Following the ES activity day/weekend the GM5’s, Alex @GM5ALX and Tim GM5OLD decided to escape to Central Scotland and climb Beinn Mholach GM/CS-064 as a fine end to the long weekend. This is a fairly rare summit, last activated in 2016 so expected allot of interest. With a long cycle in, it was good to get it activated in weather that looked ok but changeable.
Alex drove down from Aberdeen and we met at Fraser @MM0EFI’s crafty cut the corner parking spot before continuing to the start near Dalnaspidal Lodge a couple of hours later. Fraser had kindly loaned me a bike for the trip.
We cycled along Loch Garry to the pump house at the end of the gravelled track without any problems. At this point, after careful
Planning, Alex insisted we should continue with the bikes across about a kilometre of what looked like bog in order to reach a short section of track further on.
In theory this was a shortcut. In practice it took about the same time and required about three times the effort, involving a lot of pushing and carrying of bikes over bogs and burns.
Eventually we abandoned the bikes and started the climb. GM5OLD did not quite manage to keep up the GM5ALX pace, but the summit cairn soon appeared out of the clag.
Many thanks to Fraser MM0EFI for the loan of the bike. It will be returned via Alex, who has kindly volunteered for the cleaning duties after its encounter with the bog.
Well done Tim and Alex on an excellent outing. I am pleased to see that you had some lovely views of the distant hills and that the mist and rain stayed away.
Tim you are a brave man doing a joint activation with Alex. His pace is truly amazing. I recall descending Corwharn GM/ES-048 as fast as I could to meet him at the parking spot for Mount Blair GM/ES-035. He was there well in advance of me despite still being on the radio when I was a good way down my hill.
I am pleased to see that you enjoyed your long weekend. A lot of lovely memories in exchange for a lot of travel.
73 and many thanks for the ones that I worked you on,
Beinn Mholach “suffers” from being just a Corbett that is quite some effort to reach in an area with many much simpler and easier Munros, Corbetts and Grahams. Thus people go and bag the Drumochter group, Beinn a’Ghlo group or the other easy accessed summits from the A9.
I’ve been considering that it needed doing but the easy cycle in from Dalnaspidal places you some distance from the summit with the boggy stretch and a good few horror stories. Or the bigger cycle in (about 250m ascent) from Craiganour Lodge on Loch Rannoch. That gives you Beinn Mholach and then the chance to snaffle up the other seldom activated summit Craig a’ Mhadaidh GM/CS-098 a Graham, Fionna, Esmerelda or whatever list it belongs to.
So it’s good to see it has been done and I’m not sure whether it’s respect for taking bikes over the renowned boggy bit or therapy and mood stabilizing drugs
p.s. My Tim produced GM/ES '26 drinks coaster has taken pride of place in the shack replacing a coaster made by my daughter at school some 20+ years back.
Let’s drive 5 hours to Perthshire and back!
– Alex
I did look at a lot of other options all around the A9, or even further south, but schedule uncertainty brought us here.
Talk about pace, you shot off the mark on the bikes when we started. I was in top gear and legs spinning to keep up.
Much scrutinising of the satellite map of the boggy section was done - convincing myself there was a track. Which there was, but on top of a foot of squelch. You do get to cycle another 1/2 mile-ish once you get past it, so there’s that.
Ahh yes, I think the marking of a “path” on the OS map at the end of the gravel track is a wee bit optimistic! I’ve been through there at the height of summer when it’s been “dry”, but even then it’s still a bit of a wrestle in places.
I was going to say, this looked pretty swish for a loaner bike!
I’ve only ever ridden this section in the downhill direction, and while the track’s great, I can imagine it being a long old drag up from Loch Rannoch.
Commonly known as the cartographer’s imagination. There’s lots to discover in GM/SS… as indeed I’ve found out. Always worth a look on Google Earth, but with the caution that what looks like a track may not actually be one.
Nothing like mine… which I actually need to weigh, because I’ve been told not to lift more than a certain weight for medical reasons.
The satellite image on OS was clearly taken in the summer months. The cut though of burns, erosion of peak l, ancient drainage cuts and streams was a big red flag for me.
Very intresting to see the old agricultural drainage ditches in this picture ! Presumably the glens residents trying to drain the land for growing prior to the clearances.
We used to cut peats up the hill behind my folks place in Sutherland when I was a boy, the marks on the hillside are still visible on Google aerial photo’s.
When I first visited Islay back in 1971 with Peter G3YCT to activate sone rare WAB areas, we camped on a farm near to Port Ellen and we were taught how to cut peat peat by Ed the farmer. I remember it as one of my treasured life experiences.
Loch Rannoch approach its was, you guys did little to sell Dalnaspidal! I should have taken my bike for a short day, but had in my mind a different route back out. So it was, on the way back I decided to explore and headed south west into the forest and pick up one of the tracks.
Interesting conditions, AL7KC outside Fairbanks called me on 20m CW. Real DX! Then worked JG0AWE & JH1MXV on 17m.
Well done Gavin. I unfortunately missed you by five minutes as I was out walking and miscalculated how far I should walk for the time abailable… obviously I need to practice more!
Looks like it was a big day out! Lovely weather, although strong cold wind.
He chased me on 20m SSB when I was on GM/CS-035 a little eariler in the day! As I was logging him I thought “I’m sure AL is Alaska” but the contacts kept coming in and I didn’t have time to check for a little while. Sadly no JA for me on 17m.
