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Tuesday saw me heading back to the Munro's. My initial intention was for the Loch Lochy Munro's and then head north to Ben Hope for the Wednesday but a look at the forecast on the Tuesday morning saw me ditching the Loch Lochy plan and heading straight for Ben Hope. It was a good drive up the A9 and across the Black Isle to the turning for Bonar Bridge and then continuing northwards along a single track road until at last there was a crossroads and a sign to the left directing towards 'Hope'. Hope is something needed along that road!
My car is quite low and long stretches of the road had grass growing up the middle and even most of the passing spaces are grassed over and hard to spot. Eventually though I reached the busy car parking area for Ben Hope at around 2pm. It was a late start walking for me but there was plenty of time.
We set off heading along the clear track that led upwards alongside the burn. There were a few bits where I was forced to scramble (short person problems) but Moss helped pull me up. The steepest part of the climb was the first part, after that that rest of the walk was much easier and we made good progress the views quickly opening up with impressive crags.
There were a pair of buzzards flying around making a lot of noise but they disappeared and as I was walking up I saw a bigger bird in the sky. A golden eagle flew overhead, the third one I've seen this year. Bonus!
The route led up and up and up cairns marking the route and after around two hours the summit was in sight. I'd passed a fair few people coming down and expected the summit to be busy but no, we had the summit to ourselves. All around were rain clouds but Ben Hope was bathed in sunlight and there were views across to the ocean and distant hills behind.
We spent some time at the summit before heading back down the way we came. There were more people heading up, though at this point the weather looked as if it was starting to turn with clouds starting to drift over. I was back at the car for 6pm. A really enjoyable walk and this has to be one of the favourite Munro's I've done so far.
