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We left Malcolm’s early for the drive to Crianlarich stopping off at McDonalds in Balloch for a sausage and egg McMuffin and a coffee. Parked the car near Auchessan and set off at 0915 leaving the swarms of midges behind. It was a gentle walk over quite boggy ground before reaching a short steep section just before the flat summit dome. Unfortunately a short period of rain and low cloud greeted us as we reached the cairn.
We stopped and had a quick snack before heading off east over easy ground to reach the trig point on Beinn Cheathaich where we were joined by a fellow walker who asked me “What hill is this?”
He had no map, no compass and absolutely no idea where he was. I pointed out where we were and politely suggested he should not venture into the hills without a map and compass and know how to use them. Only 30 minutes previously the visibility was down to 50m in low cloud.
From the trig point we headed north down the ridge a little before descending to the peat bog watershed where we stopped for lunch sitting in the sunshine at the bottom of the very steep western slopes of Sgiath Chuil. It was a bit of a slog but we got our head down and got on with it eventually reaching the summit ridge a short distance from the small cairn.
- Munro number 282
After some bubbly and photographs we headed for home via a small dam where Cora had a good swim.
- Cora
After the drive to Glasgow we had a bottle of Champagne before heading to the Ashoka Indian restaurant for a fantastic curry followed by a couple of pints.
So after 22 years I had finally reached the summit of my final Munro. It was quite fitting that I was accompanied by Malcolm today as I climbed my first Munro (Ben Lomond) with him on 8 Jul 92. I had been really lucky with the weather during the week, it’s not too often that you get such nice weather day after day. As a result of finishing my round before I leave the RAF in July I have won a small wager with my son, a nice bottle of champagne please Cameron!