Gary and Ginger in the tent camped beside Loch Rannoch
UK June 2011 – Day 21. The plan was to go backpacking in the Cairngorms.
We were up reasonably early for a very nice breakfast with Russell and Chris, and we planned to get on our way and go hiking and camping in Cairngorms. However, the conversation flowed, I looked enviously at the Lenses Russell has for his nature photography and we finally left shortly before lunch. It was really great to meet up with Russell again after all these years, once I get all the vacation pictures processed and posted I’m looking forward to sitting down and writing Russell an email.
The weather turned for the worse on our way South, becoming cloudy with intermittent rain. We discovered that the Cairngorms were heavily geared to tourists, and the one out of the way place we’d found on the map that had parking nearby didn’t appear at all inviting in reality. I ended up driving for hours as we crossed the country once more before finally finding a quiet spot to camp alongside Loch Rannoch.
The rain stopped just long enough for us to set up the tent. We had a close look at the level of the loch, we didn’t want to get flooded out in the night.
I didn’t take any pictures today, so we had to coble together a last thing at night flash photograph in the tent.
05 July 2011 | 365:186 | 365 Days blog | Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman
Enjoying the scenery by Loch Bad a’Ghaill
UK June 2011 – Day 20. Today I met an old friend,
it was the first time we’d seen each other in nearly forty years. Russell and I had said our goodbyes back when we left school in July 1972, exchanged a couple of letters and then lost contact. Thanks to the joys of the Internet we’d got back in touch about a year or so ago; he and his wife Chris have a bed and breakfast in Scotland; our planned destination for the day.
Before we could do that though we had to sit and enjoy the view from our tent for a while, which is when today’s picture was taken. There’s also a picture showing the damage the Loch Maree midges have done to me – imagine that all over your legs.
There was also another problem with our plan to go and see Russell and Chris. My cell ‘phone didn’t seem to want to work in the highlands, and we’d not been able to contact them, so they didn’t know we were coming. If they had vacancies that was fine, if not at least we could pop in and say hello on our way.
Getting there meant crossing the country again – they’re on the East coast, near to Inverness. As we drove (literally) across country I stopped under every cell ‘phone tower in the vain hope I could make a call. It didn’t work. I tired public ‘phone boxes, but in the age of cell ‘phones they are few and far between; and working ones appear to be even rarer. Finally I found a working public telephone and got through. Good sports that they are, Russell and Chris didn’t blink and eyelid at the zero notice and told us to come on over.
We arrived around three, and apart from a much needed shower, the next ten or so hours were spent catching up on forty years of news. I’d like to say that I took a couple of pictures to commemorate the occasion, but unfortunately I didn’t.
Today’s extras
This is what midge bites look like; on me anyway. I won't spoil the illusion by giving details of exactly which part of me this is. I'll let you enjoy guessing.
Camped alongside Loch Bad a'Ghaill
04 July 2011 | 365:185 | 365 Days blog | Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman
Looking out over Gruinard Bay, Scotland
UK June 2011 – Day 19. This might have been my favourite photo of the entire holiday,
but the autofocus didn’t work properly so it’s a bit blurred. I’ve now worked out what the problem is, see the very end of this post for my conclusions.
We were up early and elected to postpone breakfast so could get far away from the midges. We broke the tent down in record time, threw it in the car and drove off, stopping to make coffee, eat breakfast and take pictures at the side of the A832 beside Loch Tollaidh, just outside Poolewe.
Driving through Poolewe looking for a public loo Ginger noticed St Maelrubha’s – a Scottish Episcopal Church. We checked the time and realised we could make the service. Leaving the near by car park, I drove off on the wrong side of the road without realising it – until an on-coming car on my side of the road reminded me – Oops! We managed to get ourselves changed and a bit poshed up in the car parked outside the church. Off we went to join the small but enthusiastic congregation for the service, which was quite familiar, informal and very nice. We were made to feel most welcome and took up the invite for coffee and cakes afterwards.
After church our plan for the day was to find a remote camping spot somewhere North of Ullapool and to get there by driving up the coast road as much as possible. We had hardly left Poolewe when the views over Loch Ewe and then Gruinard Bay forced us to stop, get out and climb the hills to take pictures. In today’s picture we are perched on top of 400 foot high cliff overlooking Gruinard Bay. The only way to get an idea of the scale of this view is to zoom in on one of the in-focus pictures and look for the coach by the beach. Distances in Scotland can be very deceiving, with what looks like a small rock a short distance away turning into a boulder the size of a house much further off.
The scenery enroute to our camping area was spectacular though we didn’t stop very often to take pictures, it was all getting a bit too much. After driving around entranced, we finally stopped by the side of an Loch and set up camp. We spent the evening watching the light play over the distant hills and mountains. Superb.
Today’s extras
Loch Tollaidh
Breakfast out of the back of the car at Loch Tollaidh
Loch Maree
St Maelrubha's at Poolewe
St Maelrubha's at Poolewe
NATO Fuel Depot - Loch Ewe. Loch Ewe has been used for Naval refueling since the Second World War. It also has an island deliberately infected with Anthrax...
Aultbea from across Loch Ewe
View to the East across Gruinard Bay - try and spot the coach by the beach about midway across the frame.
View to the North at Ardmair Scotland
View across Loch Lurgainn, Inverpolly
Camped beside Loch Bad a'Ghaill, Inverpolly
Autofocus Issues
I’ve now completed some Internet detective work and discovered what the autofocus problem is. It only happens when I use the remote shutter control (quite a feat in today’s picture where I used the remote at a distance of over 50 feet). Sometimes the camera will focus sometimes it won’t. My D40X exhibited the same problem and I was very disappointed to find the same issue with the D7000. My investigations discovered that you mustn’t focus the camera before you take a picture using the remote. If you do it won’t focus when you use the remote. That’s a bit difficult as you sometimes need to focus the camera to see what’s in the viewfinder! This of course contrary to what it says in the D40X manual, and the D7000 manual remains suspiciously quiet on the subject. Darn. I now get round this problem by setting the camera up, and then turning it off and on before using the remote to take a picture.
03 July 2011 | 365:184 | 365 Days blog | Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman
Hiding from the midges
UK June 2011 – Day 18. Today I drove across Scotland,
twice. Starting from our campsite in Glen Etive near the West coast we drove up the length of Loch Ness, stopping at Foyers to have a walk and take pictures of the falls, which at 165 feet high are the highest we’ve seen on this trip so far. We drove on to Inverness; on the way passing Easter Boleskine where I’d stayed for a summer holiday over twenty years ago. Once at Inverness (on the East coast) we stopped to shop for food. Then we drove all the way back almost to the West coast, finally stopping in a very rough and ready car park near Lock Maree.
The midges there were fearsome. So fearsome, we unpacked the tent in the car to minimise the time spent outside putting it up. This trick worked well, and we were soon comfortably in our tent with the midges harmlessly massing on the inside of the fly sheet. Today’s picture shows me laughing in the face of the thousands of midges that would have liked to have eaten me for their supper.
Today’s extras
A last look at our Mutha Hubba tent camped in Glen Etive.
The Falls of Foyers by Loch Ness
Ew - lots and lots of midges
2 July 2011 | Highland Midge | 365:183 | 365 Days blog | Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman
Gary and Ginger at the saddle of Lairig Gartain
UK June 2011 – Day 16. The plan was to drive to Glen Coe and Backpack up into the Lost valley.
We finally arrived at Glen Coe around three pm and the place was crawling with tourists. The parking area nearest to the Lost Valley clearly stated that no overnight parking was allowed. We didn’t want to hike a couple of miles along the busy road just to get to the start of a hike which begins with over a 900 ft climb. Between tourist coaches I tried asking a Scottish Piper if he knew if the no parking rule was enforced. He didn’t know, in fact he wasn’t Scottish – I think he was Ukrainian. I was now in an exceptionally foul mood, as we had no back up plan for where to stay for the night. In the end we backtracked to an earlier parking place, which linked to a public footpath to Glen Etive. From the maps it looked like a reasonable hike of around 4 miles with an opportunity for wild camping in the Glen.
Following the public footpath up Lairig Gartain we got a taste of things to come – peat bog. The ground was very wet and very soft, but no worries as the path was good and dry. About two third of the way up to the saddle we met some very tired Girl Guides coming down, that should have warned us. We arrived at the saddle a 740 ft climb about six thirty. We now had to decided whether to go on or go back – not that many camping places had presented themselves on the way up and the saddle itself was windy and uninviting. Ginger checked the map and said that the descent was only 500 ft, so we decided to carry on.
Before we descended into Glen Etive We took a few pictures to celebrate – later I discovered that the best of mine were spoiled by an autofocus error – so today’s picture isn’t the one I’d have picked but we’re all blurred in the better exposed & framed picture.
The path, which was good at the start of the hike, had been getting progressively worse the higher we got. Going down the other side it became very rough. I stumbled once and fell over. Further down the going got wet, and my Huaraches, great on rock and rough surfaces, proved to be inadequate on wet grass. I fell once more and broke my hiking pole. We had a long talk about the merits of retracing our steps or continuing. Ginger, used to reading maps with contours in feet realised that she’d mis-read the map, we were descending 500 metres, around 1,500 feet! We decided to carry on. At the bottom of the valley the trail petered out in a boggy mess, where I proceeded to slip over several times. Somewhere along with the dented car, the problems parking, my broken hiking pole, and now a wet backside, I totally lost my sense of humour.
We finally made it to the road and we headed towards a small larch wood where we camped for the night. On the way we encountered a very fine stag laying, apparently completely unharmed and disinterested at the side of the road.
Setting up our tent the midges were out in strength and we were very pleased that we’d bought head nets earlier. Over dinner we discussed the possibilities for the next day, continue with our plan to return by crossing over the next valley, or take the long route (10 miles) and hike out via the road. We decided to sleep on it and see how we felt in the morning.
Today’s alternate shots & extras
Gary and Ginger on the bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomond
Gary and Ginger at the saddle of Lairig Gartain, would have been fine if it wasn't too blurred.
Loch Lomond
The Falls of Falloch - can you spot the people sitting at the top?
Achallader. It was while parked here I noticed I'd pranged the car.
River Coupall in Lairig Gartain
Gary contemplating the view of Loch Etive
Stag
30 June 2011 | 365:181 | 365 Days blog | Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman
keith, Gary and Ginger on Dumyat, Stirling, Scotland
UK June 2011 – Day 14. Time to get some hiking in again
After a lot of chatting last night, today my uncle took us into Glasgow to buy a gas stove, seek hiking advice and get some maps of suitable backpacking locations in the highlands. Uncle Keith is obviously in the know on these things as he took us to a fantastic outdoors emporium Tiso where the staff were really helpful, especially Kevin, who gave us some excellent advice on where to go. Even better he treated us like we knew what we were doing (possibly a mistake, as conditions in Scotland are very different to the Ozarks), and told us about places that should be within our capabilities. His only suggestion we subsequently didn’t like was the Cairngorms, which after the remote and wonderful highlands seemed less accessible and over populated.
We left Tiso with a MSR Pocket Rocket, a gas canister and several maps and headed off to Sterling for a hike. We climbed Dumyat a modest hill with a near-by hill fort. It might be modest but it was more than enough for us out of condition hikers, in fact my uncle (who used to go fell running) despite protestations that he was unfit, did a whole lot better than we did.
The beacon at the summit was put there to celebrate the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977. By co-incidence I had pointed out another of the beacons located at Fort Widley on top of Portsdown Hill in Portsmouth to Ginger, just a few days before.
The descent to the East on grass was steep and very slippery at times, I lent my hiking pole to my uncle, who had slipped quite heavily a couple of times. This of course made it more difficult for me to keep my footing, slowing me down, though I managed fairly well without slipping up. Little did I know that this was going to be just a brief foretaste of things to come in a future hike.
I managed to get some fairly good pictures once we were off the hill and on the track back to the road. Along the track we had to negotiate a herd of highland cattle with calves, which we gave a wide berth. The hike was a great warm-up for our planned backpacking in the highlands: 5.75 miles and 1,199 feet of elevation.
Today’s alternate shots & extras
Part way up Dumyat, I stop to take a call from my brother
Keith, Gary and Ginger - Dumyat, Stirling, Scotland
View to the South East from the top of Dumyat
Scottish hillsides - Dumyat, Stirling, Scotland
Pastures and derelict buildings - Dumyat, Stirling, Scotland
28 June 2011 | 365:179 | 365 Days blog | Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman
On the beach near West Kilbride
UK June 2011 – Day 13. Today we had a longish drive,
by UK standards anyway. Birmingham to Cumbernauld (North East of Glasgow). It looked like we’d arrive at Glasgow just as the commuter traffic got heavy so we detoured to Kilmarnock and the west coast for a bit of scenery while everybody drove home.
I’ve not been on this road in over ten years, it was nice to see the sea and the islands again. We are staying with my uncle for a day or so. It should be good to catch up. He’s not met Ginger, and the last time I saw him was on a business trip to Paisley back in 2008.
Today’s alternate shot & extras
The beach near West Kilbride - It was nice to feel sand underfoot
Looking towards the islands
27 June 2011 | 365:178 | 365 Days blog | Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman
