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After an early night in Tongue, we had already decided to abandon the Fionavon attempt, as the weather was forecast to be better in the east. Plenty of folk were heading to tackle Loyal with much differing start times.
I had arranged with George and Parminder that we would leave by 8am at the latest as the forecast was for decent weather in the morning, grotty over lunch time and then improving again later.
We met very early for breakfast and after parking in the parking area were on our way before 8am. It was a lovely morning and the long walk in was very pleasant, the worrying thing was that the mountain wasn't getting any closer.
Once the track turns into an ATV track the surface became damp and boggy. There were quite a few bad areas that required a detour. The track/route we were following got fainter and then disappeared so we made up our own route by scanning the ascent ahead. The ground on the ascent was awful, long tufty grass, which I should be used to after all my Borders visits - but still hate it. As you have to lift your feet higher you use up so much more energy and we stopped quite a few times, in fact lots of times
Once we reached the top of the shoulder, the going got slightly easier and when we got higher there was a path along the wide broad ridge which was absolute heaven, especially the flat bits
During the many stops on the ascent we were scanning the approach track for the stragglers who would be following us - we didn't see anyone.
As we were approaching An Caisteal we caught sight of about 4 walkers then a few more (3) appeared from a different angle, we would meet them on our descent and have a long chat.
We followed the path round AC which would take us to Beinn Bheag, however the path was heading round Beinn Bheag so as I was leading I opted to take the direct route to what we thought was the summit. There was a cairn on the summit and as we hadn't researched the route or prepared properly we assumed that we were on the summit
After a few photo's and a bit of larking around we started the descent, we met the gang of 7 on the descent off AC and stopped for a chat, not sure how we didn't see them and they had plenty of stories to tell
We said our goodbyes and started romping down the shoulder, however the descent off the shoulder was tough, steep slippy long tufty grass with the odd hole to really keep you on your toes. We were once again creating our own route and a few parts were very steep, towards the bottom of the steeper section we had already spotted a couple more walkers. They had a late start after a late night, Hugh and Jim and Jim didn't look too clever but was smiling and enjoying the break to stop and chat
We pointed them in the right direction to make the ascent as easy as it could be and then said our goodbyes.
Just as we reached the burn we met the 'true' stragglers, Gary & David who had also had a late night and an even later start
The walk back along the track was very pleasant and enjoyable.
I really enjoyed the day, Gary & Parminder were great company so thank you both.