Geal Charn

David Kaye

31 October 2017

They said it couldn’t be done. After several failed attempts, a crack team of Al, Mike, Russell and David finally summitted on Geal Charn at Loch Laggan. Thus Al knocked a giant 4% chunk off his list of outstanding Munros.

The weather was fair to begin with, though a bit on the nippy side. The Team made their way without incident to the glorious beach at Lochan na-h’Earba -

When they had finished building sand castles, the main business of the day was attacked with relish. The bealach between Geal Charn and Beinn a Clachair was reached by the excellent stalkers. Then we followed the path between Geal Charn and Creag Pitridh for a short distance. From memory there was no obvious path to the summit. I boldly struck off uphill a tad too early. We soon encountered some vertical grass followed by a large slippery boulder field. How we laughed!

Eventually the giant slate cairn hove into view. Sandwiches were hastily consumed. Alas we took no summit photos as the wind was trying to part my head from my body. Some people would be only too pleased to lose twenty pounds of unsightly fat, you may say, but not me.

Mike suggested an alternative, less amusing, descent route which involved heading off in the wrong direction. Although tempted we rejected the plan as a) it involved an extra couple of miles on a long day, and b) it depended on a squiggly line on my 1989 OS map morphing into a real path on the ground. In the event, the wizzard prang of actually taking a compass bearing got us down on easy angled grass (pretty boring if you ask me).   Afternoon tea on the beach was a no-brainer -

The clocks have gone back and the nights are indeed fair drawing in. For a wee November stroll Mike has volunteered (whether he likes it or not) to lead us up Ben Vrackie with a small interesting extension. Mike’s interesting extension is known and feared throughout the Western hemisphere, so I have secured a signed affadavit to the effect that the total  walk will take less than four hours, even for those of us of the knackered persuasion. The walk has the added benefit of a built in low level alternative in the event of inclement weather (is such a thing possible?)

The date for you diaries is Wednesday 29th November. All welcome especially Jim, Izzy, Jacqueline, Alex and Fiona. Come back – we miss you! In fact all of you, please cancel lesser attractions and advise attendance.

Cheers the noo,  David.