
... I’d been dithering about whether to go to the WH Highland meet or not: it’s a long drive for c**p weather. But the fact that, to judge from their reports, a number of folk had experienced very acceptable weather in the past few weeks, pessimistic forecasts notwithstanding, tipped the balance in favour of taking the risk. And boy am I glad I did: superb weather on all 3 days!

I decided to go up on the Thursday with a view to getting at least 3 days walking in as recompense for the long drive, and apart from a major detour around Loch Lomond due to the A82 being closed, I had a clear run up to South Laggan, arriving at about 17.00. A few other WHs had also arrived on the Thursday, so after getting my tent pitched and my walking gear ready for the morrow, I enjoyed a very pleasant evening meeting various folk whom I only "knew" from WH reports and posts.
For Friday I opted to go for Ben Tee and the 2 Loch Lochy munros, possibly including Meall na h-Eilde if time permitted.
I set the alarm for 6.30am with the idea of starting just before dawn at about 6.45am, but the usual hopeless faffing about means that I don’t actually get going ‘til about 7.15, when it is already fairly light.
Although there is no marked path behind the hostel, I’d planned simply to cut across the fields to the Great Glen Way which in that area runs alongside the Caledonian Canal. These fields turn out to be pretty boggy, and I am lucky to get away with crossing it without sinking up to my knees! Glad I have the head torch for these first few minutes!

But once on the GGW, progress is swift and I’m soon at Laggan Locks...

The original plan had been to start with the ridge from Meall nan Dearcag, then continue to Sron a’Choire Ghairbh, Meall na Teanga, across to Meall na h-Eilde, then back via Ben Tee. But this would have taken at least 11 hours – so a fair bit of walking in the dark. But then if I omitted na h-Eilde, it would involve an out-and-back to Meall na Teanga. In weighing the various options on the Thursday night, I hadn’t really come to any conclusion, so I have set off without a fixed plan.


Ben Tee and the hills behind are initially shrouded in cloud, but then it starts to clear…

But at this point I’m suddenly reminded of the fact that, in the probable event that there isn’t time to get to Meall na h-Eilde, I’ll have to do an “out-and-back” to Meall na Teanga. Which really does not appeal. Moreover, everywhere the summits are clearing, and they all look just as appealing as the Meall nan Dearcag ridge. => change direction, do the route anticlockwise, starting with Ben Tee. So I change direction, and head towards Ben Tee.
This is the route that I eventually take.
Unfortunately, I haven’t weighed up adequately all the issues. Including how to cross the not insubstantial Kilfinnan Burn; and the gorge it flows through…

I arrive at the gorge and see that even to get from the edge of the gorge down to water level is something of a challenge. Moreover, it’s clear that it won’t be possible to ford the burn (= raging torrent!) by means of the rubble bag technique...

So there are only 2 options: to walk sufficiently far upstream that the burn is fordable (on the basis of the map, likely to be a horribly long way); or find a tree that has fallen across the burn, and use that as a makeshift bridge.
As it turns out, I find such a fallen tree fairly quickly.

But it’s quite a steep gorge…
Climbing down it ain’t easy, and I have to take my gloves off to be secure; with the result that I can barely feel my fingers by the time I get to the fallen tree. The tree looks pretty ancient, mouldy and slippery; so I don’t feel like attempting a Blondin-style tightrope walking approach. And hence go for a straddling technique, with the intention of bum-shuffling across.

The only problem is that there are a couple of branches on the upper surface of the tree trunk, one in particular oriented almost parallel to the trunk, and facing towards the direction of shuffle. In order to pass it, I’ll have to break it off; and if I do, I can expect a sharp split end facing my direction of shuffle, threatening to injure me in a particularly sensitive and delicate location


But: Hobson’s choice.
So I start my shuffle.
The threatening branch breaks off in exactly the way I fear, and so I have to lift myself - like a gymnast on a pommel horse - over the sharp point of the splintered end… Fear somehow provides the necessary facility, and I just manage to clear it (I did, honest...).

While I’m engaged in this anatomically risky manoeuvre, it has started to snow, and by the time I arrive at the other side I’ve lost all sensation in my fingers. It takes about 15 minutes before reasonable temperature equilibrium returns.

The ascent of Ben Tee is quite long, but unproblematic; and by the time I reach the summit the sky has further cleared and the views are superb.

Ahead is Meall a' Choire Ghlas, the start of a fabulous looking horseshoe that circles around to Sron a'Choire Ghairbh (a mere 350m of ascent/descent away

It's somewhat breezy and cold, so I don't linger on the summit.
The descent to the belach separating Ben Tee from the next hill, Meall a'Choire Glas, is pretty steep (= good exercise for the knees).




Shortly after this pic, a snow flurry closes in, and it's just a whiteout. Fortunately the general horseshoe route I plan to follow is a ridge with steep cliffs to the LHS, so route-finding is manageable (albeit I'm taking bearings every hundred metres or so

The gently undulating terrain is quite disorienting in the whiteout, but eventually (and - surprisingly - without ever straying significantly off course) I arrive at my goal...


All of a sudden there's a really dramatic gust of wind. I'm so busy trying both to remain on my feet, and to photograph the flurry, that I pay no attention to the map case. But when the wind has dropped and I walk the few steps back to the cairn to retrieve the map, I discover that it is no longer there. It is no more. (It seems) it is a gone map, that map is defunct, it is a late map...
Not good

I'm contemplating how to deal with this, when the whiteout unexpectedly clears, and I see a number of walkers heading towards me from the south, one of them - which turns out to be Darren - only a couple of hundred metres away.
For some reason he is expecting me ("Are you alter Knacker???"). We chat for a very short while (it's VERY cold




In the event, I take a few steps windward to get some views, and am very quickly out of the strong wind. So it occurs to me that perhaps the map case has landed a little further down the slope. To calls from Darren of, "Take care!", I descend 20 or 30 metres windward from the summit. And see my map case. Alleluia!



The sky clears further, and we see further WHs heading up towards us. Darren and I head back down to the bealach, he to pick up his missus, I to ascend Meall na Teanga - the approach ridge to which looks utterly irresistable.













In the event, even though I head for the shortest forestry section I can see, I end up spending something like an hour getting through a few hundred metres of dense forestry


In the event, after spending what seems like an eternity in the forestry, I emerge on to the Great Glen Way (my clothes full of uncomfortable bits of pine tree), and am able to get back to the campsite reasonably swiftly.
I'd tentatively recommend this route, especially in winter, the only real reservation being that I have not tested the way back down on to the GGW that I describe above.
