Early Morning Munro Bagging

After looking after the hostel (and Alby, the dog, the cats and the chickens) all weekend whilst Jen was away (how good does that teapot look?) it was finally my turn to do something. We (I had to take Dylan) headed out to a couple of Munros north of Glen Shiel early one morning to try and get some photos.

It was a perfectly clear moonlit night/morning as we left the van near the Cluanie Inn and headed up to A’Chralaig and along to Mullach Fraoch-Choire. It wasn’t until we hit the ridge proper that the full effect of the bitter wind hit us, it was a case of head down and plough on to the massive cairn atop A’Chralaig for shelter. I could see the sky beginning to glow over towards Ben Nevis but knew we had plenty of time before we’d be taking any photos.

After half an hour of sitting at the cairn with all my extra layers on sheltering from the bitter wind, one foot absolutely freezing having got soaked earlier on, I was wondering why on earth I was sitting on top of a freezing cold snowy mountain at 7.30 in the morning when I could be at home cosily tucked up in bed. Just as the urge to head down was almost unbearable the sun hit the mountain across the glen, the cold was soon forgotten as I grabbed the camera and ambled along the ridge taking photos of the mountains as they came alive in the sun.

An hour or so later as we headed back to the van down a fantastically warm autumnal glen listening to the deer rut, the cold and the doubts from the top long forgotten…could there be a better way to spend a morning?

–Matt

PS. I feel obliged to remind you we are now on facebook