Well I met Graham on Friday evening as planned at the end of Loch Glascarnock. He had been up Ben Wyvis on Friday and even managed to get a view at one point.
The plan for the weekend was to do the 6 Munros round Beinn Dearg, 4 on the Saturday camp high up the 2 on the Sunday. Friday evening was a lovely evening, hardly a breath of wind and Saturday dawned to a bright and sunny day.
We set of up the valley to approach Beinn Dearg from the south west, and avoiding what locals and other walkers had been describing as the inpassable river. After we started gaining height we came to the snow line which made walking a bit harder as you weren't sure if the snow would hold your weight or if your foot was about to plunge in the knee high snow as it was begining to melt slightly. We met a little frog on our travels which has jumped out a little melt hole. We got up really close to it and it didn't move at all, but you could see it was still breathing. After quite a slog up through snow we came to the cairn at the top of Beinn Dearg, but only stopped for a we while as it was fairly windy. We decended down to the corrie and back into sinking snow again. By this point time was getting on so we quickly climbed up Cona' Mheall - I enjoyed this one much better as it wasn't nearly as high and a bit easier going as there were footprints to follow. At the top it was blowing a gail and some hail stones thrown in for good measure. We decended then started to look for some where flat enough and snow free to pitch the tent. I struggled to stay awake long enought to eat my dinner.
On Sunday morning we awoke to find a slight covering of snow on the ground. Graham then set off to do either 1 or 3 munro's while I stayed in my sleeping bag and slept some more. A couple of hours later Graham returned after climbing one of the hills to find me still sleeping. The walking was still fairly hard going so our new plan was to do Am Faochagach and go back to the car - definatly OK with me. We had a lot of good views on Sunday and some snow/hail showers mixed in.
The return route unfortunatly did take us back out to a river, the one described earlier and indeed that was the case. In places fairly fast flowing and not nearly enough stones above the water to cross easily. There was no option but to get wet feet. We found the widest part of the river that was also quite slow moving. Graham decided to take his trousers and socks off to wade across, I just went as I was as I'd already discovered my new waterproof trousers didn't work so couldn't really get much wetter anyway. Graham went first and like a sheep I followed. I took a few steps before the water came into my boots and it wasn't nearly as cold as I imagined it to be. At the other side I took my boots off to tip out the excess water and wring out my socks. From there it was only a short walk back through some bogs to get back to the car. I was definatly looking forward to dry shoes, a hot shower and a pint or 2.
On Sunday night we stayed at the Kinlochewe bunkhouse, where I slept very well. On Monday we had a rest day driving a bit round the west coast and dropping of a couple of extra food parcels for Graham to collect in a week or so.
On Monday teatime I left Graham at the exact same spot as he got in the car and headed home. He has since climbed the 9 munros on the south side of the Ullapool raod.