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Up late. After brunch we all walked up to waterfalls we could hear from camp. The mist was down to about 1000', a solid grey cloud base dripping a light touch of drizzle. Since we wouldn't be back for a while I decided to go as far up Ben Loyal as I could by following a burn NW to its source in a small loch. Mum accompanied me while the Dad, Elizabeth and Christine returned to camp to prepare our evening meal for 5pm.
By 3:15 Mum had gone far enough because we had to go very fast. Shortly after this I reached the mist and kept on upwards. By ten minutes before I reckoned I would have to turn back, I still hadn't reached the lochan but was now determined to reach the top. I changed direction to head for the main peak direct. Only five minutes to go and I began to feel the heat of the sun; sweating profusely by this time. At 3:55 a large pointed rock was towering above me with the sun behind it and blue showing hazily through. I climbed round the rock and there was the summit trig pillar.
The sky was deep blue and totally cloudless from horizon to horizon. A blanket of brilliant white cotton wool stretched away in every direction, punctuated by the black whale back of Ben Hope to the west, beyond it a small slice of Foinaven and close at hand the tips of the Loyal ridge.
The air was completely still and soundless. My ears were only picking up the slowly subsiding pump of my own heart beat. Sun beat hotly down. Magical. I could have lain there for hours but had to head back immediately to avoid raising alarm, perhaps making the moments even more precious in retrospect.