Over The Hill

This is more of a story than a report of my last Corbett, Beinn an Oir (hill of gold) because the planning started in October 2021 when the cottage was booked for the challenge. My family and friends and the dog named Jura were all invited. The three remaining hills to allow my compleation were climbed in May and June 2022 so we were set. Or so we thought.

At 10pm on the eve of our departure I received an email from the owners of the cottage (who were at a wedding in Germany) to say unfortunately there was no electricity! However we decided to turn this news into an adventure rather than a disaster, and looked out our camping stoves and candles, and hoped we could find an oven somewhere to heat the lasagne I’d made. At 10am en route we received the good news – SSE had come over from Islay that morning and fixed the problem, hooray a hot dinner and hot showers.

We made our packed lunches and at about 9.30am all set off in high spirits to the start point at the car park at the bridge over the Corran River. Over the stile we went and immediately were into a boggy wet path which we experienced most of the way. The dog loved it, but she was probably the only one. The weather was fine but the cloud was right down and we could not see any of the Paps at all. Fingers crossed the cloud would lift a bit to give us some views. No such luck and the only time we saw our hill clearly was from the ferry on the way over from Kennacraig on Friday afternoon.

Richard, Sophie and Jura left us to have a day on the beach and lunch in the hotel, and to get the house ready for the “party” later. We plodded on taking photos of orchids and bog asphodel in the long grass, and climbing corydalis in the bracken. Not long afterwards the rain started, and forgot to stop! At about 11.30 we got to Loch an t’Siob and the huge stepping stones allowed us to cross easily over the outflow. The path continued on the north side of the loch and climbed gently along the south side of the first Pap, Beinn Shiantaidh. At around noon the cloud lifted a bit and we could see the fisherman’s hut at the west end of the loch. Ben put on waterproof trousers and I gave Alex my gloves, and on we trudged. Further on we had a look at our map and made an elementary error – we thought we saw what we wanted to see rather than checking again against the map. And off we went in the wrong direction! At lunch at around 1.30pm Les was worried we were not where we should have been. Oh no! It can happen to anyone, but very unfortunate when we had family along too.

I asked the question “Do you want to go back” and heard Ben say “I haven’t driven 500 miles to turn back now!”. So compasses out and a bearing taken to try and get back on track. We reckoned 2.5 hours to the top, and there was silence from the Team! Essentially what we then did was climb up the route that walkers and fell runners take when they come off the top in a south direction. How the runners do this I do not know! The cloud completely shrouded the hills which made route finding awkward, but Ben came across a reasonable path that led us through the rocks. It was steep and tricky through scree and boulders and with a strong wind in places too, but at least blowing us onto the mountain and away from a steep gulley! I saw little flowers of yellow golden rod clinging in a crevice and the flowers of common cow-wheat(?) which lifted the spirits. I heard Gareth muttering “I hate scree, I love bog, only to be repeated later with I hate bog I love scree”. Eventually the shelter surrounding the trig point came into view – hooray we had made it. I led the way and at last at 3.30pm we sheltered from the wind and opened the champagne. What a relief, we were there and safe. It was quite an emotional moment. Les had organised a T shirt with pictures of hills on it but it was too wet to put on – such a shame. Alex had brought a congratulatory hand painted stone covered with dates of hills climbed to leave on the cairn. I was quite overwhelmed by their kindness.

It was time to leave the shelter so we took a bearing and started the descent and I heard Ben say “It’s like a runway”. There was a path through the rocks edged with stones heading downhill. This was constructed by the Ordnance Survey men who were mapping the Highlands and Islands in the 19th century. At last as we neared the bealach the cloud lifted a bit and we could see the loch and then the sea, but still no sign of our mountain. We saw a few deer and plenty of frogs. As we retraced our steps and crossed the stepping stones again, we could hear stonechats and skylarks. At 7pm we reached sanctuary, the car, and drove back to the cottage. What a surprise awaited us. Disco lights were flashing and dance music was playing, balloons festooned around and the table all set with a beautiful celebration cake. It was a very special moment, and I have my family and friends to thank for helping me to complete the Corbetts. It is a day I will always remember.

---