Stay at home

[DonichWater]

No details of the route as we just followed the WH track (Ben Cruachan and Stob Diamh) – but it was so amazingly beautiful yesterday that I thought I would share a few pictures. This was our first ‘big’ Munro trip (we'd done Ben Lomond and Ben Vorlich before but neither were anything like as challenging as this) and we really enjoyed it, although we found it hard going on the descent as we obviously weren’t as fit as we thought we were. It also took us just over nine hours so we were pretty slow, partially because the views were so amazing that we had to take plenty of time to look at them.

From a distance.

The loch in the centre.

On the way up.

View from the summit

Another view

The terrifying ridge!
For any other newish mountain walkers – this one is pretty doable (in good weather – I would not have wanted to tackle it in wind or snow). The path up to the actual Cruachan summit is basically scrambling over a load of large boulders – nothing too difficult. The ridge beyond there looks quite scary (particularly looking back at it), but we didn’t find it at all difficult once we got on to it (we even managed to cross the slabs with no problems). It makes for a long tiring day if you are not very experienced – but with good weather the views are second to none, and it has certainly inspired us to carry on and do some more mountains.

[grumpy old bagger]

Beautiful pictures

I know everybody's different, but I've never understood the rush to get up a hill. I'm a slow walker on steep ground anyway, but I go out to enjoy a day in the mountains, not to see how many I can knock off before breakfast

I'm an inveterate stravaiger - I'm out there to explore, to look at things, to admire, to just be - 9 hours is an average day out for me, so you're by no means alone!

My only advice would be: always carry a headtorch, and if you don't already have it, get a little experience of being out at night (maybe on a safe hill you already know). That way you won't worry about being slow. I'm not saying you should plan to be out there at midnight, but it does mean that you don't panic if it looks as though you'll be coming back down as the light's fading.

I kinda like to be coming off the hill as the sun's setting, because the light is often spectacular and the photo opportunities are great!