free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Set off for a nice mid-week hillwalk and planned on doing Stuchd an Lochain and Meall Buidhe. As we started to drive in we were not put off by the cloud and drizzly rain setting in - we were prepared for that!! Just as we were approaching the Loch an Daimh we were lucky enough to stags everywhere! there were literally hundreds of them - munching on hay, lying down in the hills and wandering around - got some half decent pictures (still to sort these out and upload a couple). So Loch an Daimh is quite appropriately named!
Pretty steep ascent straight away though we made fairly quick time in gaining height and were at 750m before we knew it. It was at that point the weather def took a turn for the worse - low cloud, strong winds and rain that felt more like needles being thrown at me!
It was a great day for testing some map reading skills and trying out the new GPS mapping software on the iphone - excellent!!
Didn't really hang about at the top and headed straight back down - with the rain and wind even worse now!
Still patches of snow up there and it is deep in places - as i discovered when i ended up knee deep in it! Although it was wet and boggy in spots it wasn't quite as bad as i thought it might be. Still had lots of kit cleaning to do when we got back though!
We had all intentions of doing Meall Buidhe as well that day but with a slightly later than planned start and the dreadful weather we decided to give it a miss and save that one for a slightly better day!
Despite the weather and complete lack of visibility and views it was a great day and enjoyable walking, well it was a day off mid-week which is always fun! Looking forward to going back when the skies are clear(er!).
- us at the top smiling despite the rain and total lack of view!
and a couple of the many stags we saw...