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This pandemic has closed the hills to us right at the start of spring, cancelling all those trips we'd been planning over the winter. I don't know about you but for me lockdown would be okay if I could escape to the hills for an occasional day. But that's not happening and with the death toll rising daily it's not likely to. All we can do is stay at home, get into cooking or gardening and applaud the key workers who are out there risking their own safety to save lives and keep us safe. And for some of us, being stuck at home and needing a hill fix, it might mean looking back at old photos of hills we'd forgotten.
For me unassuming Meall Buidhe was one of those. I think for two reasons.
1. It doesn't have the character of its neighbour Stuchd an Lochain (which a group of us climbed in 1997 to celebrate son Doug's 21st).
2. The events of the day were overshadowed by what happened two weeks later.
Back in 2010 Moira was about to retire from teaching. She liked the idea of being on a hill the day the schools went back so we planned to do that during a week Pete and I had booked a cottage by Loch Tummel.
Cottage by Loch Tummel
It had no mobile signal, no Wifi and no TV.
But it welcomed dogs and had a secure garden - more important to us than the above.
Dogs welcome
Secure garden
Dog heaven
Maps at the ready
Loch Tummel from north side
Our cottage was on south side at foot of Farragon Hill
The morning of the day the schools went back we parked by the Giorra dam of Loch an Daimh and followed the track initially up to the right then left as it traversed the hillside above the loch. I don't remember the peat hags mentioned in the WH description so they can't have been that bad.
Loch an Daimh and Meall Ghaordhaidh
West end of Loch an Daimh
I'm guessing this cairn marks the South Top (917m)
Jack
From the south top it was an easy stroll to the summit (932m)
View south to Meall Ghaordaidh (left) and Stuchd an Lochain (right)
Meall Phuill in near distance round to the left
Moira and dogs at Meall Buidhe summit
It was a fitting way to mark Moira's first day of retirement and we looked forward to future days going out midweek whenever the weather was good. But Meall Buidhe turned out to be Moira's last Munro for much longer than we could have imagined. Two weeks later she broke her ankle boulder-hopping over wet ground near Loch Etchachan on our way up Beinn Mheadhoin. And in that moment any more hills to celebrate her new freedom ground to a painful halt.
Ankle broken in three places but still smiling
Probably because help had arrived
It took 8 days in hospital, surgery to reconstruct the ankle, months of physio, then more surgery a year later to remove the metalwork and repair a torn tendon before things were back to normal. But with patience and perseverance she got there and apart from an understandable dislike of similar terrain she's happy to tackle anything.
During the rest of the week Pete and I explored both sides of Loch Tummel, found an opsrey's nest a short walk from the cottage, climbed Meall Ghaordaidh, visited Loch Laidon from Rannoch station and went to spy out the Queen's View.
Row of houses on north side of loch
Somewhere around here was the Queen's View
Queen Victoria is said to have remarked that the view was named after her when she visited the area in 1866. What nobody liked to tell her was that the view was probably named after King Robert the Bruce’s wife, Queen Isabella of Scotland, over 550 years earlier.
Schiehallion
Clachan (Gaelic for village)
Tess with her stick
Partially restored black house
A black house was a simple stone dwelling with a turf or heather roof and no chimney. So the inside was coated in soot, hence the name 'black house'.
Allean Forest Trail
Miss this boy
We had a great week by Loch Tummel and I'd go back. A fine place to stay, places to visit and hills to climb - even if I did forget to write up Meall Buidhe!