Meet Report

25th to 27th June 2021 - Inver hut , Achnasheen

Due to governmental restrictions (max. 6 people from 3 households) the first EMC indoor meet since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic was quite a small one despite being fully booked – but Clare A, Tim N (PNM) and I had a fabulous weekend.

On Friday, we climbed Maoile Lunndaidh with a bike-assisted approach. We left the bikes shortly before reaching the lodge, and made our way across the bog. Once up the hill it was bitterly cold (MetOffice was talking about "feels like -10deg"), and even though I had brought gloves, my fingers were freezing, especially when walking with the compass out in an attempt not to get lost in the low visibility.

We made sure to bag all 3 summits (the Munro top of Càrn nam Fiaclan, the deleted Munro top of Creag Toll a'Choin which actually might be possibly the real Munro summit, as well as Maoile Lunndaidh). An owl sighting on the descent was the wildlife highlight of the day. The downhill return back to the car park was over really quickly thanks to the bikes – and when my chain got stuck Tim managed to repair it really quickly.

We then made our way to our accommodation for the weekend. The Inver Croft hut, which is located close to Achnasheen usually offers rather basic accommodation, but felt quite luxurious given the circumstances - 2 bedrooms, 22 mattresses, 2 toilets and 7 kettles for the 3 of us. About 20 rather curious cows formed the welcoming committee – and later offered evening entertainment by playing peek-a-boo through the windows of the hut.

Being indoors meant that eating and socialising wasn't disturbed by the pesky midges which were quite abundant outdoors.

On Saturday summer came back and we had an absolutely fantastic day on Sgorr Ruadh and Beinn Liath Mhor. Two great hills which offered stunning views all over Torridon. Clare (of course!) went for a swim – she’s now working on list with lochs/lochans (still to be decided) over a certain height (still to be decided, too) to form a list for swim hike baggers.

A fire made the evening in the hut really cosy, and after lots of chat and some beer and wine we had another good night sleep on our multiple mattresses.

The good weather held for Sunday, and after cleaning and closing up the hut we made our way to the Western Fannichs, where we went up Sgurr Breac and A'Chailleach. We spotted an eagle on the way up, and a ptarmigan on the way down. What a superb weekend!