South Glen Clova in January 2023

A total of 23 walkers, including 3 guests, were dropped off by their coach just north of Rottal to begin their selected routes.

The mountain weather forecast had been mixed but only the predicted blustery cold wind and cloudy summits were experienced. The weather was otherwise dry. Despite being equipped for winter conditions, the A Group encountered no new snow fall but did have to contend with some old snow and ice underfoot.

The B & C Groups having walked to Wheen on the road,then set off in the direction of Loch Wharral. The walk began in good conditions but the walkers soon began to feel the predicted chill wind behind them and noted the increasingly angry looking burns, swelled by recent snow melt and rain.

The official B route would have seen the walkers following the track up via the Shank of Catstae and around the Craigs of Loch Wharral above the loch, returning to Wheen and their coach. The C walkers had been expecting to walk the track to the Shank of Catstae then across the outflow from the loch above and back to the start.

In the event the two groups joined forces and took shelter in the lee of the locked bothy. Having already had some challenging burn crossings and in view of the weather conditions they then sensibly decided to head back down to the glen bottom. Another understandable decision saw them arriving at the Glen Clova Hotel to partake in some refreshments.

The A Group, at the suggestion of Bruce Henderson, the club’s Meet Secretary, chose to reverse the direction of their original route to take advantage of the strong wind that assisted the upward efforts as it blew from behind the group. Following the interesting crossing of a couple of burns it was up and onto the first hill, Manywee, followed by Finbracks, MegSwerie and finally White Hill, at 778m the highest point reached. It was then simply a matter of following an estate track back to Rottal.

The next club event is the annual Quiz Night, all are welcome to attend, it is not restricted to members, as well as being a popular social event it also helps as a fund raiser, a charge of £12 per table of fours made (there are prizes for the winning table), in addition there is a raffle.

Following this the next walk is to Ben Venue (Trossachs) on Sunday 29th January. See the details here.