A Few Days In Torridon

Its been a pretty intense passage of time since returning from a working holiday in Snowdonia at the end of August so we were well ready for a few days in wild Torridon over the half term holiday last week.

We stayed for 5 days at the absolutely excellent B&B facility "The Loft" at Inveralligin. The accommodation, which is owned by the very hospitable Glyn & Pete, is finished to an excellent standard and offers B&B with a slight difference! If you are heading in this direction I couldn't recommend it highly enough!

The journey up was long (we did however divert very much off-route to Hawick to visit friends on the way) so it was a late arrival on a wet Sunday evening.

Waking on Monday morning gave a first impression of just what an excellent location this is. Inveralligin is about 4 miles west of Torridon and it was a pleasant walk there and back through The Torridon House estate after a late start to the day. The cafe at Torridon provided a good coffee & cake stop in the middle!

 The Loft - Inveralligin

Diverse Views Between Inveralligin & Torridon

Tuesday was planned (although it was always more a hope than reality given the forecast for the week) as a Benn Alligin mountain day. Unfortunately the forecasters were very much correct and low cloud; frequent torrential showers; hail & the wind blowing a hoolie led us to decide to head for the lower Sgorr a Chadail (in the photos above). We parked at the Benn Alligin car park just outside Inveralligin & headed up the path towards Coire Mhic Nobuil. Breaking off the path just before the footbridge lead to a really good day out - no paths (nav by features); plenty of scrambling & between showers some excellent views. I'd never heard of this hill but if it was in the lake District it would be very popular!

Sgorr a Chadail

Wednesday, got off to a good start with the most incredible dawn over Loch Torridon.
We spent the day which initially turned out a bit better than forecast with a visit to Gairloch.

Thursday - long drive back home & the start of a tour of Northern England!

Abseiling Chapter House Falls: Yordas Pot

Washington Wild Camping Society have recently posted a couple of videos from a trip to Yordas Pot. The footage is a bit dark, especially at the beginning & unfortunately my tech skills aren't up to extracting the vids & attempting to edit (if I can get the originals - will have a go!). So for now there are a couple of Facebook Links to them below:

Me on Chapter House Falls

James on Chapter House Falls





There are a few more images from the day as "stills" below - thanks again to Washington Wild camping Society for the photography

Wet At Whinlatter

We had a wander around a very wet Whinlatter Forrest yesterday. It looked superb in the rain!

Security On Steep Ground

Last Saturday Graham & myself ran a security on steep ground day on behalf of the In2venture Outdoor Activity Community. After a hastily re-organised meeting point of the New Barn, rather than Old Dungeon Ghyll - so as to avoid the masses attending the fell race - we headed off to the area of Scout Crag.

 

Team for the day was: Alex, Brendan, Maccy & Emma.


The weather was kind, staying dry and quite mild for the whole day. After the slightly delayed start we got underway a little before eleven and took the short walk from the car park round to the area of Scout Crag, there were plenty of climbers out making the most of the conditions.


The loose scree approach made an ideal start point for the day as we were able to consider movement over such ground and a first craggy outcrop made a good venue for looking at rope assisted climbs and lowers. This was a theme that continued through until lunch time.

After lunch it was time for basic abseils (South African; Angels Wings & Classic) for the folk present this was possibly the highlight of the day. We were able to find an excellent spot with sound anchors; an initial gentle slope; followed by a more challenging short but near vertical step. Everyone had several goes & experimented with all of the abseil techniques.

A look at the Thompson Knot and a few other improvised harness techniques rounded off the time at this location. Descending back off the steep ground provided opportunities for spotting and confidence roping.

We were able to sit outside the hotel at the end of the day for drinks before parting for onward journeys - great day!

Two Half Days in the Northern Fells: Lead Climbing & A Wander

We caught some fresh but bright Autumn weather in northern Cumbria last week (sorry on catch up at the moment). Wednesday afternoon saw some much needed lead climbing practise with Graham at Headend Quarry. The grades weren't difficult but it was good to get back on to rock, this could be a recurring theme over the next few weeks with a training course looming!

Wednesday evening was spent across in Darlington, good to catch up with John Pear, for an evening with Ray Mears at Darlington Civic Theatre. Ray spoke for about two & a half hours - great insight on knowledge; conversation; wildlife and native peoples' . Top class!

Thursday morning was equally bright & crisp. A walk out with Marion along Dale Beck and up to Roughton Gill was the plan. This is familiar territory from: exploring mines; fell running; gill scrambling & ticking off local tops but on this occasion it was good to just take a few photographs & enjoy this special environment that is right on our doorstep.

Straightforward Scrambling: Hause Gill & Cat Gill

With: Alan Rainford
Weather: Drizzly; mild & very claggy on the tops
Where: Borrowdale, Lake District



There's a YouTube clip to introduce this post, currently having trouble uploading an appropriate link, so here's a temporary one for now! 

It was a grey & overcast morning on Wednesday, the recent spell of settled weather had clearly ended maybe a day earlier than initially forecast and a day's scrambling in the high fells was replaced with a morning visit to Hause (Honister) Gill - somewhere I've seen & passed by many times without ever getting my feet wet and Cat Gill - a venue I've used several times but Alan had never visited.

The initial section from the small road bridge is very much as described in the guide book (see below) - as a boulder hop. In fact this continues in pleasant verdant surroundings for quite a while. However, once through a short series of cascades there are several falls that can be negotiated, all relatively straightforwardly. One or two traverses would lead to a wet outing if a fall was to result & the scrambles alongside the falls are good fun. At no point did we feel the need to get a rope out, the scramble very much fits its Grade 1 description.

The falls & cascades continue for some distance, at no point is egress to the road difficult. The option of sticking with the rock & close to the water at just about all times is possible at this venue. We chose to exit the gill a little short of the cattle grid on the Honister Pass.

A Note on Kit: 

We also visited Cat Gill which I've written about several times on these pages
I'd say that cat Gill is a far "greasier" and more slippy environment than Hause Gill, so for the first time this morning I used approach shoes & followed the old advice of taking a pair of woolly socks to wear over the shoes when scrambling on slippery surfaces. As a first impression this worked extremely well with, in particular, the last fall on Cat Gill proving to be a far easier undertaking than on previous visits.

The scrambles in both:

Hause Gill (Scramble 50, page 144) &
Cat Gill (Scramble 44, page 133)

Are described in the Cicerone Guide:

Scrambles in the Lake District
Volume 2: Northern Lakes
By Brian Evans

If you'd like a copy of this book please click here

Straightforward Scrambling: Hause Gill & Cat Gill

With: Alan Rainford
Weather: Drizzly; mild & very claggy on the tops
Where: Borrowdale, Lake District

It was a grey & overcast morning on Wednesday, the recent spell of settled weather had clearly ended maybe a day earlier than initially forecast and a day's scrambling in the high fells was replaced with a morning visit to Hause (Honister) Gill - somewhere I've seen & passed by many times without ever getting my feet wet and Cat Gill - a venue I've used several times but Alan had never visited.

The initial section from the small road bridge is very much as described in the guide book (see below) - as a boulder hop. In fact this continues in pleasant verdant surroundings for quite a while. However, once through a short series of cascades there are several falls that can be negotiated, all relatively straightforwardly. One or two traverses would lead to a wet outing if a fall was to result & the scrambles alongside the falls are good fun. At no point did we feel the need to get a rope out, the scramble very much fits its Grade 1 description.

The falls & cascades continue for some distance, at no point is egress to the road difficult. The option of sticking with the rock & close to the water at just about all times is possible at this venue. We chose to exit the gill a little short of the cattle grid on the Honister Pass.

A Note on Kit: 

We also visited Cat Gill which I've written about several times on these pages
I'd say that cat Gill is a far "greasier" and more slippy environment than Hause Gill, so for the first time this morning I used approach shoes & followed the old advice of taking a pair of woolly socks to wear over the shoes when scrambling on slippery surfaces. As a first impression this worked extremely well with, in particular, the last fall on Cat Gill proving to be a far easier undertaking than on previous visits.

The scrambles in both:

Hause Gill (Scramble 50, page 144) &
Cat Gill (Scramble 44, page 133)

Are described in the Cicerone Guide:

Scrambles in the Lake District
Volume 2: Northern Lakes
By Brian Evans

If you'd like a copy of this book please c