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The
Minigaig One
of ScotlandÕs highest hill tracks presents a tough winter backpacking
challenge for Simon Willis Before General
Wade built his military road through the Drumochter Pass in 1728, the
Minigaig Pass was the main route North.
Should you care to look for it, youÕll find it clearly marked on maps
dating back to 1689 and, even though the Drumochter route was considerably
lower (1,485ft/452m as opposed to 2,750ft/838m for the Minigaig), it remained
in occasional use, particularly by drovers who favoured the lush grazing for
their beasts. Early in the
nineteenth century, the engineer Thomas Telford considered building a modern
road across it, but rejected the idea on the grounds of height, and instead
improved the Drumochter crossing.
Knowing this, and having studied the map, I thought the Minigaig would
be a pretty simple hike. IÕd
previously completed, much faster than expected, a walk of the Lairig Ghru
and Glen Tilt from Aviemore to Blair Atholl, and was consequently over
confident that IÕd be able to tackle a winter crossing of the shorter
Minigaig just as fast. Now I
know better. Day 1
Kingussie - Allt Coire Bhran I should
have known it was going to be tough when, thirty minutes after the train was
due, I was still standing on the station platform at Blair Atholl. Just as I was giving up hope, a young
girl wandered up and explained the train was running late due to snow on the
line, according to her Uncle who worked in Pitlochry signal box. Eventually it arrived and carried me
North, following WadeÕs route over Drumochter, but the delay meant it wasnÕt
until nearly 10.30 that I shouldered my pack in Kingussie for the return walk
South. A mile or
so out of town, just before reaching the ruins of Ruthven Barracks, I left
the road to start walking over the shoulder of Beinn Bhuidhe to Glen Tromie,
and immediately realised the major problem IÕd face during the next two
days. The snow was still power
fresh - light, fluffy and annoyingly deep. Tracks were completely obliterated, so IÕd be route
finding all the way, and the lack of consolidation would lead to laborious
Ôpost holingÕ. ÒHopefully it
will be firmer higher upÓ, I said to myself, with little conviction. In summer
this is, IÕm told, a particularly evocative excursion, with the line of the
old route, including culverts, walls and paving stones clearly visible. However, the Minigaig has a fearsome
winter reputation and, according to folklore, an entire company of soldiers
was lost on it during manoeuvres in 1745. Where a crossing of the Lairig Ghru and Glen Tilt is a
matter of following a huge, natural channel through the mountains, the
Minigaig is far more complex, traversing a rolling landscape, where positive
navigation features are hard to find.
Add the white out winter complexities of snow and low cloud, and it
becomes a particularly challenging backpack of two days - or even longer. The long private
road up Glen Tromie leads past Bhran Cottage and, at a new house not marked
on the 1994 revision of the OS map, the haul through the heather starts. I have no idea whether thereÕs a path
here or not, but in winter, let me assure you that itÕs invisible. At one moment I was hopping from a
firm patch of heather to another, and then suddenly the ground would give way
and IÕd drop knee deep into a snow bank. In this bone jarring manner I followed the course of the
Allt Bhran, and it began to dawn on me that I was making far slower progress
than expected. I had planned to
cross the pass on day one, and camp wherever I could find a lower sheltered
spot. However, the late start
and tricky terrain forced me to revise my plans, and seriously consider turning
this into a three day walk. The other
consideration is something of a physiological condition with which I am
afflicted; that is to say, I am
a winter wimp. I sleep cold. ItÕs a pain of my backpacking life,
that although I swaddle myself with down, if IÕm not warm when I get into my
sleeping bag I spend a miserable night shivering. The clarity of the sky was a clear indication this was
going to be a very cold night, so just before the start of the main climb to
the Minigaig pass, I found my pitch for the night. Close to the Allt Coire Bhran, I was tucked up a side
valley which sheltered me from the wind, and on a rise in the ground so the
cold air could flow below the level of the tent. The heather, which had made walking so difficult, provided
added insulation and by 5.00pm my tent was up, the stove was roaring, and I
was snug. DAY 2
Allt Coire Bhran - Blair Atholl Sunday had
a distinctly soggy start to it.
During the night the tent froze but, as warmer rain clouds moved in
before dawn, everything began to thaw and drip on my face - far more
effective than any alarm clock.
At 8.30 it was time to go.
From a distance, IÕd seen the wide, white track of the old drove road
climbing diagonally across the flank of Leathad an Taobhain, but up close, I
just couldnÕt find it. I had to
work my way through the interminable heather by navigating on a bearing,
occasionally glancing at my altimeter for reassurance. My
guidebook described the top of the pass as a Òdisappointingly featureless
spotÓ and it was not wrong. With
hindsight, I reckon this is a good thing, because anything might suggest the
hard work was over, and that would be a grave mistake. Instead, as the cloud around me
merged with the truly featureless land, and barely daring to hope I was in
the right place, I reset the compass and headed down the south side of the
Minigaig. This is not the place
to recommend one practices navigation, I decided, as I sighted distant clumps
of heather along the bearing and walked towards them. To distinguish one clump from
another, and from the other clumps all around, I envisaged shapes in the
heather which I described out loud to myself, such as Òa pair of arctic
haresÓ, Òa crownÓ, or Òa castleÓ, a technique which kept me on track. But after a while the thick blanket
of snow had smothered even my largest heather castle, removing all point of
reference, so I plodded forward into a white, windswept world, dead reckoning
my route, and pausing only occasionally to take a back bearing on my
footprints. I almost whooped
with delight when, after a kilometre or so, I dropped out of the mist just as
a series of cairns appeared right in front of me, guiding the now obvious way
down to guide me down the now obvious route to Glen Bruar. It was 12.30, and crossing the
Minigaig had taken four hours. Normally I
try to avoid land rover tracks, but after flogging my way through so much
heather, I would have kissed the ground when one appeared , had it not been
covered in snow. As I started to
trek towards Bruar Lodge, I realised the snow greatly improved the walking,
removing the monotony of the usual trudge along a four wheel drive
route. ItÕs possible to stay on
this track all the way down to Calvie, but I was heading to Blair
Atholl. Bruar Lodge, which I
hear is one of ScotlandÕs most prestigious shooting lodges, is the first sign
of habitation in this glen, and the track now skirts the lodge, follows the
river, and then climbs the flank of Druim Dubh before dropping down to a well
placed bothy. The Allt
Sheicheachan bothy has stood here since 1881 and is one of the reasons I
decided to hike North to South.
Terrain wise, thereÕs no overwhelming case to favour one direction
over another. But this solitary
shelter arrives just when itÕs needed and, had Sunday been as slow going as
Saturday, would have been where I would have spent my second night. As it was, I ducked inside at 3.30pm
and cooked up the rest of my pasta while a cloudburst of particularly vicious
rain passed overhead. Both of us
finished our efforts at roughly the same time and, now fully refuelled, I
followed another clear land rover track down to Blair Atholl, reaching my car
an hour and a half. INFORMATION Maps: OS 35/42/43 Total
Distance:
26miles/42 km Total
Ascent:
3,675ft / 1,120m The route
is a Right Of Way but the surrounding land is used extensively for deer
stalking. Check before setting
out between August and October. Weather
Warning:
Hopefully, after reading this, youÕll appreciate that the Minigaig is more
than a stroll in the hills. In
winter this can be an exhausting expedition requiring good levels of fitness
and accurate navigation skills.
But itÕs also a superb, historic hill track, probably the highest in
Scotland, which imparts a real sense of adventure in a wild open space. It's a significant challenge, with
excellent rewards. |
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