The waterfalls of Eas Chia-aig

It rained! The sound of the river increased dramtically through the night and was now a foot drenching torrent. I checked the weather forecast in the morning and felt quite happy to lie in until 7.00am but boredom quickly crept in and I faced the inevitable. After all that effort getting my socks dry I had to get them wet first thing today. Why does this have to happen?

I soon reached the bealach into Glen Mallie and from then on it was downhill with the wind on my back. It was a long but relaxing walk out and the rain wasn’t too heavy. It was often light enough to take my hood off. I was soon on a stalkers path which became a landrover track. Progress was fast and I was soon at the Caledonian Forest and finally Loch Arkaig. My confidence in the weather grew when the odd blue bit of sky appeared but the rain continued right up until the end of Loch Arkaig.

The River Mallie

A chaffinch

Loch Arkaig

I arrived at the very impressive waterfalls of Eas Chia-aig. a sight well worth photographing especially right after heavy rain like today! It was lunchtime now but the trees kept the wind out which meant midges. I hastily set off soon after lunch.

Just a little way up the steps lay a sign ‘forest walk closed, no unauthorised persons beyond this point’ I ignored it and went on, I wasn’t doing the forest walk and the was no evidence of work of any nature being carried out. I wasn’t going to let these obstacles get in my way. I walked up Gleann Cia-aig to the end of the forest. It was quite windy up here and brighening up quite quickly. There was no sign saying ‘keep out’ at this end of the forest which made me feel OK about this minor trespass. It was now time to look for a camp site.

The Loch Lochy Munros
seen from the west side

I headed up to the Cam Bealach (the bealach between the two munros) in search of a campsite. High cloud was making its presence again but thought it was just a passing cloud. The cloud got thicker by the minute and I realised the urgency of getting the tent up. I was inside the tent just in the nick of time before the rain got heavy. The forecast had changed, now saying a cold front is coming in from the north west but with a ridge of high pressure building for tomorrow. Something to look forward to.

Meall Odhar seen
from Meall na Teanga

The day dawned cloudy with some sunny bits. I thought that I would see more rain looking at the clouds so I was off at 8.30. The wind died down during the night but not completely so midges weren’t a bother. Soon I would reach civilisation and nice food.

Before all that, I had two munros to climb. I dumped my sack at the Cam Bealach and proceeded to climb each munro in turn. The cloud was lifting but it was still sunless. I could see all the munros climbed so far out to the west with Sgurr na Ciche dominating the skyline.  No views of the Nevis range which was a shame.

Looking down Gleann Cia-aig

The summit ridge of Meall na Teanga

Looking west to the Knoydart Wilderness

Back to the pack and it was nearly all downhill to the laggan locks. The cloud broke up and I cursed myself for setting off early. My pace my fast as I didn’t like the midges to follow me. I was soon at the road by lunchtime where I waited about 10mins for a hitch to Fort William. We were approaching Spean bridge and I cursed myself again for not having my camera handy.

Ben Tee as seen from
Sron a' Choire Ghairbh

I spent the night at an excellent place called Calluna which the hiking club were going to stay during the new year but had to cancel due to lack of interest. This was a shame as it really was luxury at an affordable price. It was like a home away from home with a mountaineering bias.

After leaving excess baggage at Calluna I was off to hitchhike up to the end of the Glen Nevis Road. The forecast was for patchy rain and cloud. It dawned sort of bright but the cloud did lower to 550m during the morning. It took a hitchhike and a bus ride to get to the Pollddubh falls. I couldn’t manage to get any further so I settled for an ascent of Sgurr a’ Mhaim here. The bus fare for the 5 –10 min ride was extortionate at £1.80. It was no wonder the bus was less than half empty.

I plodded up the very steep path to the towering summit at nearly 1100m after starting at 50m. That took just under two hours so progress wasn’t too bad. Now it was time for the Devils Ridge. It gave me some anxiety in not knowing how difficult it would be but in the end it turned out to be a simple exposed walk with one 3m high rock step.

I was soon on Sgurr an lubhair on familiar ground under familiar conditions. Just one more munro to go and I would be finished with the Mamore summits nearly 200 Munros later. The conditions were slightly drizzly and by now the wind was Gale to Severe Gale force at the bealachs. These conditions were boring! I climbed Am Bodach but didn’t bother doing the rest of the horsehoe and instead back tracked to Sgor an Lubhair and followed the valley back to the Poll Dubh falls where a hitchhike got me straight back to Fort William.

It was now time to find another place to stay. I opted for the Inchree bunkhouse. It was a reasonable though basic place to stay at quite a good price of £6.50 per night. There was also a very nice pub next to the bunkhouse. All was quiet in the bunkhouse and I made myself ready for bed....until 11.45pm BOOM! A great big group arrived making lots of noise and joined us keeping me and the other two residents awake until 2.00am. They were doing the three peaks challenge and set off at 5.30am. They seemed to have absolutely no consideration at all for other peoples need to sleep and the spoiled an otherwise good stay.

The forecast was for heavy rain all day. I pondered whether to have a rest day or to do the munros as planned. In the end I gave up. It was my intention to start at Glen Etive after hitchhiking there. It was hard enough hitchhiking up the Glen Coe road let alone the empty Glen Etive road. The rain was pouring and it was gale force wind making me shudder with cold. It wasn’t nice. My resilience to bad weather wore off and so I opted for the Bridge of Orchy Hotel instead for comfort and warmth before taking the coach home.

In retrospect I should have simply hung around waiting for the weather to clear but oh well, I’ll just have to find some other time to climb these summits. Hopefully under better conditions. Anyway 12 days out of a planned 18 isn’t bad and I’ve only got 55 munros left!