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


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



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




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

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

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

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

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



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





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


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

The next & final phase was the descent, firstly back down to the bealach & then down through what turned out to be a real bogfest

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


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

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

