On Sunday I did Beinn a’ Ghlo with my brother and a couple of friends, and we did the round of these three hills anti-clockwise (opposite to normal) because Carn nan Gabhar was the only Munro of the three I hadn’t done. I preferred doing it this way too with the long walk back coming first. And the weather was good too, but cold on the summits. Carn nan Gabhar took a while to get too, but the other two mountains followed on quickly. Good views into the Gorms, the Drumochter/Gaick plateaus stretching westward.

Even got a wee view down the Glen Etive slot toward the end of the day – not bad for the other end of the country!

Some pics … the fourth is me if anyone out there wonders who this Kev guy is. (almost posing too!)

Had a nice wee stroll up the diminutive Ben A’an today. Was nice; broke some new boots in, scrambled back through the woods and had a spot of lunch by Loch Katrine. A little pedestrian perhaps but a fine day out with good company. First of the season, you have to ease yersel’ in, Ken? Aye to the Hills…

Camera 2 took a hell a beating at the weekend.  I was just trying to persuade him might be time to think about retirement – a ‘well deserved rest’ it would be.  Round and round, recirculating under a weir he went, long after I had got out of there.  Not many would make it through that,especially after the life he’s had, but I think he was throwing down the gauntlet, as there’s a new camera in town – and by god did he not show the young guns how it’s done -even at that grand old age.  He’s just been wandering about the house since then with a extra spring in his step, babbling on about nights in the desert, days on mountains and about new cameras not being up to much  ’ I’ll show them 9 point auto-focus’.

There has been some wet water about lately, here’s some massively over processed photos from a wet weekend in Loch Ard.

After a summer of being out on the mountain bike a grand total of 3 times, committing to do a 24hour race seemed like a good way of forcing me back to the hill. As I sit here fresh from the a82 south, tired, in pain and smelling like a rotting tramp I feel good. Why? There is no conceivable explanation.
The weather was harsh, classic Lochaber rain that ebbed from viscous drizzle to driving droplets the size of gravel. A massively improved course from previous years was at first fast and defined, proper climbs – proper descents, gone were the lonesome non-discript drags of old. The trail deteriorated in step with the weather and become an eroded minefield of draggy mud, slick roots and newly dug holes. The night shifts were hard lonely slogs, interrupted only by brief chats with folk either passing or lagging and the hugely enthusiastic (drunk?) marshals. The craic was mighty back in camp, with few dull moments of introspective pain and exhaustion.
So the question remains; Why? Why indeed, why was is so enjoyable when for vast amounts of time there was nothing but pain and contemptuous weather / terrain? The answer my friends is in the stars, there is no answer. It is a strange paradox of pain, laughter, adrenalin, sleep deprivation and the enjoyment of life’s simple pleasures camaraderie, sustenance and the comfort that comes from rest in dry clothes and warm places.