Navigational Challenge in the Duddon Valley

After the rather wet day on Ben Lomond the following day was spent traveling down to the Lake District. The weather was really too good to be in the car, but as I passed Ullswater and then along the Wrynose Pass the views more than compensated for this.

Staying at High Moss in the Duddon Valley near Seathwaite the weekend looked to be a promising one. The activity for Saturday was a navigational challenge, control points had been set out and on Saturday we were shown the master map with the points highlighted. In addition information was provided to narrow down the location,

The majority of those taking part were fell runners so they were set to cover a lot of the course. For myself and a couple of others it was to be a more sedentary affair. The weather was good and throughout the day it remained sunny, warm and bright. This made the challenge all the more enjoyable.

Overall it was a good day navigating from control point to control point. It wasn’t overly challenging to find the controls but as a walker impossible to cover the whole area. Needless to say the fell runners got the highest scores, but some of them did pick up a lot of penalty points due to their running overtime.

Perhaps next time I will have to be more minimalistic & maybe try a bit of running. There is a whole year to prepare and procrastinate over it!

Ben Lomond in the clag

This week I found myself acting as a currier for two of my children, driving up to Glasgow via Manchester to drop of forgotten items or the things they couldn’t carry in the first place. Oh the joys of university!

So after a night sleeping on the floor in Glasgow I headed off to Rowardennan Lodge the Scottish Youth Hostel on the east bank of Loch Lomond. The journey took about two hours, slightly longer than I anticipated. As I had not managed to get an OS map before I left, I had to find a supplier en-route. The best option was Harvey’s Superwalker map for Ben Lomond. This was the first time I had used this type of map, although I have used their Mountain maps produced for the BMC, this was a detailed 1:25,000 scale map. It’s clarity was very good and very easy to use.

Parking up at the hostel I set off to walk up Ben Lomond, setting quite late in the morning. I went up the path which initially follows the loch shore and then heads uphill into the woods and then onto the open hillside. This is a less frequently used path as it is well defined but much narrower than the path directly up from the National Trust for Scotland main car park.

The path up was certainly steep and quite rocky in places, the path down in comparison was more of a gentle slope and it was easy to see why this was the preferred route. Throughout the day the visibility was poor as the cloud base was so low. As I reached Ptarmigan ridge a gap in the clouds provided a brief view of the route ahead. However, the final ascent was in the mist and I collected another photograph of a mist shrouded trig point at the summit.

 

Throughout the day I saw just three people who like me were prepared to take on the challenge of Ben Lomond in such unappealing conditions. The predominant soundtrack of the day was definitely water, from the sound of the rain on your jacket hood to gurgling brooks, and the booming of gushing streams rapidly descending the side of the Ben  and bouncing over rocks and other obstacles.

 

Sitting in the comfort of the Lodge I pick up a leaflet highlighting the top 5 things to do here. The top thing it suggests is to climb the Ben for the “stunning views” but not today! It also highlights the fact that this is the most southerly Munro, so one more down and only another 270 to go! The first Munro was June 2011 though.

The leaflet also talks of cruising the loch, and as I arrived at the hostel the ferry was taking on board passengers. The last time I was here was back in the 1980s when Glasgow was a city of culture with a claim of it being ‘Smiles better’ or something similar. For some reason I arrived at the SYHA Loch Lomond on the other side of the loch by public transport for a short stay. A ferry took me across the loch to where I now sit for a days wandering along the West Highland Way. Although on that occasion I didn’t scale the heights of Ben Lomond.

After a day in the hills I now head south to the Lake District for a navigational challenge day around the Dunnerdale Valley & Seathewaite on Saturday. Typically, the weather was beautifully sunny, clear and warm. Ideal weather to sit in a car on numerous motorways!

Another hot Snowdonia weekend

A return trip to Beaudy Mawr hut at Nant Peris in Snowdonia. This time it was a meet with the London Section of the Rucksack Club. The hut was busy with people staying on after a glorious week in the sun and a small contingent of seven from the London Section (although no one actually lives in London & half of those present lived in the north!) The weather looked promising  and unlike May I had plenty of sun cream.

Saturday 8 September – The Glyders & Tryfan

With no real group plan I set off to walk over the Glyders and onto Tryfan. This meant taking the long slog up the Cwm Las path to Llyn y Cwn. There were plenty of views to take in as the path slowly climbs to the Llyn. As one guide book put it the real hardwork is yet to come.

 

Once at the refreshing site of the lake the path skirts around and then heads steeply up through gritty scree to reach Glyder Fawr. On the way up I met a group of doctors and nurses from a York Territorial Army unit out on a relaxing team weekend. Their instructor plodded on and patiently selected suitable resting points for his charges to admire the views and catch their breath.

From Glyder Fawr (999m) the path heads across the boulder strewn plateau to Glyder Fach (994m) with its much photographed cantilever rock. The two peaks translate as ‘Great Pile’ and ‘Little Pile’ and they are rocky outcrops in an already chaotic rocky landscape.

 

There were several options for the route to Tryfan and the scree run to the right of Bristly Ridge was certainly exhilarating with its loose scree surface. Talking to one walker on his way up I learnt that there were some lads doing some ‘extreme ironing’ on Adam and Eve top of Tryfan. Once down to the Bwlch I passed them as they headed for the scramble up Bristly Ridge with ironing board carefully strapped to a rucksack.

My route up to Tryfan was easier without the addition of a rigid board and took in the south ridge. The scramble up enabled good progress to be made and eventually the summit came into view. The prominent monoliths of Adam & Eve proved popular with those present. This was the first time up Tryfan since coming here with the school walking group back in the 1980s. The route down was certainly not the way I came up but it was easy to step down the boulder encrusted face of this mountain.

With water running short I elected to head down to Idwal Cottage via Llyn Bochlwyd and onto the cafe. Unfortunately the area was undergoing renovation and I discovered the cafe was a pile of rubble. Luckily the nearby Youth Hostel took pity on me and I was able to refill my bottles for the return journey.

This time it was along the improved path to Llyn Idwal, this area has undergone some major reworking since I was last here in 2009. The path up to Devil’s Kitchen and passes Idwal Slabs where the climbers were busy packing away for the day. The path is easy to follow and swings to the left to eventually reach the marshy plateau and Llyn y Cwn. On the way up I met the lads with the ironing board again. It turned out they were Scouts from Hampshire and have a county competition to find the most extreme place to set up an iron board. They certainly had a good day in the hills.

The final section was the reverse of my initial climb and as the sun started to set I made my way back to the hut in time for an evening meal and chat.

Sunday 9 September – Moel Siabod

After several years of looking up at Moel Siabod as I drove through Capel Curig and several abortive planned trips to walk on this isolated hill. Finally everything was in place to tackle it, although the good weather wasn’t to last.

Parking near the Bryn Glo cafe in Capel Curig it is possible to follow old quarry tracks out past a lake and then onto an old flooded quarry pit and ruined miners cottages. The path swings round to Llyn y Foel and becomes quite boggy in places. From here on the only way is up and this involves scrambling up the Daear Ddu ridge. By this stage the  cloud base had descended and the wind increased.

 

There had been a steady stream of walkers heading out from Capel Curig and our paths crisscrossed many times. Sadly the weather conditions meant there was no view from the top and beyond a quick snack there wasn’t much reason to linger.

The route down was along the north-east ridge offered some easy scrambling on occasions, although it is possible to contour around below the rocky outcrop. as a group of ramblers demonstrated. However, this would not avail the views of my outward journey as the visibility improved/

After some grassy and heavily eroded sections through slates the path soon re-joined the outward path and within half an hour the A5  and Pont Cyfyng (an old stone bridge) across the Afon Llugwy are within sight.

So ended a weekend of contrast with some great walking opportunities.