Date: Friday 14th January 2022
Company: Just myself
Distance: 18.6km, Ascent: 660m
Time: 5Hrs
I ascended my first Donald in March 2008 en-route to ascending a Southern Uplands Corbett. At that time, I hadn't even considered ascending a round of Donalds but as I ticked-off more and more on working my way through the Corbetts, and then the Fionas, I decided to ascend all 89. I completed my 89th, final Donald in November 2014.
A few years ago, the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC), in their wisdom / stupidity (delete as appropriate), decided to change the requirements for completing a round of Donalds. Instead of completing the original 89 Donalds, you now had to also ascend all 51 Donald Tops. In 2021, following remeasurement, a further Donald Top was added bringing the number of tops to 52.
Thus, I have had to return to the Southern Uplands numerous times to complete the Donald Tops
. While ascending
these hills is straight-forward if you live in the Southern Uplands or the
Central Belt, they are all a four to six hour drive from North
Aberdeenshire where I live.
to the SMC for
costing me a fortune in fuel
.Having been chipping away at the Donald Tops, as of this morning I had only one remaining.
On opening the van door this morning, the pre-sunrise colours looked fantastic.
Room with a view:
I quickly got suited and booted and set off walking from my overnight parking spot at the Megget Reservoir.
Overnight spot at Megget Reservoir:
Route:
During the walk along the road I stopped to take photographs of the Megget Reservoir.
Megget Reservoir, looking back towards my van:
Megget Reservoir and Dam:
For my ascent of Black Cleuch Hill, I opted to ascend via the Right of Way from Megget to Manor, via Foulbrig.
Right of Way from Megget to Manor:
Despite my Ordnance Survey map suggesting this Right of Way is a footpath, in reality it is a good quality vehicle track.
Looking back towards the Megget Reservoir:
As I progressed along the track, I could see a bank of cloud rapidly rolling in from the west. MWIS had suggested potential inversion with tops above the cloud, so I was keeping my fingers crossed that today the MWIS forecast would be correct.
On looking back I could see the sun rising into the low cloud.
Sunrise:
I followed the Right of Way track to just beyond Foulbrig and then commenced a trackless ascent up Redsike Head.
I was now walking in low cloud but there was no need to navigate, it was just a case of follow the fence. If coming this way please be aware that the fence has recently been replaced and all the old rusty wire has been left on the hillside. I tripped over the old wire perhaps fifteen to twenty times during the walk.
Following the fenceline:
As MWIS had suggested, I broke out above the cloud and on doing so was treated to a wonderful fogbow which was visible on and off for nearly two hours. I could also see a faint Broken Spectre.
Fogbow:
As I progressed towards Black Law, Brocken Spectres kept appearing and disappearing as the mist came and went.
Brocken Spectre:
Above the clouds:
Brocken Spectre:
The low cloud was at times flowing over the hills like a liquid.
Cloud shrouding the hills:
Ascending Black Law:
On reaching the summit of Black Law, a Donald that I had ascended previously, I knew I only had around 1km further to walk to reach my final Donald Top, Black Cleuch Hill which is also known as Blackhouse Heights.
At the summit of Black Law:
As I approached and reached my final summit, I was treated to another wonderful fogbow.
Fogbow from the summit of Black Cleuch Hill:
While the inversion, fogbows, spectres and glories were simply wonderful, the same can't be said for the underfoot conditions. My feet were soaking wet. This is a route to take when the ground is frozen.
From the summit of Black Cleuch Hill, I returned to the van via the same route.
Heading back:
Descent to Megget Reservoir:
Now that I have completed the revised Donald list, I need to concentate efforts on outstanding second round Munros (21 remaining).
