First of the year! The excitement was mounting as I checked out the front window for Toezi's big motor at 7:15, ready to kick off what we hope will be a great year in the hills.
Toezi arrived slightly early but it was offset by me forgetting one of my travel mugs of coffee for the journey. The importance of coffee on a hill day cannot be overstated.
We enjoyed catching up having not seen each other since just before Christmas and we had lots of tales to swap. We headed straight up the A82 and arrived at Kilfinnan at Loch Lochy at 10am and got ready for our ascent of Sròn a' Choire Ghairbh. We did attempt this in 2017, but we spent the day in heavy snow and it was slow going. However, today, conditions looked great. There was hardly any wind at loch level and it was dry but chilly at 4C.
We wandered along the forest path, leaving a couple of boulders at 1km from the car, to mark a position for something a little later on.
We made great pace, both of us fit and keen, even with heavy packs and as we climbed up Càm Bhealach and out of the forest, the clear air washed away all our troubles. Once we hit the high point of the Càm Bhealach the wind hit us and it became very cold, so it was on with a few layers.
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| Climbing the Càm Bhealach coffin trail |
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| Meall na Teanga |
As we gained height, we found a thin layer of rime ice on the grass, with a few small patches of snow, but nothing significant. As we reached the ridge line, we started to get some views of Loch Ness, which then vanished into the cloud.
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| View up to Loch Ness |
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| Toezi on the ridge line |
From here it was a short walk into the wind to reach the summit cairn, which we reached at 1230 exactly. It was too cold to hang about so we headed down to get a roll out of the wind.
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| Summit Selfie |
The descent was via the same route and was pretty straightforward. It got warmer as we descended, and then it was on us to find the two rocks on the track from earlier. Toezi is undertaking a run every day in January and this was no exception, so with full winter packs and solid-soled winter boots on, we ran the last km or so back to the car, even at a respectable pace!
We got back to the car at 1440 - meaning we managed the hill in 4h 22mins - not bad!
We headed down the road to Fort William for some compeed for Toezi and then dropped into the Clachaig for a slightly early dinner. From there it was down Glen Etive for a meeting of the Glen Etive Whisky Society, where we enjoyed a selection of drams that had been gifted to me by the wife and had been waiting for just such an occasion.
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| The Tasting |
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| Dram |
It was a cold night but my new Mountain Hardware sleeping bag held up to the conditions perfectly. The next day dawned and we weren't done yet! I assured Toezi I'd join him on the Sunday run so we headed out of the glen on a beautiful winters morning.
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| Creise and Meall a' Bhuiridh |
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| The Buachaille |
We were headed for Tyndrum for an 8k around some of the forest trails, mine track and West Highland Way and it didn't disappoint. Ben Lui looked amazing through the trees.
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| Ben Lui from the fire road |
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| New Camper! |
After our run we had a sandwich and more coffee at the Green Welly and then it was off down the road.
Here's the relive of the hike:
Hike distance: 15.27km
Hiking Time: 4h 22min
Hiking Ascent: 887m
Munros Completed: 186
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