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Family and work commitments meant that I had not managed to get anywhere near a hill since the start of April but eventually managed to get a day free.
Only car in the parking area just off the A830 at NM930799. Got ready then set off by bike up Gleann Dubh Lighe. Brief stop at the bothy and signed the book.
Continued on until I got to the edge of the forestry where I locked up the bike and continued on foot north towards Streap Comhlaidh. The track had been quite rough for cycling with frequent ups/downs so didn’t really save much time.
It had been raining lightly since the start and this continued – not heavy enough for waterproofs though. Followed a track to around NNM955487 at which point I started steeply uphill – about 600m of steep ascent to get to the top of Streap Comhlaidh.
Then came the traverse of the ridge over to Streap – the clag was down with low visibility and a few snow patches to avoid so didn’t see much on the way to the Streap summit.
It didn’t want to clear so I set off for the return journey to Streap Comhlaidh. A little below the summit, the weather started to clear a bit and was wholly clear by the time I was back on Streap Comhlaidh. Still a lot of snow around.
I was glad that the weather had cleared and the rain was off as this made finding a route to Braigh nan Uamhachan somewhat easier.
Looking over to Braigh nan Uamhachan
Headed NE down the ridge until I was more or less due west of the start of Lochan a’ Chomlain then headed west down towards the southern end of the loch crossing a stream en route which was partially set into a gully.
Looking back
The lochan
The side of Uamhachan looked intimidating from higher up but now down at the foot of it, it didn’t look so bad as is frequently the case. Picked a route more or less straight upwards heading for the summit.
On the way up
Looking back
The last section was quite steep but just a case if picking a route through the rocks
It had turned out quite nicely at the summit
Another walker arrived at the summit a little after me. His friend had stopped a little further back so he didn’t wait long then headed off – they had come up via Gleann Fionnlighe and left their bikes lower down.
Eventually I set off along the ridge with its various ups and downs and dry stane dyke
Loch Shiel
Passed a dead deer on the way back down to the bike – must have been fairly recent as it was fully intact.
Picked up the bike and cycled back to the car. Again this took longer than expected. I’ve only fairly recently started using walking poles for day walks (used to use one when carrying a camping pack) but was trying today to see how I got on without using them at all. Have come to the conclusion that I’ll keep using them from now on as they do seem to help quite a bit esp on uphill sections – am having to admit that perhaps age (and level of “unfitness”) are perhaps starting to catch up on me.....