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After a night sleeping in the car at the side of the A87 I awoke at 06:30 slightly surprised by the layer of frost covering the car. Not sure why, but I was, so there you have it. An hour later I'd packed up my sleeping bag, ate my musili, drunk my tea, stuck my pack on my back and was ambling off down the couple of hundred yards to the start of the walk. Not sure how all that managed to take an hour, but it did.
The start of the walk is a punishing two thirds of a mile steep uphill and I was glad that the sun hadn't risen enough to hit the ascent. A little under an hour later I reached the ridge between the brothers ridge and the sisters ridge. There was already a couple of guys up there who ambled off in the direction of the sisters ridge, I think they may have been camping up there though and were just putting their kit away. Having reached the ridge, I turned right, and pretty much just carried on walking. There is nothing overly demanding about the walk, all fairly straight forward, but the weather was good - could maybe have done with a little less wind, a little less haze and a few clouds to perk up the photos. For walking though it was great, the wind kept me cool and I even remembered to bring a hat so I didn't burn my head this time. Not that I'm getting a bald spot or anything though you understand, that's just my summer hair. No, really. Honest.
It was only on the last summit of the ridge that I met anyone else - a couple of were doing the ridge the other way round. They said they'd just done Ciste Dhubh - an hour and fifteen minutes from the bealach and back they said. It was still only earlyish afternoon by this point and I'd been eyeing Ciste Dhubh pretty much the whole walk thinking what a fine looking bump it is, so I figured I may as well amble on up and see what it had to say for itself. I think the couple at the top of Aonach Meadhoin probably meant an hour an fifteen each way, but even so I think it was actually the best hill of the day. I think it's probably what you'd call a charismatic hill or something. If you're inclined to call hills things like that.
I got back to the A87 just Easy of the Cluanie at around 18:00 and ambled off in the direction of the car. Occasionally I'd stick my thumb out at passing cars, although only cars I liked the look of as I was in no great hurry and I still felt quite energetic. After half a mile or so a couple in a Mazda camper thingy stopped and gave me a lift. They'd just returned from doing the South ridge. A worthwhile walk they said, almost with conviction.
If you've not done this walk, you probably should. I've been a bit of a miserable bugger lately, but on this walk I was happy from the first step in the morning till the last step in the evening. It even provided enough happiness to last most of the way home too.
Not much of a report I know and it was another one of those hazy days where the camera just doesn't want to get the detail, but here's a few pictures anyway.
