Friday evening saw a ragged bunch of would-be adventurers collecting in the car park at the eastern end of Loch Affric. There were several other parties there aside from the MMC members and by the constant and manic movements of all and judging from the bizarre varieties of headwear on show, it was painfully obvious, that on this still, dull day in August – the midge was wreaking its customary havoc.

Zippy Morrison had driven in his faithful truck and it is with great thanks from all, that he managed to squeeze a lot of gear as well as the free-loaders; Jan, Ray, Heavy and Luca into his vehicle for the few miles to the cottage. The rest cycled in and were no more than a few minutes behind the vehicle when we arrived at the fabulously situated Strawberry Cottage. (If anyone knows where the name comes from it would be good to know.) As usual, Zippy negotiated all obstacles with skill and daring to park 6 inches from the cottage door.

11 of us had made the trip, the one notable exception being our supposed leader. Far from being omni-present, the MMC’s very own god is more like the Scarlet Pimpernel. His absence was duly noted – again, and as we had the customary water pumping problems, it was obvioulsy Simon’s fault. (“Simon who?” I hear you cry. Quite.)

If the midges were bad at the carpark, then they were absolutely horrendous here. INSIDE the cottage was full of them, and a visit to the outside cludgey was to run the gauntlet of a million bites. A fairly quiet night (Heavy had a sore throat and took a while to get the masking tape off his mouth) was somewhat enlivened by the repeated disappearance of Luca – Jake’s errant nephew. Partly brought up in Skipton, Yorkshire and partly dragged up in Australia, he finds normal society difficult and so spent much of the night going ‘rogue’. This seemed to be a version of Aboriginal walkabout and saw young Luca roaming the bog up the glen in pursuit of that which only he knows of. In the absence of Drummond and Ella, Joe also made a fine late entrance operating on ‘Joe-time’ and therefore 5 hours after his ETA.

The weather was forecast to be worsening considerably during Saturday, and so everyone was up early and keen to get out. This keenness was then accelerated to a desperate and indecent scramble to get off and out, as the midges were proving to be unbearable. In a rare flurry of activity folk were jumping on bicycles and shouldering rucksacks in a bid to find a breeze, or at least get moving faster than the little devils.

Everyone was very good at providing reports of their progress and here are their tales.

Heavy  –  All alone (can one not hear the smallest violin in the world?). Away at 07:00 to get the weather and away from the midges! From the cottage to Gleann na Ciche. Good road for 3km then an awful, boggy 4×4 track to the end of the forest. Very steep rough ground up to the Munro top Tigh Ma Seilge (929m) above huge wild corrie and saw Prince Charlie’s cave. On to second Munro top Carn Mheadhoin (1001m) then on to Sail Chaorainn (1002m). Met three ladies who had come in from Kintail and were also after the tops. Rain came in and headed back the same way. Great bothy. The weather held off until H was back, but the midges were wild. Heavy did complain of being slow and finding it hard, but he seemed to be moving pretty well by all accounts and its great to see the old duffer out and about in the hills he so loves.

Ray and Jan –  walked in to the AltbeitheYouth Hostel, crossed the bridge and set off up the ridge towards Beinn Fhada. A constant ascent over two tops then a 2km high level ridge to the summit. Saw no-one else up to this point, then seven others appeared from the Kintail direction. We then set off directly down the ridge from the summit to pick up the path back to Altbeithe. Called at the hostel to see the warden, who was a friend of Jan’s. A welcome cup of coffee before walking back to Strawberry Cottage in the rain. Total trip time a leisrely 10hrs 30minutes. Good training for the Ray’s next Alps trip. Just like the Alps. Apart from the midges, rain and lack of cow bells. Though Kaffee und kuchen were sampled.

Graeme, Dan, Lucy, Luca and PTWD  –  all followed PTWD to the impressive Sgurr Dan Chrysanthamum or as it is occasionally known – Sgurr nan Ceathreamhan. Dan peeled off at this point to return via Beinn an t-Socaich, as he knew what was coming next. Young Luca took a creative route home via Loch Coire nan Dearcag and then took a swim in the river by the cottage. Good lad. Graeme and PTWD were then well and truly beasted as they clung onto the heels of the hill-whippet Lucy as she ran over to Mullach na Dheiragain then back via An Socach.

Adrian  –  cycling with Joe to begin with. Past the Altbeithe Youth hostel then up in to Glean Gniomhaidh and over Bealach an Sgairne. Here Joe peeled off and was not seen again for some time. Adrian continued his mammoth cycle down to Morvich and then back via Gleann Lichd with just a modicum of pushing before a glorious descent and long pedal back to base. All in all, about 39km of (mainly) cycling and over 1360m up and down. Total trip time 7hrs. On his previous weekend meets, Adrian had admitted to doing less than he might have wanted to and so made certain he got a cracking long day here.

Andy and Jake, restricted by a litany of physical and mental challenges that it would be cruel here to describe, eschewed the big hills of the glen for a  circumbobulation of Loch Affric. Ornithology had been the original ambition, but midges meant that progress needed to be fairly steady and so there was little time to stand and stare. A walk with Andy is however, much more than a mere amble as his knowledge on many aspects of the hills allows for fascinating insights. Geology, geography, social history, natural sciences and meteorology are a few of the topics he can illuminate a walk with. Some of it is also fact-based. An osprey was seen, which impressed Mr Brooks not one bit, but although common enough these days, Jake had never seen one this far inland. What the pair did encounter in large numbers though was the beautiful Affric Dark. A delicate and superbly coloured butterfly, that may have a more precise taxonomy, but Affric Dark is what it shall be known as.

Baby Joe decided to have a look at A’ Ghlas-bheinn so mounted his bicycle and pedalled west in search of it.  He soon passed the Ceathramhnan Quartet and later caught up with Adrian.  They cycled together up Gleann Gniomhaidh where they had a watershed moment before reaching the appropriately named Loch a Bhealaich, which might just drain eastwards as well as west given enough rain.  They pushed on (literally) to Bealach an Sgairne where Joe left Adrian to his massive circumcyclation of Beinn Fhada and wandered up the hill.  The weather was better than forecast so it was a place to linger and take in the views before returning to the Bealach.

Once back to the bike an agonising decision arose.  Either stick with the plan, enjoy the downhill cycle to Strawberry Cottage and arrive early in the afternoon to sit back with fine ales and an excellent Graham Greene novel… Or follow Adrian’s tracks into the unknown.  A vertical descent of over 500 metres of steep technical single track mountain biking to the shores of the Atlantic, and then back up Gleann Lichd, past the EUMC hut, up the steep rocky path by the Allt Grannda waterfalls and Camban bothy before the final descent down into Glen Affric.  Not a sensible choice for a solo novice mountain biker but when has being sensible ever been fun?

It was still light when Joe parked his bike outside the cottage after an excellent twelve hour day.  Five punctures, one head-over-handlebars fall, too many midge bites and scratches to count, a few bruises and an aching knee.  Beer and books are all very well but nothing beats an adventure. It was a long day for Joe. His hours being spent in fairly even proportion between adventuring and bike maintenance. That he came back with excited tales of where he had been and barely mentioned the fact that he had had so many technical mishaps very well illustrates his assertion that ‘nothing beats an adventure’

The predicted weather front was far later than forecast and so most missed any really poor conditions. The midges weren’t as bad in the cottage and all were back in plenty of time to relax and make tea. There were also offerings of lemon drizzle cake and some almost edible chocolate marshmallow brownies created by members of the party that were well received by the weary travellers.

Another very convivial evening was spent to the accompaniment of the ever increasing wind. A very poor day was forecast for the Sunday and although there was much talk – none of it was about plans for the next day.

The weather was never as awful as was feared and although the wind didn’t blow through at the hurricane force that was predicted, it was more than enough to get rid of the bloody midges! The Cottage was cleaned and as ever made more ship-shape than when we arrived and the party were all departed long before midday. Strawberry Cottage is a fantastic opportunity to get a real experience of being amongst wonderful scenery and it is one of those opportunities that is afforded by being a member of a club like the MMC. There was talk of returning as individuals in the winter by some of those there, which is something available to all of us as members of a club. Food for thought indeed. And that’s right – no midges in February!