Playlist
Various – My Favourite 30 Artists (MP3 CD)
Various – Jukebox Shuffleplay
Up early for a very hearty breakfast at 8:20...
Weather a little less good than we might have hoped for...
Birds feeding outside the window...
To the station for eleven – the place we were going was inaccessible other than by train...
The experienced walkers had already set off and were, by now, half way up the Corbett they were climbing, the plan being that they would come back down and then up the Munro behind us, joining us at the summit...
The view from the train looked a bit wild...
As we arrived just before midday, the rain started with a vengeance and our borrowed waterproofs came in mightily handy..
There was a “walk-in” of around a mile and a half through driving rain by the side of Loch Ossian...
...then we were supposed to have ascended via a sloping path and the main ridge but, for some reason, the leader of our party decided to venture further around the base of the hill and take us up a steep slope with no discernable path...
No wonder this seemed a lot more difficult than what had been described to us as “one of the easiest Munros”...
I was close to the vanguard for the first part of the journey and followed in the footsteps of a 77 year old Munro expert (whose 10 and 12 year old grandsons led the pack)...
Over a deer fence and on we went as the slope became steeper...
By now, everyone was quite spread out and your correspondent found himself to the rear...
We stopped on the slope for lunch but I’d completely lost my appetite and indeed any enthusiasm I might have had for this undertaking...
But, unbeknown to me, things were to get even worse...
As the weather brightened up, we set off on the next section of the journey, having split into “fast” and “slow” groups – guess which one I was in...
Soon, I was cut off almost completely from everyone else with only the back marker, Neil, alongside me, trying to encourage me with suggestions that the slope above me wasn’t as steep as that which we’d climbed so far...
Even Neil had to admit this was a blatant lie...
My stops for rest became more frequent but I was determined not to give up – even though, in my head a little voice was saying:-
(a) “you’ll never make it to the top” and...
(b) “if you stop now, you won’t make it back down the way you came either because it’s too steep, wet and muddy to be negotiated by a fat bloke in luminous orange trousers and pair of Adidas Sambas”...
You can just see Anne off in the distance in the picture below - she's the blue dot to the left - the Corbett Party can be seen waiting for us on the ridge above...
When I reached the point where Anne is in the pic above, Sid appeared...
Remember he’d just climbed and descended the Corbett on the other side of the railway line that, by now, was a fine thread off in the distance, and was about to complete his 503rd climb...
Notwithstanding this, he still managed to bound down the slope in his t shirt and shorts (ok, and tights) to take my feather light rucksack from me and give me even more encouragement than Neil had to try and coax me on to the top...
Again blatant lying took place re the steepness of the slope above me...
And so, eventually, I made it up to the ridge joining the Corbett party - and the trusty Exec Producer who had also hung around and waited for me...
We were now onto “the easy bit” – the end of the ridge which led to the summit...
...of course no-one who had arrived ahead of us was allowed to go onto the summit ahead of Sid and Debbie and I had held them back considerably...
But now, everyone was here and the other climbers formed an arch with their walking poles for Debbie and Sid to make their way to the top...
I must admit, it was quite an emotional moment to see them there, finishing a task which they had started back in 1992...
For my own part, the champagne I drank from a plastic cup after this three and a half hour ordeal was not only in celebration of Debbie and Sid’s remarkable achievement but also in celebration of reaching the summit of my very own last Munro...
...for I will never do this again...
...even though the views were indeed spectacular...
I would much rather have taken a chairlift, cable car or maybe a helicopter to the top - climbing a steep hill for three hours is certainly not my idea of fun...
And so, after less than half an hour at the top, celebrating and enjoying the views, we had to start the descent in order to ensure we’d be back at the station for six o’clock to catch the last train back to the comparative civilisation of Tyndrum...
We descended the way we ought to have come up but, while it was easier than the climb had been, parts of the track down were pretty steep and treacherous...
The Exec Producer nearly broke her ankle when her foot went down a hole...
Luckily, she came away merely nursing a soaked and muddied backside and waterlogged boots...
Once again she is the blue dot off in the distance...
My descent was slower than nearly everyone else and it took me almost two hours from the summit back to the station...
But, of course, I couldn’t resist running the last 50 yards or so of the track which lead from the foot of the hill to the platform, where my colleagues were gathered waiting for the stragglers...
A welcome coffee was enjoyed and the bubble of a small boy was rather cruelly burst with the comment “no-one remembers who was fourth to the summit but everyone remembers who was last”...
At around six thirty, the train arrived to take us back to Tyndrum...
...and to our B&B to get ready for the evening's celebrations...
A fine buffet was served to all the triumphant climbers, myself and the Exec Producer included and, despite being encouraged by all and sundry to do this again, I maintained my stance that, like Sid and Debbie, I had climbed My Last Munro...
Annie managed a few jigs late on but my own legs and feet were shot to pieces...
Sid and Debbie were presented with various excellent mementos of their compleation (as it is spelt in this context apparently) of 220 Corbetts and 283 Munros...
Around midnight, we made our farewells and left them all dancing into the night...
So, all in all, an enjoyable day...
That's in hindsight though - at the time it was absolute hell (apart from the short time at the summit)...
I would admit though to feeling a bit of a sense of achievement to have "bagged" a Munro...
But it will be my first and last - that's for certain...
Highlight of the Day : Finally reaching the summit with the Exec Producer and two brilliant but quite obviously mad, chums...
No comments:
Post a Comment