Apologies to my one blog reader I've been a little rubbish lately! Ebbs and flows dude!
Okay, need to concentrate... Actually it's nice to pull together some nice pictures after a great day in the hills, and that was what I definitely experienced last Saturday.
The NW looked the best weather so I decided to head Ullapool way as I couldn't face a super early start! A few years ago I/we had a very memorable day climbing Penguin Gully on Beinn Dearg. What's memorable is an early start, longggg walk in into a head wind with Loz, Shaw and Judith, a long fun winter route followed by a longgg walk out in the dark. To be fair this was our second day winter climbing and walking out in the dark I was so knackered that I was hallucinating thinking that path side rocks were sheep! We then had a dinner party at Loz and Gemma's which was great, but boy oh boy was I tired! A very memorable time!
This previous trip left me with 3 Munro's to explore in the area next to Beinn Dearg. This time I learnt from before and took my bike for the initial couple of miles through the forestry (boy oh boy this was nice on the return).
It was a great start to the day at first light and I headed in on the familiar track to Beinn Dearg. My solitude was slightly broken as I caught and overtook another very friendly and chatty walker. The light was beautiful as the sun rose as I passed a lochan and got to the high col.
From the bealach, my first hill was Cona' Meal which gave fine views in all directions. The snow line was just higher than this hill at around 1000m and evident on Beinn Dearg. On my way down from this hill I saw another couple heading up who I didn't see again, in fact these were the last folk I saw.
From here it's back to the Bealach before heading NW to Meall nan Ceapraichean. What fine views of the sea, Ullapool and Summer Isles! Magical.
I got into my rhythm following the tops over verglassed rocks with fine views of Seana Bhraigh to the North. My last top of the day was Eididh nan Clach Geala and I allowed myself a 30 minute break to enjoy the views from here. I toyed with waiting for sunset to take some pictures but it's always a hard thing to do.. do I wait here for 1-2 hrs in good but cold weather to potentially see a great sun set etc, or carry on and be back at the van at this time! I'm not disciplined and always carry on!
The walk out was really nice, scenic and uneventful apart from hearing a stag roar and weirdly hearing what I thought were people talking blowing in on the breeze but I couldn't see anyone anywhere... did I imagine it? Was it a spirit, or just the wind?
30 mins before dusk I got back to my bike and enjoyed the down hill miles back to the van after a great 14 miles in the hills.
