John Hesp's Hike Across Scotland 12

TGO Challenge - A Walk from Glenuig to Montrose

Day 11 - Cloud

I was amazed to awake to the sound of rain at 3:30am. I’d naturally assumed that the sun was back for good.

I was up at seven, looking at maps to see the best route down Glen Isla, connect with my Foul Weather Alternative (FWA) route, and over into Glen Prossen. The rain had obviously set in for the day, and the cloud was very low, and huddled in my tent eating breakfast I wasn’t confident enough to go over Mayar and Driesh. Coming over Glas Maol yesterday had put me high up Glen Isla, and a long way from my FWA.

Today’s plan had been to struggle up the side of the glen until I came to the path leading up to Finalty Hill, and from Finalty Hill walk along the sunny tops to Mayar and Driesh, listening to skylarks along the way, and then drop down into Glen Clova. Instead, because of the weather I would walk down Glen Isla, cross over lower hills into Glen Prossen, then camp in the hills between Glen Prossen and Glen Clova.

Having packed up, and just as I was mulling over the fact that I was now going to have to cross the river again to get to the track, a text arrived from Helen. I was very surprised that it reached that tucked away corner, but it had taken since yesterday to get there. It cheered me up no end, and as I walked down the glen resigned to connecting up with my FWA I started wondering why I couldn’t go over Mayar and Driesh. After all it was only a bit of wind, rain and cloud, why not give it a go?

Looking at the map I could see that the only difficult bit would be finding my way from the point marked 890m across a featureless stretch of moorland to Mayar, but all it would need is a single compass bearing. From Mayar there would certainly be a path as Munros are much frequented. I decided I’d give it a go and walked down to Tulachan Lodge, up the track over Spying Hillock where a herd of forty or so deer passed fifty metres in front of me.

Looking back down to my camping spot

Of course I’d sensibly put the camera in the rucksack out of the rain, so no chance of getting a photo of them. In fact the rain made it a day of few photos. I continued on up into the cloud, over Finalty Hill and onto the 890m point, counting paces to give a rough idea of my position along the track.

Just before pt 890m I found that a track headed off in more or less the right direction for Mayar, and I decided to follow it as long as it kept heading in the right direction. The track was useful for a mile or so, but as can be expected, I’d drifted rather far of my course before I realised that the track was definitely heading the wrong way. I got the GPS out, retraced my steps a few hundred metres until I was in a good position, found my way across the boggy bealach before Mayar, then made the easy ascent to the summit (928m).

I didn’t hang about here as there was nothing to see, it was windy and raining, and the weather was obviously deteriorating. I followed a well defined path down into the gentle dip between Mayar and Driesh. Here a path, the Kilbo Path, comes up the Shank of Drumwhallo from Glen Prossen to drop down the Shank of Drumfollow into Glen Doll. What names! As it had started to hail in an aggressive way I followed the path down rather than take in Driesh, and soon found myself descending a steep ridge (Shank of Drumfollow) into Glen Doll, flanked by dramatic cliffs on either hand. Across the valley water was cascading down the rivers.

Looking back up the ridge I could see someone or something crossing the skyline towards Driesh – a hardier Challenger than me I supposed.

I knew that camping wasn’t allowed in the upper valley, but wasn’t sure how far down the ban extended, and I had hoped to camp beside Loch Brandy, high on the NE side of the glen. That didn’t seem likely if conditions were like this, and the Clova Hotel, a few miles down the glen, started to seem a highly desirable place to spend a night. It would be nice to get out of this awful weather, dry out and meet a few other people.

Reaching the bottom of the glen I took cover in a thick pine forest for a few minutes to get out of a particularly bad shower, and to grab a bite to eat. It wasn’t a very successful lunch spot so I jumped back out onto the track, surprising a couple of other Challengers who were walking down the track. These two turned out to be the people I had looked up at walking across to Driesh. They had spent the night camped a little further up Glen Isla than I had, and seemed to have been a little behind me all morning. I hadn’t seen them either last night or this morning. They kept asking if there was a shed, but didn’t seem happy with the one I pointed out behind them, and they eventually went into the visitor centre whilst I carried on down the glen.

Below the forest Glen Doll becomes Glen Clova, and like all these glens, Glen Clova was very much a separate entity and had it’s own character. The pine forests and steep cliffs of Glen Doll gave way to a more open valley with agricultural land.

Looking back up Glen Clova

At the Clova Hotel I went into the phone box and phoned Challenge control to let them know I hadn’t been washed away, and Roger Smith enquired where I intended to stay that night. I told him I had intended to camp beside Loch Brandy but had gone off the idea because of the weather, but he put Alan Hardy on the phone, and speaking to Alan I thought “why not?”. The hotel bunkhouse was visible from the phone box, an uncompromising rectangular box with few windows – how bad could camping be?

A visit to the hotel was still required however. One thing I had learned on the Challenge was to get some real food and shelter whenever it presented itself. I found myself in a bar at the back of the hotel where a few other Challengers were obviously settling in for the afternoon and evening. Scones and tea appeared and a little later Andrew who I’d met all the way back at Glenfinnan walked in.

After my tea, scones and chat I got up and said that I was on my way. This announcement brought comments of surprise and requests to stay, but I assured them I’d prefer to be in my tent and set off into the rain. Another thing the Challenge does is teach you a few things about yourself – I was obviously an idiot. Why not stay in the comfort and companionship of the hotel? Actually I was looking forward to camping at the lochside as it would be my last planned wild camp.

The map showed some flattish ground near the outflow of the loch, and on the phone Alan had thought this too. I found a small spot near the SE corner of the loch and managed to put the tent up before the next shower came through.

The loch is set in a corrie, and I sat eating my dinner looking out of the tent doorway at curtains of cloud moving first one way then the other across the corrie headwall. Bliss.