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We parked just before the level crossing in Dalwhinnie, which we crossed and followed the estate road towards Loch Ericht. Not far along we met a man and his dog. Nothing remarkable about that but the dog was a smallish black lab who approached us with tail wagging, the way Tess always did, and it was only two days after we'd had to say our final goodbye to her. As Moira said, I'm going to keep meeting black labs. But I guess it was just a bit soon not to be affected.
The road led first to a new gatehouse, built fairly recently by the Swiss estate owners, and then to the newly castellated estate house at An Tochailt.
Soon after passing the estate house we left the track and headed up a grassy break through the plantation on our right. There was a fence to get through, with a gate on the left, and the area around the gate was muddy but apart from that the going was dry with a faint path through grass sprinkled with delicate wood anemones.
Flowers of the forest - wood anemones
Climbing the fire break
As we gained height the views to the east opened up but due to cloud and haze weren't that clear or extensive.
Meall Chuaich, other east Drumochter hills and Loch Ericht
The gradient eased and we headed for the line of fence posts we could see which led to a section of peat hags that had us crossing the fence line a few times to avoid the worst of the wetness.
Fence posts approaching the summit
After the peat hags the gradient steepened as we followed a drystone wall which culminated in a massive cairn built astride it at the highest point of The Fara.
Impressive Fara summit cairn
From the summit we could see west to Creag Meagaidh and its distinctive window but the best views were south west towards Ben Alder, the direction we were going. The wind was quite strong so we didn't hang about and started walking in the direction of and past the rock tor which lies just beyond the summit.
It was on the easy walking along the windswept Fara I thought about Tess. She would have loved this walk. She loved those long treks in the hills we did, often with a rock in her mouth which I tried to discourage her from doing as it wore down her teeth. I thought about the day last September when the two of us went up The Storr on Skye. She was so good that day, ignoring the group of sheep that suddenly appeared beside us higher up, and staying close to me on the descent when we had to pick our way through crowds of visitors milling around the base of the Old Man.
I doubt I'll have a dog as good as she was on the hills again.
Tess
As we walked I kept seeing her there beside me. I guess that's what's meant by the mind's eye. The visual memory is so strong you can see something that's not there. It was more than a visual thing because I could feel her with me too. I suppose it's all part of the grieving process and on subsequent walks I've not felt her presence as strongly as I did that day.
View back to Fara summit from half way along
South west to Meall Cruadh
Loch Ericht
View back to Dalwhinnie
View back along the ridge from Meall Cruaidh
Meall Cruaidh summit
In my opinion the Meall Cruaidh summit gives better views than The Fara summit and makes extending the walk along the ridge entirely worthwhile.
Panorama south west showing Ben Alder and Laggan hills
Zoomed to remote Loch Pattack, Carn Dearg and Beinn a' Chlachair
Descent
On the descent we followed WH instructions and crossed the Allt Coire na Meine, aiming for the forestry fence where we were to cross a stile. The trouble was we couldn't see the stile we were meant to cross and the stile we could see wasn't the right one. I knew it wasn't the right one because getting to it meant recrossing the Allt Coire na Meine and WH wouldn't have told us to cross it higher up just to cross it again at this point. My walking buddy wasn't convinced and it would have been annoying to have walked on to find there was no other stile meaning we'd have to come back so we clambered down and up the steep sides of the burn and went over the stile we could see.
The wrong stile
Once over that stile it meant crossing the burn for a third time and not much further along to the right we spotted the stile we should have crossed but which isn't visible from higher up. I mention this to alert others who might (like us) be confused by the apparent non appearance of the stile to be crossed. It's not the one you can see on the left side of the Allt Coire na Meine but is further along on the right.
After the stile there were no further issues. A path between the fence and the plantation led to a broad gap in the plantation where there were deer grazing but which disappeared into the trees when they saw us.
Is that pointy bit Lancet Edge?
Ben Alder Lodge - which made me think of Sleeping Beauty
When we reached the lochside we sat down for a fly cup before the 8.5km road walk back to Dalwhinnie.
Loch Ericht
This was the least interesting part of the route but it was enlivened by wild flowers along the way - fox gloves, broom, primroses and violets at the side of the road.
Blooming broom by the winding road
Primroses in profusion
And a carpet of not so shrinking violets
Once back at the car we headed for a hotel in Newtonmore which was jumping with a coach party from Lancashire. But that didn't affect the very tasty lasagne, garlic bread and salad we were served without any delay and accompanied by live music (bagpipes and guitar). It was a fitting end to a memorable day.
