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I'd been trying to work in the morning but it was looking like we could get out for a short stroll in between the showers....they key was "in-between" because as we pulled up, this happened, which didn't really inspire us to get out...
However, eventually the rain and sleet seemed to disappear, and although it was still fairly overcast and dreich we thought we'd better get going before the next shower hit
Across the road to Stac Gorm
Not very inviting, but not actually tanking down with rain!
Stac na Cathaig is a small Marilyn a few miles from the house - we'd both visited this hill separately as part of longer bike rides, and
on my way down had discovered that there was a really easy route (it did take me crawling through plantations and getting up to my knees in bog to find it
) so we headed up the nice track, hoping that it wouldn't start raining again just yet....
It was slow going but at last we saw some blue sky ahead - this was encouraging
Plodding was hard - I was tired and my coordination seemed to be all over the place which meant even walking on a track was hard work. Eventually we arrived at a big metal gate (unlocked) and the "bridge" which was slippery but passable without incident
Looking down to Loch a' Choire
We followed the fence and a sort of path through the trees - it was a bit squishy underfoot due to all the rain, but nothing too serious and I got through unscathed in my trail shoes. We popped out the end of the trees into a firebreak - there was a sort of path but the ground was good enough for it not to matter too much
As we came out the top of the fire break we were onto heather, although not too thick, and there were traces of a path too. We could see bits of Loch Duntelchaig and the steep-sided Carn a' Bhodaich the other side of Loch Ness
Beinn a' Bha'ach Ard with a lot of snow on it
The edge of the Monadhliath hills
Soon we were on the summit - and the views were fantastic
We could see towards Inverness and the firth
Looking south - some interesting weather on the way
Looking West - Loch Duntelchaig and the hills beyond Loch Ness
Looking East - snowy Monadhliath
Loch Duntelchaig and the snowy hills beyond - we were yet again reminded how lucky we are to have this on our doorstep, and also that small hills can be awesome too
Exhausted but happy to have made it
There was some pretty nasty weather in the south that looked like it was headed our way, and we weren't keen for it to catch us in the open! We headed slowly back down, picking up more of a path this time
Back down the fire break - the wee trees had been planted since I was last here, but only a small section of the firebreak so shouldn't cause too much issue even once they've grown a bit!
Back at the track it was a straight forward plod back, but I was making very hard work of it. Fortunately it looked like the nasty weather had managed to miss us as the sun was still out!
Looking back up the forest
Back at the car, Stac Gorm and Loch Ruthven were looking a bit more attractive than earlier!
It seemed we had timed it well because as we drove home we were hit by an incredibly heavy shower of hail stones
