Munro Madness : 4

Munros this section :

Braeriach

Sgor an Lochain Uaine

Cairn Toul

The Devils Point

Beinn Bhrotain (two ascents!)

Monadh Mor

Carn a' Mhaim

Ben MacDui

Cairn Gorm

Bynack More

Beinn Mheadhoin

Derry Cairngorm

Beinn a' Chaorainn (Glen Derry)

Beinn Bhreac (Glen Derry)

Beinn a' Bhuird

Leabaidh an Daimh Bhuide (Ben Avon)

The Devils Point.

I've not done a great job of planning this next section - a hundred and sixty kilometres in five days, fine on flat terrain, but with many huge hills to climb, plus the need to find somewhere sheltered at a lower altitude to camp, it seems impossible.  But perhaps I can find some shortcuts, we'll see.  Things start OK at least, a long ascent of Braeriach, well over four thousand feet, then three more Munros, all in cloud except the last, the Devils Point.  Warm enough and dry though, and if I don't reach camp until eight, so what, still plenty of daylight left.  Lots of people here, both camped and in a small stone hut or 'bothy' - it even has a toilet!

Ben MacDui - second highest point in Britain!

Day two out of Aviemore, beautiful blue skies, it is actually hot and I need to filter water - well, not hard to find up here.  I manage the planned two Munros, ascending one of them twice in fact - still better than my original route which had me backtracking from the Devils Point over two big hills.  But, I'm only at the fifty kilometre point at the end of the day, I need to pick up the pace.

Day three, the glorious weather continues and I keep walking, four more Munros including mighty Ben MacDui and the iconic Cairn Gorm.  A long day, I walk from 8am to 8pm, but with a few cunning shortcuts I get to a nice campsite by Loch Avon, some ninety-three kilometres into the route, this is better.

Derry Cairngorm.

It doesn't get any easier, I walk a twelve hour day with four Munros, tough, but really, the more time out in this amazing landscape on another lovely day the better.  Pity about the hour or so tramping through bog to finish mind.  Then, an easy enough day with just a couple of Munros and a lot of gentle trail gets me to Braemar.  I still need to find a shortcut, this one involves a thigh deep wade of the river Dee, worth it to get to the pub in good time.



Photos to go with this post can be found here.

Munro Madness : 3

Munros this section :

Geal Charn (Drumochter Pass)

A' Mharconaich

Beinn Udlamain

Sgairneach Mhor

A' Bhuidheanach Beag

Carn na Caim

Meall Chuaich

Mullach Clach a' Bhlair

Sgor Gaoith

Sgairneach Mhor.

Dalwhinnie is the highest village in the UK, and the coldest, according to a sign I read there - I can well believe this.  Still I am toasty in my B&B, and breakfast is excellent - there is, of course, haggis.  Then back into the hills, a little easier here as there seem to be more paths, I get up four more Munros and nothing breaks, a good day, for all that it rains for much of it.  Onwards, the Munros keep coming and I keep climbing them.  There seem to be quite a few people about, maybe it is the weekend?  I think these are more popular hills too, this is good, paths to walk on and good gravel roads, courtesy of the grouse industry.  And then the skies clear, I walk and then camp in glorious sunshine, has summer finally come to the highlands?  I sure hope so.

Meall Chuaich.

Getting close to Aviemore now, I am in need of a break I must say, feet are sore and I am tired.  Two more Munros first, and one is a beast, Sgor Gaoith is around 3,700 feet high with a dramatic pointed summit.  Good view from it anyway, for all that it has clouded over again.  Indeed I can see Newtonmore where I started walking a little way away, I really haven't walked far as the crow flies.

I've made good time and it is just a short morning's walk into Aviemore, a pretty big place bustling with tourists, time for proper hot food and beer, and a day off from walking, I need these things.  This is the closest town to the Cairngorm ski centre, and there's a definite ski resort vibe, live music in the evening and all, I approve.  I splurge out shopping a bit too, new socks, gas for cooking and lots of food... a big stage coming up, into the high Cairngorms, good to be prepared for it.

Sgor Gaoith.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.

Munro Madness : 2

Munros this section :

Stob Coire Sgriodain

Chno Dearg

Beinn na Lap

Carn Dearg (Rannoch region)

Sgor Gaibhre

Beinn Bheoil

Ben Alder

Beinn Eibhinn

Aonach Beag (Alder region)

Geal-Charn (Alder region)

Carn Dearg (Alder region)

Beinn a' Chlachair

Creag Pitridh

Geal Charn (Loch Laggan)

Stob Coire Sgriodain.

Not giving up on the madness yet.  The tent now has guy ropes - string from the nice people at the campsite.  My sleeping bag is dry thanks to their tumble dryer, and wrapped in two layers of black rubbish sacks, so I am prepared.  Two Munros the first day out of Roy Bridge, Stob Coire Sgriodain and Chno Dearg.  And the climbs go well, it does seem warmer, and there is an awesome view from the tops, several lochs visible, many pointy hills, and little sign of humanity.  I make camp around 5pm, there is even some sunshine, this is good.

Chno Dearg.

The next day brings three more Munros, and good views from each, this is more like it.  Really rather awesome to stand atop these high mountains with the wild country spread out below me.  There's some more sun in the afternoon, and I am making decent time again, shame about the five kilometres of trackless bog to end the day, still, I can take it.  But then, a tussock collapses beneath my foot, I end up on my bottom, and one of my poles jams into the peat, bending in two places.  Sigh...

Sgor Gaibhre.

The ups and downs, both literal and figurative, continue.  I climb five Munros in a day, and four more the next, wow.  And something of a miracle, I find a newish trekking pole just lying around near the summit of Ben Alder!  But, in another peat bog related incident, I bend my remaining Walmart pole - just a little though, it is still functional.  Worse, I descend from a mountain where the usual hurricane is blowing and try to put up the tent - doesn't seem too windy to me, but the tent disagrees, before I know it one of the poles has snapped.  Well, this is why I have repair sleeves... I get to Dalwhinnie anyway, only one night here, but it is in a B&B, so, a proper bed and real food.  Warmth!

Ben Alder.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.

Munro Madness : 1

Munros this section :

A' Chailleach (Monadh Liath)

Carn Sgulain

Carn Dearg (Monadh Liath)

Geal Charn (Monadh Liath)

Carn Liath (Loch Laggan)

Stob Poite Coire Ardair

Creag Meagaidh

Beinn a' Chaorainn (Loch Laggan)

Beinn Teallach

A' Chailleach (Monadh Liath).

Time for more Timmy madness!  This time I'm in Scotland, the plan is to see how many Munros - notable hills and mountains over three thousand feet - I can climb in a month.  What can possibly go wrong?

Well, I get up the first couple OK, hard work but totally worth it for the fine view of the inside of a cloud from the top of each.  I make my way towards number three, eventually reaching the high point of a long ridge and a familiar cairn.  Oops, seems I turned around somehow and I walked back to Munro number two...

OK, I keep going, need to keep moving as it is really very cold up here.  I camp in the hills, another small problem, seems I threw away the tent's guy ropes along with the cheap pegs it came with, oops again.  It doesn't blow away, although my sleeping bag is damp from walking in the clouds, makes for a cold night.

Carn Dearg (Monadh Liath).

More gruelling ascents, more horrible weather - on the approach to the summit of Creag Meagaidh, there is such a howling gale that I fear being blown off the edge, so I make my way along the steep, but sheltered slope below the ridge, then crawl to the top on my belly.  Then on my second night, the wind is so strong that I need to remove my shoelaces to use as guy ropes....  Very much a relief to get down for a rest at Roy Bridge.  My fingers don't seem to want to warm up, but, it will get warmer yeah?  Here's hoping.

Creag Meagaidh.  Pronounced 'craig meggy' apparently.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.

NSW Coast Walk : Review

Freedom!

So, as with some of my previous long walks, I thought that after taking a bit of time to recover I would post some musings on how the thing went.  Well, it was all pretty awesome!  Fair play to the people who came up with the idea for this, it really was nice to do a long trip that did not involve long, long stretches of unimproved forest, or indeed dangerous and absurdly arduous walking through mile after mile of snow.  Perhaps I did sometimes miss mountains, and the succession of beaches did eventually get a little boring, but really this was very cool.  I guess, the fact that Australia was always able to produce some kind of interesting bird or animal to enliven my day meant it was never dull.

They are so cool.

Given this isn't an official trail at all, it really was amazing how little road walking or bushwacking was involved, there was a lot of beach, and other than that a lot of good paths.  None of those paths, individually, were very long - I really do get the impression that this is not a country of hikers - but there were plenty of them.  Obviously there was one serious obstacle - or obstacles - to overcome during this walk, namely the many water crossings.  Getting back from it, I notice that most other people who have done this seem to have mainly crossed the various creeks and inlets on boats, well, I guess I am a bit too mad for that.  But really it was fine, I never felt in any danger, and swimming for fifteen minutes, or even half an hour, isn't too hard - I was happily walking for hours on end after all.  I reckon I swam eight times in all, over the following rivers / etc. :

Wonboyn River
Towamba River
Pambula River
Nelson Creek / Wapengo Lake
Bithry Inlet
Tuross River
Currambene Creek / Huskisson
Crookhaven River / Greenwell Point

So much exciting wildlife.

Many other inlets were closed off by sandbanks so I could simply walk past them, and in one or two cases I detoured around - notably the Tomaga River.  And of course I did take a boat a couple of times, firstly over Sussex Inlet, and then the Comerong Island Ferry.

There was beautiful scenery, mostly coastal of course, but there were beaches, rocky shores, cliffs - all good.  Did I mention the amazing wildlife?  Logistically it was all good too, I had no problem getting the buses to the start, good, cheap food was available every couple of days or so, and Australia's campsites seem to be largely excellent and reasonably priced.  So really, I would totally recommend this walk - just as long as you are happy getting wet from time to time!

Enjoying the view from Sublime Point.

Photos to go with this post can be found here and here.

NSW Coast Walk : Bulli to Sydney

KM this section : 58
KM completed : 712

You know where I am?  I'm in the jungle...

Looking to the north from Bulli, I can see that the land slopes steeply up away from sea, there are high cliffs a little way inland in fact.  Sure enough, my route goes that way, to begin with climbing along mountain bike tracks, through what the Australians call rainforest, rather different to the forests I've mostly walked through up 'til now, much of the undergrowth being some kind of palm tree, it feels very exotic.  Then I get to the 'Sublime Point Track', this is crazily steep, a sign warns me that there will be ladders, I assume this is local dialect for steps, but no, a series of metal ladders takes me up a vertical cliff face.  It is hard work with my pack on, but I'm rewarded with a fine view, and then a pleasant and pretty much flat track through more familiar forest.  Eventually I start to descend again, this time a gentle enough grade back down to a beach, and then up again, this time on an unpleasantly busy narrow road for a kilometre or two.  From here, the rest of the walk will be along the 'Royal Coastal Walk', this is a lovely walk, mostly along cliffs, and almost entirely on a walkway with a tough, artificial surface - I think this is the sort of thing the Kiwis I spoke to meant when they talked about Aussie paths all being wheelchair accessible.  I make it to camp at sunset, there is just enough light to cook up the kangaroo burgers I've bought as a celebratory last meal in the wild, who says such a thing cannot be cooked on a camp stove.  They're pretty tasty too...  There are many other campers, it seems to be some kind of christian young men's thing, well, they don't really bother me.

View from Sublime Point.

The christians leave at 4am, all very character building I am sure.  I wait for the rain, which has come down pretty heavily during the night, to stop, and then continue on the Royal Coastal Walk - it seems that the artificial surface is a recently laid new route, sadly they haven't bothered to remove the signs pointing along the old route, this leads to me walking around in a circle.  Then a few more beaches, passing a few points of interest such as wedding cake rock (carefully fenced off to prevent people taking selfies on it, apparently it may fall into the sea at any time), and some examples of aboriginal rock carving.  And that's pretty much it for the planned walking route... though in fact, after a ferry to Cronulla, and a rail replacement bus to Sydney's Central Station, I still find time for hurried tramp around the city - I have to get to the opera house for a photo.  Sydney seems nice, I like the botanic gardens, I should come back here.  Not totally sure about the harbour area where my hotel is, there seem to be lots of loud bars, but I manage to find one more to my taste for one last Aussie burger.

On the Royal Coastal Walk.

Well this was all rather awesome, totally worth the trip, great walking through beautiful countryside, and just so many interesting creatures to gawp at.  I could maybe have done with slightly less swimming, although honestly it worked pretty well, and given that this was not an official route in any way, it's amazing how little trouble I had, only very small amount of hacking through the bush or climbing fences, which to be honest with a little better planning I could probably have avoided.  I may do a more detailed retrospective at some point, with more facts and figures.  And I can certainly see me coming back to Australia, I have only scratched the surface of this huge country for one thing - or indeed, even within the region I was in, there is also a trail leading up the the country's highest mountain which sounds worth a look.

Had to be done.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.

NSW Coast Walk : Kiama to Bulli

KM this section : 60
KM completed : 644

Walking out of Kiama, past the lighthouse.

Unsurprisingly I make it a lazy day in Kiama, it seems a nice place, and there are actually things to see - various buildings dating from victorian times, a large lighthouse, many churches, and I see many signs for the 'blowhole', which I guess will be a sea cave with a partially collapsed roof.  But apart from getting out to do a bit of shopping, I pretty much just hang around the campsite TV room...

Basalt columns.

It really is not far to Sydney now, and not far to walk on my first day out of Kiama, just twenty-seven kilometres in fact.  The Kiama Coast Walk continues, it is still nice, passing some interesting rock formations today, some are natural, some are the results of old quarrying.  There still is a quarry here, my GPS line goes along the road to it in fact, and there look to be many lorries rumbling along it - I find a better route among houses, although for a while I worry that I am in a gated community.  Then back to the sea, good to return to a beach, except, oops, it seems to be being dug up - there is a new marina under construction it seems, there are many danger signs, and on the beach a massive bulldozer is slowly shifting sand about.  Of course, I backtrack and walk around on the road, going through the construction site would be bad and wrong, and I certainly wouldn't want to spend the rest of the afternoon worrying whether somebody there called the police to report me for trespassing...  Well, I make it to camp, at a place named Windang, by 5pm, for the third night in a row I'm at a proper site.  And there is a nearby bowling club where it is schnitzel night - like the Kiwis, the Aussies like their schnitzel, although over here they still generally make it with chicken.

There is a beach somewhere under all that.

I walk out of Windang along a busy road, looks like there's not much land between the sea and the (very large) Lake Illawarra, what isn't this road is houses or a huge golf complex.  I do expect to leave the road after a few kilometres, but, it turns out the GPS line runs along a railway line, not ideal in this country where, unlike America, trains are fairly frequent and go faster than walking pace.  So, I walk along a cycle path instead, which is absolutely fine, for all that it is beside a six lane highway, with a truly enormous steel works between me and the sea.  The afternoon is rather better, I'm still on the cycle path, but it's now a nice route along the coast.  And it is another short day, I reach (another paid) camp for 4:30pm and this evening I find a 'workers club', I must say I approve of Australia's clubs, I have visited a few now and they are generally comfy, and are happy to provide non members like me with food - massive fish and chips tonight - and beer.

Windang Bridge, over the Lake Illawarra inlet.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.