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I had originally planned to walk with a friend and put a post on WH to see if anybody wanted to come along, since I had such a good time at Ben Lomond on the Monday!
Lots of interest but in the end it was confirmed that myself (erin&niamh), Wullie (quoman), Gary (?), Stevie (StevieM) and his good lady(Sharon) and Troy the dog of course, would meet at the car park at the end of the Glen Lochay road and climb Sgiath Chuil and Meal Glas from Glen Lochay.
Lots of things were learned on this walk:
I learned to read meeting arrangements more closely as I was sure Wullie had said meet at 8.30am
The rest of the guys learned what is widely known amongst all my friends and family, that I am always late!!!
I arrived at the car park at 8.40am (10 mins late or so I thought) to see 2 empty cars
I was really looking forward to this walk and would not attempt it on my own, so i sped along the private road a little further and was lucky enough to catch up with the rest of the gang. I made my apologies and begged them to wait on me which they very kindly did.
10 mins later and I was with them ready to start the walk.
We had only just started to walk along the private road towards the bridge and we saw 2 large red deer just in front, excellent because i've not saw any wildlife since my first munro
Wullie promised I would see lots of deer today!
So a short walk along the private road and the bridge came into sight
We cross the bridge, over the stile and follow the zig zag path untill it meets the pipe line (because we know a short cut)
so we trudge on up the grassy bank next to the pipe line to meet the path at the top, obviously this would be easier
Aye right! just started, we have stopped about 300 times and my legs are killing me!
Team Meeting
over another stile, across the bridge at the dam and head up towards the woods
and just as wullie promised...
so we continue up and over and up and over and ...you get the idea
We decide on our route and head upwards to Meall a’Churain
The wind starts to pick up so this seems like a good time for some extra clothes, also means i get to wear my new gloves and balaclava
As usual the snow cover increased as we got higher, mostly soft enough to get a grip but not too soft that I would keep falling through, well not yet anyway!
Just before we reached Meall a’Churain though, we had a steep hill which was pretty impossible to climb without crampon's, somebody said I wouldnt need them so I made no effort to get a pair which i could bring
but the benefits of walking with nice people as part of a group paid off as Wullie came to my rescue and gave me a tow up the hill 'till i could get a grip again! lol ...(note to self: must buy crampon's)
Not long and we have reached the top, it was very slippy but with my Ice Axe I always felt safe, this was probably helped due to the fact that not long after I got my Ice Axe out i slipped, started going down the hill at a quick pace, hit the ice with the axe and.......I stopped!!
...majic, it works!
Now for the black eye! Just as we approached the top of Meall a’Churain a gust of wind caught my map holder and hit me right in the corner of the eye! ..ouch!! It will be fun explaining that on Monday lol
Gary decides to wait at the top as we continue on to the summit of Sgiath Chuil, at this point we also agree that 1 Munro will be enough for today. A nice short walk and we are soon at our destination
As you can see from the photos (or cant see more to the point) visability was poor at the summit, for some reason the wind had gone though? We hung around a few minutes and then headed back to make sure Gary was where we left him..
...and he was. As we got to him he was climbing out of his survival bag
he let go of it for 2 seconds and it obviously didnt like him, as it was off! The last view I got was his piece box inside the bag flying over the edge
he gave chase, behind Troy who was obviously chasing the piece's but had to give up
It was funny but what wasn't so funny was that Gary had lost 1 liner glove from 1 hand and a snow glove from another hand in the bag...or had he???
"we'll find it later" said wullie confidently!
so off we went headed for home minus a survival bag, a piece box and 2 gloves!
After several trips and falls it was decided walking down was too difficult, only 1 thing for it...
yip, you guessed it...bum slides down the slopes
We had a bit of a race but Wullie wins by a good bit but he had an unfair advantage, he dropped his 50p juice bottle and was determined it would not go to the same place as Gary's survival bag ...
It was a complete whiteout so Stevie and Wullie were constantly checking the GPS just to make sure we were still on the track
"Whats that over there" asks Wullie, "It's your survival bag" he was right again! So Gary moved quicker than he had all day and gave chase and just like you see on t.v, just as he got closer it blew away again
(maybe you had to be there) eventually after 1 last fall and he had rescued his survival bag...but no piece box
and no gloves
and as Gary puts the survival bag into the safety of his back pack, he realises his gloves where there all along
What was Troy digging for? Of course, he was just clearing away the cold snow so he could get a warm seat!
we carried on down and over the boggy parts, a few more falls later and we could see the woods from where we started, we also saw another 2 red deer
Across the bridge, over the stile and a slow walk back, this time via the zig zag path!
Another excellent day out with brilliant company and my 10th Munro in the bag as well....Where next?