This year we did not take slides, but all the photos are from prints. These are easier to scan and so might produce better images on the computer than the earlier pictures that were obtained using a slide scanner.
So our problem was “now do you pronounce Grandtully?”. Well it’s Grantly – easy. The village is on the southern side of the Highlands, so the drive from Manchester could be done in one day. An easy trip including a large section of the A9 highway. It’s also close to Pitlochry – a major tourist trap which has many good shops and two distilleries. West of Grandtully is Aberfeldy – another tourist spot, but much quieter and a very pleasant town.
Most of us stayed in a former pub complete with bar and lounge. Some others were billeted in a house across the valley. The kitchen was rather disappointing for a place that seemed to have been an inn. Betsy and I arrived one day late because we had been to see my mother in Shaw and she wanted to go to church on Easter Sunday so we took her to St Saviour’s as was her preference.
Our rental car was a Vauxhall Astra – more on that later. We arrived in mid-late afternoon on Easter Sunday and as you might expect, all the good rooms had been taken. Ours was the last available and seemed to have been a converted corridor with a door added, but it was OK and near a bathroom – what else do you want?
In those days there was no standard of WiFi in self-catering accommodation, but there was a payphone. One of our number (not me or Betsy) was able to set up a Heath-Robinson arrangement for dial-up access to the internet bypassing the payphone so we had email and because the phone had been bypassed it didn’t cost us anything!
Our first day full day (Easter Monday) was dominated by two things; we had volunteered to make a portion of dinner (not certain what) and secondly Grandtully is not too far from a relatively straightforward Munro – Schiehallion. The others were headed for the hills, so after getting ready for our cooking we also went to bag our first Munro of the week. A storm was brewing, so this was to be a rapid up and down hike. The path is well maintained by the John Muir Trust and so no problems other than the weather were expected. It was a very successful trip – no drama, just rain followed by a nice rainbow.
The next day we set out with Jesper for Glen Lyon and Meall Buidhe (Munro). The weather was terrible. It rained, and rained, and rained. We met one other person on the path. She was walking a dog and had been to the summit. I was using a hydration pack and on the way down I slipped, landed on my back and the hydration pack burst filling everything inside my rucksack with what had been my drinking water.
Dry is not the correct word for how we were the following day. Some things were dry, but many things were still wet. The weather was not a very encouraging either. So we headed for Pitlochry and took the tour of what was then the smallest distillery in Scotland, Erdadour. Not only is it noted for its small size, the whisky is excellent. We bought some for ourselves and a small bottle to take home for Betsy’s dad.
So fully relaxed and dried out, on the following morning we headed for Ben Lawers and the possibility of 5 Munros in one hike. The story of our adventure on The Ben Lawers ridge can be quite long, but here’s a condensed version.
The weather was not great, but we were going well and full of optimism, especially because although this is the tenth highest Munro, the start of the hike is quite high. We planned to car spot – vehicles at the Ben Lawers hotel and more at the Ben Lawers car park.
First of all the hotel car park was sea of mud at the bottom of a steep slope. Our Astra was left there. On the return at least one car could not get out. The landlord came out and boasted about his 4-wheel drive SUV that was certain to be able to extract a car. The SUV promptly got stuck, probabl;y because the landlord had no idea how to negotiate the conditins . Betsy got in our humble Astra and demonstrated New England snow driving skills to get us out with a bit of slipping and sliding. Excellent; no trouble, the car was a mess, but we were mobile. We cannot remember how others got out. I think that it was Phil’s car and he might have needed the AA to help. Dave Wharton, Betsy and I had some refreshment in the bar afterwards.
The weather soon turned to snow so we all wore waterproof jackets. It was cold. All in all a typical Easter Scotland hike! Munro baggers are never put off by lousy weather though so we continued with full optimism that an additional 5 summits would be added to our lists. Little were we to know what would happen.
The most memorable event that day was a true disaster. The third Munro on the ridge is called An Stuc. Having achieved the first two summits, we followed the main path over this Munro. It leads to a steep scramble down to a col. Betsy and I were ambling along at the rear of the group when we heard a scream. One of our number had fallen. We learned later that he had broken his arm. The first thing that happened was that some younger people came to help us get down. There was a big step, but all went well. Betsy and I would not have needed help, but why would we turn it down when offered?
Then we all had to pull together to get our friend out and off to hospital. He was able to walk, but in serous pain. So somebody took his backpack and the rest of us helped him along. there was a challenge – a stream to cross. The stream was a torrent, so in order to ensure that our injured person was not swept away about three of us (including me) donned our waterproof layers and stood in the water while we helped him across.
Of course cell phone coverage is limited in places like this, but one person was able to get a signal and a Land Rover ambulance was able to get up a track to fairly close to the stream crossing. Phil accompanied our friend to hospital.
It was another 9 years before Betsy and I did the final 2 Munros in the Ben Lawers range. To make things worse, we learned afterwards that there is an easy way around the scramble on An Stuc.
On the final day we returned to Pitlochry and climbed Ben Vrackie (a Corbett if the baggers are interested), followed by an exploration of the town. All very simple and not exciting. The hike to Ben Vrackie is a nice easy walk with good views and very popular because of the easy access. There were plenty of birds to spot on the walk in. The town has plenty to see including the fish ladder. I seem to remember this being shown on TV in my youth.
For the rest of the day we looked at places near Grandtully.
There was the usual excess of food for distribution at the end. This time however, we were able to take some with us because we were returning to mymother;s house and she was able to use it.
