to link them with Slioch. Some time had been spent the previous evening in the van deciding the best route – most economical in terms of distance, terrain and height gained/lost. Euan’s second day would focus on An Teallach, another iconic, eye-catching mountain which is very visible with its red sandstone pinnacles and quartzite light grey scree slopes at its eastern end. In a text, Euan has just exclusively informed the writer that he is closing in on Shenavall Bothy in a mammoth day of 47.8km in over 13.5hrs after bagging the first 6 Munros. The commander obviously advised stop and rest which he planned to do!

Although Euan did make it to Shenavall Bothy, it wasn’t as peaceful and as homely as he had anticipated. Having eaten very late, he found sleep difficult even though he was very tired. Then two walkers arrived in the bothy very late in the night to disturb the peace and quiet.

Days 80/81 Munros – 8 Total Munros - 262

Slioch – Spear Hill

Beinn Tarsuinn – Transverse Hill

Mullach nan Coire Mhic Fhearchair – Summit of the bothy Corrie of Farquhar’s Son

Sgurr Ban – White Peak

A’ Mhaighdean – the Maiden

Ruadh Stac Mor – Big Red Stack

Stats – 47.8Km, 3,252m assent, 3,255m decent and 57,207 steps

(An Teallach – the Forge)

Bidean a Ghlas Thuill – Pinnacle of the Grey/Green Hollow

Sgurr Fiona - White or Wine Peak

Slioch, according to the Scottish Mountaineering Club, is “one of the great sights of the northern Highlands, well seen and much photographed’ protruding upwards as it does out of Loch Maree with the buttresses similar to a spear like shape. Loch Maree is more likely to be more ancient Irish in origin. It is interesting to note that Ireland is viewed as the “old country” since its people populated many areas of what we now know as Scotland today. Loch Maree also figured in more recent times when from the early 1600’s, English ironmasters set up furnaces on the loch’s northeast shores to make use of the plentiful wood which was turned into charcoal. Strangely it was far easier to transport iron ore here as opposed to shipping the charcoal to the source of iron ore. This industry flourished for 50yrs until they had used up all the available wood to make into charcoal. By World War Two, the forests had fully regrown, and they used the wood as ammunition boxes.

Just north of Loch Maree is the sea loch, Loch Ewe which also has a bit of WW2 history. This loch was a safe haven for Naval warships which escorted the Artic convoys carrying vital supplies. As a result, this area of Wester Ross became a secured area with wooden barriers across roads to limit / deny public access. One such barrier was removed by an alleged Nazi sympathiser and “incomer” whose action was investigated by the police but found no wrongdoing. On his death in 1951, a piece of sawn wood from the wooden barrier was found in his house. Surely a plot for a “cold case team” to reinvestigate with the potential of a series based in this remote part of Scotland.

To return to Gaelic names after this historical digression, Beinn Tarsuinn – Transverse Hill is so described because it runs east/west compared to its neighbours north /south. A’ Mhaighdean – the Maiden is called the last sheaf in a corn harvest in Gaelic and Scots farm life. The mountain can from the south resemble a “stook” – 8 or 10 sheaves stacked against one another to dry after cutting. The last sheaf was sometimes dressed in the clothes of a young girl or made into a straw dolly If the harvest was good. Rather cruelly, if it was bad, they used old women’s clothes and called it, A’ Chailleach – Old Woman.

An Teallach – the Forge – so named because of its shape but other interpretations mention the hearth or the large flat stone at the rear of a crofter’s fire as being the inspiration of the name. A strong case for the forge name was the fact that smiths were as revered and respected as gods in these times and this strong and imposing mountain certainly demands respect and reverence. Its associated Munros have very ordinary names, but the ridge does feature Lord Berkley’s seat. This is a pinnacle that overhangs a vertical face and where Lord Berkley Paget sat with his feet dangling over the edge for a bet. A stalker, Willie Finlayson, his name just seems right, helped push the lord up to his seat so that he could look down over the loch. The writer surmises that either the Lord was afraid, infirm, too fat or merely expected his stalker to help him as he had probably throughout the day. Maybe Willie had a side bet? (There is no factual evidence whatsoever that these scurrilous slurs on Lord Berkley Paget have any substance – The Editor)

Finally for Gaelic improvers – yes, you’ve all probably reached that stage in your Gaelic education – you might assume that Sgurr Fiona would translate as White Peak, but it appears that fion also means wine. Despite the natural assumption that whisky reigns supreme in the Highlands, it seems that wine was a common drink until the early 19th century. Perhaps the red sandstone or the pinnacles appearing like the necks of wine stone pitchers were the inspiration for the name. Whatever, Euan and the commander will endeavour to support the Auld Alliance and Highland cultures if they achieve success in Ch282.

People tend to know about the Irish Potato Famine which resulted in starvation for many Irish crofters due to a devastating blight in their potato crop which was a staple of their diet. A similar blight hit Scottish crofters, but famine relief programmes were better organised than Ireland with few people dying of starvation. The Navy distributed oatmeal and other supplies but the crofters had to work for their rations – 8hrs a day, 6 days a week from 1846 to 1852. Much of this work involved building roads which became known as destitution roads. The road from Dundonnell to Braemore is still known today as the Destitution Road.

A final big shop was required which resulted in the commander visiting Tesco Superstore in Dingwall and surprisingly he coped well in this store with more aisles than any other which he had visited on this trip. The only temporary blank was finding Birds Custard Powder which had become an essential in Euan’s sweet menu. With this tin found, the only problem was squeezing everything into the van’s small fridge, some of the beer tins had to be repacked in the boot. The afternoon and night was spent at Loch Glascarnoch which was scenic enough but a little noisy from passing vehicles. The very strong signal was a bonus, however.

Given the very dry weather, it was possible to walk along the old lochside road which would normally be submerged in water. The commander enjoyed a long traffic free walk along its length, stopping to admire the small bridges which were usually hidden from view under water. He then spent a quiet night in the van with the decreasing traffic noise the only distraction.

The following night after having met up with Euan who proceeded to cycle to the next starting point, it was agreed to sample the delights of Ullapool in the late afternoon. The delights of the Ceilidh Place followed by excellent fish from the Seafood Shack rounded off a good day. The commander thought a recent quote which he discovered was apt for the occasion – “After a day’s walk, everything has twice its usual value.” G M Trevelyan.

Ice cream stop...

23 June 2023 Day 82

Euan started off to complete the two outliers in the Fannichs with an early start – A Chailleach and Sgurr Breac before a mammoth day going from one end to the other with a haul of no less than 9 Munros. The Fannichs means to grow faint or feeble, something which Euan doesn’t seem to suffer from.

Today’s Munros – 9 Total Munros. – 269

A Chailleach - the Old Woman

Sgurr Breac – Speckled Peak

Meall a Chrasgaidh – Hill of the Crossing

Sgurr nan clach Geala - Peak of the White Stones

Sgurr nan Each – Peak of the Horses

Sgurr Mor – Big Peak

Beinn Liath Mor Fannich – Big Grey Hill of Fannich

Meall Gorm – Blue Hill

An Coileachan – the Little Cock

Meall a Chrasgaidh literally means a box or coffer but in this instance, it translates as a crossing since it guards an ancient pass or crossing. An Coilleachan refers to the male grouse which in just over a month’s time will be much fewer in number.

Before leaving the west completely, another piece of World War Two history should be described. In 1942, some “mad” scientists convinced the government that the war against Nazi Germany should include germ warfare. They wanted to drop mint cake, laced with anthrax over Germany and to trial the lethal anthrax germs, they planted them in Gruinard, an uninhabited island off Wester Ross. It worked as a flock of sheep died but the government, thankfully abandoned the experiment but Gruinard remained in quarantine and a deadly place. After a costly decontamination exercise - £500000 – the island was declared safe to visit. Locals and some scientists remain unconvinced.

The commander left Euan to start his round of the Fannichs and travelled round to Euan’s end point for the day at Lochluichart. He was to play a more active part today, however, since it was proposed to “plant” Euan’s bike 8k up the private Fannich Estate road so that at the end of a long trek through the hills, he could use his bike for the last 8k. Regular readers will recall the procedure for the stashing of a bike in a remote area of an estate. This time, the commander had to hide Euan’s bike somewhere along a 1k stretch of track. He found lots of clues to guide Euan to his bike – a pile of gravel at a fork in the track, a salt lick on a post in front of a grassy hummock and a very large concrete pipeline running along the glen. And just for good measure, a large stone was placed on the verge about 20m from the hummock. The commander just hoped that Euan never asked him to stash his bike in a desert!

Euan would not need a bothy on this trek but has been grateful as has many others for these refuges or old cottages in remote Scottish glens. Many have been taken into the care of the Mountain Bothy Association whose members voluntarily maintain and renovate these very old former homes/huts. It must be stressed that the estates often help and support this work which is a commendable joint exercise. For those who have never entered a bothy, they are all very different. Many have open fires, sometimes with a stock of wood, most have a table and chairs, most have empty wooden bunks and some have an upper floor. Visitors are expected to remove any litter with them and respect the bothy itself and the surrounding area. Shenavall includes a short history of the bothy including the account of a nearby house occupied by Angus Urquhart, an estate worker and 3 young children from 1949 - 1955. The children received their education from a teacher who arrived on horseback on a Monday and left on a Friday after delivering lessons in the family home.

Euan met several others on these hills which are more accessible than many especially from the A835. Most walkers tackle them in groups of two, four or seven but few attempt to complete all nine in one day. Euan would do this round of 43k to the surprise and admiration of all who met him. He was glad to find the stashed bike after the last Munro and quickly sped downhill to the waiting van. The night was spent at a layby at Loch Achanalt with views of the loch and the occasional two carriage train on the track on the other side of the track. The evening passed quickly with the usual debrief, planning ahead and oh the removal of ticks which seem to be particularly prevalent in the area.

Stats – 43km, 8hr 50mins, 2,817m assent, 2,906m decent and 46,051 steps