Читать книгу Walking the Corbetts Vol 2 North of the Great Glen онлайн

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As in Greenland, the highest peaks would have stuck out of the ice and so wouldn’t have been smoothed by the ice, but left jagged and angular. The white cap of resistant quartzite on many of the Torridonian sandstone peaks would have helped protect them from erosion, leaving the spectacular peaks we see today. As the glaciers and icefields melted there would have been enormous flows of meltwater flowing beneath and out of the glaciers, cutting out gullies and gorges.

It wasn’t until about 11,000 years ago that the last of the glaciers finally left Scotland and peat bogs began to build up in the warmer wet conditions. Peat forms when plant material is inhibited from decaying fully by acidic and anaerobic conditions, usually in marshy areas. Peat bogs grow only at the rate of about 1mm per year.

For more information see www.scottishgeology.com or www.northwest-highlands-geopark.org.uk.

Walking the Corbetts

Walkers on the 801m subsidiary summit of Baosbheinn (Route 63)

The walks in this guide have not been designed for the peak-bagger, but primarily for the walker who wants an interesting day out on some of the less well-known but most spectacular peaks in Scotland.