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We were supposed to be going to Torridon, my idea of mountain heaven, for a WH meet. But with heavy rain and gales forecast for that area we had no option but to change our plans. Jim and I set off straight from work on friday evening aiming to get as far north as possible. It was a long drive and we eventually stopped and camped in a small site in Ardelve, just by Dornie, where Eilean Donan Castle stands.
- eilean donan castle
Although it was closed we were able to go over the bridge to it and have a look around.
- Knock, knock
We had a dry night and early morning, but after checking the weather and getting updates from others we were meant to meet it was obvious that the weekend we had been looking forward to for months was going to be a washout.
- loch duich/loch alsh in the morning
Seeing that most of the west was to be pelted by rain for the next 10 hours or so our only chance of getting decent weather was to head east. I suggested we do Bynack More, as we didn`t have any maps and it was a hill i`d done before and is as straightforward a walk up a Munro as you can get.
So we it the road, driving back down through Glen Shiel, and Glen Garry back towards Roybridge.
- Glen Shiel
We got stuck in traffic on the A82 near the Letterfinlay lodge hotel. We sat for about half an hour before doing an about turn and headed for inverness. I haven`t saw anything in the news about the crash and hope all involved are ok.
We got to Glenmore Lodge about 1oclock.
- Lochan Uaine
- cairngorms
The wind was getting stronger as we got onto the wide open plateau before the final snowy summit. We stopped to put our crampons on. It was the first time we have got to use them, and we struggled for a bit in the cold wind to get them on. Once they were on they were great, biting into the soft snow and giving us good grip all the way up. But it was really windy, we got blown about a bit and i was glad we weren`t on a narrow ridge. We stopped at the top quickly before heading back down out of the wind. At least it was pretty clear and we had good views over to some of the cairngorms south of us.
*I seem to have a problem uploading pics at the minute so i`ll leave a link to more
http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2117913cheers