A Big Day on the Scottish Mountains: Taming the Rough Bounds of Knoydart?

Wow jeez but I've lost all my mushy feelings I don't care anymore I just realized that I haven't actually I spoke to the camera yet so here I am How's it going Anyway last night myself and Mushy We walked down to Glenpeen arrived there about half past nine at night and didn't do any filming I enjoyed the fire had a couple of whiskies had a good chat with my mushy and this morning we left just after seven because we're doing two Rocky Mountains in Glen Desert and we're just abou To reach the summit of Cairn Moore there's Mr Mushy at the summit before me Hello folks how's it going It's going well mate very good Congratulations on the first run in Corbet together Magic check this will be won't it yeah so we've got a cracking view of the deepest lock in Scotland and possibly e probably the deepest lake in Britain well we're coming down this ridge because what we're doing some people will drop directly down straight back up again but you're negotiating crags and It's steep it's hilly and it's boggy it just takes a lot of time and effort so we're coming Down the ridge lose a bit of height then drop into the glen then up the ridge of the Second Corbet but of course we've just hit a bit of a roadblock here what are you thinking Is it looking all right on that side Ish ish I'll take it It's an interesting rock you didn't want No of course a gentle straddle maybe right here folks this is our second peak of the day This is Abidian Shavar I think you pronounce it We're just looking for a safe route off the ridge I think we're going to head down here it looks doable on the map There's a stream maybe abou 100 meters down we can pick up the handrail and follow the stream down to the valley floor and the Up the bad boy here because it's a big deal there are rocks everywhere folks this is taking a while We're just slowly picking our way down these steep grassy slopes a couple of minor slides So really just trying to be careful here it's pretty steep How did you get down off this mate Um bum slid it just looks horrible I tried to be dignified but it didn't work Just what I need a professional javelin thrower right there 10 out of 10 Whoa that's wet as anything uh-huh wet's when we skim deep Spongy I cleared the path here I think you did We are back down to a lofty altitude of 200 meters with more than 600 meters of ascent still to go We've already done 850 jeez Louise just looking at it now like we came down that really because You can see the top bit came around and down that was the ish bit even more ish from here Just beyond the mushy area this is going to be a route up here We'll get up onto the ridge beyond those crags Well after nearly seven hours from leaving the buffet we are so close Just topping out on this ridge it'll be a short walk up to the summit but laid out in front of us I can see the route we took this morning I'll just go over it with you quickly Here's The summit is here we came along this ridge and then down this big grassy gully basically following the stream right down to the valley floor and then you can see we jus Wow folks we're just about on the ridge and look at this it is quite intimidating it has a presence about it that's for sure Skurnakesh looks quite impressive and powerful from this angle you don't get the same conical shape but nevertheless it's a rocky beast because of course we are in the rough bounds e rough bounds pretty much stretch from Noida in the north through Glendessary and dow It's just a little bit further south and all these hills have this very similar character very rocky and rugged The rough bounds would be a cool camping spot if you Find a pitch when you're approaching the summit it looks quite intimidating like it's almost impenetrable There is a short easy scramble just up the front of the nose What we've done is we We took a little bypass path around the back and then just up to the summit so we're almost there Wow jeez what a hill what a viewpo What a view for a day what an uncomfortable seat Well that summit was fantastic Some of the views were tremendous It was good to pick out some of the Cape Raft Trail as well So now we're heading Off we're taking the more book route for this hill because we came up a different direction and then we're going on this big knobbly ridge there's no straight lines it's Just weaving in and out of rock and bog and whatnot I'll tell you what we don't want to be Here if the cloud drops the terrain is just so complex I mean look at that behind me superboss Well that's us having been going for 10 hours now and I'm shattered it's been one of my biggest days for a long time Long time and we've still got a bit to go before we get back to the car Our next step is to get It's just below me in this woodland right now once we get there at least there's a path Then a good track out so it's not all bad but yeah I'm goosed it's just keeps on going and going Right I've almost hit the forestry line but I've lost Mushy and normally I wouldn't go in the The woods without Kevin or with someone else but I suppose that's what happens if you don't know each other I should pick him up at the path but I thought he might have waited But no there's no sign of him Bad form yeah Aye it looks quite dense So I'm going to try and Pick up this path on my Jack Jones well this is a bit of a ---- finish to the day And I've still got a bit to go I hate plantations Oh jeez where's this path Come on You think you're all right and then your foot just sinks Honestly I'm past caring Oh for heaven's sake I think I'm on the right path now Still no sign of Mushy though absolutely no clue where he's gone There's bikes stashed it's not The nicest of tracks this one's been churned up by the forestry plant machinery and it's just really chewed up at some points this little bridge here reminiscent of the Cape Raft Trail Good times I know I talk about them a lot but it was just a fantastic two or three weeks of my life That I'll never forget so yeah I just like to reminisce when I come across parts of the trail On my hiking trips it's been a while since I got out of those woods and no one has cycled past me yet and I haven't seen anyone ahead I've stopped for a b Nobody's come from behind so I don't know if he's ahead of me or behind me And I suppose I probably won't find out until I get back to the car what the situation is So I've got another six kilometers or so back to the car which is on this route I'm not stopping though I'm just going to keep going Pinging on in case mushy is ahead of me well what do we have here It is the lesser spotted pink-hatted mushy sitting waiting on me on the rock Well folks that's a happy ending being reunited with Mushy and I'm just marching on back to the Car six kilometers still to go so I'm going to sign out for now but I'll catch the next one Cheers