A few years ago I was driving between Fort William and Inverness; part of that route led along the west bank of Loch Lochy. My attention was drawn by the hills on the other side. At that time they looked distant not only geographically. Eventually their time has come.
The forecast for the day predicted rain in the afternoon, so I decided to start exceptionally early to avoid it: at 5:30 I left my car on the side of the back road and followed a pretty wide forest road, running parallel to the loch. Despite the early time of the day it was pretty warm, humid and calm – perfect conditions for relentless and bloodthirsty midges. 15 minutes into the walk I had to stop and put on my faithful repellent. That allowed me to continue with such a relative comfort that I almost missed the path I was to take. It looked like a black hole in the green wall of the forest on the right. The path was much narrower and steeper than the dirt track. The path was climbing along a deep gorge, initially through pretty thick and dark forest, then ferns and grass. Higher up it was colder with a fresh breeze, so the midges eventually gave up. As the sky remained overcast I decided to climb the northerly Munro, Sron a’Choire Ghairbh. I expected more spectacular views from the other one, Meall na Teanga, sitting on the bank of the loch. Unfortunately my hope was in vain. From both tops there were great views along the Great Glen, but the light and haze weren’t in favour of photography. With no prospect of any better weather (rather the opposite) I headed back the same route just in time to have my lunch in the car at 1pm.
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