Tuesday 11th April
Beinn Eighe:- Spidean Coire nan Clach (247) Ruadh-stac Mor (248) 14.5km 1100m ascent Snow time  Stub Coire an Leoigh - forming the south ridge coming off Spidean Coire nan Clach The forecast posted today was for occasional showers and sunny spells. The weather radar on the telly however, showed frequent heavy showers 200 - 300 miles north of Torridon moving south. I was keen to get a move on - I wanted to be off the mountain before those showers came. There was a lot of shifting mist in Torridon today. I didn't know whether I'd have a dry morning or not.
When I was dropped at at the path heading up to Coire an Laoigh, the shifting mist cleared to reveal a deep blue sky - my spirits rose! The walk up the path was warm work but at least the path was very well engineered. The path zigzagged steadily up the easy slopes to bottom of Coire an Laoigh where I arrived at the snow line. There was about 5 - 10 cm of fresh snow deposited overnight - not enough to hinder progress but enough to make the boulders slippy.
I contemplated taking the southern arm of the corrie up to the summit but instead I chose to ascend via the old firm slopes on the corrie head wall as these looked easier. The ascent was steep but easy with the bucket steps being kicked. I soon reached the subsidiary ridge extending south from the summit. My legs were now soaked in sweat. The southern arm of the corrie looked narrow from here and I was periodically engulfed in swirling mist.
It was now only a simple walk up to the trig point. A walk eastwards to the summit followed along a narrow ridge with one or two rocksteps. I returned to the trig point and continued on the easy rocky ridge round to Coinneach Mhor. The clouds cleared once off the summit to reveal great views of Liathach and the summits north of Beinn Eighe. The going was slow over the slippy rock/snow but the views more than compensated for that. I arrived an Coinneach Mhor and then headed northwards for the main summit of Ruadh-stac Mor. This was easy walking on a narrow ridge down to a col where the ridge broadens out to a plateaux before tackling the final short summit cone. I returned to the col. There was a stone chute set at an easy angle that gave easy access to Coire Mhic Fhearchair. The descent wasn't loose but there was a dusting of snow over the stones.
Once the stone chute widened out to bouldery scree, I could now fully appreciated the grandeur of this corrie. Shear cliffs 200m high dominated the view with the triple buttress being particularly dominant. Are these some of the highest cliffs in Scotland? They seemed so. The boulders up here were a pain and the theme continued down to the loch. This was where the showers hit. I had lunch and hoped the showers would be brief as they were 1 hour before hand. The showers were relentless and I wouldn't be getting my classic photo today.
After getting bored, I took the NTS path out of the corrie back to the road. The theme was now 5mins of sunshine followed by ½ an hour of sleet/snow. The walk along the path was fairly easy but not as smooth as the ascent path. Amazingly i stayed dry inside my jacket but waiting for a hitch on the road was freezing while yet another shower passed over. After 25mins I got my lift. Despite the afternoon showers, it was generally an excellent day. The rest of the group did Beinn Alligin and reported a great day.
Wednesday 12th April
10km 450m ascent Coastal Walk  Loch Shiedaig with Ben Shieldaig looking very ominous Today was a kind of rest day. The forecast looked grim and I didn't particularly fancy climbing my final munro in the area. Indeed no-one else fancied climbing anything so I chose to do an easy coastal walk. The wind was easterly and the eastward view during breakfast always looked grim while the westward view seemed good. We were off to Lower Diabeg where we would start our coastal walk. We parked at upper Diabeg owing to roadworks that effectively meant the onward road was 'closed!' The entire day upto 2pm was dry and so it turned out to be a pretty good day for walking here. Looking elsewhere, the mountains were being hammered.
We descended to Loch Diabeg - a pretty little place that seemed far removed from the rest of Scotland. The coast line was rugged with lots of small ups and downs. The path started off by traversing a broad shelf among high sea cliffs above Loch Diabeg before easing off to easier slopes. We took some diversions to do some easy rock scrambles and took our time having food breaks every few minutes.
We discovered a house on this coast, inhabited but completely isolated from everywhere else. How could they manage here?? They had a well kept garden amongst other things. The walk continued to the southern most point of Rubha na h-aidhe Glaise. Here we did some nice coastal scrambles and also saw the odd seal - something I've never seen wild before. The showers packed in now so we moved onwards to the road near Inver Alligin. Time hitched back to collect the minibus. It was by now a miserable evening.
Next day was travel day. We drove to Fort William for shopping and browsing. We had numerous photo stops along the way as well as the obligatory safeway coffee shop lunch - yummy! The girls also wanted to see me in a kilt - all the shop keepers laughed at us! That day also saw loads more snow being deposited on the hills ready for our fun packed days in Glen Shiel!
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