27C - LOCH TREIG EAST
Stob Coire Sgriodain from Chno Dearg, The Stob Coires behind. Photo tms.nickbramhall.com
9.3 miles 1220 metres
Start Monday 07.38
Beinn na Lap 08.18
Chno Dearg 09.11
Stob Coire Sgriodain 09.30
Finish 09.52
Squares: yellow - changeovers. Summits circles: green - this leg. Map Colin Matheson
Time: Estimated 2.29 Actual 2.14
This leg necessitated a train joruney to get into position. Before the event I had hoped that it would not be an overnight wait, but now I was glad as it would give me good uninterrupted slepp which I still needed, despite having slept for much of the day.
The departure was a real piece of melodrama – the team lined up outside wiping their faces with handkerchieves and waiving. I desperately held my eyes open on the journey for fear of waking up in Glasgow. True to Tom's word, Mrs Morgan offered me the cooking facilities in her hostel, then I trogged off to pitch the tent near the youth hostel.
An unbroken 9 hours sleep later, I rose just as Paul Driver arrived on his bike. He had run overnight with Mark and thus knew moreorless when Graeme would have started. It seemed we had at least half an hour, so with the warden's permission we brewed tea in the hostel. I had just brewed my second mug when Paul said “He's here”.
Rush out to the tent, and soon Graeme steams down the path. Paul and I are off along the road. He is rather startled when I cut a corner across a marsh – all dry, except one thigh deep bit. I am glad that he came too and didn't prove the road to be faster.
I feel confident that I can make time on schedule from Chno Dearg onwards, but doubt that I can reach there in the time allocated. We push hard up Beinn na Lap and I am pleased to get over the top before my watch beeps. Suddenly I am alone, where is Paul? - I cannot see very far in the now standard mist. I shout as I set off down the ridge but he does not appear. I need to move fast to get to Chno Dearg in 51 minutes, it took me over an hour last year.
I follow the ridge until it flattens out, then drop steeply off the side. A year ago I crossed a spectacular landslide here, only a few days old as witnessed by the non-putrid sheep caught in it. Crags high on the hill had burst from the weight of water behind them and spilled 1000 feet down the slope. Now the landslide had already merged into the hillside although some very shiny slabs of rock clearly showed the source.
The climb to Chno Dearg is straight and perfectly angled, so I breast the top almost dead on schedule. Immediately a gap in the clouds appears and I can clearly see my next top. Foolishly this makes me head straight for it even though I know I have to curve round, but I am soon back in the cloud racing down in the correct direction.
Paul reappears on the col having missed Chno Dearg. He runs with me for a short way but I am on a high and he can't keep up – small blame to him, he has been out all night. In keeping with my mood I hit a brilliant line around the subsidiary top, and am soon over my final Munro and racing down the awkward crags of the north ridge.
A train comes by just as I am crossing the railway fence, so I know I am safe to run along the few hundred yards to the dam. My shouts go unanswered, and I begin to believe that Ross is not in position. As I cross the dam this becomes a certainty. I curse him as I continue running down the track towards where I hope the van will be. Soon I see him sauntering towards me – sudden panic on his face, he starts to sprint and my imagination sees items scatter from his unprepared pack. I yell at him not to panic hiding my anger, and he jogs at a more reasonable pace.
Soon after he has gone I wonder what he has done with the van key – I consider chasing him but decide against it. As the van appears round the corner I note with relief that the van door is open. Craig is there smiling as ever, and pointing out how trivial Ross's lateness is.
Peaks done 192 Hours elapsed 195 Peaks to do 85
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