TGO Challenge 2018: DAY 7

When we planned today's walk, neither Phil nor I had expected anything special; on the map it appeared to be a good day, walking in fairly remote country. In fact, had we not chosen to walk between Northings 60 and 70 on our maps I doubt we would have come this way. That would have been a crying shame.

As an example, here's a short video of what we found within an hour of setting off:

Let's start off by looking at the route for today:

CLICK TO ENLARGE

It was a gorgeous day, so we chose our High Level Route, which has about three miles of Rover Roads, eight miles of open country with between  two to two and a half thousand feet of ascent. So - on the face of it, not too arduous. New Challengers should note that it's important to plan a sensible day after a cheese and wine party in case one should feel 'tired and emotional' in the morning.

Here's a thing: Six years ago the Dutch estate owners decided that this would be an excellent location for a massive wind farm. Objections flooded in from the world over, and eventually (through a legal complication) their application was thrown out. You can read about it here: 

Talladh-a-Bheithe Power Station

These money grabbing bastards would have destroyed this wonderful place to trouser a few million quid that they didn't really need as they were pretty rich already.

Here's a few pictures taken in the morning that illustrate just what we would have lost:

ALLT AN LUIB BHAIN

ANDY, ROBIN & PHIL, BLOCKING A STUNNING, IF SLIGHTLY HAZY BACKDROP  [CLICK TO ENLARGE]

SIMILAR VIEW WITH FOREGROUND REMOVED

LORD ELPUS

MAMBA COUNTRY: MILES AND MILES of BUGGER ALL

ANDY & ROBIN ATOP BEINN BHOIDHEACH

LEAVING BEINN BHOIDHEACH FOR BEINN MHOLACH. LOCH RANNOCH IN DISTANCE

BEINN MHOLACH (CENTRE LEFT) AND SCHIEHALLION [CLICK TO ENLARGE]

PHIL & ME IN A MAGNIFICENT PLACE [CLICK TO ENLARGE]

FEATHER, AT LEAST TWO FEET LONG

And so we come to our lunch spot, on a fabulous viewing platform south west of Beinn Moholach.

LUNCH

We spent quite a while here, as we were in no particular hurry, to enjoy the warm sunshine, the great views and to gird our loins for the pull up to the Corbett immediately afterwards. The next seven pictures are of, and taken from the top of Beinn Mholach. You can click on each of them to see them at a decent size. It's a fabulous spot.

ANDY'S POLES, ROBIN NEXT ONE TO THE TOP

YES, THAT'S SCHIEHALLION.

UTTERLY FABULOUS! LOOKING NORTH EAST

THE CREW

DRINK THAT IN.

WE'RE GOING THAT WAY!

As you can see, we spent a good deal of time up here, luxuriating in the splendour of the place. This is Scotland at her best. 

In England, whenever you hear of Scotland in the news it's invariably about Nicola's push for another referendum, tensions at a football match or supposedly hundreds of thousands on some march or another. It's all incredibly dismal stuff. The TGO Challenge gives the British, and others from across the world a chance to see the real Scotland, not political bollocks. Scotland is a magnificent country.

Just as we are about to leave, who should pop up to the trig point but the wonderful Tattersalls. 

JOHN & SUE TATTERSALL HOVE INTO VIEW

I'd included a visit to Duinish bothy (non-MBA) on our route in case the weather had ben dreadful, as a bolt hole to dry out after a really good soaking on our FWA (Foul Weather Route, for the uninitiated) and ploughing through knee-deep bogs. As it happened the weather was glorious and the ground conditions perfect, but we still fancied popping in to see the state of the place.

We left the top of the Corbett, and headed up and over Creag nan Gabhar - a friendly rough and tumble little top - and headed down to Duinish. To be fair, it wasn't much to write home about:

DUINISH, JUST RIGHT OF CENTRE IN THE SHADE

DUINISH, INTERIOR

DUINISH, EXTERIOR

I had toyed with stopping here, as tomorrow's walk was quite a short one to the hotel, but a few rotting carcasses of sheep and deer about the place and fairly brackish water encouraged forward motion.

The Tattersalls were setting up camp a little further on at the Allt na Duinish but we pressed on to take a wonderful cross-country yomp over to the ruin that is Saunich. It was a lovely early evening stroll.

SAUNICH, JUST LEFT OF CENTRE

Saunich suffered with animal carcasses littered about the place; It must have been a harsh winter.  There are decent enough camping spots but not that many. We made a home for the night and finished off what remained of the supplies for the Cheese & Wine Party.

ANDY'S NOTCH & SAUNICH

TRAILSTAR, AKTO, NOTCH & DUOMID - A DECENT SELECTION OF SHELTERS

As I said at the start of this piece, none of us had expected today to be anything other than a fine walk in some remote country. However, by the end of the day we all agreed that this had been one of the finest hill days we could remember on the TGO Challenge. The hills were not big and hairy, they weren't well walked, but they provided views to die for. I had also walked with the finest of companions in a fabulous landscape. It really doesn't get better than this.

And lastly, in the spirit of Old Mortality, some happy music from Dr John: