The first big walk of the year was due to be one at Dalwhinnie, but unfortunately circumstances dictated otherwise. A quick reschedule to do one I've done before and I found myself picking up Jiner Jim at 0730 on the Sunday morning. Glasgow was dry when we left and the sky was getting quite a deep red as the sun came up.
Jim couldn't find his waterproof trousers, but by the time we hit Tyndrum, we realised it was going to be a fairly wet day so we had to buy him a cheap pair.
We were on the hill at 0945, and crossed the bridge over the railway line in heavy rain. It was a long and slow trudge up to the bealach and there were a few times we both felt like turning back. We stopped at the head of the bealach and got out of the now-increasing wind to have a bite to eat at 1220.
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| Heavy rain on the ascent |
After our break we decided we had the conversation about turning back, but decided to press on - distance-wise it wasn't far to the summit, and we'd done most of the climbing for the day.
However, the weather had other ideas - the rain started to give way to higher winds and hail showers. The hail was painful as it whipped us at 50mph. We were in mist on the first minor summit and again, considered heading back, but we pressed on, and as we did, the sky started to clear in patches. The wind did not subside though. We made the summit at 1420.
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| Jim, summit of Achallader |
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| Summit of Achallader |
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| Views from the top of the Orchy Munros |
We headed down again, trying to use the landscape to shelter ourselves from the wind, but it was no use. We eventually made it back to the bealach and out of the wind a bit at 1530.
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| Me and Jimmy |
We headed back down, crossing three swollen burns (and losing a pole in the process).
We arrived back at the car at 1715, just as the sun was setting below the ever-shifting storm clouds.
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| Sun setting |
Here's a report from my GPS watch:
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