Tuesday 30 March 2010 - Fresh Snow Up North

The curtains were thrown open to a wintry scene this morning. The day then gained a leisurely start. We are on holiday, after all.

Morning coffee having been imbibed, and Ken's arrival having indicated impending activity, yesterday's Munro bagging quintet plus Ken drove up to the Braes of Ullapool, where a local homeowner acted as parking attendant for P+P's car.

It was snowing.

We wrapped up warmly and trudged slowly up to the 558 metre summit of Beinn Eilideach. The snowline was around 200 metres and the summit held 10-15 cm of fresh snow. Well, 'held' is a misnoma as most of the stuff seemed to be airborne, blasting into our faces from the north east.

We huddled briefly around the trig point, itself enclosed by a wall/cairn. There wasn't a copy of Pravda to be seen today, though apparently copies have been found there in the past. There must be a hill-bagging breed of Russian seaman!

I'd judiciously kept to the back today. I had no map. Yesterday, when I thought Paul was 'in charge', I had inadvertently drifted to the front a couple of times. "Thank you for leading" had been something of a surprise comment at the end of the walk! Not today...

Neil led us down through a gusty avalanche-free snow shower past herds of red deer and a noisy grouse to Leckmelm, where we lunched beside a snowy farm track (pictured).

Then a spot of road walking and very muddy forest paths led us past some 'eco-lodges' to our safe car parking spot. Neil and Sam's car hadn't enjoyed the guidance of a local attendant, and sadly had been involved in an accident! 'C'est la vie', as they say.

The 9 km walk involving 600 metres ascent had taken about 4 hours.

Blustery showers continued whilst Sue continued to teach Andrew and Anne some Photoshop skills, and our resident chefs set to work preparing a 'progressive' multi-location meal for 10 people and Lucy.

That's all for now as this evening's 'gala dinner' is unlikely to leave any time for blogging.

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