ekmc reports

CLUB REPORTS

Wild nights at Peanamechan? - Nov 2004

Stewart Richardson's suggested open bothy weekend to Corry Hully bothy in the Glenfinnan Estate and Peanameachan bothy about 5 miles from Arisaig (near Mallaig) was well supported by club members, Brian Miller, David Jamieson and Angela and Sam Harrow.

Two groups met up on the Friday night in Fort William then drove and parked in a car park near the Glenfinnan Viaduct(over which the Hogwarts Express could be heard but not seen by Muggles like us!), we proceeded to walk by the bright light of an almost full moon, took us about 45mins and we arrived at Corry Hully bothy at nine-ish. A fire was quickly set with coal we had all carried in manageable bags. The bothy was a large room with no internal walls but an electric light at both ends which we soon switched off as it detracted from the light of the fire that we all grouped around to eat snacks and drink toddys.

After a good sleep we arose in the morning to a rather wet day, however spirits were high as we were about to ambark on the second leg of our adventure!

Briefly stopping in Arisaig to use the facilities we then parked in a lay by where a small sign read, 4 1/2 miles to Peanameachan Bothy, it has to be said at this stage although it is a well established path struan with rocks it was quite boggy towards the end due to the rain, you should allow a full two hours to make the journey. Departing about 2.30 ish we arrived at 4.30 ish just in time for the dark closing in on us( we were not afforded the luxury of the moonlight at this time just dark clouds), so it was a relief not have to waste the batteries in our head torches by picking out the path in the dark; arriving at our destination the festivities really took off...

We quickly set our fire for the night and as the bothy was divided into four areas by good walls it gave the room with the fire the advantage of being able to heat up quite substantially
and we were all warm and toasty through out the night. Peanameachan Bothy is well worth a visit, it is well maintained, pretty white painted walls and ornate doors, it even has a book shelf filled with totally cool books in one of the upstairs apartments. The fire itself has a rought iron pole to which a lever is attached that you can swing over the fire with a pot on it to boil. The five of us pooled our rations and prepared a banquet; Stewart had rye bread with garlic cheese spread and mini pitta bread with pate, Brian had corn on the cob portions and spare rib pork strips marinated in spices, David had monkey nuts and fancy mince pies, Sam had cheese & onion savoury eggs and Pringles, and me (Angela), I brought marsh mallows which we toasted over the fire and cheese stringy's. We also had a disposable barbecue and barbecued sausages outside in the dark to have with our main course (pasta).

Several toddys later there was a splendid exchange of patter and Brian and Sam must be given a mention here for there contemporary rhymeing tales with shocking punch lines!

There are about six ruins of old bothys in the bay on either side of our bothy which gave you the haunting impression of how it must have been quite a thriving community in the past and grassy land we walked on showed obvious signs of once being used for early agriculture (said Brian, lazy beds he called it!).

If I was asked to search for a low point over the weekend I can honestly say the only low point was that there was no-one from the club experiencing an overnight wild bothy for the first time, hopefully this article will serve as a good advert to anyone considering the next adventure!

In the morning we slowly packed our rucksacks and had a leisurely breakfast taking in the beautiful views (Rum and Eigg to boot!) and surroundings hills until the next time as I'm sure we will be back one day.

Angela Harrow

back to reports page

Reports 2006

Reports 2005

Reports 2004

CLUB REPORTS

Wild nights at Peanamechan? - Nov 2004