Bynack More

(I’m going a bit out of order here; yesterday’s post about Ben Macdui has photos and I don’t have a good enough signal to post it today. It will hopefully follow tomorrow.)

Thursday 20 August

About 1730 or 1800 last night, rain was seen approaching. Colin spent the night rocking gently (even though we were face on to the wind) and with a gentle pitter-pattering as the forecast front passed through. By this morning, there was blue sky to be seen, but the wind hadn’t died down as much as I would have liked; nor was it coming from the right direction.

Whilst we had decided on Bynack More for today, decisions still needed to be made. Mick and I have often pondered whether there’s a formula which would describe at what point the effort of going straight up a steep hillside equals the effort of taking a longer route with a more gentle gradient. Today’s quandary was similar: whether to take the short route which involved going up, down, up, down (and vice versa on the return), or whether to take the option which was approaching twice as long, but which simply went up. It was the thought of the final, substantial ‘up’ on the return leg of the short option that did it for me; I voted for the easy option, which was the longer walk, starting from Glenmore.

It was a decision with which I am happy, even in hindsight. It took us through places we’ve not walked before and I rather liked it. Moreover, I’m not one for objecting to easy walking, and this was just that, all being on tracks and good paths. The only thing that was throwing a bit of a spanner in the works was that headwind; oh, and the low cloud.

By the time we got to the top all we could see was the inside of a cloud and the wind was strong enough to prevent any clambering over the rocks. It was a shame really, as it strikes me that this top, with all its rocky tors, would be best done in good weather.

Any thoughts of visiting the nearby Corbett, or performing a loop, were abandoned in the face of the disappointing conditions (what a fair weather walker I am!) and we simply retraced our steps, meeting on our way a triumphant Gold D of E group from Northern Ireland, who were a couple of miles away from finishing their expedition.

It was an enjoyable walk (gorgeous heather, just coming into flower!) even with the wind and the cloud-bound summit, but it’s one that I may have to repeat sometime, so as to appreciate the hill properly.

The stats were 14.1 miles with 3000’ of ascent.