On the way down to Walkhighlands Spring Meet in Laggan, we stopped to climb something on the way. My ankle was still a bit swollen and I wasn't sure how much pressure I could put on it, so a shorter walk with only about 350m of ascent felt like a good test. We picked Beinn a'Bhacaidh since we were driving through Fort Augustus anyway and we always assumed that this Sub must be a good viewpoint. And we were not disappointed.

There is a decent spot for parking in the forest just west of Brachkashie, in the forest next to a locked gate (stile provided for walkers). We took a well-worn track through the woods, with some good views to wards Loch Nan Lann from the very beginning.

After about 1km we left the main track and turned left, uphill on a much more boggy access track to the hill, but Kevin was determined to do "some kinda circular" and nearly forced me to go off piste, heading straight up the slopes above us. The ground was wet-ish and a bit overgrown in heather in places, but apart from that, nothing too difficult. We saw a small herd of mountain goats in the distance, but apart from that, it felt like a very remote spot. Strange feeling, being only a short distance from the main road.

Views were getting better as we gained height, including Loch Nan Lan and Loch Knockie:

Soon Loch Ness came into view. Weather was a bit on the windy side but sunny, a few white clouds drifting in the sky. I was glad to be out and enjoy the hill, even if I had to carefully place my left foot to avoid twisting it again.

View north-west to Loch Ness and the characteristic round shape of Meall Fuar-mhonaidh in the far distance:

Looking south through the rocks scattered around the summit area:

View east towards Monadhliaith:

Wee Lucy accompanied us on this one since it was a new summit for us all. Sub no. 76 for us, No. 44 for her.

We spent some time on the top, enjoying the vistas of Loch Ness, then dropped carefully due east, where we spotted the upper end of the ATV track we left earlier to start a more direct ascent. Our descent route followed a shallow gully of a small stream, lower down we even noticed traces of a faint path. This is obviously the most popular line of going up and down this Sub. Well, at least we did something not-so-obvious. In recent days, we tend to go for alternative routes rather than walk up the same path all over again.
The "easy" route from the track below:

The track was mostly grassy and we enjoyed good views to the local lochans:

My leg was behaving so my hopes for a bigger walk the following day were still kept high. We drove to the youth hostel in Laggan and enjoyed a lovely evening catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. It was our first Meet since the COVID madness and it felt great to be back amongst the hillwalking crowd

More WH Meet details in my next report.
And a reminder: #StandWithUkraine