Ettrick Pen and Capel Fell

13 August 2013

Participants - Just me
Where - Ettrick Pen, 692m/2,270', Graham, Map 79, NT 199077 and Capel Fell, 678m/2.223', Graham, Map 79, NT 164069

It is donkey's years since I last walked in the Ettrick area. Looking for a day out, and with no new Marilyns to do (or at least ones that I fancied doing), I decided to pay a visit to Over Phawhope bothy, www.mountainbothies.org.uk, and renew acquaintance with a couple of the hills. I parked the car at the end of the public road, about a mile short of the bothy. Mine was the only car there. I know that these hills are less frequented than the hills further north but I was still surprised that I met no one else all day. It was still August after all! Anyway, I stopped for a while at the bothy and had a look around. It was clean and tidy....
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This is big forest country and the closeness of the trees give the place a bit of a gloomy feel. But all that will change soon as the Forestry folk are preparing to harvest the timber here. They are going to build a track to let them get the timber out so it could be a bit industrial around here for a while. Let's hope that they replace the sitka with some indigenous species. The route to Ettrick Pen led up a track through a wide fire break and then out onto the open hill. This is the view back to the bothy from high up; the bothy is beside the single tree in the middle of the photo. I hope that I'm not in the building if the tree is ever blown down!

There was a big cairn on Ettrick Pen at the junction of a number of fences.....

And expansive views, this is looking to the head of the Ettrick valley.....

My route was straightforward, follow a 4WD track along side the fence over Hopetoun Craig to Wind Fell, drop down to Ettrick Head and go up again to the second Graham, Capel Fell. Here are a few pictures.

Croft Head and Capel Fell from Hopetoun Craig.....

Capel Fell from a "stone man" on the col between Hopetoun Craig and Wind Fell.....

A look back at Ettrick Pen from Wind Fell.....

These hills are easy walking. However they sit at the edge of huge areas of Sitka forest that cover other hills. Imagine what it would be like if these hills also were clear of trees!

It only took 30 minutes to get from the low point of Ettrick Head to the top of Capel Fell- a hill without a summit marker. There is a short wooden stake in the ground west of the fence which might be the highest point but it's one of these tops where it really could be anywhere! Another Graham, Croft Head, lies to its west but I was too knackered to do it as well. Instead, I lounged about taking more pictures. Of Croft Head.....

North to the Moffat Corbetts of Hart Fell and White Coomb.....

West over the Moffat valley and across the M74 corridor to the hills of Galloway.....

and back across the Ettrick valley to Ettrick Pen.....

I then dropped back down to Ettrick Head, went along the forestry track back to the bothy and so back to the car. It is great walking country, maybe it's a good thing that so few folk visit it?

Rowchoise bothy

9 August 2013

Participants - Neil and Ben
Where - Rowchoise bothy

There was a fair old breeze blowing and the hill tops were covered in clag when we set out from the car park at Rowardennan on the east side of Loch Lomond.....

Despite the condition, the hordes were already starting the climb up Ben Lomond; for us today though it was a leisurely walk along the loch side to have a look at the MBA maintained bothy at Rowchoish. There is a well surfaced FC track apart from the final few hundred yards down to the bothy and it being the middle of summer, there were quite a few groups doing the West Highland Way. They wouldn't see a great deal on this section of the Way as it is heavily wooded, there was only the occasional glimpse of the hills across the loch. This is looking to the Luss hills from early on in the walk....

Although the National Park are taking action against anti-social behaviour on the east side of the loch including restrictions on wild camping, there is still too much of this.....

However, the area was remarkably litter free given the number of folk using this stretch. I suppose that it's about 4 miles to the bothy. I was pleased to find it in good condition. Here are a few pictures of the outside.....

 

and of the inside. It is pretty basic, no wooden floors and sleeping bunks here, just the essential shelter from the elements with a fireplace and with plenty of fallen timber nearby for the fire. Ben had a good look round, before I did a bit of tidying up.....

I always find Rowchoise a bit of a gloomy place. There is a drawing on the wall showing the old cottage and byre as they were in 1929....

It must have been a fine place to live at that time with a number of other families living round about and with uninterrupted access to the loch side and the magnificent views across the water to the Arrochar Alps. A former MBA  Maintenance Officer, Jim McKenna, has put a note on the wall recording that as late as 1759, there were 9 families living in the vicinity with at least three more settlements between them and Inversnaid, a few miles further up the loch. The bothy was the byre of Rowchoish cottage which was occupied until the late thirties. It is the only building left standing. Nature has taken its course, aided by the FC. Trees are all around, and thick vegetation, giving the whole place an air of neglect (apart from the bothy, of course!).

After leaving the bothy, I had a look around for the remains of some of the other houses. Bits of Rowchoise cottage still stand.....

and not far away were what remains of another cottage, now with trees growing in the middle of what was probably the main room of someone's accommodation.....

 All a bit sad, but at least the record of this settlement remains through the restored building that today serves as the bothy. The Association is always looking for new members to assist with its work, either by attending work parties or by contributing to the purchase of materials through subscriptions and donations. You can join the MBA at http://www.mountainbothies.org.uk/joinus.asp

Cruach an Lochain

5 August 2013

Participants - Just me
Where - Cruach an Lochain, 508m/1,666', Sub-2k Marilyn, Map 56, NS 049938

I drove to this hill via Loch Lomondside, Arrochar and Strachur and back by Dunoon and the Clyde ferry. It was a fine day out. Looking at the map, it looks as though the hill is closely guarded by trees; however there is a good track to follow and only a few yards to go through the trees to get on to the open hillside. There was enough space to park the car in the entrance to the track at 068948.....

It didn't look as though the track had been used by vehicles for a long time and it was a bit overgrown in places. After about a mile, it was time to leave the trees, following a burn up through a break to arrive at this fence.....

Being high summer, the grass was a bit thick in places but overall, the going was quite good. It was bright rather than sunny but also humid and I was struggling a bit. However, there was an absence of insects, hooray! The name of the hill suggested that there were crags and a lochan. Sure enough, I came across the lochan just below the final slopes to the summit.....

but the few boulders that I could see could hardly be termed crags. Arriving at the summit, I reckoned that I had seen a similar view a few times this year, but it was none the worse for that. The Arrochar hills.....

the west coast with today only a vague outline of Jura and Mull.....

and south to the distant peaks of Arran.....

It was brightening up so I lazed about on top for about half an hour. There was no hurry.

There are still a few Marilyns in this area that I haven't yet done so I had a look at possible starting points for some of them as I was driving across to Dunoon. I am not sure how many I will actually attempt, there are rather a lot of trees around here.

It is a really good service from Dunoon to Gourock- and a busy one. This is one of the boats leaving Hunters Quay.....

and a picture of another one heading to the Quay taken from about the mid-way point of the crossing. The weather was absolutely perfect by this time.....

Shee of Ardtalnaig (Ciste Buide a'Claidheimh)

31 July 2013

Participants - Just me
Where - Shee of Ardtalnaig, 759m/ 2,490', Graham, Map 51, NN 729352

It must be decades since I first stood at the summit of Ben Chonzie and looked north to the Shee and thought that that was hill that I must climb. Since then, I have climbed Ben Chonzie on many occasions. I have also climbed the two Corbetts that flank the Shee- Creag Uchdag and Creagan na Beinne- a couple of times but have never got round to climbing the Graham. Today I was putting that right.

I parked at the old tennis court in Ardtalnaig village. I could have found a place further up the road to Claggan farm but decided not to bother looking as I expected that the places would all be taken. In fact, they weren't; I had the hill to myself. Immediately through the farmyard, the track up the side of the Shee struck off to the right and meandered gently up and across the hill. I am not sure why the name of this hill was changed a few years ago; in my opinion we should be sticking to or adopting the Gaelic names rather than doing the opposite. Anyway, that's just my view. And talking of views, the weather was a bit disappointing. MWIS had assured me that the tops would be clear and that there would be good sunny periods but it was all looking a bit dull. This is the view across Loch Tay to the Lawers hills from early on in the walk.....

The track wound round to the north side of the hill and then there was a couple of hundred yards of heather bashing before I arrived on the plateau. The summit was about a mile in the distance. As I took this picture, I noticed a brown object in the lens- a small deer was looking at me from a few hundred yards away!.....

I had read that there were rather a lot of peat hags on this hill and so there were.....

but they were dry and I just walked through them. There is a good view of this area looking back from higher up the hill.....

Once past the hags, it was only a short climb to the small cairn, which looked as though it might not be exactly on the highest point although I guess that it must be. Why carry stones up a hill if you're not going to leave them at the highest point? The clouds were starting to shift although there was still a definite lack of sunshine. This picture has Carn Mairg and Schiehallion in the background.....

So at last I was looking at the reverse of the view that I had seen from Ben Chonzie all those years ago.....

It was one of those days when the cloud on the higher hills came and went so I hung about at the cairn for a while to get the best of it. It was a mainly grassy top and I noticed lots of Cloud berries.....

The cloud had lifted on the Lawers hills by the time I was heading down.....

I was pleased to have climbed this hill at long last, it didn't disappoint. It is one of the highest of the Grahams and the start is at about 100m parking in the village so it is a good day out. It took me 5 hours 30 minutes.