Life on Mars

[pollyh33]

Rain, sleet, snow, high winds were predicted and still we went

Luckily for us the forecasters were so off yet again !

A brilliant day out with Jonny, Hazel and Debbie and the very energetic Bob and Travis

Straight up from the road to join the descent path, through the face-smacking trees, out onto a better path to the lochan and then up the winding path through the rocks and stones to the top.

Pretty much base-layers until the 700m mark where we got a short flurry of hailstones on the way up and on the way down- very strange! Then jackets on and hoods up when we reached the summit. The conditions were good enough to have a decent stop for lunch and some photos, although it was clagged in for the only time of the walk.

Otherwise the views were amazing, especially seeing Ladhar Bheinn with a light covering on snow on her ridge

Once back on the tarmac we said our farewells to the lovely Debbie and Hazel and then Jonny and I went for a mooch about Glen Elg ( Earth) and both praised this munro bagging lark for making us visit parts of Scotland that we would otherwise be completely unaware of.

PS I managed quick sneaky peek of the YH at Ratagan earlier on in the day ( I was lost!). Lovely and warm in the kitchen area!!!

[Alan S]

Hi Polly, sorry to hijack your blog but can I ask did yous drive up and down on the same day or did you stay the night up there ? I have looked at this for a while with an early start and only up and down the same way as you done but have wondered if this was too long a day for driving back.

Nice pics by the way, glad the forecasters got it wrong again

Thanks
Alan

[pollyh33]

Hi Polly, sorry to hijack your blog but can I ask did yous drive up and down on the same day or did you stay the night up there ? I have looked at this for a while with an early start and only up and down the same way as you done but have wondered if this was too long a day for driving back.

Nice pics by the way, glad the forecasters got it wrong again

Thanks
Alan

Hi Alan,

Yeah I picked Jonny(from his house) at 5am, stopped at McD's in Fort William for about 30 mins and we were at the start easily by 10am. It took us 5.5 hours to do the hill but it could have been at least 40 mins faster- we did a lot of chatting and stopped for a fair amount at the summit. We were all changed and back on the road by 4pm ish, so no probs going back down the road. I honestly wasn't knackered when I was driving.

Hope this helps!

[Alan S]

Thanks for that polly, really helpfull

McD's ! bet that was Jonny's idea

Cheers again

[pollyh33]

Thanks for that polly, really helpfull

McD's ! bet that was Jonny's idea

Cheers again

Yep!!!!!