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A long hot day in the Blackmount

This time last week, (Sunday morning) Nita and I were making our way along the West Highland Way between Victoria Bridge and Ba Bridge.  You’ll remember perhaps that we walked part of this section of the WHW a few months ago when we went to walk Beinn Toaig.  On that occasion the skies were as free of clouds as last Sunday, but the temperature was somewhat different with snow and ice on the mountains above about 600 metres.  Our lunchtime spot that day was high up on Beinn Toaig and we were sat looking out over the lonely glen through which the Ba River flows.    It has big mountains on three sides and is also the home of wee Meall Tionail, the craggy little hill sitting at the far end of the glen.

photo of Scotland - Blackmount

‘A very warm walk in the Blackmount’

 It was to this small hill that Nita and I made our slow hot way last Sunday.  It really was hot too as we walked the hard rough surface of the WHW, even at nine o’clock in the morning, but the views out over Rannoch Moor and to the surrounding mountains were beautiful.  Not surprisingly there were quite a few other folk out plodding their way along this famous path although to be honest, I didn’t envy them the prospect of continuing all day on this hard unyielding surface of the WHW.  By the time we had reached the beautiful Ba Bridge my feet were already quite sore and I couldn’t wait to get onto the soft grassy path that leads up the glen towards Meall Tionail.

Photos of Scotland - Blackmount

‘A very warm walk in the Blackmount’

One of my plans for the day was to make some new recordings of water flowing through the various streams, but after this unusually dry period, even the Ba River had precious little water flowing in it.  The last time we were here back in April 2012 all the streams and rivers were quite busy ……this time it was like they were all taking a siesta.  But that said, we did in the end get some interesting and what should be useful recordings.

As we moved slowly up the glen we became more sheltered from the occasional breeze and it became hotter and hotter.  It was idyllic however and so incredibly quiet and peaceful ….just the calls of birds, the buzz of insects and the trickles of water ….no human sounds at all.  By the time we were at the base of Meall Tionail we decided it was just too hot to do the short steep climb up to its summit and instead sat with our feet cooling in the small  stream  flowing off the hillside.  It had several little pools, into one of which Nita had plunged her feet.  After a short while she let out a yelp and moved her feet, saying that something, presumably a frog, had touched her foot!  She couldn’t see anything at first though but after several more minutes she saw the culprit  ….. a quite large brown trout, who’s home the pool must have been!

Photo of Scottish Highlands - Blackmount

‘A very warm walk in the Blackmount’

The walk back was if anything even hotter and we took numerous stops where ever we found places with a hint of a breeze.  We did get back to the car eventually, about ten hours after setting  out in the morning and both of us with very sore feet, but it had been some day and it was great to get back into the Highlands again.

A day exploring Beinn Toaig in the Blackmount, West Highlands

About 10 years ago, my good friend Guy, led me on a walk up the Munro Stob a’ Choire Odhair in the Blackmount region of the Scottish West Highlands.  Guy, never one to just follow the standard routes up hills, suggested we climb this Munro by way of its neighbouring top, Beinn Toaig.   We did this and it made for a very good route, but on that day, it was a very good route in thick cloud and we didn’t see very much.  Since then Nita and I had been back on two or three  occasions, and on one of them, we enjoyed hot clear conditions ….but still didn’t see much  because of very thick heat haze!

scottish mountains

‘In the Blackmount, the Scottish West Highlands’

Yesterday, with the weather once again set fine for the West Highlands of Scotland, we decided to go back to Beinn Toaig, but this time, spend a few hours exploring it and enjoying the fine views we expected to get.    That said however, it didn’t look too hopeful as we drove up the side of Loch Lomond at about eight o’clock yesterday morning.  There was thick dark cloud and it all looked very dreary.  We shouldn’t have worried however, the folk at the Mountain Weather Information Service had got it right and by the time we’d had a coffee and breakfast at the Green Welly, the thick cloud was breaking up and clear blue skies were taking over.

scottish mountains

‘In the Blackmount, the Scottish West Highlands’

We parked the car at the end of the road near Victoria Bridge on the West Highland Way and following the broad track through the trees until we reached the open moorland.  The views were already stunning and our hill, Beinn Toaig, looked very inviting with plenty of snow still on its steep upper slopes.   We weren’t really sure what the conditions would be like higher up as, after many weeks of freezing temperatures on the mountains, spring had suddenly arrived and the temperatures were quite high.   After a couple of kilometres on the WHW we turned off and made our way across the edge of the moorland, heading for the lower end of the broad ridge leading from the summit of Beinn Toaig.  I can’t quite say how wonderful it was to be out here with the mountains all around and the huge space of Rannoch Moor stretching out  below us.  Wow!   There was a lot of snow higher up but despite this there were still areas of snow free ground and for the most part we were able to follow these up the steep slopes leading onto the ridge.  By the time we needed to get onto the snow, the slopes were very gentle and the snow underfoot, fairly soft.

scottish mountains

‘In the Blackmount, the Scottish West Highlands’

I had hoped before setting out, that the views from the ridge into the heart of the Blackmount, would be good.  When we gained the height and could see into the main group of mountains ….well, it was just breathtaking, especially so in this clear crisp spring light.  We spent so much time just stopping and looking and taking photographs and our lunch spot was one of the most enjoyable and spectacular we’ve had for a long time …..and that says something.  We could hear the distant roar of the river rushing through the glen below heading for Ba Bridge and Rannoch Moor and there were the occasional sounds of Raven, Plovers and at one point, high up, two Golden Eagles.  Nita watched them for quite a while but they were too high up for me to make out ……but it was great to know they were there.

scottish mountains

‘In the Blackmount, the Scottish West Highlands’

We didn’t quite reach the summit of Beinn Toaig in the end.  We carried on until about three o’ clock and still a short distance from the top, decided it was probably sensible to start heading back ….I really am very slow on the descent!  It was probably a good decision as in the end we only got back to the car at about half past six and the sun was down by then and everything was getting a little dark.  What a day though …… my jaw was aching from smiling so much!

scottish mountains

‘In the Blackmount, the Scottish West Highlands’

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Pieces from pieces

Although nearly all my paintings are based on the Scottish upland landscape I do like to try and find new ways of interpreting it. I’ve spent nearly all of the last week working on an 80 x 80 cm canvas in oil.  It’s quite a loose piece and I’ve just used the large horse hair house painting brush to create the marks on it. 

Work in progress, February 14 2014 - Oil on Canvas

Work in progress, February 14 2014 – Oil on Canvas

The starting point for the piece was a section of a painting I did several years ago about the peaks of the Blackmount, in particular Clach Leath and it’s wonderful southern face that always seems to catch the snow .  In the winter months it stands out from most vantage points to the east, especially as you drive across the edge of Rannoch Moor on the A82 and in particular from the gentle ridge of Ghlas Bheinne.  I’ve taken numerous photos of it over the years as it always grabs your attention and in spring 2012 we walked right underneath it on two occasions as we headed up the glen from Ba Bridge.

Since starting to work once again in oil on canvas, I’ve wanted to try and create much more abstract paintings.  I want them still to be about the wild Scottish landscape but in a much looser way. I’ve created a number of these oil on canvas paintings over the last couple of years and am always trying to develop them.   I decided therefore to start from a slightly different place with these new paintings ….instead of using photographs and sketches I’ve selected a section from one of my earlier paintings.  This gives me a far more abstract starting point but one that is still landscape based.

As I say, the new painting is being created using just one brush ….a large coarse haired house painting brush approximately 7 inches wide and at least an inch thick.  I’ve been building the painting up using quite thick oil paint and putting it down in rough, raw strokes and a very limited palette.  This coarse haired brush leaves fine textures in the wet paint that once dry, gives an interesting surface over which to put down the next stroke.  The painting is still not finished but I think it is starting to go in the right direction.  The problem, as always, is trying to get the balance between the need by me to create a landscape painting as well as one that is abstract too……this can so easily lead to a painting that looks false and awkward.  Oh well, I’ve just ordered a load more paint so it’s just a case of keeping on painting and hopefully learning.  That I guess, is what painting for me is all about.

‘East over Rannoch Moor, early morning’

'East over Rannoch Moor, early morning', Graphite on paper

‘East over Rannoch Moor, early morning’, Graphite on paper

‘East over Rannoch Moor, early morning’, Graphite on paper, 2013, 40 x 60 cm

This is a drawing I completed yesterday ….indeed as you can see, this is a quick photo of it still attached to my drawing board on the easel.  Anyway I hope this gives a reasonable idea of it.  It is one of a number of similar sized graphite drawings I’ve been doing recently and is loosely based on the walk we did towards Ba Bridge back in the spring.  That said, it could be anything really but I like the marks and contrasts.  I do like my drawings to have their own edge rather than running up to the edge of the paper …but this makes it slightly more difficult to mount and frame.  I’ll ask the framer to cut a mount that allows the rough and scratchy edge to be seen.

Over the last few years I’ve really concentrated on my paintings and have rather let my drawing slip.  I’m glad I’ve started again and am really enjoying the process.  I’m trying to put an hour or so in every day …it’s quite nice to spend the last hour in the studio with the music turned up a little …scribbling away.  Hopefully more to follow.

A tale of two Meall Tionails …..

The view from Ba Bridge

The view from Ba Bridge

For anyone out there who reads these blogs, you might remember that about a year ago I wrote about my plans to walk a wee hill tucked away amidst the bigger mountains of the Blackmount.  The hill in question was Meall Tionail …a rocky little hillock of just over 500m in height.  We’d been planning to walk this hill ever since my partner Anita saw it from one of its bigger neighbours and said that she’d like to sit and eat her sandwiches at the top of it one day ….it really is in a wonderful location, surrounded on three sides by bigger dramatic mountains and looking out on the other side to the expanse of Rannoch Moor.  Suffice to say that we didn’t make it last year as planned and so it had to wait until Monday this week before we finally got to go there.

Looking towards Meall Tionail

Looking towards Meall Tionail

With a pretty good forecast and following a reasonably dry period (the walk in involves crossing several streams) …it seemed the perfect place to go ….and so I rang our friend Guy to see if he wanted to join us.  Wanting to walk a tiny hill in the middle of much bigger ones seemed to be a daft enough proposal to him and he was all for it ….we’d pick him up from the station at half past six the next morning.

Looking east from near the base of Meall Tionail

Looking east from near the base of Meall Tionail

Meall Tionail is as I say, just a small hill …it’s the getting to it that takes the effort.  We chose to park the car at the Glencoe Ski Centre and walk the West Highland Way back south to Ba Bridge, then follow a path up the side of the river for around three miles to the summit of the hill…..I guess in total (though I haven’t made any accurate measurements ..about 13 – 14 miles for the day ….with a few hundred metres of ascent thrown in for good measure.  The weather was indeed, pretty good, the cloud was quite high and all of the bigger tops were clear …the upper slopes white with snow and looking very dramatic.  The sky was a mixture of dark clouds and bright sunshine and it made for some wonderful views and a great range of colours.  Needless to say we did a lot of stopping to look and snap away with our cameras and time went by faster than the miles under our boots.   Thankfully the path up the glen by the river proved a good one with small bridges over the numerous small streams.  At one point though the path appeared to disappear….and we were left scratching our heads and pawing over the maps ….we were confronted by a sizable stream and no sign of the path on the opposite bank.  Nothing for it but to splash our away across ….thankful now for the dry weather over the preceding weeks….and still we couldn’t figure out quite where we were or where we’d gone wrong.  We could see our hill though and on heading towards it and back towards the main river found our path …quite how it had got there was a bit of a mystery!

Lunch, but not at the top!

Lunch, but not at the top!

At around this point we’d been walking for about three hours and we still had a good distance to go to the base of the hill …let alone climb the thing.  As we’d set out at 9.15 am, it was looking like being a late finish…..much to my dismay there were murmurings in the ranks that perhaps we’d only get to the base of the hill.   In all honesty though we were running a little late and when we got to the base of the hill we did in fact decide that that was as far as we could go ….ahhhhhh, after all these years waiting to come here and the long drive and the four hours walk in …and not to get to the top …well, it was a bit galling.  We could have got to the top and back down to the car before it got dark …but we’d have had to have rushed it which was completely against the whole idea of going there in the first place.  Nothing for it but to return some time in the future …and allow more time.

We’d had a great day and seen some wonderful scenery, but I hadn’t realised how disappointed Anita was at not getting to sit and eat her lunch at the summit.  When we finally got home she said, ‘how about going back on Wednesday …the forecast is almost as good?’  I saw from her face that she wasn’t joking …and well, we haven’t done anything as daft as that for a long time …so Wednesday was booked and with an extra early start …up at 03.50, out and away from Irvine at 05.15!  Mad or what?!

Some of the mountains surrounding Meall Tionail

Some of the mountains surrounding Meall Tionail

Heavy skies over Rannoch Moor, wednesday morning

Heavy skies over Rannoch Moor, wednesday morning

This time though the weather wasn’t as good as the forecast had predicted and on reaching Loch Lomond it started to rain and both the Luss Hills and Ben Lomond disappeared into a grey wet slurp.  It continued to rain all the way to the edge of Rannoch Moor where at last we saw a few bursts of sunshine over to the east.  The mountains were all shrouded in mist and it was a very different scene from just 48 hours earlier.  This time Anita and I started walking at 07.50 and with fewer things to photograph and less stops we made good time.  It stayed dry all the way to Ba Bridge but after that the rain came back …and stayed for the next almost eight hours.  The beautiful snow covered and dramatic peaks bursting with colour in the bright spring sunshine of just two days earlier,  had been replaced by an equally beautiful scene of dark brooding hills disappearing up into the cloud.  It was cold and very wet …but we could see our little hill up ahead …its summit well below the cloud base ….one advantage of climbing a wee hill!

Wednesday morning ...poor weather

Wednesday morning ...poor weather

We arrived at the base of Meall Tionail and after a brief stop headed uphill on a mixture of grass and stone, crossing numerous small streams that were coming to life again with all the rain.  By this time the wind had picked up and it was blowing the rain along in sheets, but as we reached the top of the hill, it really didn’t matter …as Anita said, ‘This is even better than I had imagined’ …and indeed it was.  The summit is topped by a series of crags …the outer edge like battlements of an ancient castle …the views out over the glen towards Rannoch Moor quite stunning even in this wild weather.  Big mountains rose all around us, occasionally giving glimpses of the snow covered ridges for the most part hidden in cloud.  Wow, what a spot.  Anita did finally get to eat her sandwiches on the top, albeit hunched against the wind and driving rain ….but what the heck …we’ made it and it felt very special.

 From the summit of Meall Tionail....at last!

From the summit of Meall Tionail....at last!

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A small hill….in a very big landscape

The wild landscape at the edge of Rannoch Moor

The wild landscape at the edge of Rannoch Moor

Quite a few years ago I started thinking about walking Meall a’ Bhuiridh ….the big hill on the edge of Blackmount, and Rannoch Moor that is home to the Glencoe ski centre.  The easiest way would simply have been to walk up following the line of the ski lift, but well, it didn’t seem very adventurous!  There had to be a better way up the hill and one that would avoid much of the paraphernalia attached to the ski slopes.  After looking at the map I decided to climb the hill by its south east ridge and then just descend down the ski slopes.  It seemed a good compromise and would make for an interesting day.

A little hill in a very big landscape

A little hill in a very big landscape

We did the walk on a dry and quite fine summer day.  The cloud was high and so although there was no sun to be had, we were at least assured of some good views….or at least Anita was.  She was not only guiding me but also our friend Norma who is also visually impaired.  We left the car at the ski centre car park and then headed back along the West Highland Way for several kilometres until we reached Ba Cottage …not far short of Ba Bridge.  From here it’s a steady pull uphill to reach the end of the SE ridge of Meall a’ Bhuiridh ….and we got here just in time for an early lunch.  It makes for a wonderful picnic spot as you are well off any paths and have views all around…..and it was here that Nita first set eye on Meall Tionaill.  This is a small hill (582m) set in the heart of Blackmount and surrounded by much bigger neighbours.  Nita was quite taken with this lonely little hill and before we set off again I think she was already planning to go to it one day.  From our lunchtime spot the broad ridge climbed steeply at first grass covered and then increasingly boulder strewn slopes.  But turning around for a breather every few minutes we got increasingly big views…it was quite spectacular.

After what seemed an age, the angle of the slope eased and we emerged out onto the rocky top of the hill at just over 1100 m.  There were surprisingly few people up at the top but high above us was someone flying around with a paraglider.  At first neither Norma or I could see it despite much pointing and giving of directions by Anita, but almost as if the pilot realised our problem he or she flew directly over head and then just hung there in the air …a bit like a Kestrel without all the flapping!  It was amazing.  After several minutes it turned and headed off towards Buachaille Etive Mor.  We descended down the ski slopes which at least to start with, made for very easy walking.  The lower section though was steep and on an increasingly eroded path by or almost below the ski lift …and seemed to take an age to get back down to the car …I seem to remember we were back there by around 7pm.

Meall Tionaill  surrounded by its larger neighbours

Meall Tionaill surrounded by its larger neighbours

The reason for recalling this walk is that despite our saying most years that we’d have to go and find Meall Tionaill, we’ve never got around to it.  A few days ago though, I received an email from our friend Guy saying that he was planning to go and find this wee hill one day soon ….and he asked if we’d like to join him.  Sounds as good a time as any and as Nita and I have just had a month of flu and cold bugs, our first walk back on the hills for over a month should be a relatively easy one …and this sounds just the thing.  So then, not quite sure when we’ll try and go, but hopefully it’ll be one day in the next couple of weeks.  There’ll be a full report as and when.  The only photo I actually have of this little hill is ….well, rather vague ….Anita had to find it for me and mark it with an arrow!  As I say, it’s a little hill in a very big landscape.