Introduction
After spending some time earlier in the year exploring some of the hills around Glencoe, including reccying the Tranter’s Round, and then trying out some Scottish Island activations, I had the feeling to finally give the Tranter’s Round a go, and then follow it up with some Scottish SOTA, which I thoroughly enjoyed before.
The Tranter’s Round
Coming in at around 6200m climbing and just over 60km of distance, I knew it was going to be quite a challenge to try and get around in 24 hours or less. I arrived on the Saturday, and was planning to stay in Glencoe until the following Friday where I would head up to Rum, so had a good window of time to start the Tranter’s Round with decent weather. Luckily, the following Sunday looked good so a 2:30am start and drive to Glen Nevis got me ready for a 4am kick off, where I headed up Ben Nevis in the dark. I reached the summit in the light, and fortunately got a view.
It was then down the CMD arete, over the Aonachs, Grey Corries, Stob Ban, and then cross over to the Mamores. I made quite good time running up until just past Binnein Mor, where suddenly I felt sick. It took me about 15 hours to do 45km and 5000m climb, and the last 20km and 1200m took just under 10, making it just over the 24 hour mark, but still happy I trooped on despite throwing up every 20 minutes or so, it was a death march.
Maybe I will revisit it with a more relaxed 2-3 day approach, and activate all of the summits..
GM/WS-138 - Garbh Bheinn
The legs were pretty toast, and more importantly I had some sore feet which I tried to doctor but felt quite hard to walk still. What’s more, the weather was pretty wet and windy so I decided to do the Corbett of Garbh Bheinn.
The initial approach up this Corbett is pretty boggy, but once you start to get higher it becomes more rockier. If it was a clearer day, I would have definitely soaked in the views of Loch Leven, the Mamores and the Aonach Eagach ridge, but alas it was not meant to be.
On arriving at the top in good time, I set up on 2m and managed to work Colin GM0HBK and Gordon GM4OAS who I made contact with on my previous trip a couple of times. I then setup for HF and sadly found out that one of my links on the dipole had lost the crocodile clips, meaning I was down to 20m.
I got a decent run, but had to leave soon as a mixture of wind, rain and fatigue meant I got cold quite quickly. It was then hat and gloves on, waterproofs and a slow trudge down on sore feet.
Despite it being a tough activation in terms of fatigue and the weather, I felt better afterwards doing some movement after my big effort a few days before.
GM/WS-189 and GM/WS-061 - Meall Lighiche and Sgor na h-Ulaidh
With a rest day in between, and the weather much better I felt much better. I also had time to browse some walks on Walkhighlands, and decided to do these pair as it looked like a good walk and included the Munro of Sgor na h-Ulaidh.
A land rover track takes you deep into the valley, where you then leave it and have a steep climb up the side of Meall Lighiche. The going was hot with a bit of sun but I soon cooled off as it was quite breezy at the summit. I managed to work MM0CWJ Seamus on South Uist, which was impressive at quite a distance, and would work him a few times over the coming days.
It was then a technical drop down to between the pair, and another steep climb takes you to the summit of Sgor na h-Ulaidh. As I started to set up at the summit, I could hear shouting, and a few minutes later a farmer and a couple of dogs met me at the summit! It turns out that the farmers were rounding sheep up on both sides of the Munro and my previous hill. Gosh, you must be fit to be a Scottish farmer, though luckily they only have to do it twice a year.
SOTA - GM/WS-061 with a shouty farmer in the background #sota #hamoperator #hamradio
It was then back down the valley, slow going until the land rover track and then a lovely walk back after that.
The Rum Cuillins - GM/SI-033, SI-014 and SI-009
The next part of the holiday would be spent at the Rum Bunkhouse, where I planned to activate all of the summits on the island, and also take in some of the other sights the island has to offer.
If you ever visit Rum, I highly recommend staying at the bunkhouse, it has great facilities and is definitely a good basecamp for activating on the island. I met a fellow hillbagger on the ferry ride over, and it turned out we had similar ambitions. Being a 2x munro completist and a database administrator for DoBIH, it was great to discuss all things hillbagging, including measuring hills.
We discussed the weather forecast and decided that the best weather day would be the Saturday, and also opted to do a more efficient route to avoid the bogginess including crossing the Dibidil river.
We set off together at 7am, and soon made it up to Askival in around 2 hours. I got enough to qualify on 2m, and in company wanted to press on as a pair decided not to do HF. We then got to Ainshval, contouring on a decent path around Trollabhal, and soon made it to Ainshval. I set up for HF, and my bunkhouse friend left me as I operated. I then set down, and headed up to Trollabhal, my final summit of the day which was very interesting and steep in the mist!
It was then down the side and then contouring around the Atlantic Corrie, trying not to lose too much height but avoid the scree and rockfall on the banks of Hallival and Askival. In retrospect I could have tried to stay higher, but I did manage to find some good deertracks amongst the contour.
By the time I got back to the bunkhouse I was mentally tired, this route is quite technically demanding and it does not ease off, but it was a fantastic day out in the hills.
GM/SI-050 - Orval
After a great day in the Cuillin, we then found out we also were both planning to do Orval, but as I did not have a bike I had quite a lot of walking along landrover track to do, which I did not mind after so much technical walking over the past week. I set off from the bunkhouse, making good pace along the land rover track, and soon got to where the “path” parts off. This path was quite boggy, and also a little tussocky in places. However, it was not too far to the top and I soon caught up with my friend, where we had a quick chat and parted ways, he planned to climb Ard Nev as well, and I planned to drop down to Harris to visit the Mausoleum.
It was a good activation, but I did it quickly as I was getting hungry and fancied having lunch down in Harris. The drop down was tussocky, a bit rocky, but I made it down in good time and basked in the sun for a while, next to the sea cliffs.
It was then hot work climbing back up and over to get to Kinloch, with the sun finally out. I soon made it back to the bunkhouse where I was pleased to have a cup of tea.
GM/SI-147 - Mullach Mor
With the ferry not due until 4pm, I had ample time to do the final summit I had for Rum. I set off from the Bunkhouse just after 9, where I walked a short distance with a friend I made back in 2022 on a sailing course, who by coincidence came to the Bunkhouse the previous night and was doing the Rum Cuillin. We then parted ways and despite being a 1 pointer, it’s a long hard slog! Knee high tussocks made very slow progress, and it took me an hour to reach the summit. I had a good run on 2m, including a S2S with @G5OLD on Skye, unfortunately I like starting early so I did not manage to work Ben or Tim on St. Kilda but it was great to get Tim on Skye.
It was then a drop down to the Rum shop, where I overindulged a little and sat by the beach, where I saw some Herons flying around.
Conclusion
Overall a fantastic holiday, very challenging at times but was very enjoyable, and was great to bring in SOTA into it. I am already planning my next one, who knows where I will visit next.. Skye, Glen Shiel, the Knoydarts?
