Sunday 11th May, TGOC2014 Day 3

Loch Monar to Cannich

We woke to a still morning – still enough for a goodly amount of condensation on our tents.

I wasn’t too sorry to be leaving our lumpy pitch that morning. The reflections on the surface of Loch Monar began to blur as a breeze built up and cloud appeared in the distance.

The ‘path’ on the NE shore of Loch Monar varied between the usual boggy morass that often passes for a Scottish path, and a half-decent path – certainly from beyond Monar Lodge.

 Looking west over Loch Monar

 Alan posing by Loch Monar, heading towards Monar Lodge

 Warm sunshine – and the rear end of a stag as it scooted off by Monar Dam 

Leaving Loch Monar behind, we had a very pleasant 3-4 miles - albeit on tarmac. We were following the course of the River Farrar to our next waypoint where we were to turn south by Allt Innis an Larach….and lunch – in sunshine.

‘We’, at this point, consisted of Croydon, Martin Angell, Alan R, Viv and me. Well I think I was there. 

A suitable lunch spot was decided on, just before our big climb of the day. We ate and drank in warm sunshine – it was lovely. The nice weather lasted until we decided to pack up and continue on our way. Ho hum.

The next bit of the day’s walk was horrible. I’ve been this way before, Day 3 of TGOC2012, and it was just as horrible then. The route up the East side of the burn was initially okay but it quickly deteriorated and it became quite a battle to make headway. A landslip blocked our way at one point so Croydon, Viv and I decided to descend to use the grassy river bank whilst Alan and Martin opted for a much higher route. Our route entailed crossing and re-crossing the burn which wasn’t brilliant but it seemed easier that more ascent. At the end of the day I don’t think there was much difference in the level of horribleness.

I might have said that I wasn’t EVER going to go that way again. I also said it in 2012. I lied.

Eventually we got to the top and then it was just (Ho-ho!) a matter of descending to the road by Liatre Burn….more mud and much rough going. Admittedly we did manage to find a half decent path / track part of the way down and that made it a far less unpleasant experience than my 2012 descent. Still not nice though.

By the time we’d got to the road both Viv and I were cold, hungry and thirsty. Oh, and it was raining. A quick brew, a butty and a cereal bar fortified us for the long tarmac trudge into Cannich.

We spotted two of the three Dutch Challengers we’d met earlier on our crossing, they were waiting for their mate to catch up. They’d used a different route down from the top but I don’t think it was any better than ours. Probably worse.

It was 6-7 miles of tarmac into Cannich – hard on the feet – and a little worrying for Viv. She was in training for the LDWA100 in South Wales and hard tarmac doesn’t do much for her very delicate feet.

The Cannich campsite is really excellent. It has a very good cafe, run by the ever helpful Sheila….no, not THAT Sheila, another one. Anyway, Sheila stayed open later than normal being as what it was the Challenge. Tea, coffee and other stuff passed our lips – just what we needed. This was whilst sat on REAL chairs whilst sat a REAL table. Quite luxurious.

Tents up, washing done, we all headed off to the pub to eat – and perhaps a beer. Or more. I’ve used the Glen Affric bar in recent years – an excellent place that offered wonderful beers, tremendous food and a very warm welcome from the friendly owners. Sadly the bar has recently closed – some grief with HMRC I understand. A damned shame.

We ended up going to the Slaters – I’ve been there a couple of times in the past (before the Glen Affric opened) and I have to say I wasn’t looking forward to it. The owner was unpleasantly abrasive – not what you expect when you go into a pub to spend your money.

This visit was much better. The owner still had a bit of an edge to him but he was far easier to deal with this time – perhaps he realised that being rude to customers wasn’t helping his business. Whatever…the food was very good indeed and the beer quite acceptable.

We ate in the company of Denis and other Challengers including the 3 Dutch, Andy Howell and Kate Foley. A very pleasant evening.

Not many photos today, for most of the day the weather was just too wet and miserable to have the camera out.

And this is what we did:

18.25 miles (ish) with 2900’ of up.