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May Munro Madness!
Part 1 - West
Back in the office on the Tuesday and everyone was asking was, ‘So what did you get up to on your holiday weekend?’ Thankfully, a semi-exhausted smile and reply of ‘I was out walking again’ was enough for my colleagues because thinking about it made me tired! Same goes for the walk report, but after the fun of another big weekend it seemed a shame to miss this one out!
- The best road in Scotland?
This one started meeting Laura and Vanessa early off the train from Edinburgh, heading off to pick up a friend in Crianlarich and meet another at Altnafeadh for our first target of the weekend Buachaille Etive Mor. The wind was low, the day started under beautiful blue skies, and the layby was as busy as you would expect for a weekend in May with good weather
. There was still a fair amount of snow visible at the top of Coire na Tulaich, enough to shove the ice axes on our packs though many did without – last weekend in May and they were still needed, and not for the last time that weekend!
- Buachaille Etive Mor in the sun. If only it lasted!
- Coire na Tulaich
We walked past the Lagangarbh hut which I have particularly good memories of from a beautifully sunny Easter weekend last year. It was straightforward but steeply up Coire na Tulaich, pausing to admire the views (and breath!), every so often. Not long after pulling over the top of the corrie (ice axes out!) we were on the summit of Stob Dearg. By this point the clouds had filled in and the sky was dull but the views were not! The camera does a pretty poor job of capturing the colours.
- Company at the summit of Stob Dearg
- Me at the first summit of the weekend
- Bob taking a look over the edge
The wee Buachaille, the Bidean, and the Anoach Eagach are some of my favourites (along with about 80 others at the moment!) and I love seeing them any day, in any weather
. In good visibility the route to Stob na Broige was obvious and we happily wondered along noting our descent route on the way past – nice and steep! The walk along the ridge was really enjoyable and the time passed quickly with chat. I wish I could say the same for the descent but it always seems to take longer than I would like regardless of how good the chat is!
- Pic from summit of Stob na Broige
It was just a short walk back along the A82 to the cars at the Altnafeadh. Then we were off to the Red Squirrel to set up camp for the night, and to the Clachaig for dinner and an undefined number of drinks! By this time the rain had started and the forecast was for it to continue all Sunday and for the wind to pick up significantly as well. This scuppered our plans to do Nevis via the CMD on Sunday and instead we made plans over drinks to chase the good weather to the Cairngorms.
To be continued...