July Weekend to Fort William

A group of 6 attended the Fort William weekend and enjoyed some good walks .. most of them solo ventures .. in good weather. Tom and Jean had to restrict their activities as Jean was recovering from a serious ankle injury that had been repaired but was not able to support any weight for a few weeks yet.  The weekend started on Thursday for Elena who climbed Buachaille Etive Beag on the way to her accommodation.

On Friday, Cornel made an early start to drive to the Glen Nevis car park and climbed Sgurr Choinnich Mor and Sgurr Choinnich Beag. Bob climbed Tom Meadhoin near Ballachulish on his journey up. We all met up at the Caledonian Hotel on shores of Loch Linnhe for the evening meal except for Elena who had sent a message to say she and her dog had climbed Ben Nevis and she would see us tomorrow. Her plan was to do a walk in Glen Roy and join us for dinner in the evening.

On Saturday, Cornel had another early start and again made his way to the Glen Nevis car park .. this time to walk the Ring of Steall and in the process complete his Mamore summits. Bob climbed Burach near Fort Augustus, one of the new Grahams. Tom and Jean headed west to explore around Arisaig and Morar. I climbed Aodann Chleireig (the minister's face) near Kinlocheil, one of the old Grahams. Starting from the walk-in track to Gulvain, I climbed east to Beinn an t-Sneachda at the south end of the summit ridge and followed the ridge round to the summit. From there I descended NNE to a col, then WNW to pick up the Gulvain track and return to the start point. We all met up for dinner in the evening including Elena who revealed that her plans had changed when her dog had refused to go for any walks, so she had a trip to Fort Augustus instead.

On Sunday, Bob and Cornel climbed Sithean Mor near Beasdale, another of the new Grahams. Cornel recorded the event and the summit views on his new drone. Tom and Jean had a trip around Invergarry and Loch Oich. I had a shorter and easier day walking through the forest at Fassfern to a small hydro-electric scheme dam on the Leth Allt. Elena headed home to get ready for the week ahead. The hotel was busier on Sunday night with the arrival of 2 coach loads of Dutch tourists, but the service and food was still good and we had a proper dinner menu and not the bar meals menu of the previous nights.

On Monday, while the others headed home, I had a short walk, on the Gulvain track again, that turned into a longer walk to Coire Reidh. Along the way I saw a variety of flora and fauna including butterflies, dragonflies, frogs, deer, orchids and two women cycling down the track as I was walking up. They were the only people I saw on any my walks all weekend.

My journey home was longer than expected due to the Rannoch Moor section of the A82 being closed overnight from 7pm for road re-surfacing and I had arrived at the ski centre road 5 minutes too late. So it was back to the Ballachulish Bridge to pick up the Oban road and have a different journey home.

Willie Robison

July Weekday Walk on the Smugglers Trail

Diane, Gillian, Miriam, Mark, Allan, Hamish, James, Steven, Bob, Ian and Iris met at the bus stop opposite the Harbour Bar in Troon to catch the 9.57am No.10 bus to Dundonald for the start of the Smugglers Trail walk back to Troon. The weather was pleasantly sunny and we enjoyed a fairly brief stop outside the cafe below Dundonald Castle before setting off from the start of the walk behind the cafe. A good path runs through a pleasant wooded area to reach the side of a reservoir and continues on past a disused quarry to reach the A759 which runs down to Loans.

The next section of the walk alongside the road is not particularly attractive, but has the compensating factor that on reaching Loans a refreshment can be enjoyed in the beer garden of the Old Loans Inn which resulted in us lingering in the sun for about an hour. The walk then carried on through Loans and followed a well sign posted track towards Fullarton House. A diversion had been posted to avoid Fullarton House during the Troon Golf Open but a local confirmed that this was not now necessary. We then carried on past the side of Lochgreen Hotel to reach the bridge over the railway onto the golf course. This had been closed during the golf open but had now been opened and access could be gained to the beach. There was then a walk of around 2.5km along the beach to Troon which was made particularly attractive as the tide was well out and a few of us had a bit of a paddle on the way.

On reaching Troon we walked up into the town and most of us enjoyed some very good ice cream to cool us down before wandering along to the start point near the Harbour Bar.

This was a very pleasant walk of about 12km with some very minor ascents .. made particularly enjoyable by the excellent weather.

Ian Moffatt