The Paps of Jura Preparations for walking the Paps of Jura. Corra Beinn is an outlier and a vantage-point, showing the configuration of The Paps and the terrain. They’re distinctive, rising up so strikingly separated from each other by steep scree slopes. The Paps are raw and elemental. On the steep scree of Beinn Shiantiadh only patches of low-growing heather give a foothold amongst angular fragments of quartzite. I have an insight of his mountain-craft as my friend prepares for a solo walk,
He studies maps and rereads the walks books he’s selected for the trip. He photographs The Paps route on my smartphone which he’ll take with him, security and a camera for the images he’ll bring back. He talks through the route he plans and variations he may make. After our recce on Corra Beinn two days before I know the configuration of the Paps, the terrain, the nature of the challenge. The weather has been set fair the last few days so he chooses a day when wind direction is favourable. Mountains are his daily fare and he’s attuned to weather, ' rain in five minutes, prepare now.' Down on the shore it will be calm, still and hot- not a trace of breeze until later in the afternoon. Up on the Paps he may encounter strong winds, as we know from the Corra Beinn experience. The route is estimated to take up to eight hours and he’ll want to savour it. I hope to share the day through his images and a retelling.
Raw and elemental mountains, quartzite scree sharp and angular, splashes of bright green sphagnum moss and peat bog, lochans on the cols, the sea never far off. I’d like to share the near and the far of it- not simply the vistas but the ground beneath his feet.
Sandwiched between our day on Corra Beinn and his walking the Paps of Jura we explored the Corran River which rises amongst the Paps, so from source to estuary. And north, to Tarbert and toward The North End.
Raw and elemental mountains, quartzite scree sharp and angular, splashes of bright green sphagnum moss and peat bog, lochans on the cols, the sea never far off. I’d like to share the near and the far of it- not simply the vistas but the ground beneath his feet.
Sandwiched between our day on Corra Beinn and his walking the Paps of Jura we explored the Corran River which rises amongst the Paps, so from source to estuary. And north, to Tarbert and toward The North End.
Images taken on the Paps of Jura show their steep quartzite screes, lochans in the cols between the Paps and peat bog. Glimpses of the sea from a range of vantage points.
Corra Bheinn
Beinn Shiantiach
Beinn An Oir , Hill of Gold
Beinn a Shiach , the consecrated hill,
Beinn a Chaolais, The Hill of the Kyle
Corra Bheinn
Beinn Shiantiach
Beinn An Oir , Hill of Gold
Beinn a Shiach , the consecrated hill,
Beinn a Chaolais, The Hill of the Kyle
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