Skye fun

After an exhausting time on Torridon, we made our way over to Skye, a ‘rest day’ was on the card for most. I’m not sure if climbing a hill really counts as rest, but it was a change from biking.

Top of (Photo Rhian Anthony)

The next day we set off for the infamous Sligachan, both me and my bike were feeling a little broken by this point. But with views of the Cuillin peak and intermittent sunshine, was enough to convince me this was a good idea.

Scenic Skye riding (Photo Caroline Souter)

The path had been recently re-done and numerous drainage ditches put in place. I definitely got better at hopping over them throughout the day. Several river/stream crossing provided amusment to see who could would get through, who would get wet feet and who would just use the stepping stones and walk.

Dicing with a river crossing (Photo Caroline Souter)

Unfortunately my front suspension started to pack in, and as we rounded the top of the pass, it pretty much died altogether! Feeling pretty broken I didn’t quite make it to the bothy, turned around early and headed back to the car. Inspite of not quite completing the ride I was fairly pleased that both me and the bike had made it as far as we did!

GPS trace of shame (didn't quite make the Bothy)

 On the way back home we stopped at the Nevis range for a quick spin round the train centre there. Since the Anthem was basically unrideable, I went to hire a bike. I was more than a little tempted by an electric bike, but the lure of trying fatbike won out. Super silly fun, I’d love to own one!

Fat Bike Mega Fun (Photo Tamsin Saxton)

Returning to Edinburgh totally broken, but big grins all round after a super few days of exploring the highland by mtb. I want to go back already!

Torridon Tour

Still being quite new to mountain biking, when Alex decide to organise a jaunt to Torridon and Skye, I just said yes. I had no idea what I was letting myself in for! On the first day we went for a loop from Gairloch to Loch Maree and back. It was a tough but fun introduction to mtb in the highlands,  and the challenge was only just beginning.

top of the pass on day 1 (Photo Rhian Anthony)

The absolute highlight of the trip was the tour of Torridon ride, over the pass to the Strathcarron road and back.

The Torridon loop (OK we shuttled the final bit on the road)

Unfortunately at the top of the first climb the bolt on my seat post sheared in half, and my saddle fell off! An improv fix with cable ties was initiated, this held the saddle on but didn’t fix it in place. Still who needs to sit for a descent anyway.

one of many attempts at affixing saddle to bike (Photo: Rhian Anthony) 

Back down at the road we discovered road signs are held on with the same sized bolt as a saddle post. Unfortunately, they are not quite long enough to hit the screw. We returned the bolt to the road sign, bodged the saddle back on with cable ties and carried on.

Stealing a bolt from a signpost: Harder than you might imagine.
We did put it back though! (photo Rhian Anthony)

Later we passed some workmen building a hydro scheme, and begged the for a bolt. We tried using thinner on they offered us, but it soon bent, and I was back to a wobbly saddle. I decided to chalk this up to ‘good training’, and stood up on the peddles for most of the rest of the ride. From this episode I learnt two things:

1. Having a saddle with a hole in makes impromptu repairs much easier to see what you’re doing
2. Cable ties are an essential part of emergency repair kit.

We soon left the road again and began the long climb up to the belach. Passing the bothy at Coire Fionnaraich, I thought the climb might be nearly over. I was so wrong, It had only just begun! The path got steeper and rockier, the mountains beyond rising in a horse shoe, with no visible path between them.

The never ending hike-a-bike (photo Caroline Souter)

After an unending seeming bit of hike bike we reached the top of the pass, for an epic descent, back down in to Torridon. Then back to the hostel to tuck into victory cake provided by Sven!

The amazing cake! (Photo Sven Thompson)

Next stop Skye for more awesome biking!

New year in the Highlands

 New year in the highlands is always brilliant, this year was no different.

It’s the 2^nd of January, there’s 7 hours of daylight. What could be more sensible than planning a 12 hour traverse. Walking highlands suggests “The traverse of the Grey Corries main ridge gives a long and demanding but superb mountain walk” and that’s for summer conditions. It was definitely not summer outside.

Stob Coire Claurigh

Stob Coire an Laoigh

Not deterred we shuttled cars the night before and well before the crack of dawn found ourselves stomping up Glen Nevis. It was a long way to get on to the ridge but once up there we soon started ticking off summits and tops.

Rather Windy, Sgurr Choinnich Mor

 It was a little windy in places, but not too bitingly cold (so long as you kept moving). I wasn’t entirely sure about going for all four peaks and though about heading down after three. However a break in the cloud meant I could see the final summit, it didn’t look so very far after all. Getting up the final summit was tricky though a faintly discernible path up a scree slope.  I was starting to feel tired once we were at the summit and we still had to descend the same horrid scree slope.

Feeling like Heros on the top of Stob Ban

By the time we hit the valley floor, twilight had passed. After popping into the bothy for a wee break, we struck out down the track to find the shuttle cars. A hard day but well worth it for the fours summits bagged.

Top of the road

New years day I decided would be a good day to begin my Etape cycle training. So I set out chasing Ashely up Glen Etive. It turned out to be hard work, the return journey back down the valley, I found myself clinging to the brakes not wanting to pick up too much speed on an occasionally uneven road. what a way to bring in the new year.

First sunset of the New Year

Counting swims on the Blackwater

It’s definitely winter season in Scotland now and this means trips have to start earlier to maximize daylight. So an 8:30 meet-up (the horror!) was on the cards for Sunday paddling. I managed to arrive late having maximised my last few minutes in bed, Oops.

We were off to paddle the Blackwater which has been on my list to tick off for some time. Further signs of winter were sighted on the drive up with frost on the ground and low lying mist clinging to the fields....

 On the plus side the sun was shining and I have a new leopard-print onesie to keep me toasty!

The Blackwater starts with a bang, a 4 tiered grade IV drop at the putin. My assessment was that the first drop was the hardest, so much time was spent inspecting this with less attention paid to the other drops. Possibly this was my downfall.

Stevie and Gregor led the charge, with varying degrees of style.  

Stevie hits number 4

After switching up safety, I paddled down the first drop, slightly missing the line and having a small moment with the rock, and eddied out to wait for the next people down. the next thing I saw was Mags floating past me  upsidedown. Fortunately however, Mags rolls like a trooper and survived the rapid still in her boat. 

Mags on the way back up

Gianni followed and then Kevin popped into my eddy, so I decided to paddle on down the rest of the rapid. Drops 2 and 3 were pretty much as expected. The final drop did not go exactly to plan, I managed to push the ‘anti-boof’ button and ended up backlooped into the hole. A slightly embarrassing swim but at least the only thing wounded was my pride.

surprise backloop for me

Kevin followed down behind and missed the line on the final drop, unfortunately dislocating his shoulder on the way. Swimmer and boat were successfully rescued and Kevin managed to pop his shoulder back into place by the side of the river. Hospital visit successfully avoided, but unable to carry on, Kevin joined up with Hieu who had also decided not to paddle. L

Kevin styles the top drop

Alec brought up the rear and the rest of us joined up with Christina and headed off downstream. Some fun rapids lead us into the gorge section , all was going smoothly. I decided to walk the big rapid in the gorge -  some days you just don’t feel it. Gregor lined up first, styled the rapid and then swam in the pool in the bottom, doh! Fortunately there was another group just downstream to do some chase boating.

Gregor, just before it all goes a bit wrong

Gianni on the gorge

The rest of the gorge was nice read and run rapids with Gianni and Stevie adding one a piece to the swim count. About halfway down the gorge we found Gregor re-united with his boat and headed on down the rest of the run. Other than a surprise backwards rapid for me it was pretty much plain sailing down to final bridge, before heading to the pub for beer and hot chocolate. 

Out of the 9 of us on the trip on Alec and Christina had a head dry day on the water (clearly they weren’t trying hard enough!)

Luss Water with Low Water

Aka the lies of wheresthewater.com

Five intrepid boaters met in the overcast South Queensferry Tesco with a plan to go paddle something or other. The decision was taken to head up to the Luss Water, the wheresthewater gauge was saying the river was high and should be good to go.

Not really knowing much about the Luss I said ‘ok cool’ and jumped in the car, casually flicking through the guide book to find out what we’re in for: grade 4 some 4+  “a serious undertaking at very high flows” was pretty much all I read before closing the guidebook and pretending I hadn’t seen it.

Five boat one car shuttle

As it turned out I needn’t have worried, when we arrived at the putin it was pretty clear flow were not exactly high, definitely enough to float but not enough worry about. We all jumped into Laura’s car for  a cheeky 5-boats-on-one-car shuttle, up to the putin. Usually the Mollochan Burn is slid down in to the Luss however it was looking little low for that so we trekked down to the confluence, I was wishing I’d put on less thermals.

At the low levels it was a bit of a pin fest in places and I was perfecting the ‘spin on a rock and go down backwards’ line. We got out to inspect the hardest rapid on the run, a chute into a rooster tail with a curtain pushing you into a boily wall just above a second drop.  I bravely let everyone else go first.

Some took better lines that others, Derek and Alan both rolling over the lip second drop, looked particularly nasty.  I managed the rapid head dry but with a slightly swollen thumb from punching the wall (no pictures of me = I can pretend I styled it ;-)

(If anyone wants them the full sequence of photos can be found here)

 

Various lines, clockwise from top: Laura skirts under the curtain, Steve makes it look a bit too easy, Alan being pushed over by the curtain, Derek upsidedown on the lip

After some more interesting drops we arrived at Luss falls; a tree filled undercut gorge. We all portaged. Steve and Alan paddled on to probe the next drop, I’m not sure exactly what happened, other than from the top all we could see was a river left bush waving wildly around. Steve the appeared on the bank with Alan’s paddles signalling to go right.

Nasty looking strainer on the gorge

We carried on through the short gorge before the river opened up into a weir followed shortly after we saw the road bridge signalling the end of the section. The Luss Water is a lovely scenic run, definitely keen to come back, but maybe with a little more water next time!

Funtimes on Luss Water

Munros: Cruach Ardrain and Beinn Tulaichean

(Ahem... quick change of Munro names after Ashley pointed out I'd got them mixed up)

One of my favourite things about living in Scotland is that when my friends come up to do fun things I can easily pop along for a weekend.  Last weekend I joined Phil Ashley Ivanka and Heather who were up in the north for a spot of Munro bagging.

I ventured up to join them after work on Friday, after getting horrendously lost driving around the forest tracks behind Killin I eventually made it to the holiday cottage in Auchmore (thanks for coming to rescue me Ashley). In future I shall follow my satnav and not the confusing direction. Fortunately I arrived just in the nick of time to take control of the Chilli making for dinner.

An Epic game of contract whist commenced, in the conservatory,  having made the living room too hot via the wood burning stove. Unfortunately I did not win (just biding my time/developing strategy/ some other excuse).

On the way up 

Saturday morning saw us heading to the hills with a cheeky pit stop along the way for me to inspect the falls of Dochart (definitely runnable). We set of from Crianlarich train station, the lower part of the ascent involving a significant amount of bog. I think everyone had wet feet after 30 mins. The winds were steadily picking up as we climbed, the Forecast had reported the winds would drop after midday, they didn’t.  

Half way up I spotted an appealing looking rock which I naturally set about climbing. I didn’t exactly plan how I was going to get down however; resulting in a slightly sketchy jump/fall.

No thought given to the method of getting back down (Photo: Ashley)

The summit of Cruach Ardrain was celebrated with a speedy pork pie eating stop, while Phil loaned out spare pair of gloves to me and Ivanka. I’m not sure why anyone would carry 3 pairs of gloves up a mountain but I was pretty glad. Some comical fellrunners were also summiting at the same time, their vest/backpack thingys looking at lot like a buoyancy aid.

Cruach Ardrain Summit (photo: Heather)

We carried onwards to the summit of Beinn Tulaichean, I have not one a clue how to pronounce this one either. The wind was making stopping a chilly prospect so we headed off of the mountain in the direction of the car the wind quite literally blowing water back up hill.

Water literally blowing up hill

We arrived back at the car just as it was starting to get dark, and headed back to Auchmore.  Phil and Heather were dispatched to buy pizza’s while I started playing at lighting the stove. After some epic hot chocolates, and another nailbiting game of Whist (I pipped Phil to the post!), we all collapsed into bed.

Another successful weekend.

Beinn Tulaichean summit (Photo: Heather)

ICCC oldies collide with Imperial freshers

Photo's cheekily stolen from Alby and Will as I forgot my camera.

One excellent weekend paddling in North Wales! 2 ½ new sections of river, not bad for an old stomping ground!

Some time ago Adam started organising an oldies trip to Snowdonia, as the date drew closer we discovered that the trip would coincide with Imperial College Canoe Club’s freshers trip. In fact we would be staying 100m apart in different bunkhouses in Tremadog!

Lots of my favourite people in the same place at the same time Perfect.

Leeman and I both had Friday off work, so after some nostalgic faff on Thursday night we set off, only 2 hours behind schedule. A cheeky wild camp in the Trough of Bowden saw us heading into Wales for an afternoon paddle on the Conwy with Texa, one of Tom’s Aberdeen mates. It rained overnight and levels were good for a lovely bounce down the usual middle section, before taking on my first new section of the weekend the section down to the Penmancho Bridge.

Both grade V’s  were looking a bit messy, so we set about portaging, however there’s still plenty of fun to be had on this section even with the portages. Texa had an unlucky swim shortly after The Gobbler and just as we’re pulling her boat out of the water Tom pointed out the yellow markers on the bank signalling the end of the section. I hadn’t even noticed. Fully aware of the stories about folks missing the take out and ending up on the rock above Conwy falls, we’d inspected the take out pretty carefully on the shuttle.  We paddled down a few hundred meters more to the final take out, it’s pretty easy to see how you could miss it.

We made our way down to our bunkhouse in Tremadog, having discovered the Freshers had had their accommodation plans screwed up by the BRMC, as so were invading the oldies in Eric’s barn, albeit we slept in the bunkbeds while the freshers were on the floor in the climbing barn (rather them than me!). Sitll at least it meant we got 8 ICCC presidents together for a photocall!

8 ICCC presidents in a row (Is that a record?)

Saturday morning rolled around and while the freshers went off to paddle Llugwy the oldies went to paddle the Fairy (Scary) Glen. Somehow I found myself joining the oldies heading for the Glen.

Getting changed at the put in was a bit of a surreal experience, I genuinely never expected to find myself attempting this section of river. Not that I paddled terribly well mind, a roll and a couple of swims in the first gorge persuaded me that I would be better off taking out at Fairy Falls, hence I’m only counting half of a new section. Thanks to the rest of the team for superb rescue efforts, especially Nick-good work on the throw line! Luckily Tom was carrying splits so I paddled down to the falls with some slightly oversized blades.

 Fairy Falls was attempted by some members of the group, Adams upsidedown line looked particularly painful, while others made it look all too easy.

Adam's upsidedown line- Ouch! (Photo:Alby)

I made my way down to the take-out to reflect, while the others faffed about in the lower gorge. I still have the rest of the glen to complete and a wee glen rock in my BA, courtesy of Patrick, as inspiration to come back and do better next time!

Patrick on the lead out (Photo: Alby)

With light remaining we went off to inspect some horrendous looking waterfall in Blaenau Ffestiniog. No-one was keen. I returned to the hut with Paraic and Wardle to make a head start on dinner before the freshers invaded our kitchen, while keen beans headed to the Glaslyn or on a booze run in Porthmadog. Nick and Derf had to be rescued by the minibus after some unexpected car troubles.

Saturday evening proceeded in usual club style, complemented by a firework display from Ally and Jake. Possibly the location of the fireworks had not been risk assessed, however fortunately no cars passed at an inopportune moment. Ferrero Rocher’s were provided via Rik, which has developed into a new game: how fast can you east 16 Ferrero Rocher, (“you may have one tiny sip of water at the halfway point”). I managed just sub 6 minutes. Hazelnuts, it turns out, are surprisingly difficult to swallow without water. After a late Friday night most people bailed for bed by 2am, with Derf (the hero) looking after one slightly incapacitated fresher.

Eating all the Rocher's! (Photo: Will)

Sunday morning began with a speedy breakfast in Eric Cafe and some extended faffing.  The Wnion was the name of the game for the oldies, and a whole new river for me. It was a superfun blast through the gorge and made for a very scenic end to the trip. October is definitely the best time to come to Wales, the autumn colours are very pretty and it’s not too cold (I’m easily pleased).

We all said our goodbyes and the cars sped off in all directions, returning to various parts of the UK, until next time. Many thanks to Adam for organising the Oldies, and to Jake for organising the freshers (I hope you guys enjoyed the Dee!).