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We had had bigger plans, but following a 73km cycle in search of ice-cream the day before, a drive up north the night before that and the fact that the weather was looking a bit rubbish we never really got going. I was also needing to be careful not to overdo it and had plans to get out the next day anyway (yay for school holidays!) but eventually Malky put his foot down and said we were going out
We had to jump his car off mine (it had been sitting for over 4 months
) and pump up a tyre, but eventually we were off and parked up at Abriachan gardens. We waited out a heavy shower before heading off up the path
It was a decent path but I was glad I’d worn my boots as the grass was very wet and would have soaked my trail shoes in seconds
It was a relatively gradual climb initially but soon we started going uphill much more steeply – a few breaks in the trees gave a glimpse of what was coming….
My poor covid-destroyed lungs were insisting we take it easy, but eventually we reached a view-point where were able to enjoy the views down Loch Ness (thank goodness, an excuse for a rest!!)
After what felt like a long climb we came out on a track – this was a potential turnaround point, but I felt ok so we decided to continue…. The track made for even easier walking (it was also not too uphill
)
It was a beautiful afternoon despite the threat of rain
Looking over to the Marilyn Meall na h-Eilrig – this was definitely one within cycle range of Inverness, but probably not while trying to recover
We joined onto the Great Glen Way around here and it led us easily across the hillside
We left the Great Glen Way after a while and took a smaller path which had some cool wooden carvings, including a nice bench where I had a nice break
From here the path climbed up the back of Carn na Leitre. As we gained height the views opened out, although my rubbish phone camera wasn’t really able to pick out much detail sadly
Showers hitting Beinn a’ Bha’ach Ard
Little Wyvis and Ben Wyvis in the cloud
Malky enjoying himself
Some very atmospheric clouds over Meall Fuar-mhonaid
We reached the summit of Carn na Leitre
Malky decided to recreate a slightly colder version of a
disturbing moment from a year ago, but I’ve been banned from posting the photos
Looking down towards Dores at the northern tip of Loch Ness
We picked up the Peat Path which led us easily downwards – we could see a lot of grey skies around and wanted to reach the relative shelter of the trees before it hit!
We came across a wee howff
We went for a peek inside – it had benches inside and would be a great shelter from bad weather or for a picnic
Definitely more suited to short people though
There was a cool painting on the inside of the door too!
We dropped back into the trees meeting a forest track where we turned left (turns out we should have gone the other way
)
We didn’t quite come out where planned and ended up walking a short section down the road – it wasn’t a big deal as it was a small quiet road, but it was super steep downhill and my feet were started to hurt in my boots
We picked up another path by a waterfall (sadly couldn’t quite see it) which took us back to our outward path
From here it was a couple of minutes back to the car (which fortunately started!) and we managed to get a few miles up the road before the rain hit – pretty decent timing!!
Fingers crossed I’d be able to get out again the next day as the forecast was looking pretty good
