Linda's Last Munro

Linda Smith, Aunty,  Ultra Runner extraordinaire and now TV star, finished her round of Munros last weekend.  Only Linda can know which one was her last, but we celebrated on Stob Coire Sgreamhach in Glen Coe.   The previous day she had ascended Meall nan Eun (along with a few others, but that is runner's for you) from Glen Kinglass.

So the party from the Clashgour meet headed over to Glen Coe and had a pleasant walk up to the Lost Valley and then the more strenuous path to the bealach on the Bidean ridge above.  Here, Greg and Donald turned back, as they needed to get back to Aberdeen.  The cloud that was in the upper Lost Valley was absent from the southern side of the ridge and so there were great views down Glen Etive to the Loch and surrounding hills.

After the tough ascent to the bealach everyone was happy to stuff their faces!

5 of us completed the short ascent to the top of  Stob Coire Sgreamhach ( which Linda may or may not have been to before!)

Scuz read out a poem and we all sang the chorus, throats wetted with a bottle of fizz:

Ode to Aunty's Last Munro

In the beginning Aunty was in denial

She didn't start ticking her Munros for quite a while.

Eventually The Goat's definitive record was compiled

from Aunty's Munro book notes which was quite a trial.

Chorus:

Oh dippy Aunty, on her last Munro!

She had a list

And now it's ticked;

Just one descent to go!

We thought Aunty's Last Munro would never come.

She's had a clutch of Munros she hasn't done for years.

And then she got into her Ultra run

And her portfolio completion was much more fun.

Chorus

Now the dippy brunette syndrome is worth some attention -

forgetting her running shoes gets an honourable mention; 

the wooden compass award to add to the collection

and getting Scuzzered by Scuz all part of the convention!

Chorus

For Logical Munro Units Aunty had the wooden spoon:

She'd done all the Black Mount except Meall nan Eun,

all the great Grey Corries except little Stob Ban

and all of the Cullins except Am Bastair - Damn!

The Mighty Clashgour and Elephlump

Last Friday a select band of AMCers headed West and walked in to the Glasgow University MC hut at Clashgour, an isolated and bijou establishment, that meant the 5 who were staying in the hut had just enough room to spread out.  Luckily Denis and Greg elected to stay in their vehicles.  The 5 who stayed were joined in the night by an elephlump who disturbed the sleep of some.

Saturday saw an early arrival of Linda, who had been camping nearby, who was off to bag her penultimate (or last) Munro (depending on her memory).
The rest of us - Ed, Scuz, Mark, Judith, Donald, Greg and Denis headed up Glen Kinglass for an aimless wander as the cloud was low and the wind high.  Denis soon turned back for the pleasures of the Invereran Hotel.  The rest of us carried on west until the sight of the cloud free summit of Beinn Suidhe (676m) forced the mountaineering spirit in us to ascend via the tussocky Coire Fearna.  The 6 of us split into 3 pairs and headed down our separate ways depending on our desire for a cup of tea (or whisky) back at the hut.

Judith keeping up with the AMC elite

our target for the day - Beinn Suidhe

A smile on Ed's face as he nears the whisky

An afternoon of relaxing.

The evening was, as ever, convivial, with 8 of us squeezed in the hut for a 3 course meal and the obligatory bottle of Buckfast at the GUMC hut.

For the Sunday see the next post.

The way was long, the morning cold, the AMC walkers were feeling bold......

A group of intrepid AMCers gathered on Sunday for an ascent of Glen Shee's Creag Nan Gabhar.  A chilly start in the Achalleter Carpark (not helped by the late arrival of  the walk organiser....) led to a brisk start up the landy track leading towards Loch Callater Lodge.  A short distance in, the epic ascent of the day began, quickly gaining height and being rewarded with cracking views.

View down Glen Clunie towards Braemar

Continuing up, we paused for lunch on Sron nan Gabhar, lochnagar looking grand in the background.

Meanwhile, somewhere to the east, Scuz was enroute from Ballater to meet us back at the Achallater via as many hills as possible!

Carrying on, the happy crew headed on to Creag nan Gabhar and cracking views over the glenshee hills and down Glen Clunie.  Having made good time, and with Carn an Tuirc beckoning in the distance, a few of the baggers in the club decided to extend the walk out to it's summit, so with a cry of "into the bog once more dear friends" Mark led the happy few towards Carn an Tuirc whilst Stu, Juliette, Denis and Bruce headed down into the Glen, and after a leisurely lunch 

"are you finished with that" says the Melba
"Throw the ball, throw the ball, throw the ball, THROW THE BALL" says the Jess

narrowly beat Scuz back to the cars.  We headed off back to Aberdeen via the Ballater Butchers to stock up for the BBQ planned for the evening.

The hardcore Carn an Tuirk crew had made it up to the summit mean while and dropped back the loch and the cars.  Later we all reconvened for a BBQ with some of the other club members to finish off a cracking day all round!

spot ghost dog, terror of the unguarded burger.....

Cheers!!