After leaving the forest the track continues for 4 kilometres or more, an unsightly slash across the hillside from afar but a welcome fast approach to our summit on this short winter day. We took the right fork which goes up onto Meall Leathan Dhail across which we followed a fence until it became clear that it was not descending to the col with Uamh Bheag. Our peak ahead was veiled in mist but the col was clear enough. Just above it we found a sheltered spot in a fold of the hill where we could have a quick snack out of the worst of the wind. We enjoyed the remoteness of our situation as, now out of sight of track and fence, we looked onto a wild, rough and empty landscape. It was good to be embarking on a new challenge which would undoubtedly take us to many more such lonely and beautiful places.
As we climbed the tussocky slopes of the hill the mist lifted ahead of us and by the time we reached the summit cairn we were in sunshine. Since we had come up from the north it was the view southwards which held our gaze across the plains of the Central Lowlands although it was difficult to look south into the fierce wind which was blowing. The Wallace Monument was conspicuously sillouetted against the sun pinpointing the spot where Stirling lay at the foot of the Ochils.
Uamh Bheag has twin summits the more westerly, on which we stood, being the one listed in the tables but the other carrying a trig point. It seemed prudent to visit this in case resurveying changed their relative status. It would be difficult to decide on the spot just by looking from one to the other which was highest.
From the trig point we slanted back onto the subsidiary bump of Meall Clachach and followed the boundary fence straight down the northwest ridge. After crossing the river at the bottom we had a trackless struggle through the bog to join the good track which runs from Glen Artney back to Callander. By the time we reached the tarmac dusk was falling, giving that particular satisfaction of finishing the walk just as it gets dark and feeling that one has made the most of the day.
The track is good to Duiletter but thereafter was ill defined and boggy. At the point where it entered the forest was a very unfriendly notice warning us of the danger of being shot at any time by high speed rifles. Even more discouraging was the broken stile over the high forest fence and the total absence of any sign of a track through the massed conifers ahead. We could just see the waterfall through the fence and decided to content ourselves with this distant glimpse and go straight up the hill.
It was one of those trudges up a tussocky hillside which seems to go on endlessly but at last we emerged on the ridge. A fence ran up it which was helpful as we had just got into the mist. After a time however the fence seemed to wander off to the right and so we left it and climbed up to a large cairn. We knew this could not be the summit because we had not yet caught a glimpse of the sizeable Lochan Uaine which according to our map, a first series one, should lie to our left below a sharp narrowing of the ridge. There was an abrupt drop not hinted at on our map but just as doubt set in the lochan appeared looking wonderfully wild and mysterious through the mist. Beyond it we could make out higher ground and our map indicated another false top. In fact there were several ups and downs and on each top we could just see far enough to make out another beyond. We came to an ancient cairn which probably marked the summit but another bump ahead urged us further east. Here the ground dropped away convincingly so we reckoned our summit bagged.
The fence had reappeared and we concluded correctly that we could follow it back and avoid all the undulations. In fact we followed it a long way down the ridge until it turned abruptly and brought us down west of Duiletter. The showers were becoming heavier and more wintry. We came out of the mist but into a hailstorm. Loch Awe, seen end on from this ridge, glistened silver through the storm, its islands black beneath the racing clouds. We were wet and rather cold but reflected, as so often before, on the beauty that we would miss by becoming fair weather walkers only.
At the top we saw some old but definitely human footprints in the snow and wondered if Graham-bagging was becoming fashionable. Not wanting to turn the walk into a pure peak-bagging exercise we continued northeastwards to join the track which was particularly conspicuous in the snow and took us wallowing through the forest into Glen Quoich. As we descended the rather icy landrover track we remembered the long day many years before when we had used it to approach Beinn a'Bhuird and its assorted tops. Today we made a special point of leaving the main track and keeping close to the river to see the Linn of Quoich and the Punch Bowl which were looking particularly impressive edged with ice and icicles.
[Creag Bhalg summit]
The summit ridge was characteristic of higher Cairngorm hills being broad and dry with exceptionally far ranging views, all the hills being streaked with snow. Lochnagar was the most dominant, sillouetted against the sun but, although much further away, Ben Avon, totally white, was particularly striking. The forecast had promised rain but although it looked threateningly black westwards we were still in brilliant sunshine. There was no temptation to linger on the summit however as the wind, though westerly, was bitterly cold.
Despite ideas of a variant return once at the top we decided to retrace our outward route and enjoy the splendid panorama westwards on the way down the ridge. We only made a slight variation resulting in my virtually stepping on a hare. I actually felt it move under my foot as it leapt up and it is hard to say which of us was more startled.
We returned by more or less the same route and then added Craiglich to the day. This is not above 2000' although it is in Dawson's tables. We just failed to reach the summit before the sun sank but it was really beautiful watching the glow of the winter sunset in a totally clear sky. As the light faded the new moon, with the old moon in its arms and with Venus beside it, grew bright in the darkening sky.
[Pressendye summit]
At about 10pm that night we saw the northern lights from the campsite.
The name Cat Law is reminiscent of the Southern Uplands and so is the hill itself being the top of a long, rolling, heather-clad ridge. The map shows many paths on these hills and they all exist as well as many not on the map. Fences run along the ridge tops and paths of sorts alongside most of them. The impression is that their main purpose is access for shooting as there are many butts scattered over the hills presumably for grouse for the only deer we saw were half a dozen small ones. Hares however were all over these hills in their white winter raiment despite there being very little snow. At one point we counted ten all visible at once.
We went straight up Cat Law from near the sadly decaying Balintore castle. The track was clear but not always useable being covered in sheets of ice. The top has peat hags, well frozen today. We were looking southwards across a sea of cloud which persisted all day although drawn back much lower than yesterday.
We followed the fence along the ridge towards Corwharn. The east ridge of this hill looks like a simple continuation as you approach. The sharp drop and reascent remains hidden until the last moment. Without it Corwharn would not make it into the tables of course. More peat hags at the top. The conspicuous cairn is not quite at the highest point. We descended all the way along the south ridge with vague designs on Creigh Hill but when we could see down into the forbidding gash, Craig of Balloch, decided that we had not the time and cut down steeply to the Quharily Burn and returned to the car as the southwestern sky glowed fiery orange in the aftermath of sunset. A very satisfying day.
[Cat Law summit]
We were lucky to find a good parking spot for just one vehicle not far along the rather icy minor road which runs towards the head of Glen Isla. We walked back and took the forestry track up onto the south ridge of the mountain which we followed through beautiful icy peat hags to the summit. It was another cloudless day but far more hazy and a cool breeze made us unwilling to linger long at the top. We were well down the north ridge before we found shelter enough to stop for lunch. Then followed a quick descent westwards to pick up the track to Fergus and a pleasant stroll down the quiet road to the car. Just before we reached it we noticed wisps of cloud and within half an hour the long spell of unbroken clear skies was collapsing in greyness and gloom.
[on Badendun Hill]
The top of the hill was hidden in the mist so we took careful bearings to be sure of hitting the correct top. Beyond the hut the going was trackless through deep heather but led us quite abruptly to the first top where we joined a fence and a rather pleasant ridge to the true summit marked by a small cairn. We were very lucky as the mist lifted at this moment giving us attractive glimpses of a sparkling loch and an array of misty ridges southwards while to the north the snow-clad summits of the Beinn a'Ghlo massif appeared dramatically through the swirling clouds.
It would have been more interesting and perhaps better going to have returned over the west top but from that direction we heard what sounded like shooting so we came down more or less the same way avoiding the hut by heading straight for a small lochan which we had noticed on the way up. It appeared very strange on closer inspection as it was covered with thick ice which had cracked in a curious way as if the water had drained away beneath it. I recollected seeing a similar phenomenon on the Derwent reservoir many years before.
[Blath Bhalg summit] .[Beinn a'Ghlo from Blath Bhalg]
The day was not encouraging and we had already decided to return home. On any other day we might have headed south directly but we felt obliged to start 1993 with a flourish so we set out as soon as there was any light at all up the track via the seemingly deserted farm of Girron. In better conditions we might have gone onto the ridge sooner but today we used the track almost to the col before climbing into the mist following some white topped posts which we assumed to be markers connected with shooting. It was an easy climb to the trig point whose presence ensured that our claim to the summit could not be in doubt.
A fence plunged off the side of the hill and as we suspected would have led us straight to the next top. However the gradient looked uncomfortably steep so we skirted around a bit on the descent before following it up brutally steep ground to the large cairn on Meall Reamhar. We were a little worried about being sure of this summit but in fact it would have been very obvious even without the clearance of the mist which left us with no possible doubt. It also gave us no excuse to scuttle straight back down onto the track and so we followed the ridge back to the car for lunch. A viciously strong wind made it difficult to stand up, a dramatic change from the totally still conditions we had been enjoying earlier in the week.
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