Torridon

Torridon. A land of sleeping giants, older than Everest and the mountains of Nepal, rising straight up from sea level into the sky. When you can see them...

A stark contrast with something new and fresh; a friendship with TheNewNomads which had been building up through the wonders of Twitter, Facebook and our blogs, and a meeting for a couple of hours over Christmas. 3 or 4 days with a new person. Would we get on? Would we get on with Torridon?

Monday saw me make the drive from Sheffield up to where she was staying near Perth. I drove up the A1 as far as Newcastle and treated myself with a revisit of old memories of days past with the Group B Rallying crowd; halcyon days of Opel Mantas and Forest Spec Escort 2000s. Driving through Otterburn and Kielder and over the spine of England into Scotland via the award winning Best Pie Shop in the Land was spectacular and I would very much recommend this route if like me you didn't have to rush on to the end destination. For me the roads were clear and fast, giving me a taste of the more wintry weather that has largely bypassed where I live. Speckled heather and snow covered hill sides, dark forest, reminders of bronze age settlements and the rather touristy Brigantium site, closed as I passed Redesdale, but the roundhouse very much visible from the road.

Reaching Perth and Kim was very welcome and it wasn't long before we were talking kit and exchanging ideas. Exchanging ideas and easy company was very much a theme for the week, not just around backpacking and walking gear but even around what to have for breakfast (I kid you not!). We poured over the maps and guidebooks we'd got and agreed a bit of a plan for the week, adopting curious pronunciations of mountains which I wont repeat here for fear of provoking the wrath of my Scottish friends... An early start to Torridon beckoned for the Tuesday however, so it was a case of reassembling the packs which we had dismantled in glee, and to pack ourselves off to bed for the next part of the adventure...

...Which started with another fairly long car journey, almost 200 miles from Perth to Torridon via Inverness. It didn't really matter in so far as enjoying company. It did matter somewhat in terms of getting there, walking and finding somewhere half decent to pitch overnight! A Babybel supply stop in Aviemore and the odd photo stop, before casting a passing glance over the outside of the Kinlochewe Bunkhouse (still not sure after reading varying reports), we hastened down the turn towards Torridon before coming to a halt at the breathtaking awesomeness of a massive hulk of a hill, mountain, in front of us. I actually commented, "So, do think this is Beinn Eighe?" as I stood in front of the park sign...

With the tone set for the next few hours, we were treated to some fantastic scenery and a view of Stuc a' Choire Dhuibh Bhig, the eastern end of Liathach, as we drove down the single track road towards the car park at the head of Glen Torridon, and the start of the walk into the hills.

Car parked, we eagerly started our first walk together, between Liathach and Beinn Eighe's peak Spidean Coire nan Clach. Kim is a great person to walk with and knew I wasn't sure about the recurrent problem I'd had with my hip, but together we seemed to just fall into a pace that felt spot on for me; slow but making progress and for once I didn't feel as if I was having to keep stopping to catch my breath. With a democratic approach to walking we swapped who went first a couple of times but I felt very comfortable with her taking the lead, and she was very attentive to checking out with me if the pace was alright. Sharing the excellent route details in the Cicerone Guide "Walking in Torridon" by Peter Barton (updated by Chris Lowe and Jim Sutherland), we made decent time along the Allt a' Choire Dhuib Mhoir (which the book says is pronounced 'Alt a' hhorry-doo-voor' and which reminds me somewhat of Afrikaans). It wasn't a walk where we were going to make any great summits; instead it felt as if it was about a passage of time and space, history and prehistory, as the clouds rolled in and out over the stark, huge landscape. Just being there was enough, for the land to seep into our souls and to think in wonder at the earth we trod.


We could see a bit of weather coming in from the sea, the signs of the low pressure out to the west in the Atlantic, which in Torridon you're not too far from. Clouds started to hang lower over Liathach, flattening the top out as the snow covered mountain got lost in the air. Surprisingly it didn't feel at all cold, especially considering it was towards the end of February. I hadn't know what to expect weather wise and had tried to be prepared for a range of possibilities.


On we walked, starting to wonder as the path curved around, just when would we finally get to the Fhearchair? It seemed a bit deceptive as we gazed down the glen towards Loch Maree in the distance and at the sight of another massif, wondering if this would finally be it. Time was getting on and the weather encroaching at our backs. We had a discussion over likely spots to pitch. Kim had sussed out an area on the map that looked good and flat but neither of us had anticipated how boggy nor rocky the environment would be. It was by no means a desperate situation but we were conscious of making a decision. We swapped pitch sites around in our minds and settled on one below Loch Coire Mhic Fhearchair, which was sloping a little but was about the flattest and least rocky around. Tuckered out, I opted to pitch the Trailstar while Kim checked for alternatives up towards the Loch itself. None showed themselves so I got on with the job.


Another experimentation for this trip was the dehydrated food I'd made using a marvellous Stockli Dehydrator on loan from a friend. Dried bolognese sauce was divvied out between us and we each used our own stoves to cook while laying in our bags, heads up towards the open end of the shelter. Now getting colder, it was tricky to light my Esbit tablet for the Caldera Cone (using with the Gram Cracker) but I was very impressed with Kim's extremely fast stove. Even more so when she had already got her food rehydrating in the Pour and Store bag as my water was only just luke warm. All good things come to those who wait though and proper ramen noodles cooked in the pot and then added to the bag when the food was ready gave me probably the best meal I have had while backpacking! And then of course the piece de resistance, Spotted Dick provided by Mr Kipling! Wonderful times!
I managed to provide entertainment for the next hour or so as various zips got caught, my bag continually sliding down the gorgeously warm POE Bamboo sleeping mat I'd borrowed via Kim from Phil (thanks Phil). I had the option of my NeoAir and to combine it with a CCF mat, but on feeling and seeing the insulation in one of these mats, and then trying it out in the field, boy was I glad of that decision!

The weather that had been slowly pressing in towards us decided to curl in towards us in the corrie, bouncing off the Ruadh-stac Mor, the triple buttresses of Beinn Eighe and round to Sail Mhor, at the bottom of which we were camped. The Trailstar was pushed a little, suffering from too short pegs in too boggy ground for tension to be drum tight. I had pitched it low, more by luck than judgement, but still the rain entered through the opening slightly. More a problem for me was in the morning I found I had slid downhill and my feet had exited under the Trailstar at the back. Luckily for me I had taken a hard core bag so I could just flick most of the water off when I found out. Neither of us had had an awful lot of sleep but after porridge and a coffee and a wander about up at the Loch for me, we packed up and left for the car.

It was a very different feeling to the day. Low, grey clouds with no sign of that glowing orb in the sky, we could see the rain in cascading sheets across the glen. No matter, we were well fed and warm and both managed to keep dry for the most part and felt a sense of unity in being the only people out in this weather in this landscape. The snow that had lain on the hills the day before was most definitely in retreat and coupled with the rainfall, many of the burns were churning down the hillsides. Great fun and easy water for us. And a growing sense of adventure and delight in crossing the stepping stones towards the end of the valley, some of which were completely submerged now. I love times like this, preparing my mind for adventure though for Kim having walked the Arizona Trail and crossed plenty of creeks with snow melt, I guess this was a little less than challenging! From then on we did Wonder Woman and Six Billion dollar man impressions, crossing 'raging torrents' that were maybe 18 inches across at best! Again we kept pace with one another, seamless, almost effortless. Rain came down but we were cheerful. No stress, just considering our options. The outcome of that is an entirely different story...

The photos I took for this blog post can be found here.