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4th. August, 2014:
This was my third day on the hills going north from Glenfinnan with a group of lads from Kent on a D of E training trip. The terrain and the weather had, however, worn them down so, after camping overnight at Lochan an Fhigheadair and walking out to our minibus by the Loch Quoich dam, they headed into Fort Bill to recuperate and left me to get wet.
I decided on a direct approach and picked a craggy spur on the (true) left bank of the Allt Garuidhe, flogging up towards the gentler summit slopes of Spidean Mialach in driving rain and mist, thus seeing no sign of the cave marked on OS maps. The hard work involved in gaining the summit - unsurprisingly - wasn't rewarded with a view although the west-north-westerly descent to Fiar Bhealach produced some brief, ragged clearings and quite dramatic glimpses of the corries on both sides of the ridge. Even though I couldn't see much, the following climb onto Gleoraich, was brilliant - rocky and steep in more driving rain and mist, a really great atmosphere. The only jarring note for me was that the path had been "staircased", almost like the engineered paths in the Lakes which reduce the challenges of remote, rough country to simple pedestrianism... Easy to moan, though, as the summit was wild and the well engineered stalkers' track on the descent was welcome! In fact, I emerged from the clouds on the spectacular stretch just below the western crest of Druim Seileach and really enjoyed the positions above the steep slopes down to the northern arm of Loch Quoich. It was an enjoyable run back down to the loch near the site of the submerged Glenquoich Lodge with just a 90 minute wait for the returning minibus in the rain. It would have been better to have had good weather!
Next Report:
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=54549.
