Falling over on a Stag night

I recently did an overnight kayak trip in Outer Loch Torridon, setting out from Shieldaig on a bright afternoon.  Cloudbanks away to the northwest looked a bit ominous, but the weather in Loch Shieldaig (from the Norse Sild Vik - Herring Bay) was fine.  As things were to turn out, I should have made the most of the sunshine.....  Some days or trips just end up being a succession of challenges, and this was one of those occasions.

My destination was the former Youth Hostel at Craig, which was turned over to the Mountain Bothies Association in 2006 having been decommissioned as a Youth Hostel in 2003.  Having arrived at Shieldaig later than I'd planned I hurried through loading the boat which resulted in it feeling a little "down by the head" and made for hard work paddling the two hours or so towards the bothy.  As I headed out from the shelter of Loch Shieldaig (which is actually the middle part of Loch Torridon) the sea got up a bit but nothing too concerning.  The wind had swung to the northwest and the clouds had become very dark looking and heading towards me.

All the photographs below were taken on the following morning.

 

This is the boulder beach below Craig at near high water approximately mid way through the neap/spring cycle.  When I arrived (30 minutes prior to sunset) it was near to low water and a small swell of about 0.5 metres was washing directly onto the beach. I also arrived at the same time as a torrential rainstorm. The landing with a heavy boat was a little tricky and I struggled a bit to stop the boat from broaching as I tried to minimise the amount of banging on the boulders.

Having dragged the boat clear of the water on barnacle covered boulders I started to unload the contents into bags to get my kit above the HW line before moving the boat.  The rain was absolutely lashing down at this point which probably contributed to the next mishap.

I moved up the beach to a point where the barnacle covered rocks gave way to smooth and rounded sandstone boulders about the size of melons.  Immediately I stepped onto this part of the beach I took a crashing fall, my feet competely whipped from under me by the lethally slippery boulders which were covered in a green sheen of weed.  It was several minutes before I could move, such was the impact of the fall and I consider that I was pretty lucky to have escaped with just a bruised forearm.  The rain had now reached a real intensity and my kit was scattered about on the rocks.  I gathered everything (including, sadly, a broken bottle of wine...) and moved carefully up the beach before returning to move the boat.  This was a really frustrating job; I didn't dare pick it up to go across the slippery zone of the beach and ended up dragging it whilst sitting on the ground.  Eventually everything was above the HW mark and I could set off to find the bothy.

In hillwalking lore, bothy doors rank as some of the most difficult targets to navigate to, and Craig proved no exception.  I'd taken so long to sort out the mess on the beach that it was now fairly dark and still raining, though thankfully not as heavily.  The ground had become very flooded and I set off up the hill to try to locate the bothy which was about a kilometre away.  The building lies in a a dip above a river, which is itself in a bit of a gorge.  Below the bothy and stretching almost to the beach is a straggling wood of birch and willow.  It all made for an interesting navigational exercise!  Eventually the door was located and unsurprisingly I was the only occupant.

I quickly got my stove sorted and made a cup of tea, then got the woodburner lit, mentally thanking the previous occupants for leaving some dry wood.  Candles were lit and as the downstairs room warmed up I took off my paddling kit and went upstairs to get a sleeping spot chosen.  At this point I realised that I'd left my sleeping bag and Thermarest back at the boat, a kilometre down the wet and dark hillside - it really was one of those days!

Back into wet kit, a log onto the woodburner to keep it going, candles in every window to aid my return and off I went back down the hill.  Half way down I smelled burning and my headtorch went out.  A wiggle of the wires and it came back on; fortunately I had a small reserve headtorch in my pocket.  Having retrieved the missing kit I slogged back up to the bothy and back out of the wet kit.  An examination of the headtorch revealed that the cable insulation had broken down allowing a short circuit.  After seven years heavy use, I suppose I can hardly complain.



                                                                             

The main room of Craig has an impressive celtic mural, echoed on the door and window lintels.  It's a real 5 star bothy with real bedframes upstairs and a bucket flush loo at the back.  I got a meal cooked and was able to chuckle at the day's events.  No wine, but a warm room and a hot chocolate drink made a good nightcap.

 After the rain stopped, it became obvious that the Red Deer rut was in full swing; several stags were roaring on the hillside beyond the bothy.  Late in the evening the rain started again and things quietened down.  I bedded down in the smallest of the upstairs rooms (the small rooflight window in this picure) and dropped into a sound sleep.

Sleep was shattered about 3am when a very large stag (the deepest one of several I'd heard earlier)  roared just a few feet from the bothy door.  Although I knew instantly what it was, it's fair to say it gave me a start - at a distance the roar is impressive, this close it was a primal shockwave of a sound.  After I'd gone to the window with a torch he moved away a little and all the roaring subsided a bit.  It took a little longer for my heart-rate to subside and sleep to return though!

The Enchanted Forest 2012

I've blogged about it previously , and we visited The Enchanted Forest again earlier this week with our daughter and two of our grandchildren. This year the theme is "Flow", based around the elements.  Symbols and names for trees in runes, symbols and ancient scripts are at various places around the Faskally Wood.

Met by "Druids", we were taken as a group to the start of the path around the lochan, then visitors can move at their own pace, and are welcome to walk around as many times as they like.  The audio and visual effects are once again of very high quality

And in some places absolutely stunning.  On the evening we visited it was raining quite heavily and misty, which if anything added to the effects.  Wellies and waterproofs enabled even two and three year olds to walk around the whole site and still want more.

Children of all ages were fascinated by the flow of brightly lit water from the top of the bridge over the lochan - it took some time before most could be persuaded to move on!

This unusual display was placed in trees above and around the path, creating a 3D space as the path twists down a short incline.  This year there was also a storyteller in a Yurt along the route (with a magical Unicorn to point the way)

For 2011 the event moved to another site in Pitlochry, but is back "home" at Faskally this year - the tenth event.  In truth, this site would be very hard to surpass - the combination of water, woods and a route of just the right length combine to superb effect.  It's a real community effort and supported by government bodies such as Forest Enterprise and Creative Scotland as well as the town of Pitlochry.

Once again we thoroughly enjoyed our visit, and as ever it was especially magical to experience it through the eyes of little ones.  Whether or not you have children with you, the Enchanted Forest is a great evening out in Scotland's elements.

Abernethy paths

Who could resist the lure of walking a path like this one?   Abernethy Forest isn't far from home and has superb walking among the Caledonian pines.  One of Scotland's National Nature Reserves, it's managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Scottish National Heritage (SNH).  Forest specialities such as Red Squirrels, Crested Tits and Capercaillie are found here.

We walked this route from the walkighlands website, starting near Boat of Garten and using a combination of waymarked forest trails and a small section of the Speyside Way.

Wider views are at a premium in forests, and it's enjoyable to concentrate on the smaller, closer landscapes.  The Blaeberry plants had been nearly stripped of berries by birds, but the Cowberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea) still had both flowers and berries.

My fungi identification isn't the best, but this large and bright example looks as if it should be toxic!

Part way around our route we came to Loch Garten, one of the chief visitor attarctions in the area due to the nesting ospreys which use the tall pines by the loch.  The RSPB has cameras around the nest during the season and although one can see Ospreys elsewhere locally, the opportunity to watch their family life close up is a great draw.

Garten is very much a forest loch, surrounded by trees and with water stained the colour of coffeee by peat.  On a sunny day the shores of Garten and nearby Loch Mallachie make good picnic spots, one accessible directly from a minor road and one requiring a bit of a walk.

We kept moving though, the clouds approaching from Meall a' Bhuachaille were bringing the next shower.  We walked back into the shelter of the forest to continue a really pleasant walk back to Boat of Garten.

Quoich water

Autumn is a great time to be out and about in woodland.  We drove the short distance to Braemar, then along what must surely be one of the most attractive 15km of road in the country from Braemar past Linn of Dee to the road end near Linn of Quoich. 

We walked through the pinewoods alongside the Quoich Water, rushing clear and fast down from the high corries of Beinn a'Bhuird.  It's the combination of pinewoods and fast flowing rivers which make this part of the Cairngorms special.  At just about any time of the year the smell of the pines is marvellous; only in the deep cold of winter is the scent stifled as the resin slows.

 The Quoich Water flows off granite rocks and so is generally clear rather than peaty, and punctuated by waterfalls and rapids

The woods here are predominantly Caledonian Pine, and a concerted effort by the National Trust for Scotland to regenerate this forest is proving very successful.  Ten years ago there were hardly any young trees as excessive numbers of Red Deer were browsing the seedlings.  NTS took a controversial decision to dramatically reduce deer numbers on the Mar Lodge estate and the results have been impressive.  Regeneration is now healthy and the wood is gaining a spread of tree types and ages like this vibrant Rowan (Sorbus) seedling.  This is not just good for the trees, but also ultimately for the deer which are narurally animals of the forest rather than open moor.  The herd will be healthier and individuals larger as a result of better conditions. One of the sadder sights some years ago was the herds of starving deer on the roadside in late winter.

 One of the popular spots here is the Punchbowl, a natural basin in the rock immediately upstream of the Linn of Quoich (Linn is the name given to a narrow, constricted waterfall). 

The basin was probably formed by water action swirling pebbles around a depression; it's an attractive spot to sit and just enjoy the water and the forest.

Signs of previous visitors to the Sound of Arisaig

Leaving Port an t-Sluichd I crossed to the north shore of the Sound of Arisaig on my return leg.  The transit for the crossing was pretty straightforward - aim for the Rum Cuillin beyond!

 I arrived at Eilean a'Ghaill for a lunch break.  There were two other paddlers there already and we wandered up to the summit of the island to check out the remains of the hillfort.  We didn't find the stone lined well, but the remains for the walls can be traced.  Interestingly the name translates as "Island of the Strangers", so perhaps this was an outpost of different folk from those originally here - it would be fascinating to know who built the fort and where they came from.

Whoever they were, the site they chose is a good vantage point. The view takes in the whole of the Sound of Arisaig, to Moidart and Ardnamurchan in the south, back to Loch nan Uamh and Loch Ailort (above)

And west to the open sea, the island of Eigg and beyond to Rum.

Some signs of previous visitors to the area are less welcome than the hillforts which dot the coastline.  Those folk who know this beach and campsite will no doubt have fond memories of it.

Unfortunately, the signs of previous visitors here now include a fire ring in the fragile turf above the high water mark in which a quantity of plastic has been burned along with firewood.  This is a popular spot, one can walk or kayak to it relatively easily and it's white sand backed by level turf makes it most attractive.  It gets use from both individuals and increasingly by commercial sea kayaking groups.

It's not possible to tell who lit this fire; commercial groups generally abide by acceptable low-impact practice as far as possible, and all the sea-kayakers and walkers whom I know wouldn't light a fire above the HW mark.  It's a real shame, and the damage will take some time to repair.

Exploring Loch nan Uamh

After a comfortable night I awoke to a fine morning. The early sun hadn't reached the beach where my boat was pulled up so it was a quick start to get onto the water and away.  The temperature rose instantly as I paddled into the sunshine, much better!

I planned a paddle to the head of Loch nan Uamh (loch of the caves) visiting the Borrodale Islands en route. This loch has strong connections with the Jacobite uprising of 1745; there's a cave supposedly used by the Prince (one of many) and a cairn on the northern shore marks the spot where Charles Edward Stuart finally left Scotland on a French ship on 20 September 1746 after the failed enterprise.  The Highlands he left behind would never be the same again.

On one of the Borrodale islands, a dead Rowan tree had been sculpted by the prevailing wind.  Red deer regularly swim out to the islands to graze on the lush vegetation, on some of them this hampers regeneration of small trees.  Later in the day I watched two hinds swim strongly across 500 metres of open water back to the mainland shore with no problem at all.

Along the northern shore of the loch there are some areas of contorted rock, the bedding planes twisted and fractured into swooping lines.  This is a really pleasant stretch of sea loch shore with broadleaf woods down to the water, small bays and inlets together with small islands.  A day could easily be spent here on a leisurely exploration, and as a bonus it gets sunshine for most of the day.

At the head of the loch the main A830 "Road to the Isles" and the West Highland railway line come together as they squeeze through the rocky terrain on their ways from Fort William to Mallaig, the road passing under the far end of this railway viaduct.  The viaduct seems to appear and disappear into solid rock - the whole line is an amazing feat of engineering and sheer perseverance.  It's thought that the solid section of the viaduct may have been built as a result of an arch collapsing during the building process.  X-ray scans have shown the remains of a horse and cart which fell into the pier during construction.

I headed back down the loch along the steep southern shore, an altogether different place than the gentle northern side.  Here the cliffs fall sheer into the water and there are few landing places for sea-kayakers.  There are plenty for Sea Eagles though; this young bird was perched on an outcrop, and flew over me to land again a few yards behind.  It's so good to see these great birds doing well again.

Near the mouth of the loch is an inlet called Port an t-Sluichd (port of the gut, or gullet).  When Dave and I had passed a couple of weeks previously the swell prevented landing here but today was perfectly calm.  In the small bay a low pier of stones had been made to land boats on.

Ruined buildings showed that once there was a community here.  There are about eight sizeable buildings, similar in construction to the ones at nearby Peanmeanach in having rounded corners to the walls to better resist the wind.  there would have been some rough grazing for a few cattle, there are some areas which may have been under cultivation, and probably some subsistence fishing.  It's quite an isolated spot and life could never have been easy, but a community did live their lives here.  In many ways, the end of the Jacobite rebellion signalled the beginning of the end for many of these communities.

All clear at Arisaig

Two weeks after Dave and I had experienced grey skies and windy conditions in Loch Ailort, I was back in roughly the same area, setting off from Arisaig this time. The weather was somewhat different....

Clear blue skies and light winds!  Over Rois Bheinn a cloud cap added drama to the scene but brought no rain. There was even warmth in the late September sunshine.

Naturally, i wasn't the only one to spot the opportunity of a good couple of days of weather.  Chris, Matthew and Barabara were starting a weekend trip southwards to Moidart.  We were heading the same way for a while and chatted as we went, just enjoying being out on this lovely afternoon.

Soon after we went our separate ways, I paused at a beach to get wood for the evening's fire.  The storm line on this particular pebble beach was full of dry driftwood - a quarter of an hour's work with a folding saw and I had enough for the night and extra to leave in the bothy for the next folk.

Some wood went inside the boat, the rest as a rather inelegant deck cargo; fortunately I didn't have too far to go!

Settled in the bothy, stove lit and dinner taken, I sat outside with a dram and watched a quiet sunset turn the world to shades of bronze.  An otter swam across the bay in front of me and all was quiet except for the occasional bird call and a very gentle sigh from the lapping of the water on the shingle.  It really was a quite beautiful evening.

As the sunset faded, the moon brightened, already low in the sky and setting.  The sky cleared during the late evening and after the moon set the stars were amazing, a huge swathe of the milky way above me.  I didn't really need a weather forecast from the radio, all was set clear.

Jammin'

Late summer and autumn provides the opportunity to make jam and preserves for the winter and beyond.  We've been busy over the last few weeks making Blueberry jam, Raspberry jam and Rowan & Apple jelly.

The Raspberries are from local fruit farms- Aberdeenshire and Perthshire are prime soft fruit growing areas; the Blueberries are from the supermarket and the Rowan (Sorbus) berries are from the garden.

We've now got a cupboard full of jars!