Creise and Meall a' Bhuiruidh, Midsummer Munro, 20th June 2017
With the longest day of the year coming in, Toezi decided he fancied undertaking a night walk on a decent Munro, with the added bonus of bivvy. The catch was that it would be mid-week this year, so it would have to coincide with work. I said I was up for it and so it was arranged. We hummed and hawed over location, and as we got closer to the date and saw the forecast, we changed to the day before, since it looked like the Wednesday night was likely to be pretty wet.
We finally plumped for the two Munros at the Ski Centre in Glencoe, so Toezi picked me after work just after 5pm on Tuesday and we scooted up to Glencoe via Tyndrum for chips.
It was one of the hottest days of the year and it was air con on all the way up to the ski centre, which is something you don't hear very often!
We arrived at Blackrock cottage just before 8pm and the sun was still high in the sky. We headed West from Blackrock round the edge of Creag Dubh and over the burn. We were still in t-shirts as the sun dipped behind the Buachaille, directly in front of where the sun was setting. Once over the burn we ascended quickly up to a little rock window and found the scramble up the North West side of Sron Na Creise. It steepened considerably and at one point, Glencoe was completely lit with a shaft of sunlight, illuminating the moisture in the air (or the midgies).
The views were tremendous, with Ben Nevis dominating the horizon. We could just see the little hump of the observatory.
We made it to the top of Sron Na Creise just before 10:30pm, and it was still light.
I took some time to get a nice snap of the Buachaille
The rock on the summit of Buachaille Etive Mor seemed to glow, it really was a stunning scene.
We headed off directly south to the summit of Creise and made that for around 11pm. It was starting to get dark, but we still had our night vision as we headed down the stunning, but always windy ridge between the two Munros.
Once or twice we checked the map using the red light on the torches so as not to ruin our eyes. We made the summit of Meall a Bhuruidh just after midnight.
We had a bite to eat and then followed the map and the ski tows back down. This is a lot harder in the dark than it is in daylight, the landscape is not as even as you'd think, but about 12:30am, we put the headtorches on fully and found that was making things easier.
We made it to the mountain cafe which was eerily quiet (the toilets are open all night which was weird), and we got the stove on so we could have a cup of coffee.
We were hoping for somewhere to bivvy around there, but we could see a big cloud bank moving into Glencoe from Rannoch Moor which might well have brought the forecast rain, so we headed back down to the car. We got there at 2:30am and I was calculating how many hours sleep I'd get for work in 6 hours time - not enough was the answer.
We got the bivvy gear out and hit the hay. There was a cold breeze blowing up but I was cosy enough.
We were woken with the rain on our faces at 5:30am, so we got up, hastily packed our stuff and then headed back down the road. I was dropped off at work at 7:30am, got myself a shower, got my gear festooned around the office and got the coffee machine on for the rest of my team getting in just after 8. It was a tiring day, but it was absolutely worth it. Great photos and memories.
We finally plumped for the two Munros at the Ski Centre in Glencoe, so Toezi picked me after work just after 5pm on Tuesday and we scooted up to Glencoe via Tyndrum for chips.
It was one of the hottest days of the year and it was air con on all the way up to the ski centre, which is something you don't hear very often!
We arrived at Blackrock cottage just before 8pm and the sun was still high in the sky. We headed West from Blackrock round the edge of Creag Dubh and over the burn. We were still in t-shirts as the sun dipped behind the Buachaille, directly in front of where the sun was setting. Once over the burn we ascended quickly up to a little rock window and found the scramble up the North West side of Sron Na Creise. It steepened considerably and at one point, Glencoe was completely lit with a shaft of sunlight, illuminating the moisture in the air (or the midgies).
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| Glencoe Illuminated |
We made it to the top of Sron Na Creise just before 10:30pm, and it was still light.
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| View over to Nevis |
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| Buachaille |
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| Toezi - Sron Na Creise |
The rock on the summit of Buachaille Etive Mor seemed to glow, it really was a stunning scene.
We headed off directly south to the summit of Creise and made that for around 11pm. It was starting to get dark, but we still had our night vision as we headed down the stunning, but always windy ridge between the two Munros.
Once or twice we checked the map using the red light on the torches so as not to ruin our eyes. We made the summit of Meall a Bhuruidh just after midnight.
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| Night falling |
We made it to the mountain cafe which was eerily quiet (the toilets are open all night which was weird), and we got the stove on so we could have a cup of coffee.
We were hoping for somewhere to bivvy around there, but we could see a big cloud bank moving into Glencoe from Rannoch Moor which might well have brought the forecast rain, so we headed back down to the car. We got there at 2:30am and I was calculating how many hours sleep I'd get for work in 6 hours time - not enough was the answer.
We got the bivvy gear out and hit the hay. There was a cold breeze blowing up but I was cosy enough.
We were woken with the rain on our faces at 5:30am, so we got up, hastily packed our stuff and then headed back down the road. I was dropped off at work at 7:30am, got myself a shower, got my gear festooned around the office and got the coffee machine on for the rest of my team getting in just after 8. It was a tiring day, but it was absolutely worth it. Great photos and memories.
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