2014 seems to have been my least productive year so far in terms of hill-bagging. With all the rain we seem to have in the year, it is a wonder I got anything significant done. Notice how it was beautiful weather Monday to Friday and then pouring down on the weekends? It is the sort of thing that could induce paranoia.
My first walk of the year worth mentioning was a snowy ascent of Moruisg and its neighbour Sgurr nan Ceannaichean on 11 January. It was an excellent walk and so was Fionn Bheinn the following day. The Fannichs do not seem to be held in the highest esteem, so I am pleased to say that I was not disappointed at all.
It seems I bagged no hills at all in February.
The next decent trip was in April to the Carn Mairg group in Glen Lyon. I had heard the negative publicity regarding this walk but I must have chosen a good time to climb. No hostile lairds meant that I got to enjoy this excellent group of hills in peace. You actually cover quite a lot of kilometres on this walk.
May was a godsend. A friend and I were to meet up for a hillwalking trip but it was not until a day or two before we left that we realised we would be heading to the black Cuillin of Skye, for our first trip up that spectacular ridge. We managed to reach the summits of Sgurr na Banachdaich, Sgurr Dubh Mor and Sgurr nan Eag, as well as some subsidiary tops. We were due to ascend Sgurr a'Ghreadaidh and Sgurr a'Mhaidaidh next but I injured my leg around my iliofemoral ligament. We had to cut the hillwalking trip short as I could barely walk to the top of the street the next day. We did get to visit the fairy pools the day afterwards though. A good trip and I definitely need to get back there, to get up the ridge again.
In June I took another trip in to Glen Tanar to walk along the line of hills that comprise the north side of the glen. I like trips like these, where you are walking on hills where most people rarely bother to go. A week later, I finished the last of the Munros in the Tay Forest area, with Creag Mhor and Beinn Heasgarnich. The walk back to the car was long and boggy.
On the summer solstice I spent a night up on one of the bealachs of the Creag Pitridh three, then at the end of June I went on another walk with my friend, on my second ascent of Cairn Gorm. This time we scrambled up to it via Fiacaill Coire an t-Sneachda. That is a great scramble, especially if you have not done much scrambling before.
It seems July was another month where I achieved nothing. I am guessing it was raining most of that month.
Goat Fell (photo: Trevor Littlewood)
September was particularly special for me. I visited Arran for the first time and walked all the Corbetts, spending a night in my tent before ascending North Goatfell and Goat Fell the following day. I found that A'Chruach is deceptively further away from Brodick than it looks, and I made sure to visit Holy Island to climb Mullach Beag and Mullach Mor.
I met some nurses on the morning boat over there and had the pleasure of the company of two of them when ascending the hill and taking a pleasant walk around the island's western coast. I would also like to thank the inhabitants for their hospitality. It is a fantastic little island to visit and I was thrilled to see the Soay sheep I have read about.
Arran Blue is also the cheese that got me comfortable with blue cheeses in general. It is a superb cheese and I wish it was more readily available. I should also add that Arran Blonde is an excellent, refreshing ale. Fortunately, I can buy this in Tesco.
An October trip was also fantastic. I started from Moy at Loch Laggan and ascended to Bealaich Leamhain, coming down very pleasantly towards Loch Pattack but cutting off to ascend Carn Dearg, the first Munro of a chain of four, ending with Beinn Eibhinn. I got a great view of Loch Ossian for the first time, before turning in for the night in my tent. I then had a three-hour walk to get back to the car. The guidebooks seem to break this chain into two groups of two but I was perfectly happy with this method and would recommend it to others.
At the end of November I had another great trip where I summited four Munros of the Beinn Dearg group near Ullapool. I started with Eididh nan Clach Geala and Meall nan Ceapraichean and then pitched the tent at the bealach before ascending Cona' Mheall and Beinn Dearg the following day. The weather was not great that morning and I stayed in my tent until about 11.20am. I figured I would just have to go home if it was any later than that, but the rain and wind seemed to die down somewhat and when I was climbing Cona' Mheall, the clouds were breaking to the point where I got some great cloud-inversion shots of the Fannichs to the south. Beinn Dearg was a similar story, when nearing the summit plateau. It was a beautiful walk out, descending below the dramatic cliffs of Beinn Dearg, on the way back to the car.
So, despite my tally being lower than previous years, I feel pretty happy with all that I achieved in the year. At least I made the most of any decent spells of weather we had.
