The wind, cooled by its passage over the snow field in Sgurr a' Mhaim's northern corrie, was welcome after the steep, hot climb. We lazed at the cairn absorbing what lay before us. Dots appeared on the Devil's Ridge but otherwise the hills seemed empty. No doubt the upper snows of Ben Nevis were thronged, but that was a different world from ours today.
We had no plans for any further progress; not even the ridge tempted. Not much anyway. It's better from south to north in my view and Lynne agreed. That settled the matter; we would stay right where we were.
The descent is hard on knees and quads. The quartzite screes have been pounded to fine granules by thousands of walkers all using the same route up and down. Mostly down I would guess.
The day before our Sgurr a' Mhaim outing we met two Outward Bound Trust groups, one planning to camp at Lochan Coire nam Miseach the other already camped lower down the glen in a lovely spot with view down Glen Nevis. Most in both groups looked miserable and all except one girl who returned a wave from Lynne, ignored us. How different from the foursome met in the Lake District a couple of years ago who were carrying huge packs in debilitating heat and heading for 'Seattle we think' (Seatoller). They were all smiles, relishing the fells.
Another fine day we planted ourselves on Sgor an Iubhair and watched a guided party set off for the Devil's Ridge. We just wandered about.
Yesterday,while sitting in the sun at the 'van, we engaged a chap out walking his dog. The weather cropped up and the BBC got it in the neck for only being concerned with the 'soft south'. Then he added 'of course this is the soft south to me'. He lived in Sutherland and had been the Cape Wrath Lighthouse keeper and now retired he was the part-time keeper for several lighthouses checking all was well on a regular basis. Fascinating character.
Today it is blazing hot and we think we may go home tomorrow which gives us a couple of weeks before we are off again. On the other hand we might just have another day in the hills. Hard to leave here in the current weather.
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5 comments:
Stay! Why leave the good weather. I think i met that lighthouse keeper and he mentioned the soft south as the only place that has weather. The north of Scotland doesn’t matter. Cheery bloke.
We might just do that Alan. Did the keeper smoke a cigar in a holder by any chance?
I don’t recall that but we were on the little ferry at Kyle of Durness. He was on his way to the lighthouse.
You are a kindred spirit! I hate planning - just do whatever you want when you want. Others are always asking what one's plans are and I am reluctant to elaborate because I know I will likely change my mind, but then there is some satisfaction in their surprised reactions when they find out - almost as if they feel they've been cheated.
Last year I had a massive long distance walk planned and told nobody the details - I just set off from home and posted daily on the blog and let them guess. The plan was eventually severely modified for a number of reasons and I was glad I had not revealed the whole beforehand.
I prefer vague plans Conrad or very flexible ones. I'd be a hopeless TGO Challenger, forever ringing Challenge Control to change my route. I might never arrive in Montrose at all!
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