Witches trail '09

Rich's first visit to the Witches trail at the Nevis Range at Fort William...apologies if video is slow to load...

--Matt

Salmon Fishing on the Garry **Guest Blog**

Back in May, I had my first experience salmon fishing. I'd been fly fishing for trout plenty of times down in Yorkshire, however I'd never had a chance to try for a salmon, so my friends Matt and Jenny at Invergarry Lodge invited me up to fish for a day on the River Garry, as a present for my thirti... twenty-fifth birthday. Sadly, I didn't manage to hook anything at all, except for clothing, nets and various plants, trees and weeds. Thankfully though, others present were more successful, and I saw proof at least that there were some big salmon in that river.

In August I tried again, this time on the Esk in North Yorkshire. That day was even less fruitful, with three of us working the river for over 12 hours with not even a nibble. So after two unsuccessful salmon fishing trips, I decided it was time to call in the big guns - I invited my Dad, Phil Parrish, up to Invergarry to see if we could catch one of those fish I'd spied back in May.

We arrived with a car boot full of various rods, reels and lures. We had everything ranging from antique Sharpe's reels and Hardy cane rods, to cheap modern rods and spinning reels. Surely with our vast arsenal, we'd be hauling in the fish?

Well it was a slow morning - we started early at the end of the Garry near Loch Oich, and worked our way up river. By early afternoon we were starting to tire and so stopped for a bite to eat, and to curse Poseidon for our bad luck so far. Thankfully, things started to pick up after that, and we each hooked a pike which provided us with some fun for a while. Thinking that the weather was about to take a turn for the worse, and noticing Matt appear with a six-pack of lager, I retreated to the fishing hut for a break with Matt whilst Dad continued in his search for a salmon.

Suddenly, we were alerted by shouting, and a string of expletives that would make a sailor blush. Running down the bank with the landing net, it appeared Dad was struggling with a fish the likes of which had not been seen since the première of Jaws in 1975. After a bit of a struggle to direct it into the net, we soon had it on the bank - not a shark, but a decent size salmon, and one very happy Dad.

Glenfinnan/Corryhully Horseshoe

I managed to escape the hostel duties for a few hours today for a quick trip round the Glenfinnan Horseshoe, a steep and rugged circuit taking in two fine Munros, Sgurr Thuilm and Sgurr nan Coireachan.
The approach is on a private tarmac road so a bike comes in very handy for much of it. Then it's a steep (and quite boggy) slog up to the 600m mark where it eases towards the summit (963m) and gives great views across to Ben Nevis.

Then across the ridge, over four minor summits to Sgurr nan Coireachan which although slightly lower at 956 m provides great views across to the Outer Hebrides, Skye and Knoydart. It took some effort to pull myself away from the views and head back down to the bike and Glenfinnan.


--Matt

A Snowy North Shiel Ridge

I'd been given a half day pass out for good behaviour (I've decorated one of the bathrooms in the hostel) and what with the recent dusting of snow I'd spied on the tops on Sunday there was nothing else for it but an early start.

I pulled up in glen shiel a little before 6am and things were looking promising. The sky was clear and lit up by a full moon, I set off up the Allt Coire Tholl without even needing my headtorch. By the time I was approaching the south east ridge of Sgurr An Fhuarail, however, the sky had clouded over and light rain was following me up the hillside. I kept skirting further and further eastwards in an attempt to catch the sunrise at the other end of the glen, but unfortunately luck was not with me today - cloud was!


Despite this the ridge did offer some atmospheric views across to Ciste Dhubh, A'chralaig and Mullach Fraoch-Choire as the cloud danced around their summits.


I followed the narrowing ridge over Sgurr An Fhuarail and then made my way onto the snow-covered summit plateau of Aonach Meadhoin, which despite its cloud covering had a real wintry feel to it. I hung around for a while hoping the cloud would clear but I soon got rather chilly so decided to head off towards Sgurr A'Bhealaich Dheirg, the next Munro on the ridge. Again the ridge started to narrow and I enjoyed a few short scrambly sections before starting on the long slog up to the summit, accompanied all the way by a soundtrack of rutting stags. The summit cairn actually lies beyond an easy but exposed ridge, made more interesting by a good smattering of snow. As I sat eating my sandwiches (cheese, sausage and redcurrant jelly if you're interested!) I was treated to a few glimpses of the summits I'd covered earlier on as they poked through the thick cloud.


Back on the main ridge I continued westwards, dropping sharply out of the cloud before tackling another short scramble leading to the bealach. Onwards and upwards I went, up the grassy slopes of Saileag for a well-earned rest at the rather pathetic summit cairn and another sandwich. The early start was starting to catch up with me, so I took a breather here for a while before backtracking down over Sgurr a' Bhealaich Dheirg and forking south down the broad ridge to Meall a' Charra. I was soon back at the van and made it back home in time for lunch!

--Matt

Scottish Wildlife

There's a wealth of wildlife to see in the Scottish Highlands, we saw our first sea otter the other day (we also held a python at the Skye Serpentarium!) and we've even had deer in our garden. Here's a list of what they've seen at the swing bridge up the road. The bridge wardens have sharp eyes and often see golden eagles and pine martens amongst many other species. The list is from earlier in the month showing what they've seen so far.... wait a minute, what's that one at the bottom? That monster gets everywhere!


--Matt

Disclaimer: We at Invergarry Lodge cannot promise that this list is genuine and has not been photoshopped.

Ben's First Munro (A Scottish weather special!)

After having to shorten our fishing trip due to high winds, Ben (Invergarry Lodge's Fishing Guru) decided he'd like tackle his first Munro instead.

We decided on Sgurr a' Mhaoraich down by Loch Quoich, I've done it before so decided we'd make it slightly longer by heading in to Glen Loyne and climbing it with Am Bathaich. The weather forecast wasn't great but the tops where clear as we headed down after lunch (we had Ben helping out with hostel duties in the morning).

We parked up and it started raining. Then it stopped. Then it started again. Then it..well, you get the picture.

After a small stream crossing (imagine how good that photo would be if you'd jumped across Ben!) we headed up the tight zig zaggy path to the ridge of Am Bathaich where the winds picked up significantly.


About two minutes after this photo it started raining quite heavily and didn't stop until we where nearly back at the car - a freak localised squall that followed us around for two hours! The winds on the final summit were vicious so we didn't hang around and after a small navigational issue (we couldn't see anything) where soon safely back down to the glen.

Not one of the best days on the hill, character building at best but I don't think it's put Ben off too much, maybe next time we'll try something a little harder.....


--Matt

Burn, Burn, Burn, The Ring of Steall

The Ring of Steall is a real classic mountain route combining the traverse of four Munros with scrambling along narrow, rocky aretes.

I finally got underway after a late start (beds to change and DIY supplies to buy) and was mentally doing my checklist as I set off up the 'best half mile in Scotland' to arrive at Steall Falls and blue skies.....Suncream, No.....Shorts, No.....Extra Water, No......Sun Hat, No..... oh, well I'm already half way up the first one, I'll be fine. Well, fine-ish, the first one proved to be a long slog, great views to the back of Ben Nevis but definitely a long slog. My energies where quickly revitalised after getting to the top and along a short scrambley ridge before stopping for lunch with this fine view in front of me, the Glencoe hills just poking through the cloud.


It felt a bit strange sat on the top of a mountain on a lovely hot day, blue skies all around and autumn colours coming through and me eating my first mince pies of the year, delicious (as an aside - mince pies do not hold up well to the strains of hill walking, they were more like mince and pastry crumble).


Anyway, another top and then another long hard slog up to the summit of Am Bodach, the third Munro for the day and where I ran out of water and mince pies.



From here you have to cross a much narrower ridge called The Devils Ridge which only really has one awkward section (which can be bypassed) the rest is just a little exposed.


From this point it's all down hill, I confess I didn't hang around on the way down, I had a hot date with the stream at the bottom of the glen and the bottle of water in the van. Happy days.


--Matt