It was a day of haze and hurricane. The Glencoe hills were grey shadows against the rising sun. Beinn a' Bheithir, beyond Loch Leven, appeared faint and far away like a Himalayan summit glimpsed from the streets of Kathmandu or the plains of India. The calm of two days before, when we had walked in t-shirts, had been replaced by bitter gale force winds so that we had to don balaclavas on the ridge and almost crawl to the summit cairn. We decided not to make the out and back diversion to Doire Ban, a decision which we regretted later in the calm and comfort of the car!
Another conspicuous cairn, this time a coronation one, lies part way along the ridge and is the only sign of humanity. Yet from this deserted, trackless ridge one looks down on a landscape of fields and farms, a very different atmosphere from the more mountainous country of the west. The prospect today was particularly pleasing, topped by stormy clouds and a superb skyscape.
The traverse to Carn a'Ghille Chearr took much longer than we anticipated and the return to the col was even more of a struggle with the strong south-west wind now against us. The track to Knock was a bit elusive higher up but once located gave a pleasant and easy descent.
From the bothy we went up the east ridge of Carn Alladale, the southern top of the long ridge which led very pleasantly to the highest top despite a periodic battering by hailstones. Just before reaching the trig point a startling glimpse of the unmistakable profile of Suilven was a foretaste of the superb panorama on display from this summit. I remembered a similar view of the isolated hills of Sutherland from the Corbett Carn Ban which lies only a few kilometres south-west of Carn a'Choin Dearg.
A bit further west again lies Seana Bhraigh, looking splendid today, which is one of my favourite mountains. On its summit I not only completed my Munro collection but also, a few years later, made the last link in a jigsaw route from Lands End to Cape Wrath. Hamish Brown wrote somewhere 'its a far cry to Seana Bhraigh', imbuing it with a romance which led me to select it as my last in preference to Cona Mheall or Beinn Dearg which became my penultimate Munros.
We descended along the ridge south of Loch an Tuill Riabhaich and hence down the valley to the bothy just in time to shelter from the heaviest shower of the day which finished with a magnificent rainbow.
Once the bicycles were abandoned the going up to Crom Loch and then along its banks was very slow indeed. Only as we gained the flat ridge of the mountain did progress become at all pleasant. We lingered a long time at the top enjoying a splendid panorama of familiar hills with Beinn Dearg, my penultimate Munro, particularly prominent. Far away to the north we were convinced that we could see Ben Loyal and Ben Hope.
By the time we had rejoined our bicycles it was too late for Meall a'Chaorainn which looks unacceptably steep on this side anyway so we decided to leave it for another day and combine it with a visit to Glenbeg bothy.
The disused tramway which runs along the north side of the Grey Corries continues round the north end of the Munros but by some curious oversight did not appear on our copy of map 41. I discovered it by accident on a previous occasion and it was the memory of this pleasant track which encouraged us to start the Graham from this point rather than slog up it from the west, a happy choice I believe in retrospect. The bridge over the Allt Laire is gone and it would be quite a substantial wade, but it is possible to walk over the waterworks barrier and so gain the forest track.
As soon as we were clear of the trees we went straight up the mountain. This face is quite steep as the map suggests but can be easily scaled by judicious route selection. The summit was quite clear although all the surrounding higher hills were in thick mist. We continued westwards only far enough to find a slightly easier gradient for descent and thereafter returned exactly by our outward route in order to retrieve the glasses which Rowland had carelessly left beside the track on the way out. There was no danger of anyone else having picked them up on this unfrequented path.
Next morning it was spitting snow as we tackled the similar but longer ascent of Beinn Mheadhonach, making a tiny horseshoe up over several false eastern tops to the summit cairn and down directly to the tent for a second breakfast. Both hills gave splendid views into Glen Etive, which was our next destination, with Ben Cruachan closer at hand and still carrying quite a lot of snow.
A traverse across Rannoch Moor had long been one of my ambitions. The day for its fulfillment had been planned long in advance so it was the greatest of good luck that it turned out to be such a magnificent one. There was no breath of wind and a pre-breakfast stroll revealed the unruffled reflections of Buchaille Etive Mor and the Black Mount hills in the river pools at Kingshouse. Wispy white clouds hugging the slopes of these snow-flecked hills completed a perfect picture.
A hard surfaced track leads to Black Corries, a cluster of houses in the heart of the moor. Here we left the main track to follow an old stalker's path past Lochan Meall a'Phuill onto the west shoulder of the hill which looks decidedly uninteresting from here.
'Do you remember Beinn nan Ramh - the infinite pudding?', asked my companion, 'Well this one is the infinite sponge pudding!'
I laughed but truth to tell this appelation was totally inappropriate. First we had a pleasant track to trace, with bits of plank over the worst of the bog, which was fairly innocuous anyway after an exceptionally dry spring. Thereafter we were soon on the west top, Stob nan Losgann, with stunning views across the sparkling lochans of Rannoch Moor, backed by an array of spectacular mountains from the Bridge of Orchy Munros round to Ben Nevis and the Grey Corries. The ridge continued pleasantly dry and quite well defined with only the mildest of peat hags to negotiate and the crowning delight was a brew up right at the trig point on this remote summit.
The east ridge looked decidedly less inviting and a lot more haggy but we spotted the tracks of an all terrain vehicle and followed them down into the forest. This was clearly a well used route with palings laid over the peat in a few awkward places and it gave an efficient descent. We camped on the shores of Loch Laidon on a perfect evening at the end of a memorable traverse.
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