21C - BEINN A' GHLO
Carn nan Gahhar and Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain from Carn Liath. Photo Colin Lamont
14.1 miles 2250 metres
Start Friday 22.04
Carn Liath 22.52
Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain 23.23
Carn nan Gabhar 23.54
Carn an Righ Saturday 01.32
Glas Tulaichean 02.07
Finish 02.21
Squares: yellow - changeovers. Circles summits: green - this leg, purple - to do or done. Map Colin Matheson
Time: Estimated 3.57 Actual 4.17
Mark writes:
Finally the night leg arrives! This is the one I have been so apprehensive about. Certainly I feel pretty lonely sitting at Balaneasie in the van on my own waiting for Steve. A snooze for an hour, a couple of fasta pastas and a rare cup of Earl Grey tea helped to pass the time but not to ease the worries gnawing at me. The wind seems incredibly strong down in the valley, what will it be like on the tops? I have never run alone at night before – will I be scared?
Across the river is a small bothy and I watch enviously as two lads arrive, get the fire going and generally relax. The worst thing about this relay is the waiting, waiting for the urgent cries which may come at any time.
Steve came bounding down the hill at 10.02, half an hour earlier than I had even hoped for. I set off quickly up the hill and out of sight. Managed to find an excellent trod over the flat moors to the base of the mountain proper. “More wildlife than you could point a stick at” as my friend Ian would say, I thought as I practically trod on the mountain hares.
A steep pull to the first top reveals that it is not the top at all – the bulk of this mountain is huge and with the constant high wind and darkening skies one can only be in awe. Beinn a' Ghlo is the mountain of the veils or mists and sure enough, in an otherwise clear sky, there is a strange lens of cloud over the highest top of the mountain – Carn nan Gabhar at 1120m. Although the wind is high and constant, the cloud appears stationary.
Having been warned of the 10 mile exclusion zone (following an RAF wipeout) surrounding the crash site at Loch Loch, I am determined not to use the torch until I am across the valley, an over-reaction maybe but not many people go running around remote Scottish mountains at 1 a.m. And I would rather not have to explain!
Deep heather slows progress across the valley and in the moonlight, the next climb, Carn an Righ, seems too small. I check map and compass and re-check but really, after 20 minutes climbing, still nowhere near the top I realise it must be the right hill. The cloud is boiling up now and the very summit has ethereal streaks of cloudwhipping across the tops. This is more sinister somehow than simply being in the cloud, like the evil forces in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Having a “mission” makes me concentrate on what has to be done and prevents me from panicking.
A final pull up Glas Tulaichean and I am whooping and yelling my way down to the changeover with Eddie in the first lightenings of dawn. When I actually fall over the tent I realise that he is still asleep. This obviously induces panic although within four minutes Eddie is off leaving me to clear up and ponder achievement.
I have crossed 20 miles of remote country alone at night.It has been a "first" for me and an experience I shall remember for a very long time.
Peaks done 125 Hours elapsed 139 Peaks to do 152
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