A good crowd of 17 people made it to this ever popular venue at Strontian.

Most to them being retired or only part time workers several made a long weekend of it with much activity on the previous days as well, while Heavy fretted about the lack of workers to pay his pension.

Alan and Fiona kicked off their long weekend with a visit to Mull on Thursday. They had a short climb up the Graham Cruach Choireadail finding it very windy but sunny and with great visibility. They spent the evening in the hot tub at the Isle of Mull Hotel enjoying the views of Ben Cruachan on the mainland. On Friday they climbed another Graham, Corra Bheinn. Sunny again, but warmer and much less windy. It was Alan’s first Graham since last August and you read it here first that Alan now intends to complete them all.

Starting off his long weekend on Thursday too with a slight detour to somewhere in Glencoe was Alistair Jeffs who climbed Creise and the other one above the ski tows. You will probably know which one he means but I don’t have a map handy. Lots of people on boards and planks making the most of the recent snowfall, but no sign of Adrian Marsay. He followed this on Friday with an ascent of Gulvain (Garbh Beinn) in the wind and sun.

Joe Glennie arrived on the Thursday night and feeling refreshed on Friday morning decided to make the first of his three visits to Mull. He took his bike on a lovely circular tour to Loch Aline, Fisnish (on the ferry as he hasn’t yet mastered walking on water), Tobermory and the ferry back to Kilchoan and an eventual return to Ariundle. Seventy miles and some insane amount of ascent. He arrived back at a sensible hour looking remarkably fit and fresh for adventures the next day.

Babs, Drummond and Ella also arrived on Thursday night and got an early start for a day on Ben Resipole. They took winter gear but found it unnecessary as most of the snow had melted. They were hit by strong winds on the ridge but from the sheltered side they enjoyed spectacular views to the Small Isles, Glen Finnan and Ben Nevis and the Mamores. A windy descent but they dropped down to the sunshine. Babs and Ella went straight down past the mines, while Drummond continued over another hill arriving back about two and a half hours later. Situation normal.

And on to Saturday’s adventures.

Heavy went to Sgurr Dhomhnuill. He took the bike to the end of the forest road, whereupon it then rained all day leaving him cold, wet and miserable and realising he had done that hill several times before. Having the bike was a definite bonus.

Susan went for a wet stomp up the glen behind the bunkhouse. Not a lot of wildlife in the oak-woods apart from a deafeningly loud woodpecker. This was followed by afternoon tea in the centre with clothes steaming by the woodburner in the cafe.

Our new president, Ben, hopefully not setting the tone for his incumbency, went to the pub. However, this was in the company of Joe Glennie, see previous reports, so this was perhaps not entirely surprising. They had set off with good intentions of climbing on the Ardnamurchan ring crags. You know the sort of thing – clinging desperately to a tiny holds with the fingernails of one hand, his right toe smearing onto a tenuous rugosity of sodden gabbro, the rain pouring down his face, staring determinedly at the route ahead. Well no. The rain pouring down their faces within minutes of setting off from the car shattered the fantasy. The Mishnish pub beckoned, from a long way away, as they had to catch the ferry from Kilchoan to Tobermory. Slainte.

Alistair and Adele made two bad mistakes. The first was to choose a hill that was not a Munro. The second was not to go to Mull. Basically they had cold, very windy, rainy day in cloud.

Also not having a great day was Ray Harron, who had planned to do the two Corbetts of Fuar Bheinn and Creach Bheinn. Not great weather, cold and wet, (see above) so he dropped off the ridge into Glen Galmadale. Debbie who went with him, on the other hand had a good day, seeing wild goats and enjoying the great views.

Simon, Dan and Drummond had seen the forecast and decided there would be much less wind, rain and cloud lower down so they stayed at sea level and went kayaking. Putting in at Portuairk they encountered some light swell which continued as far as the Ardnamurchan Point lighthouse. From there on the sea was flat calm back to Kilchoan. An excellent day but they almost wished it could have been a bit more exciting as they passed the westernmost point in the UK mainland. On the way back they stopped for a cup of tea at the hotel, where they were joined by Ben and Joe. This is getting predictable.

Bob and Fiona had an early start for a planned long day in Glenfinnan to do Sgurr Thuilm and Sgurr nan Coireachan. The wind, rain and snow soon cramped their style and changed their minds. After dithering (surely not?) they decided just to do Sgurr Thuilm and leave the other one for a sunny day with some views. Even so they still had a long day, arriving back too late to join everyone else for a group meal in the cafe.

Alan, Fiona, Ella and Babs headed for Beinn na Uamha. Like everyone else they had rain, wind, more rain and more wind with Alan guiding them to the summit. Their report then continues with a long spiel about who wore whose socks, who wanted the lilac pair and who actually wore walking socks for the the first time, but you don’t really want to know about that.

Sunday dawned, also overcast. As usual reports for this day are a bit sparse but most people did something.

Susan, Ella and Babs had a lovely walk up Glen Moidart, followed by soup at the Glenfinnan railway cafe.

Adele, Alistair, having heard about all the delights of Mull decided that west is best and headed there, with surprise, surprise, Joe Glennie, to tackle Ben More. We know they got back but did they see anything? Nobody knows. Chances are though that they reached the summit.

Drummond, Dan and Simon, once again stayed at sea level [err, i think you’ll find Loch Shiel is above sea level] and went paddling on Loch Shiel, which was considerably rougher than the seas around Ardnamurchan point. Battling into the headwinds they first visited Eileann Finnan, which has the ruins of a late medieval chapel and a large and ancient cemetery, before battling on to Pollock and paddling up the river to the first rapids. The return trip was much faster with the wind and surf whistling them along.