The book said park by the houses at back of Ballachuilish which we did but walking half a mile up the road found a car park. The walk up into the glen, a mountain bike route was pleasant and very easy but we soon took the wrong turn. I don't think it was our fault, the book said continue straight and ignore right turns. However you come to a point where the road curves left with an offshoot going right. Was this a right turn or not? We decided to go this way but after a few hundred yards it felt wrong. Down the road was another couple with dogs pouring over a map so down we went and found they had the same problem. We all decided to go the way we were going and eventually it took us up to where we wanted, but it wasn't the route described in the book. Eventually we found the cairn by the roadside indicating the start of the walk proper and up we went up a steep narrow path up a pleasant sort of gorge. Good fun but we wondered if it would be so easy coming down. The path at the top of the gorge opens out onto boggy moorland and then into a small valley, a bit like a miniature of the lost valley on Bidean. Funny how the climbs in Glencoe all have the features of gorge climbs and hidden valleys. There was a path all the way up and while very boggy in parts was easy and no problems. A short break at the bottom of the climb to the col and then up. Dead easy and on the col in no time. The walk up to Sgorr Dearg was extremely easy, grassy at first then becoming stony. Graeme ahead of me but we were soon at the top.
Sandwiches and Guinness, Fosters for Graeme and a pleasant seat with nice views. Weather was still mild and dry with no wind at all. Makes you wish we had done the Aonach Eagach instead, we will be unlikely to get such good conditions again. Looking across at Sgorr Dhonuill, it looked quite fierce and a bit more of a challenge than the one we were on. When I mentioned it to Graeme he nodded, he had been thinking the same. The book indicated a narrow top and scramble and that's certainly the way it looked from here.
As we descended we noticed other walkers leaving their rucsacs and sticks at the col, so taking the tip we did the same. I was lumbered, however, with the camera. On this trip I had the heavier SLR camera as my new one had gotten drenched in wine/beer at a wedding by some drunken lout - me, I think, and was being repaired. This hill is much more rocky than its sibling but the path was straightforward although passing very close to the edge of the ridge at times. I still cannot understand how paths can be made close to substantial drops. You would think most people would prefer to walk a few feet, rather than inches, from the edge and that paths would go up the middle - but not so. Towards the top the hill levelled out into a narrow, but easy, ridge leading to a steep, rocky bit. This was clearly the scramble and the path started to disappear. I followed Graeme's route to a point where he had scrambled up a six foot boulder split. He told
me there was a path but it seemed to go right over to the edge and round the hill so he wasn't sure it was correct. Whatever I went his way up the boulder to find we were virtually on the top. The scramble really had turned out to be a non event. A little hands on over the boulders but little to it. From the top we could see that the path Graeme had seen was indeed the path up, Which meant the little scramble could have been avoided if wished. This is the way we took down and although it went very close to the edge there was only one slightly awkward bit. On the way down I met a Yorkshire couple who were happy to chat. She was carrying the load and they had a good banter about him being the one with the money so he would buy the meal and she carry the rucsac. We talked about hills generally and how they had also done the CMD arête, must have been ten/fifteen minutes with them. Funny enough when they went I seemed to have gotten refreshed and I actually jogged the rest of the way down the stepped path to the col. The route back down to the forest track was not too bad and I was down quicker than I expected. So good in fact that I managed to keep Graeme in sight all the way. Just as well I did. At the peak we had been able to see the forest below and could now see exactly the route we should have taken on the way up. It was not the way the book said - either they got it wrong or the routes have been moved. Anyway it showed us where we should go on the way down. However all the way down I had it in my head that on reaching the track we should go right but saw Graeme ahead going left. A quick recalculation showed he was right which was just as well for me as the track right went nowhere. Very tired by now but the track was easy and eventually took me to the car park.
