I was excited about this weekend, the weather forcast was better than the past couple of weekends, and I was doing my 100th... A nice round number. Nae chance of getting off work on Friday so it was almost 5.30 before I got on the train round to Newtonmore. At Inverness, there was a chap in the waiting room with a guitar, struggling to play greensleeves from a piece of inaccurate manuscript so I got chatting to him and showed him how to play the easy version in a different key, and as always got carried away playing the guitar. A crowd gathered and I didnt notice until I finished a tune and there was a ripple of applause! I got on the other train, and it was only then that I realised I had meant to get dinner in Inverness and I was now starving

I left the Train at Newtonmore at what must of been about 9 O'clock. It was very dark, and I struggled once I left the streetlamps behind and made my way over what was signposted as the Calder path. The path was marked on my GPS, so I zoomed in as far as I could go, and blindly followed the line on the screen. After tripping over the 10th molehill, I started to lose my humour somewhat!

A car came along the road, and aware that I looked very much like a camper, and assuming it would be just estate traffic at that time of night, I slipped through a gate and hid in some woods until it passed. Bad luck for me, it was a truck with a search light and dogs

It wasn't far to the car park, and I found a camping spot well out of sight of the road, but unfortunately not very sheltered from the wind that whistled down the glen. The car/dogs/searchlight passed 3 times more. I didn't know what they were looking for, but I hoped it wasn't rogue campers like me!

So at 7, I headed up the track toward A' Chailleach. It was a breezy but nae too cold day, although the tops were shrouded in mists. I met quite a few dog walkers at first, but soon I was on my own working my way up the glen.
I dont know if it was the lack of dinner the night before, lack of sleep, or the lack of metal (I forgot my MP3 player) but I felt poorly motivated and somewhat lacking in energy

Before I knew it, the bothy appeared before me'. I stopped to make more porridge and have another brew. There was an amusing anecdote written on a lone scrap of paper on the table, and a lot of people had scratched the their name and the date onto the inside of the hut. The wind whistled round the hut in such a way that it took quite a lot of willpower to leave and head onwards and upwards.
There was a steep section followed by the first peat hags of the day, but the path wound nicely through them and before long I was making the final pull to the summit of my 100th munro! The top was cold and windy but the cairn was proper, and I stopped in the wee shelter, ate a hot cross bun and put on more clothes. I felt like I should mark the occasion, but couldnt really think of anything apt, and with no views to be had in the mist, I just took a photo of my rucksack

I followed a path that seemed to go in the right direction, and was soon on the steep banks of Allt Cull na Caillich. Its a bonny wee boggy glen, with good camping possibilities. There were still huge patches of snow on the north side, so I climbed up through a gap in the snow only to be confronted with a peat bog of mammoth proportions


I retraced my steps. I had thought on the way up about just doing the 2 munros what with my motivational difficulties, but I didnt fancy crossing the peat hags again either, and it wasnt even 11AM, so I stuck to the ridge, and following the fenceposts bacame the mantra of the next few hours.
There were a few snowy patches inbetween the bumps, and lots of ptarmagan also losing their winter plumage along the way. The wind was negotiable at 900m, but higher than that, it was a real battle to keep moving in the right direction.
As I battled on over Carn Ballach, the terrain got a bit more rocky and interesting. I paused behind a big boulder, that didn't do much to shelter me from the wind, I heard a voice, and saw 3 other walkers going the other way. The only others foolish enough to brave the fierce winds. Carn Ban was a real fight, and up to Carn Dearg, I was scared of getting blown off the steep sided slim ridge but I battled to the cairn, paused for a photo, and got back down to the bealach as fast as I could.
My plans A, B and C for descent were all out of the question, as in every feasable looking place on the map, there was cornices and overhangs of snow, which in the warmish conditions, I didn't think were safe to traverse. I retraced my steps, investigating every wee path that seemed to head downward, but time and time again, the way forward didnt look safe far a lassie by herself

Eventually I made it out of Gleann Ballach and into Glen Fionndridh, but I didnt manage to completely avoid the peat hags



The trek down the glen was both easy going and lovely, with many excellent camping spots. I'm not surprised they are anti camping there, as surely they would be full of campers all the time!
I saw a frog laying frogspawn in a pool - the firstof the year - spring really has sprung! There were a lot of frogs spotted in the glen.
As I passed the carpark, there was a red kite hunting, and a little further down there was a buzzard as well. It was a nice sight to see. I was back in dogwalker territory, and there were a lot of folk out on a Sunday Morning.
I arrived at the station with blisters throbbing, feeling like I should of stayed at home this weekend really. Nae views, nae energy, nae welcome on the estate.. Och who am I trying to kid, it was way better than staying at home
