Sunday, 19th April 2009

When bookings for this meet started coming in three weeks ahead of time, one might have guessed that this would turn out to be a fairly popular event. No less than forty-six members and guests (unseen in years if not decades) turned up on the day to enjoy the beauty of Torridon in superb weather conditions.

David Brown-Douglas, George Herraghty and Ros Wright were first off the bus at Kinlochewe. They pressed on hard all day to get to the top of Slioch (someone must have moved the hill five miles up the glen since I was here last! said George) however, all three enjoyed a glorious day out with fantastic views.

Fran Knowles and friend William Parker headed towards Loch Clair and Loch Coulin. Although still early in the season, Fran caught six fat brown trout two of which she put back. Our Queen of the Lochs enjoyed a wonderful day being rowed around, looking up at Beinn Eighe and committing the occasional act of murder with a priest (the implement used to whack fish over the head).

Further up the road, Spencer Julian left the bus with a mission: A traverse over the ridges of Beinn Eighe, Beinn Dearg and Beinn Alligin, which he actually did in 8h20. Back at the bus, he confessed feeling a bit emotional about achieving this personal challenge, but also promised to start relaxing a bit now in order to enjoy the hills ,as any man in his 50s should!

Flora Hunt, Kat Parker, Lesley and Malcolm Leiper enjoyed a low level walk from the car park at the Ling Hut. They followed the track skirting the base of Liathach and took a detour to Loch Coire Mhic Fhearchair before heading back to Beinn Alligin car park. Numerous frogs, tadpoles, lizards and a dead deer calf were the main wildlife interest.

Rob Murray also started at the Ling Hut and walked round to Corbett Meall a’Ghiubhais. He too indulged in some fishing at two lochs and caught a couple of monsters. So he says!

Bob Weeks had a “perfect day in perfect weather” up Ruadh-stac Beag and Meall A’Ghiubhais (in that order) and subsequently declared: “…and the wife wonders why I don’t want a rockery in the garden.”

Beinn Eighe attracted the biggest party. Fiona Duncan, Victoria Fuller, Chris Harding, Jake Lee, Bob Macdonald, Andrew Mainwaring, Dan Moysey, Greg and Chris Muir completed a traverse of the ridge and all made it back to the Kinlochewe Hotel, although time got a bit tight towards the end (Fiona did refer to the day as “brilliant if a bit of a route march!”) The two main scrambling sections came as a pleasant surprise. An eagle was spotted, although Dan missed it at first with his £6 Lidl binoculars: “Eagle at 2 o’clock, Dan!” to which he replied “Which side?” He did eventually see it though.

Alan Duncan followed more or less the same route but backtracked and climbed Sail Mhor. He waited for the rest of the group to return from Ruadh Stac Mor to walk the rest of the ridge.

Graham Milton soloed his way up Corbett Beinn Dearg, while Jo Cross and Heavy Whalley also enjoyed a superb day far from the madding crowd, going up Sgurr Dubh and Sgorr nan Lochan Uaine.

Another large group consisting of Graeme Bartlett, Malcolm Campbell, Lydia Davies, Gordon Eccleston, John Henderson, Natacha Mihajlovic, Graeme Morrison, David Strathdee and guests Mara Calugareanu and Jenny Smith set off for Liathach and had a fantastic day out in great company. Mark Richford and Alastair Wren walked the same ridge, just slightly ahead of the others.

At the west end of the glen, Andy Brooks, Phil Coutts, Ali Erginsoy, Dave Mclean, Illona Morrice, Amanda Tomlison and Sarah Tyson completed the anti clockwise round of Ben Alligin.

They stopped just before the first horn to have lunch and spotted an eagle too (presumably the one also seen flying above Beinn Eighe). Weather conditions remained ideal, with a nice cool breeze until someone decided to turn the aircon off on the last pull up to Tom na Gruagaich!

Graeme Gillespie and Richard White also enjoyed a rare day up Ben Alligin but clockwise this time, leaving the horns till last.

In conclusion, an excellent day was had by all and a very sociable pub stop at the Kinlochewe Hotel (good to see the place back in full swing!) ended it nicely. Many of us will look back on it as a great outing. For guest Jenny Smith, it was a bit more than that:

“I climbed my first Munro (Spidean a’ Choire Leith) today! This has been my favourite day of the year so far! I wasn’t even sure I’d make it at first, so am feeling slightly euphoric and had the most hard-earned pint afterwards. The scrambling was so much fun! I’ll definitely be back for more. Thank you to all the great people I’ve met today – no doubt I’ll see you again soon. Stunning.”

Natacha Mihajlovic

For more photos from this meet, click here