Weather forecast - south of the great glen: sunny periods with high cloud and a cold front coming in from the north late on Friday evening bringing low cloud and rain with mixed weather following, perhaps not as bad as forecast.
Planned times are planned walking times not allowing for stops.
06:42 - we caught a train at Dalmeny and after changing at Inverkeithing and Perth arrived at Dalwhinnie at 09:23.
Breakfast at the Ben Alder Café - its 'full house' cooked breakfast with two of everything, piles of toast, coffee and hot chocolate was outstanding - a great start.
10:15 - the weather was bright and sunny as we left the public road at Dalwhinnie Station and walked the track along Loch Ericht (a huge loch). Some building work had been going on since David was last here in May 94 ; a new gatehouse and lodge have been nearly completed at the east end of the loch and a new lodge and castle have been built at Ben Alder Lodge. These expensive buildings have been built using Portuguese granite and feature turrets, slit windows, tall chimneys and crows foot gables - an impressive Disneyworld lookalike. By Ben Alder Lodge the weather was looking rather grey as the surrounding tops were covered and the summit of Geal Charn was seen only fleetingly.
12:45 - Ben Alder Lodge (8.5km, planned time 12:40)
The track past the lodge and onto the plateau and the boathouse shed has been much improved in recent years. The hills to the north and west were encircled in low cloud but Geal Charn and Beirm Udlamain to the south were clear.
13:30 - boathouse shed (11.8km, 14:02)
We took our lunch break in the long grass behind the shed as the north wind was getting stronger and a bit chilly, leaving at 14:05.
Cloud levels were starting to lower all round as colder weather started to drive in from the north. It was now apparent that we were not going to see Ben Alder on this trip, nor were we going to see the Lancet Edge as the cloud was very low in some places. The low cloud was moving east and we could feel moisture in the air.
We went by lovely Loch Pattack and along its beach and over the shoogly wire suspension bridge - the loch was pleasantly serene despite the strong north wind. It was raining up ahead and the wind was getting stronger. We had left the bright weather behind in the east - the sun was still shining at Dalwhinnie, but not for much longer.
15:30 - Culra Bothy (16.3km, 15:42)
It was cold and cloudy now with rain imminent and low cloud all round. We took a break in the bothy and Colin had a kip. 1 suppose the bothy was reasonably clean - we have seen worse - but on a dark night we would rather use our tent. We moved on at 16:25.
A well maintained path followed the burn and climbed towards the Bealach Dubh, into the mist and cloud. The climb of 250 metres to the bealach was made straightforward by the path. As usual the deer didn't want to know us - we saw their white backsides disappearing in the misty hillside - as the bealach appeared thru the mist. Waterproofs were donned as the wet low cloud surrounded us. At the bealach we passed the remains of an old crashed aircraft and the natty wee earthmoving machine used by the path repairers.
The path now rose along the side of the hill to round the NW shoulder of Ben Alder as we passed David & Matthew's campsite of May 94. As the path now led to Ben Alder Cottage on the NW end of Loch Ericht we had to leave it and cross a peat bog to find another path on the north side of the Usige Labbair. In this bog the effects of recent weeks of wet weather were well evident - the bum was a raging torrent and difficult to cross, the heather and grass were sopping and the peat bog was very very boggy.
The mist and low cloud continued and we missed seeing many mountains - a particular disappointment for Colin not to see Ben Alder. Slugs and frogs were seen and what was a pair ducks (of the municipal park variety) doing sitting on a lochan in the middle of a remote peat bog? After much plowtering and splashing about we found the next path - decidedly not the best or driest path we had ever seen. It was boggy and extremely muddy at frequent intervals. Both sets of feet and boots were now complaining loudly and as we could see Loch Ossian in the distance we decided to pitch tent beside the noisy burn at 21:15 at about 3.5km east of Corrour Shooting Lodge.
We could see Loch Ossian, where it seemed to be brighter.
08:10 - we set off down the messy path, looking back we briefly saw the bealach and the NW shoulder and edge of the Ben Alder plateau.
The path continued in a boggy and muddy state, with damage to a wide area where previous walkers had tried to avoid the worst bits. Despite the weather - it was now starting to rain in earnest - the skylarks were singing. Thankfully the bridge at Strath Ossian actually existed and wasn't a figment of my map's imagination.
10:00 - Corrour Shooting Lodge (29.55km,08:05) - we had lost about two hours due to the boggy state of the last stretch so we marched on thru by the lodge, where the beginnings of a redevelopment were well underway, and to the track along the south side of Loch Ossian. Dark clouds had closed in and it was raining heavily. We made good progress along the lochside thru the trees - when we stopped for a break we were attacked by midges - foul weather doesn't put these blighters off their food! After the trees the track goes along the open shore of the loch, on a sunny day this would be lovely but today it was foul. The gale force north wind was driving the torrential rain into every nook, cranny and boot. David's left boot filled with water which sloshed and squelched with every step, Colin's boots had been full of water for sometime and his feet were now both very wet and sore and protesting loudly.
It might have drier wading thru the loch.
11:50 - Corrour Youth Hostel (34.88km, 09:50) - we made good time along the loch, but we now realised that whatever the weather over the next two days, we had no chance of drying out our boots and socks quickly enough to be able to continue with the walk - our feet were blistered red raw and we had to go to work on Monday. An electric fire would have been ideal but our tent doesn't have a 13 amp socket outlet.
With some considerable regret we decided to be sensible and abort the walk - to complete it another time. It was handy that the station was just up the road! A timetable in the hostel vestibule showed the next southbound train at 12:50, we marched off to catch it.
12:20 - Corrour Station (36.38km, 10:20) - in the waiting room we prepared for the soggy journey home by removing the plentiful excess water from our boots, socks and waterproofs. David wrung a glassfull from his left sock and Colin demonstrated how his goretex jacket appeared to have quadrupled in weight with the water it had absorbed. Our wet audience - two german girl hikers and a group of gentlemen strollers were mildly amused. One hardy gangrel was going on with his walk to Fort William - this was his annual holiday and he was determined to have it.
Conclusions
PS. Next day the weather consisted of heavy rain, strong winds, snow on the tops, thunder - we actually made the right decision!
Gave up - no never! It was, it was ...... a planned tactical withdrawal.
Never the less we returned in August to continue our walk.