Retrospective (or introspective?) on Ladhar Bheinn
by - 19:47 on 14 April 2009
What is it with this big western hill? It always seems to attract attention. It’s probably because it has this exciting air of remoteness. Here are a few more pictures that really supplement the original piece about our day there. You’ll find that under the July 2007 archive. Looking back, the late start we made because our landlady slept in set the anxious tone for the rest of the day. We felt things were against us, especially the spelling of local place-names.
There was, for instance, this odd looking, uhmm, installation (above) in the woodlands near Gleann na Giserein that helped create a slightly surreal ambience in the back of beyond. And it was about here that we also experienced the attack of the killer clegs – fanatical horseflies. At the time we didn’t know about the
effectiveness of this particular natural insect repellent and Johanna had to employ the conventional tactic of running away while screaming.
(Above) This is the fiendishly dull ascent of Coire Garbh, east of the main summit of Ladhar Beinn (if you approach from the south, as we did). Perhaps that dull comment is unfair, as the views open out south-east towards the Small Isles and also Skye and improve with each upward step.
Also memorable (and remarked upon in the earlier blog) is the sense of ‘wilderness beyond’ when the views finally open out to the north (above - with Loch Hourn glimpsed in middle distance) on reaching the broad ridge. We could see no further than the Glen Shiel peaks on that particular day.
Sometimes, experiences on the hill have less to do with fitness and more to do with how you react to the landscapes that envelope you. This high bleak ground, I admit now, felt simply oppressive and definitely unfriendly, though that was probably just to do with the lowering clouds. Or perhaps we were just spooked. Anyway, some day soon I’ll go back but do it anticlockwise from Inverie via Gleann an Dubh-Lochain. (Yes, you do need to look at OS sheet 33!.)
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