Pabbay and Mingulay - Easy climbing routes exist too!

Mingulay and Pabbay, which lie off the southern end of the chain of islands making up the Outer Hebridies, are well known for the quality of the rock climbing and it was for that reason I have always wanted to visit. However, when the chance finally came I was aprehensive in the extreme as I hadn't been climbing well for years and sea cliffs have always been a particular nemisis of mine. I flicked through the guidebook and could find very littel under E1 and this was reinforced whilst trawling for tinformation on the internet. With this in mind I packed the kayaks together with the absolute minimum of climbing gear and thought that my climbing would be limited to some bouldering. Still the lure of a bagging a couple of Marilyns would mean that even if I got no climbing done it wouldn't have been a 'wasted' trip.

Even with the efforts to keep kit to the smallest amount possible we had a mountain of kit which was a real effort to get on and off the ferry from Oban and subsequently on to the small boat charted to get us out from Barra to the islands. Donald and his boat Boy James did a sterling job of delievering everything and everyone on to Pabbay. The beach and campsite were idylic. The island was much greener than expected and the beach would make the pages of any tourist brochure to the Carribean. The only slight downer was the relative lack of water, but the weather has been exceptionally dry for the past month.

Whilst the others set off to the Allanish Pensiular on the west coast I decided to check out a couple of crags opposite the campsite. To my surprise and delight I found a couple of very decent walls and spent a good few hours bouldering and soloing on rock that was never more than VDiff in grade. It is no exagaration that I didn't hold or step on a single loose hold. Testiment to the ferocity of the winter gales that help to keep the crags clean. In fact the holds were so good that even steep looking lines succumbed realtively easily. The topo below gives some idea of the routes which were about 10m long. Okay, not the most spectacular crag but only 10min walk from the beach.

The next day was spent checking out the boulders that were situated high up near the highest point of the island which has a trig point. Basically drop south east from the summit and in 5 min there are loads of 4-5m high walls of perfect rock with scores of problems at about the V0 (easy) level with superb grassy landings.

The 'Sugarloaf' boulder located in the col just before the final rise to the trig point i.e. north of the summit, probably had the best bit of bouldering on the island with a couple of harder problems which I had to get a rope on to do in comfort.

Not everyone is as happy to boulder as I am, but the other members of the group were well contented with the routes that they climbed and not all in the top-end grades either. Quality routes at VDiff and Severe were in enough abundance to keep most happy. Of course there are much longer and harder routes, but they are all documented so I don't need to mention them here.

After a further day on my 'Crag X' and fishing for Pollack we decamped to Mingulay. Mingulay seemed a lot more lush than Pabbay and the water supply was much better and the campsite even better. Evenings were spent soaking up the evening rays and watching seals play in the surf or sun themselves on the beach.



Here again with a bit of a sense of adventure you could quite happily climb at the lower grades without running out of things to do. On MacPhee's hill there is even a short inland crag covered in routes not much harder than VDiff. I am sure that the dedicated rock jocks will say that by not climbing in the high E grades on the massive cliffs you are missing the point. In a certain respect they are right, but climbing on perfect rock is relatively rare in Scotland so the chance to do amidst the puffins and seals isn't a bad substitute.


One day myself and Emly took a walk down the coast and chanced upon a rocky prominatory, primarily to watch the puffins from. I scared myself on a steep boulder problem and then put on the rope and discovered a perfect Diff. A great mix of steep steps and delicate slabs and would be worth a least one star on any other crag in the country. Whilst belaying Emily up the climb a seal came to watch and played for a while in the swell.

The next day was still so we headed out in the kayaks to photograph the climbing crags. On the way we looked over to Bernary and it looked so close and as the conditions for paddling couldn't have been any better we decided to chance it. After all the anticipation when we thought that the crossing would be too hard it was an easy 10min paddle. We walked up to the lighthouse to check out the cliffs. The cliffs on the south side were awe inspiring, 200m of steep rock with a multitude of seabirds of all different species constantly whirring about the ledges.

A last day was spent seconding slightly harder routes near the campsite which did involve abseiling and hanging belays. Again the rock was magnificant and plenty of new, or at least unrecorded, lines to climb. All the islands were idyllic and I definetly will be back and even find some new crags or routes that have escaped notice so far! There is no need for climbers of a moderate standard to be put off from going by stories of mamoth abseils and everything going at E5 or above. Saying that I really shouldn't be encouraging people to go just for the selfish freason of wanting the place to myself!

Cairngorms - Sunday

It was just one of those days. Despite snow all the way over Slochd, the closer we got to Aviemore the less snow there was. Plans for XC ski-ing were shelved and we headed into Mountain Cafe for a full breakfast. Two coffees later I had enough motivation to run from Inverdrurie to Glen Mor where Emily had hoped to show her sister the reindeer. I suppose I shouldn't complain as the run through Rothiemurchus Estate was as good as trail
running gets. I spent a while trying to photograph this blighter, but he/she proved far more intelligent than myself.

The area is crossed with nicely graded tracks with snow covered mountains as a backdrop. For me, this area is one of the best bits of the Cairngorms and much more interesting than the rather tedious plateau areas.

The weather was nowhere near as bad as forecast and I was a bit disappointed not to have found someone to climb with as the conditions in the Corries looked good. However, training-wise, it was much better to get the miles in and the 10miles felt pretty tough. It is prudent to mention that I got another Marylin (Ord Ban) bagged ; 0)

Time: 2h 10 Distance: 10M

River Evelix Round

My two big challenges for this year, Ramsay's Round and The Fellsman, both will involve some running in the dark and exercising during the more unsociable hours of the day. Accordingly, I have developed a new scheme for super-early starts for long runs mid-week. This also means my weekends are more free for climbing and other things.

On Thursday at 5.45am I set off from Clashmore near Dornoch for a 20-odd mile run around River Evelix including the tops of Beinn Dimhnaill and Creag Ghobhair, both of which are Grahams (sorry Marylins). The first hour was dark and made more interesting by disappearing paths and rabid dogs franatically barking from every farm I passed. Even more scary when you can't tell where the hellhounds are and even if they are chained. Seeing the dawn breaking over the Dornoch Firth was more than adequate compensation for the early start and for the most part the running was very pleasant. As I got higher the hills of the West looked stunning with caps of very white snow enhancing their rugged character.

Droping back into the woods above Clashmore at around 9 o'clock was one of those great running experiences. Shafts of sunlight breaking through stands of Caledonian Pine, birds calling and startled roe deer breaking out alongside the track as I jogged along. A couple of miles before the finish I came upon an abandoned covered water tank. Behind the decrept wooden door I could hear the slighlty omonous dripping of water. Against all my better instincts I was drawn into opening the door. It was dark and dingy inside as you would expect. My imagination went into over-drive and I could practically see the balloons and the 'IT' clown. I slammed the door shut and took off, my heart rate soaring. Still trying to be rational I kept catching myself looking over my shoulder half-expecting to see a clown with an evil grin chasing me down!

Distance: 20M Time: 3h 45 Max HR 166 Av HR 144

Carn na Loine

Sometimes the motivation is so hard to find. I spend hours agonising over whether I really want to go out. Every time I finally drag myself out of the house, sometimes with a helpful push from Emily, and I love it. In whatever weather I feel so much better doing something, anything. The joy of being outside and physically active seems to dispell even the darkest of moods. Today was a great example of the carthartic properties of hill running. I headed again down to Dava 14 miles in land of Nairn, but this time headed south on the disused railway track under overcast skies in the direction of the Cromdale hills. Even these relatively modest hills were skimmed with layers of cloud. Even further south and east the tiger-stripped lower slopes of the Eastern Cairngorms indicated the extent of the past couple of days thaw. After about 5km a track lead off to Upper Derraid and I then followed quiet country roads to Knock of Auchnahannet. Without the dark, oppresive patches of dense conifers it would easily be mistaken for the Dales or Mid-Wales. The pleasant nature of the route carried on up a track to the bealach near Carn na Loine where I turned due north. Despite the next 4km being over tussocks, bog and heather I was now fully warmed up physically and mentally. Earlier negative thoughts about life in general had been successful met head on and dealt with. The summits had views which allowed the beauty of the area to be appreciated. Maybe it is just me, well it could be as I very rarely see anyone else on my runs, but these areas of rolling hills and deserted glens hold as much interest and beauty as any other area of the Highlands. At Black Loch, which really was black, tracks were rejoined and in an hour I was back at the car next to the AA 'phone box, strangely devoid of a telephone.

Time: 3Hs Distance: 16.5M Av HR: 145 Max HR: 165

I stopped on the way back home in at Tescos to grab in some food. It was packed full of people, most of them too wrapped up in their lives to take a moment or two to take stock and actually look around about them. All of a sudden I felt very lonely and I noticed as I used the Self-service till that I hadn't spoken to anyone at all during the whole day. It may have been better that way as they would understand me as little as I understand them. Perhaps this is where I should come to get motivation for that next run.

Warm, wet and windy

There was a, hopefully, brief break from winter this weekend and the temperature was in double figures for the first time in ages. So I went for a run to look for the snow and I found it!

It was a good run from Contin Forestry Commission car-park, over the top of Torr Achilty (a Marylin) past Torr Achilty dam (where the plume from the tail-races was huge), along Loch Achonachie, up over Achilty Oakwood cross-country to Cnoc Dubh and down to Roggie Falls. Easy tracks then led back to the car. Some sections were a bit rough under-foot but it was still worthwhile to get something out of the day.

Time: 2h15 Distance: 10M Av HR: 138 Max HR 164

So far I haven't really been reachng my training targets in terms of distance. Instead I have been more focused on time which is a great cop-out ; ). I really am looking forward to get in some reccies of the Ramsay in a few months time.

Dava Moor Snowy Run

Today I headed out to Dava south of Forres for a 15M run route linking up an Old Military Road off the A939 (NH997391) over the Knock of Braemoray along the Dava Way (http://www.davaway.org.uk/index.html) to Bantrach and then back along estate roads, following the River Divie back to Dava. There was snow on the roads from about 200m and the cover was up to a couple of inches at about 400m. Squally snow showers increased the cover during the run and if the thaw isn't too bad tomorrow, and the weather forecast alright, conditions could be good for the weekend. With another couple of inches the moorland tracks and disused railway would make great skinny ski-ing. Thigh-deep heather on the Knock was the only downside to a great run in a very desolate and empty landscape. The abandoned cottages and remains of the railway were poignant reminders of what must once have been a very busy glen.

Time: 3h 15 Distance: 15M No HR data as I wasn't wearing my 'bra strap'

Edderton Hill

Morangie Forest near Tain boasts 3 Marylins, unfortunately all are protected by conifer plantations which results in the runs up them being either on forest tracks or bashing through forest or knee deep tussocks. From the road-head at Rhanich (NH708 811) the footpaths marked on the OS no longer exist on the ground and the forestry tracks are a bit confusing to say the least. Recent felling has also altered the map so our route up Cnoc an t-Sabhail was not the most direct. Once through the trees we ended up on a boggy nightmare that is the hill top. From the cairn though the views were great and depite the bitter wind the sunshine was very pleasant. In an attempt to get in the miles we were aiming to go a long way round on tracks back to the car. However, we quickly discovered that all of the tracks were covered in sheet ice. Discretion was definetly the better part of valour and we decided to cut the run short and explored some of the ruins, including a pub, left over when the area was far more busy with droving traffic. There are also some great ravines left over from the melt-water of the last ice age.

Definetly an area for trail running rather than hill running, saying that the track due west of the road-head is a cracker.

Time: 2h20 Distance: 12.5M Av HR: 139 Max HR: 171

OMM training - Carn na h-Easgainn

After my run on Saturday (see previous post) I was oping for slightly better weather on Sunday. The weather in the morning was spectacularly uninspiring. Cloud and drizzle. So I plucked for a relatively low hill close to the house. By the time I left for the 10 minute drive the the start it was already 12 noon, but the weather had improved. From the Farr wind farm entrance which has plenty of parking I headed into the hills and was soon slogging up blanket bog towards Carn na h-Easgainn (616m). As with most bogs it was wet and as I got higher the re-entrants just got deeper. From the cairn the huge turbines of the wind farm turned soundlessly and looked dramatic as the clouds whipped round them. Although I am not a big fan of wind farms, I was actually surprised that I really didn't have any strong emotions on them being there. I presume had the weather been better, the visual impact would have been much greater. Perhaps one reason for building them up here! Now that I was on a ridge I was fully exposed to the wind and the lashing rain. A plus side was the constant winds have kept the vegetation short and it was pleasant running over to Carn Moraig. By now the sun had even decided to come out. The short heather was ideal grouse territory and as I ran past some well maintained butts I made a mental note to avoid here when the shooters are out. One reason for this run was to check out the bothy marked on the map, and as I saw a huge wave of black cloud rolling down Strathdearn I was hoping for a warm, dry break. Dropping over the steep bank to where the bothy was marked I wasn't happy to see that it had been converted into a pigeon cote. The poor creatures certainly weren't posh enough to be doves! Resigned, I put on all my wet weather gear and trugged off towards the A9 in torrential rain. The next mile north back home was through knee high bog myrtle. Lovely smelling but an absolute pain to move through. The traffic steadily roared on my right on the road and the rain was soaking me right through. Not the wildernis experience I was hoping for. Finally I reached Lynemore from where a track should have lead quickly back to the car. Instead, parts of the track were knee-deep in water and moss. Lovely.

Distance: 14km Time: 2.5h