This outing started off by Karen pleading with me to accompany her somewhere/anywhere as she had had a bit of a mare the previous weekend, but I won't spill the beans, suffice to say there were no blue balloons
The original plan was to venture out on Friday, so I posted in the meets section & up popped jepsonscotland who was on bended knee pleading with us to head out on Saturday rather than Friday
So we did the decent thing & changed the date to Saturday & then sunnyspeyside also appeared & volunteered to make up a foursome, not for a round of golf though I won't mention or blame Chris for the good soaking we got, you can't beat a good downpour to blow away the cobwebs. I haven't checked the Friday forecast because that would really rub it in
The plan was for me to uplift Chris in Perth at the Park & Ride, then meet Karen in Crianlarich & take one car through to meet Evie in the car park at the Tourist Information at 8.30am
I won't mention the fact that Chris was slightly late which meant I had make up a wee bit of time, which I did to perfection as we arrived in Crianlarich bang on 7.30 - The first target of the day
- The way up before you have to climb over the fence
- A low level look back to Ballachulish
The initial climb upwards was fairly easy and straight forward, Chris was pleased with his new "App" Maverick (thanks Andy) and was only too keen to make sure we were sticking to the WH route, at times we did stray off course by a couple of metres, but not for long
Once again the climb involved battling through bracken, thankfully nowhere near as much or as thick as my 2 previous walks, I will be checking out Ebay for a machette if this continues We reached the fence as per the WH route & elegantly climbed over it, not sure why there isn't a style or a gate to prevent the fence becoming damaged
Once over the fence Chris guided us with pinpoint accuracy to the path, which we then managed to follow (for a change) all the way to the summit and beyond
The weather on this part of the walk was very summer like, blue skies and not a breath of wind, subsequently we were all overheating. The midges were out in force looking for someone to feed on, so stopping for any length of time wasn't an option
As we gained height the views back over Ballachulish & Loch Leven were fabulous, however we could see the weather was going to try and ruin the day, the summit disappeared under cloud as did all the surrounding high summits
- Views don't get much better than this, the Pap looking very pointy
- Loch Leven looking very calm
- Western end of Loch Leven
- Bridge over Loch Leven zoomed
As you can see from the pictures above the cloud is thickening and the summits are disappearing, once we entered the clag as is the norm photographs become a rare event
- A cracking view down Glencoe, looking dark and threatening
- Glencoe again, not sure which photo is best?
- The Pap sticking up under the cloud layer
- Karen head down & concentrating, not even noticing the view behind!
- One of the last looks back before the clag took over
If there are any readers who have never walked in cloud, you are very lucky, so just to give some idea as to what you are missing the photo below demonstrates how the visibility is slightly restricted/reduced
- My 3 colleagues volunteering to demonstrate the clag effect
- Heads down concentrating, no point in admiring the views
We reached the summit of Sgorr Dhearg in good spirits, that was of course after the peak of Sgorr Bhan which we initially thought was our first Munro of the day, as it boasts a fair size cairn
- Summit photo, you will have to imagine I am there as well!!
I have to confess I did carry my portable tripod all the way and took ONE photo on the summit, however due to technical problems (operator error) the photo of the 4 of us was out of focus
So to save my embarassment it was accidentally deleted The descent down to the bealach seemed to be quite a drop and it was during the descent that Chris & I came into our own and had to wait a couple of times for our colleagues, even through the cloud we could hear them "blethering", hence the WR title
Funnily enough on the ascent you could hear a pin drop, apart from my boots squeaking of course Anyone who has walked with me will have no doubt noticed the occasional squeak I am planning to purchase some new boots, as the tread is becoming a bit less noticeable, can't complain though as they are 15 years old - Descending & blethering
After the bealach the ascent came as hard work, you get so used to descending and using your descent muscles, kick starting the ascent muscles was hard work and the silence confirmed that
As you near the summit of Sgorr Dhonuill the walk gets quite interesting, there are a few exposed bits, not that we really noticed because all we could see was the initial drop
Then a few minor scrambly bits Just before the walk got interesting Chris suggested we leave our rucksacks in a nice prominent position, as we would be returning the same way. The girls decided against that idea and womanfully carried on, Evie probably calls it cheating if you don't have a rucksack on your back
It does feel rather strange not having the 10 ton weight on your back, it also seems to affect your sense of balance
- A bit of exposure/scrambling in the clag
- Another action shot
- Evie looking impressed at being on camera, note Chris looking down at his boots admiringly
- Karen grimacing, Chris looking smug without a rucksack
- Approaching the 2nd summit
- Karen descending elegantly
The next & final phase was the descent, firstly back down to the bealach & then down through what turned out to be a real bogfest
- The way down towards the forest
It was just as we started the descent from the bealach that the heavens opened & we got a bit of a soaking, Chris was quite smug because he got a chance to test out his numerous new purchases (jackets, tops etc) and was pleased with results. However he wasn't pleased when his nice silvery/red boots, well one of them got completely covered in mud
I slipped on more than one occasion, but managed to prevent myself from getting a wet rear end, Evie fell & did get a bit of wet rear end & Karen decided to test the depth of particular boggy bit & it was almost knee deep Once the path, if you can call it that, reaches the forest area, there is a sign pointing you in the right direction through the forest and the path then becomes a trillion times better. Well constructed and well placed stones for quite a bit of the way make that part of the descent very easy going. The forest path was by far and away the best part of the descent. When we appeared out of the other side of the forest out popped the sun & the views of where we had been could be admired
- Where we had been
Another great day courtesy of WH, in great company, next outing for me is Tuesday
Footnote: Chris would like to take the credit for the WR title
It was far too clever for me 
The way you went was much better than my route in May 
will definitely do it the WH way next time.
