Petestack Blog

Another delightful run through the Two Lairigs today with the very belated discovery that the higher path traversing from a start up the south ridge of Stob Dubh is the one, true, sensible way up the Lairig Gartain from the south where the more awkward lower path by the Allt Gartain is more of a decoy existing mainly to spoil a good run. So take the high road, which simply traverses the flank of Stob Dubh to rejoin the lower path well below the bealach and enjoy a truly great wee run… continuously interesting, first-rate under foot till you hit the old Glencoe ‘road’ towards the end, nowhere particularly technical, but quite simply gorgeous on a sunny, spring day with snow to admire on the hills but not on the trail!

Not at home just now and can’t remember which way Susie Allison’s book said had the better views, but can’t see how you could beat the anticlockwise finish opening out the view to Stob Coire nan Lochan and the Three Sisters as you return westwards into the Glen, and would have to recommend this direction (Lairig Eilde followed by Lairig Gartain) anyway for the early chance to assess the ford at NN 182557 in ascent rather than be sucked into the very real trap of finding it impassable in descent in wetter conditions.

Last Sunday I fell into a pile of bricks, slabs and back wall trying to do without a ladder where I needed one but lazily thought access looked tight without moving a few bits and pieces first. Which, quite apart from serving me right by leaving me with a bashed coccyx, rather messed up my running plans by ruling out Sunday (hurt too much!), Monday and Tuesday (too busy with work, but probably still hurt too much?) to start picking up the pieces again on a fine Wednesday evening. But I’ve still managed to ‘run’ every day since without hurting myself much more beyond the occasional jarring slip, so was able to make something of the further spring-like weather this weekend on a couple of circuits beyond my typical winter evening fare…

So yesterday Marie Meldrum came down from the Fort and we had a relaxed ‘run’ (paced for my coccyx and her MTB race today) over Glas Bheinn and Beinn na Cloiche to return by the monument and Ciaran Path, narrowly missing Karl Zeiner on Glas Bheinn but later meeting Kelly, Matthew and the boys down below the German Camp.

No real surprises for me from a lovely day on familiar ground except some still substantial cornices on Glas Bheinn, but how nice to see Marie (who’s not run from Kinlochleven so often) enthralled by the magic of stunning views from new territory and apparently enjoying my running (no pun!) commentary on the distant hills and nearer sights too!

So where could I go in still somewhat injured state for a decent, but not too strenuous, follow-up today? Well, having been inspired by Marie’s enthusiasm for the classic U-shaped valley of the Lairig Gartain (visible centre background of the ‘Beinn na Cloiche’ photo), why not head down for double U-shaped fun in a repeat of the Two Lairigs? So that’s what I did, with the four ‘circuit-order’ summit photos (Lairig Eilde looking towards Glen Coe and Glen Etive followed by Lairig Gartain looking towards Glen Etive and Glen Coe) taken to show them close-up in the full expectation of being told I have to do it again soon…

While not quite the stunning November day of two weeks ago, yesterday’s more wintry trip over the eastern Fannichs brought another healthy haul of four Munros and three Tops. Having done the central group of Meall a’ Chrasgaidh, Sgurr nan Clach Geala and Sgurr nan Each before, finishing the ridge east of those leaves just two Munros and a Top at the western end for another day, but my seven peaks were hard won in conditions that were cold, slippy where frosty/dusted with snow and very windy (nearly got blown off Sgurr Mor!), with generally poor visibility and intermittently showery as well…

My original plan was to cycle in from Grudie to Fannich Lodge and attack from the south, but even as I got to Garve I was changing to a northerly, non-cycling plan with the extra mile or two on foot trumping a couple of seven-mile cycles with limited daylight available and Sgurr Mor earlier rather than later looking good for a deteriorating forecast. Two obvious bits of lazy nav (see map, 2 and 3) where I set off south from Sgurr Mor and east from An Coileachan (yep, I meant to head north via Meallan Buidhe by the dashed blue track!) without checking the compass, but who’s never done that? Didn’t take me that long to spot the mistake on An Coileachan, but it only took a quick look westwards to put me off trying to contour back round (it’s all rough ground, with a return to the Bealach Ban and something like the dotted blue track apparently the more ‘normal’ way), after which I just kept getting forced east. And that strange little kink high on Beinn Liath Mhor Fannaich (map 1) was caused by starting to follow a path I just had to quit again when it started turning into a bypass!

Sorry, no photos, but it just wasn’t that kind of day and I was so keen to keep moving that I didn’t even stop to eat till I was well off my last hill. Might add that the Fastpack 20 was great with the regular UD bottles instead of those soft body bottles I’d too hastily bought from other reviews, with their rigidity not only not affecting real-world (as opposed to living-room-test) comfort but providing much increased security in the right pocket that proved such an effective bottle launcher with the others!

Just 19 Munros, 9 Tops and 6 Deletions to go now, but who’s counting? ;-)

Took a trip to the Glen Feshie Munros on a so-so forecast today with them being the nearest I’d not done (had Carn Ban Mor from ML Assessment years ago, but the rest were ‘new’). And what a strange day it was, with a misjudged start (hindsight saying just take the road and track to the north of my lousy experimental line!) followed by much gently undulating traversing like wandering around in cloudy fields with a high-altitude bulldozer (marked by the flag on the map) providing the most interesting view, but a good finish when I got a hitch up the last wee bit of road after 23 miles on foot. Made a lengthy detour to pick up the insignificant nubble of Tom Dubh (memorably described by Irvine Butterfield as ‘the most meaningless 3000ft ‘top’ in all Britain’!), but Leth-chreag to the south will keep till I go back for my final Cairngorm Munros of Monadh Mor (to which it belongs) and Beinn Bhrotain.

Just 26 Munros, 12 Tops and 7 Deletions left to go out of c.600 peaks that have been in Munro’s Tables, with only 4, 1 and 2 of these respectively south of the Great Glen, so it’s really starting to feel like ‘endgame’ now :-)

Fair to say I got what I deserved when I’d neither been training ‘for’ it nor been well the preceding week, but afraid my 2013 Ben Race optimism’s now been followed by a new 2014 worst of 2:18:41 and placing outwith the top 200. Which, despite a pretty decent ascent once I’d finally escaped the usual ‘snakes’, was so obviously forged in a descent of such caution I’d have to concede that even 2:05 (let alone that pie-in-the-sky sub-2:00) remains beyond me unless I can learn to run down the thing properly in the next year or two. So there’s now over 11 minutes (rather than under 8) between my best and worst and, while some might argue that’s still ‘consistent’, I think perhaps the writing’s on the wall…

2014 2:18:41
2013 2:07:27
2012 2:11:41
2011 2:15:17
2010 -------
2009 -------
2008 2:08:35
2007 2:12:26
2006 2:08:22
2005 2:10:43
2004 2:13:55

(With thanks to Noel Williams for the photos!)