Over The Hill

Day 1 -7k: Three Musketeers (Dave, Alan and Trish) met for lunch in Beauly on 8 June, and met D’Artagnan (Jim) at Corrie Hallie on the A832 at 4ish to find him keeping parking spaces for us in a very crowded car parking area. No car sharing in these covid times.

We heaved the heavy backpacks on and left at 5pm and had a rest at the cairn at 6.30. Met a girl who looked pretty tired and she told us she’d done the “Big Six” (5 Munros and 1 Corbett) bivvying out on one of the tops. We carried on and got to Shenavall and “campsite” at 8.30 to be surrounded by a million midges. On with the midge hoods to pitch the tents as quickly as possible. I couldn’t really see properly and didn’t have enough strength after the walk in to get the tent up correctly but the Musketeers came to the rescue. It was a warm night, and the cuckoo only stopped calling when it was dark, and the dawn chorus was about 4am.

Day 2 - 22k: Wednesday dawned damp but the tops were clear. We started at 9 and were over the two rivers and the bog (which wasn’t too bad) and got to Larachantivore at 10ish. We set off on the path that goes all the way to Carnmore Bothy then on to Poolewe, aiming for the third Lochan Feith Mhic’illean for our lunch stop 7k away. The weather didn’t clear as expected and full metal gear was on, as much for the blustery wind as the slight drizzle. The stalkers’ path is very good, and thank goodness for its construction up the zigzags climbing 100m to Clach na Frithealaidh. A relatively flat 2k to our lunch spot at the lochan. We pretended we were on a beach in Portugal! One Musketeer asked “how is morale?” and back came the reply “low”!

About 1pm we set off up the steepish slope for the top about 3k further on. The cloud was down on the top so we had no reference at all. There were about three occasions we saw what we thought was the cairn, but no, it was just another rocky outcrop. At last at 2.30 we got to the top to have the obligatory photo at the cairn with no view at all which was such a shame. We retraced our steps and saw a ghostly figure in the gloom heading uphill. We would have met up had we stayed a few more minutes at the cairn. He followed us off but must have come from the Carnmore direction because we never saw him again. There were views towards the steep slopes of Ruadh Stac Mor and the large Fuar Loch Mor but we saw precious little else. Frogs, a raven, two ptarmigan and two deer were the only fauna, and plenty of white lousewort as the flora. We met a cheery fellow on a mountain bike with panniers who was doing a route from Ullapool to Poolewe closely followed by three more who had much less baggage on their bikes. We plodded on and eventually got back to our tents at 8pm, and fortunately the wind had dried our gear but the boots were completely sodden.

I was worried that my tent may not be dry inside so decided to have a look in the bothy in case I needed to sleep in there. Oh my goodness, the place was full! There was one room upstairs with about six sleeping bags and gear spread around, and four backpacks in the wee room. The communal area was busy with about six people playing cards and two onlookers. My tent it would have to be. About eight young lads arrived and quickly pitched their tents. They were aiming to do the Big Six and asked us how long it would take. 12, 14, 18hours? They decided to leave at 5am but in fact it was nearer 6am. Back at my tent tea was brewed, supper was eaten, Jim entertained us with tales of bivvying in the jungle using leech lotion which melted plastic, and then we all retired. It was a windy night with strong gusts, now I was worried if the tent would stay upright.

Day 3 – 10.5k: Thursday dawned dry and bright – typical! All was packed up and we were ready to go at 8.30. The long route out (2.5k more) was chosen because poor Dave had cramp in his calf muscle and would not have managed the shorter route. I’m not sure any of us would have managed it either. We had a short break and filled the water bottles at Achneigie, an old cottage, half of which has a hole in the roof and is unsafe, and the other half is locked. It didn’t stop someone leaving two bags of rubbish at the gate waiting for the mystery bin man to collect them. We passed a beautiful small wood of alder trees - had they been planted or were they self-seeded many years ago? It’s a double track all the way but it is a very long haul, and eventually we reached the cairn at noon. Downhill all the way to the cars, thank goodness. We met a couple of men who were walking in and they asked us if we had done the Big Six – we must have looked like the girl on Tuesday – and had to admit we had done one Corbett! They were hoping to bivvy out but with a forecast of gusting winds of 60kts they were not hopeful.

Sanctuary at 1.30 at the car park. However elation was short lived as Dave realised one of his car windows had been open and the key wouldn’t work to open the door. He managed to break into his own car while D’Artagnan got organised and got his tow hitch on and the tow rope fitted ready to tow Dave’s car to jump start it. Lo and behold the key worked in the ignition and all was well. I had seen on the website of the Dundonnell Hotel that the cafe would be open from 11am – 2.30pm and the thought of a coffee kept me going for the last five hours. Disaster – we got there at 2.05 to find it shut at 2pm! However the Altguish Inn came up trumps and the three Musketeers had a reviving coffee and scone there before driving home.

I have been asked if I enjoyed the trip and my answer was “Ask me next week”. Well, next week has come and gone, and I can now say I am delighted to have conquered the Corbett, and with more glee can say I will never have to go in there again. I weighed my backpack when I got home just for interest. It weighed 12kg and I weigh 52kg so almost a quarter of my body weight. No wonder I’m not as tall as I used to be. I did enjoy being in the fantastic wild place with massive mountains all around – it is a privilege and I’d like to thank my friends for their great company. We did it!