Back in the Fort, I had a wander round the outdoor shops before retiring to the comfort of the Nevisport bar for a beer, watch a bit of the World Cup and write a couple of postcards and wait for my Dad.
We opted to visit the excellent Old Station Restaurant in Spean Bridge for dinner. Arrived a bit early but was welcomed in by Ben & Vanessa anyway …and even got a guided tour of their new camper van!
The Loch Arkaig road is painfully slow with every twist, turn and blind summit having the possibility of a head on with something coming the other way. With the car parked, we quickly sorted the bikes to avoid the increasing midge population and headed towards Upper Glen Dessary. Bikes hidden we walked the last km or so over to A’ Chuil bothy. Been here a number of times and each with each visit the bothy seems in better condition which is good. Had a whisky and chat before an early night (still shattered from the WHW day or so).
Left A’Chuil around 7:30am and made our way over to the track leading to the first hill of the day – Sgurr nan Coireachan. Dumped the overnight kit in a very obvious location …a small dip about 50m above the track and behind a large single rock (easy to find on the return journey?). A small path made the ascent reasonable but I found it difficult to get the pace right. Once on the summit, the view were impressive …north over Loch Quoich and out towards Eigg especially.
We continued west following the large stone wall. Once again, I wondered at the men who built this …what conditions they worked and lived under. Sitting on the summit of the second Munro of the day Garbh Choich Mhor, it was clear that we were going to achieve the objection of the trip and take in the third and most westerly hill of Sgurr na Ciche. We made the last push stopping to chat to a couple of folks making the return east along the ridge. A short out and back to the summit before starting the drop down from the bealach towards Glen Dessary.
The walk out was always going to be long but in the early afternoon heat, it seemed to take forever. The 2.5km along the forest indicated that it would soon be time to start looking for the overnight stuff stashed earlier …I was glad I left it close to a significant landmark.
Reached the end of the forest …scanned the hill for the rock which was easy to find …headed up the hill a bit …there was the small dip …but NO dry bag ! I checked back down the hill and check my line …yup right place …a sinking feeling took over …someone has lifted the gear. Another sweep to check I was in the right place coupled with my Dad asking “are ye sure it wiz here son” …”AYE …was the reply”. Brief thoughts led me to running over to the bothy in case someone had helped move the gear back ….about 30 mins later I returned gutted to find my Dad smiling. There was another big rock just down the path and the gear had been there all along – phew !
Short ramble back to the bikes (which were easy to find again) and all that was left to do was spin back down the track, pick up the car and drive south.
A great series of days …a WHW race completion for Jason, 3 new Corbetts for my collection and 3 new Munros for my Dads (this leaves him with 25 main summits left to visit).
Father & son on Sgurr na Ciche
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