While a full weekend in Kirriemuir with Saturday ascent of Mayar and Driesh might have been nice had I been free to go sooner, it might equally have been too wet and windy even that far east to enjoy and would certainly have resulted in missing the excitement of the river engorged beyond anything I’ve seen in 25 years of Kinlochleven life, as photographed on my way out at c.2:00pm…
But, despite the prevailing wet’n’windiness everywhere west, road east blocked at Loch Iubhair by full-width flood deep enough to produce ‘bow waves’ from the single-file traffic and River Dochart through the bridge at Killin looking perhaps even wilder than the Leven back home, escape to the east was duly accomplished in time to be admiring Campbell and Jillian’s new roof before dinner.
So Mayar and Driesh with Campbell had been on the agenda for some time but, delayed by the wait for coincidence of mutually convenient time, weather and a roofed house with room to put me up, now become my final Munros bar Fisherfield and Slioch. And, modest summits as they are, proving a delightful walk (which should also make a great wee hill run) by Campbell’s recommended ascent route of Corrie Fee, where you pop out of the forest to a flat floor to give Coire Gabhail a run for its money in the ‘surprisingly striking’ stakes and the classic icefall of Look C Gully (now thawed to an unclimbable dribble between Campbell and the more obvious B Gully towards the left of first photo below) seeming good reason to return at some appropriate time… which surely won’t be this year despite the ‘four seasons in one day’ sampler giving us everything (rain, sun, hail, sun, snow, sun) bar the colder cold and mid-level freeze/thaw cycles necessary to refreeze and fatten it up!
