Creag Meagaidh

Last week I went to Creag Meagaidh, which has recently become one of my favourite Munros to run up.It lies close to the A86 half way between the Lochaber mountains and the Cairngorms. Previously I have climbed it by the westerly ridge Creag na Cailliche from Moy this a steep and rough ascent although it does give one the opportunity to traverse the entire plateau to get to the top. Strangely I hadn't attempted the more conventional route from the main car park up Allt Coire Ardair until a few months ago. When I did try this I realised how delightful it was. There is a good trail for most of the way - steep enough to be hard work but still runable . First through some attractive woodland then up a broad glen This leads to the beautiful Lochan a Choire which is  surrounded by dark foreboding cliffs. Beyond this the path is steep and with lots of scree until one gets to the bealach between Stob Poite Coire Ardair and Creag Meagaidh. The summit is about a km away across the sloping plateau.

Last week the weather had been kind all he way up but once on the plateau I could see a squall approaching from the west. Half way across the plateau the wind became quite ferocious and very cold and the visibility deteriorated .Rain then hail lashed down. There is a false summit just before the true top called Mad Meg's Cairn . Apparently a  poor lady who committed suicide in the 18th century was buried there by her family as it was forbidden for suicides to be buried in church yards. I decided to turn around there rather than continue to the true summit.Even so I was chilled to the bone and didn't warm up until I was back to the lochan. Then of course the clouds cleared and beyond the lowering shadow of the cliffs the sides of the glen were illuminated by bright sunshine. The painting below is from a photo I took at that point.

Yesterday I was meant to go to Rum but the capricious Scottish weather meant that the return ferry was cancelled.
 Instead  we took the train to Corrour and ran home through the wind and the rain sloshing our way through bogs and streams, and having a thoroughly good time.

The islands of Eigg (on the left) and Rum from Mallaig on a clam day.