Collected Musings of a Hill Wanderer

A little while ago, the prospect of a sunny forecast for Argyll got me wondering about another journey up north and pouring over maps revealed north Cowal as a possible destination. The trip never got off the ground so that idea is one that still remains on the shelf awaiting further examination. Even so, I thought that I’d share with you some of the possibilities that came into my mind.

Casual inspection of OS Explorer mapping for the area will reveal the existence of the Cowal Way and it wouldn’t be the first long distance to reveal itself to me in such a manner. Starting at Ardgartan near Arrochar, it then continues to Lochgoilhead and Strachur before dropping south on its way to Portavadie. Taking on the whole trail would be a longer excursion than a weekend away but looking along its length does reveal possibilities for future exploration. The only fly in the ointment for some might be the number of forest plantations passed along its length but it is promising otherwise.

For that abortive weekend outing, I was confining my attentions to north Cowal and the area around Arrochar. One idea that appealed was an early morning arrival by coach at Tarbet followed by going around the head of Loch Long and then starting up Glen Croe. Much of this can be done on forest tracks so road walking, never the best sort, could be kept to a minimum. From Glen Croe, crossing between The Brack and Ben Donich would take you towards Lochgoilhead from which bus connections return to more built-up parts again. What I find attractive about that plan is the variety of scenery encountered so it goes on file awaiting a suitable opportunity for setting it into action.

Other ideas then began to queue up in my thinking too. Some are centred on Strachur, which can be reached by bus from either Dunoon or Inverary, with a linear hike to Lochgoilhead and various circular options becoming apparent. Linear treks taking two days joined the line and soon I was sat with a good number of ideas to explore. This is not the sort of thing that is needed in the days leading up to a departure because that’s a time for making up one’s mind about things but, away from any imminent escapades, it’s never a bad thing to be doing. After all, when an opportunity does make its appearance for a long weekend away, you might need to have to have more than one idea in mind. My trip to Cumbria at the start of November showed one advantage of this: some plans do fall by the wayside. As if to show another side to the proverbial coin, my Spring Bank Holiday weekend excursion to north Argyll left me feeling a little short on ideas after the longer walk from Inverarnan to Dalmally and I felt that to be a travesty with the perfect weather that I met while up there.

Cowal may not be that far away from Glasgow but, for whatever reason, it never dawned on me to go exploring the area; the lure of other destinations may have been to blame. I seem to have got a sense from guidebooks and so on that not many go past Dunoon to probe deeper into the area so the omens are good for a spot of quiet walking; Arrochar and Ardlui are not so far from Glasgow either and quiet walking can be found in those places too so my hopes are up. When it comes to a weekend visit, the fact that many bus services do not run on Sundays is a concern and, on other days, it is useful but you do need to watch your times. Still, having a spot of hill country hiking and avoiding having to brave the possible A82 gridlock  on a sunny bank holiday weekend seems good to me so I’ll keep the area in mind for when the occasion arises.

Buying outdoor gear is an expensive habit to to acquire, which is why I gamely try to keep the collecting to a minimum. Nevertheless, that does nothing to stop wish-lists from growing and seeing shiny kit featured in magazine reviews is no help either. Of course, expert gear reviewers are in an enviable position with their ability to compare different manufacturers’ attempts to cater for a particular need. That gives them a level of insight unavailable to the rest of us with those ever tightening constraints on purchasing power and all those other calls on our time limiting our explorations. Even with the insights of experts, we still need to discover what is right for ourselves and that can mean the occasional mistake from time to time. Speaking for myself, I am lucky to say that most of what I own is of the silent stalwart variety rather than attracting my reservations. Maybe, reading those gear reviews is useful after all…

When it comes to the minority that I mentioned above, my Scarpa boots come to mind but another piece of kit that fell into the same category is a Karrimor Cougar rucksack that I bought a few years back. To be fair, it served me reasonably well on numerous Scottish outings including sessions along the West Highland Way and the Rob Roy Way along with weekend visits to Lochaber. Being a heavy duty article, there is a weight penalty of next to 3 kg before anything goes into it and that is where my concerns start. Add to that its harness feeling a little like a cage while you have it on you back and a hip belt that gives a neutral performance and the penalty points rack up, especially when compared to something like an Osprey Atmos 50. It also took some time to fine tune the back system so that it worked more to my liking and that’s somewhere the Atmos scores too.

Those reservations about the comfort, fit and weight of the Karrimor got me thinking about alternatives for August island hopping trip. While my Atmos 50 has an tardis-like ability to carry more than you’d expect of it, I thought that using it for a whole week might be a little limiting; according to BPL.com, the Exos has eerily reminiscent talents and would be on my list if I was looking at a rucksack for a week-long trip again. However, the Exos was in the future so I ended up settling on another Osprey, an Aether 60, for load hauling duties in its place and that of the Karrimor. The Aether, definitely a lighter article than the Karrimor, did whatever I asked of it, even if it was that little bit bulky (compression straps on the ‘sack do make things much more manageable though) for day walks and some of those really did take me across some rough country. When fully loaded, the hip belt worked well so long as it was done up tight, a behaviour typical of these packs if comments made by BPL.com are to be believed. The back system again gave me no cause for real complaint either and the weights being carried really tried it out, especially on the Tuesday of my sojourn on Harris.

I have to say that the Aether still seems to suit me better than the Cougar but there’s one insight that I have gained from using both: you need to be acclimatised to whatever weight you plan to carry or your progress will slow. It could also make you gradient-shy like I was on a weekend away with the Cougar and left a walk up Ben Vrackie for another time; the damp aspect of the day provided additional impetus for my decision. For sake of clarity, I am talking about weights of up to 20 kg here rather than anything more than that. So, for that future longer trip away to sample hill country, I plan to more acclimatised to the weights that I will be carrying and that perhaps preposterous thought of carrying the Karrimor on shorter training walks and it well loaded may come into play yet. Another idea is to plan for posting things home as I go. From my experience of spending a week of island hopping in August, maps come to mind because I was moving around from place to place but there can be other things being carried needlessly too. Organising parcelling and making time to visit a post office without it impacting on time in the countryside are probably the tricks to master with this one.

It may have meant spending a more money than I might have liked but I think that I learned something useful from using two different rucksacks for multi-day hiking. No doubt, there is more to be learnt and that comment applies to more than rucksacks. For instance, who knows what my footwear explorations could yield yet? I may even start to view my Scarpas in a new light.

One of the problems with a flatter area like the Cheshire plain is that fog can accumulate and, even though Macclesfield is set higher on the cusp of hill country and it’s not near any major rivers or other bodies of water, we were graced with very thick fog for the whole of Saturday. The thickness was sufficient to make one wonder about the sense in navigating through the countryside without the full picture, even if walking in foggy conditions does possess its own charm.

That fog cleared progressively on Sunday and all that remains is a faint haze today. However, frosted vegetation is everywhere for all to see, acting as a reminder to wrap up warm and my North Face Nuptse is brilliant for this so long as conditions remain dry. Seeing everywhere as if it was immersed in a freezer cabinet has its own delights so long as you keep your wits about you and do not take a tumble from slipping on ice; it’s the black variant that really catches you out and it’s amazing how clumsy people can be with throwing water about the place.

In fact, all that’s needed to complete the picture is snow and that seems to be arriving too, even if my cynical self believes that we should never expect that much of the white stuff and that’s even with my venturing out on snow-covered lands from time to time; those parts with greater altitude and higher latitude seem better endowed. Photographically speaking, it all looks a bit monochrome under grey skies but something can be made of that also. And, with sufficient preparation, it all can make for wondrous winter wandering.

Snow and frost is something that we don’t get to notice for so long these days, especially with the usual pre-Christmas hurlyburly, so it’s probably no bad bad idea to make what we can of it if and when we can (I am trying to shake off a cold at the moment). Every season has its own delights and I am beginning to wonder if summer is overrated and so reckon that it’s best to get out there to savour whatever is on offer whenever it comes. I’ll see if I can fit in an outing among all the other things that need doing.

Update 2008-12-05: We have had our snow and it’s gone for now though it always can return.