The weather forecast was bad and it was correct. All 19 attending members had to brave the most inclement conditions most of the day. From a meteorological point of view, our Glenfinnan meets remain consistently disappointing. In addition to atrocious weather, the bus broke down and bags got misplaced. Glenfinnan is unquestionably, a stunning area. Could it also be the jinx venue of the club?

Alan and Fiona Duncan and Mick Greenshields left the bus intending to climb Streap. However as the rain was pounding down, they changed their mind and headed for Sgurr an-Utha. After wasting half an hour “ringing church bells”, Fiona went about illegally crossing the railway line four times to find a route through rhododendrons. All three eventually made their way up to the north-north west ridge and the top of the hill. They descended via the Allt an-Utah and followed the road back to the Glenfinnan hotel where they found solace in front of a Glenfinnan ale. Amanda Strang, Annette Turnidge and Alan Macconachie had planned to walk to Loch Bearaid and Loch Morar. After spending a couple of hours tramping around in a bog, they decided to abort and retraced their steps back to the bus to dry out. Rather strangely, the bus was not there. To pass the time, they enjoyed a couple of reluctantly served cold drinks at the Lochailort Hotel. This was followed by a retreat to a nearby bus stop where they could at least shelter from the torrential rain and study the life of slugs until the second coach appeared.

Further west, Dougie Adam, Rob Murray, Graham Milton and Graeme Morrison’s ambitious objective included corbetts Sgurr na Ba Glaise, Rois Bheinn An Stac. They started off from the Lochailort hotel and luckily found a bridge across the Allt an-t-a-Sagairt. They experienced many falls on muddy terrain and never found the Druim Fiaclach pinnacles. After much hardship and endless up and down, they found comfort in a well deserved dram at the top of the hill. Back at the hotel, Rob discovered that his ordeal was not over as one of his bags was missing. Indeed, the latter was still on the morning bus which broke down and had to be replaced during the day. Thus, he not only had to keep his soaking wet gear on all the way back but also lived in fear of not having access to his house as his keys were also in that bag. In the end, Maynes arranged for his belongings to be returned to him back in Elgin.

George Herraghty, Flora Hunt and George Sim walked to the Ardnish peninsula. They found the track from Polnish to be rather faint in places and eventually lost it. After much wrestling with wet heather and a great deal of fumbling, they made it back to the straight and narrow and had a leisurely lunch at the excellent Peanmeanach Bothy. On their way back, they enjoyed good views from the top of Cruach an Fhearainn Duibh.

Illona Morrice, Natacha Mihajlovic, Ali Erginsoy and Jake Lee headed off through the woods from Drochaid Sgainnir and followed the excellent track along the Dubh Lighe. An hour later, the international party (Danish-French-Turkish-English) could make out the distinctive shape of Streap through the clag, rain and midge cloud. They abandoned the track to climb Meall an Uillt Chaoil. The narrow spine of the ridge does not call for great navigation skills and they easily found the summit despite poor visibility. All came off via the steep west side of the hill and returned safely to the bus with the exception of Natacha who had a close encounter with some particularly hostile German shepherd by Corryhully Bothy.

Natacha Mihajlovic