Training Log Archive: Thraws

Good candidate for a super sog in terms of terrain, courses and numbers, but definitely not map! I knew how bad it was so made allowance, but still found the idiosyncratic nature of the terrain interpretation mystifying at crucial moments. Strayed a bit right to 3 looking for any mapped feature I could actually use. Saw the reentrant north of 6 and went down it till rhoddies caused me to start thrashing. These were to be a problem throughout as THEY ARE NOT MAPPED ACCURATELY even though the confidence with which they are plotted suggests they are. Couldn't see the tower I'd hoped to use to attack 7 (it wasn't there) so overshot and started thrashing again, but I also found an earthbank (unmapped) considerably bigger than the one I'd passed. Lost almost 3 mins here and almost the same after I left 8 going uphill to the ride then hit the uncrossable fence. Didn't want to backtrack so fought through the rhoddies (now mapped as light green). Then I ran down to the bridge and right round the paths, completely missing the route to the left. Tried to be careful to 10 but couldn't make ditches match and was very hesitant to 11. Really enjoyed the long leg to 13 but got stuck in rhoddies again at one point. It was an enjoyable run after a pretty sedentary week, but the map is simply bizarre.

Made a complete hash of 1 because I miscounted path junctions after first brush with brambles, then made a complete hash of 2 as well after slightly missing a depression and deciding I might be in the wrong block of wood. After that was alright, though area was pretty low-rent. Loads of stuff on the ground and heavy undergrowth hampering running and visibility. Worse thing, though, was my legs, which were just so heavy from yesterday. Splits don't suggest I was actually slowing down, but it felt like I was. Really struggled to run uphill anywhere and sometimes lacked motivation to do more than merely walk. Glad I did the brown, though, as it was quite a long way. Finally caught by massive hail storm on 2km walk back from finish.

Visualisation, Attack Points and Route Choice exercises with Sam. Map was a bit out of date where vegetation was concerned, and subjective (in my opinion) where contours were concerned. I thought the visualisation was a non-starter and used the compass instead to locate flags in the more (really) technical areas. Remembered the area from the British Relays 2006 and enjoyed it as much this time as I did then. Showers stayed off, just.

Staggered starts on two courses. Caught and followed a load of juniors to 1 but they had the wrong thicket and had to quickly relocate. So was in a race with Rob and Lu to 2, slightly different route, just punched first, then hared off straight through light green for 3. Came out facing an unmapped felled area, so even though I could see Briony punching about 50 yards away and was in exactly the right spot, thought I'd come out by rough open mapped just to the south. Ran the wrong way for about 250m before realising and running back. Saw Briony exiting 4 and rushed into the quarry workings having visualised the flag on a north-facing re-entrant. It was on a south-facing one and I ran around for 4 mins trying to make the contours fit and 'waiting' for Lucy. No one came, then I saw the flag, but more by luck than design. Was about as clueless at 7, on account of misreading contours, so fully deserved ironic cheer when I passed assembled hordes at finish on way to 9. Couldn't believe I'd been repassed by almost entire field (!) but turns out almost all the juniors were on a shorter lap. All the seniors lost ages at no.3.

Wasn't feeling fast but was fairly focussed. Good selection of control sites kept you thinking about basic things like APs, traffic lighting, aiming off. Made poor route choice (round paths) to 5, got a bit disorientated near 6 and was lucky to spot flag, but biggest mistake was 12. Leaving band of walk I made up my mind control was to the left, and when it wasn't I had to run back about 150 metres. Probably lost about 2.5 mins overall, but enjoyed myself and the brambles didn't seem as bad as I remembered them.

For a haircut. After I'd finally fixed the puncture.

Morven from Tullich old church. Could have done this without the map as well. Walk up the glen was delightful, most of the snow having melted by now and the gradient being just right. Once onto the hill proper the going was either tussocky or very steep, but there wasn't much of it and I was soon adding my name to the list of climbers in the summit book. Slightly better line in descent. A more pleasant hill than I had imagined, which is probably why it gets so many visits. If I'm honest, though, I think there are probably about 50 corbetts that aren't worth the candle and can't justify a visit. Too many Munros seem to deserve further attention instead.

Cloud was way too low for the Cairngorm plateau, so it would have to be dull Brown Cow Hill. I saw a track from the B976 heading for the hill and took it. It crossed the Gairn near Corndavon Lodge, and I had no map but had memorised the stalkers path up the next spur along which brought me out slightly eastwards and across a load of peat hags from the summit cairn. Another walker reached this at exatly the same time as me, a very very rare occurrence on a Corbett (although I was to have TWO the next day!). Couldn't face retracing through the dullish Grampian moorland so headed east for Camock Hill without a map and found this after a bit of a miss and a lot of floundering in snow drifts and peat. From here had a fairly pleasant walk through almost-farmland back to the start point.

Which just left Carn na Drochaide, the hill which looms over Braemar to the north. After leaving the car park at Linn of Quoich I found the path too deeply drifted for comfortable going so took to the heathery slopes and quite enjoyed the amble up to Carn na Criche and the trot along the ridge to the top. Fell in some drifts on the straight line route back down. Good views of Ben Avon suggested to me dropping these dull Corbetts and going for the four tops of that vast mountain I had yet to visit. It would depend on the weather as I didn't fancy that very high-level traverse in mist. I had time for a proper sit-down lunch in a cafe and a vist to Balmoral Castle in the p.m, which was oddly enlightening in spite of being almost entirely closed to the public.

Sgor Mor from Linn of Dee. I'd never actually walked into the Grampian wilderness beyond White Bridge from the Linn before, so as I did my spirits rose and I dreamt of big through-treks I could make. I'd been a bit fed up in the morning when I found my breath had frozen on the inside of the tent, my milk and water (kept inside) had both frozen, and my stove stopped working after I spilt water on it which froze solid and blocked the gas jet. The snow seemed to have melted a bit so the south-western slopes of the Corbett weren't too bad going, and the walk along the ridge at the top was delightlful with stunning views to the southern Cairngorms. These tempted with their bulk and grandeur, but almost all had their heads in cloud. At least I could see today. The descent through the forest was a bit of a flounder.

Conachraig was scheduled for a morning walk (with maybe Drochaide in the afternoon) but the snow put paid to that plan (and my plan to move on from Braemar after 5 nights and head west a bit). Because it shares a route with Lochnagar the car park was pretty busy, but what was most surprising was that the many miles of dead-end Glen Muick road had been cleared of snow. Again, the paths and tracks were deeply drifted and slow going for the most part, and I left the Lochagar track a bit early and headed up the Conachraig hillside. This was just about OK away from any boulder fields which were difficult going. After the summit I made a beeline for the Lochnagar path and the crowds. These had kicked a bit of a trail through the powder snow on the lower part of the hill, so it was a case of stepping in deep footprints, but getting up the boulders onto the Lochnagar rim was a bit harder. It was very unpleasant higher up, with strong cold winds and no visibility so I was reluctant to check the map. More drifting caused you to stray constantly from the preferred line. When I reached what I thought was the summit cairn I took a bearing and paced to the rim of cliffs and it seemed right, but I have been up Lochanagar before and should have remembered the very prominent (and usually populous) cone which is the true summit. Eager to be off the hill, I turned round and headed down a couple of hundred metres from the trig point. This fact suddenly and insistently seemed to assert itself once I reached the comfort of the glen and the cloud lifted a bit and the group of three ahead I'd never actually caught were seen descending behind me. I felt proper stupid about all that effort (not to mention 1100 miles of driving!) and no summit, but the Corbett counter was up by 1.

Heavy snow in the night and I had to get up once to clear it from the tent and then from the tent skirts as it was threatening to bring it down. Freezing. In the morning the other two tents had gone, presumably abandoned. Snow gates were closed on A93 and I wondered about getting out at all but, incredibly, the ploughs had cleared the entire village and the road to Aberdeen, and even access to the car park at Keiloch. The day was still on. The Invercauld estate roads had been cleared as well, but once I got off these going got progessively difficult. Snow had drifted onto the paths and it was so powdery you went straight through to the bottom, however far down that might be. When I left the forest for the open hillside progress became almost impossible. The track was waist-deep at least so you had to look for heather shoots breaking the surface and then hope the plant beneath could support you. There was no question of taking a preferred line as you had to follow the heather vegetation and hope it led upward in a fairly unbroken manner. I got a bit lost, and the north wind chilled me a lot, but I somehow made it to all three cairns of Carn Liath. Going down was a bit easier until you fell into a massive drift. Culardoch was an almost uniformly white dome and getting up it was the greatest challenge. I came very close to actually giving up at several points when I realised it was not possible to 'swim', using legs and arms, through the powder snow. The heather was my only hope and following the faint traces led me up by a very circuitous route. Then I faced the very long return journey, during which I must have fallen rather comically into at least a hundred drifts. This got very tedious after a while and it felt like a nice walk had been spoilt. If the snow didn't melt, would it consolidate?

Creag nan Gabhar from Auchallater Farm, then straight down to Glen Clunie and up landrover track to Morrone. Back to campsite via the birkwoods nature reserve. Snow was falling as I walkd up the A93, but not settling, and I thought that was the forecast stuff. How wrong I was! There was thick mist once I was on the ridge, and I stopped at a cairn that was way too soon, but realised and pushed on. Powered up Morrone and had good-ish views of the Dee valley from the top.