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This was another adventure where Strawberry Cottage was being utilised as a 'base camp'. George did just about everything and it turned out to be a superbly enjoyable gathering by all 8 participants.
The participants were Me, George, Parminder, Martin, John, Alistair, Ali and Kev.
The logistics were arranged in advance, John taking his car from Weegieland with Alistair as his co-pilot, George taking his car with a pair of co-pilots Ali & Kev. They all left on Sunday with an overnighter in Cannich.
I volunteered to drive and uplifted Martin from his posh overnight stay in Inverkeithing and then Parminder from the P&R. We left Fife before 6am and had a pleasant drive north and made our usual breakfast stop at McD's in Inverness.
We arrived in Cannich at about 9am and drove slowly past the B&B and couldn't see the 2 cars so we headed out towards Chisholm Bridge hoping that the rest of the gang left early and would be waiting for us.
We got to Chisholm Bridge, no trace, went down to the locked gate on the track, no trace and decided to head slowly back towards Chisholm. It was then that we met a couple of vehicles coming towards us - success.
The plan for the day was 5 would tackle Tom & Toll and three of us would chill out and get the cottage set up.
My car was emptied and all luggage etc squeezed into George's car. Loaded up and Parminder squished on the back seat along with bags and stuff we set off along the bumpy track to the cottage.
Once at the car park we then had the huge task of getting all the food, drink and gear up the 30m incline and over 2 bridges. Took a while and we were assisted with the last lot by staff on the estate, they borrowed a ladder out of the shed to sort a roof across the river, they used the ATV to carry stuff for us - superb.
First view of the cottage
Looking back at the cars
George supervising from on high
West along the Affric
East along the Affric
We used a convoy system to transfer all the gear
The rear of the cottage
Not sure why Parminder was trying to enter via the window?
A photo taken on our recce
George with his tipple
Parminder doing his own recce
The rest of the gang have arrived
John's latest purchase, a portable shower
Early morning shot looking east
Looking at Wednesday's challenge
All ready for the off, waiting for the rest of the gang
Parminder marching off
Bit of a rainbow
Left the track and the climbing begins
Bit of water
Form a queue
We all walk at our own pace
Weather about to change
Our first target
Looking back down our ascent route
Video on summit of An Socach
Summit gathering of sorts
Once we descended down to the bealach we then headed down into the glen
Still going down
3rd summit in the distance
Still descending, cross the burn then up the other side
Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan from the bealach
The long undulating ridge to Mullach nan Dheiragain
Looking back
Gleann Sithidh
Group rather fragmented, still quite a walk to the summit
Final push to the summit
Top of summit cairn
Video from the 2nd summit
Bite to eat before the long walk back
Martin auditioning for the Beeb, probably the last sighting of the infamous phone
Looking back whilst on the ascent of SnC
Video taken on the ridge
A bit further up the ridge to SnC
Video of young Alistair ascending
Video of Martin this time
Looking back, full ridge to Mullach is now visible
Video from the summit of SnC
George looking rather pleased with himself, whilst Alistair checks in with base camp
Looking back, we opted to go 'off piste', descending early which saved another ascent and in theory cut the corner
The way ahead downhill
The 'black crack' that we decided to head for
Looking across to the UK's most remote Youth Hostel, once again we opted to take the direct route
Looking along the glen towards the cottage
Not sure where the rest of the deer is
Beautiful
Had to take a video of the rainbow to get it all in
Looking west along the glen
Water feature
Nice lochan along the Affric Way
Turned out to be a long but cracking walk, many congratulations to George from me, the last 2 years have been so much fun and let's hope we can continue for many years ro come.
