Graeme had a splitting headache. Drove down to the old bridge at Dalrigh, after missing it once, for the start to this hill. Along a path till you go over the railway then an immediate right turn onto a smaller path. Very easy to miss this and we noticed other walkers doing just that. The path crosses the Allt Coire Dubhchraig and is just a slow, gentle walk along a sometimes muddy path up through the forest. It's not like climbing a mountain at all, it is so gentle. Gentle or not Graeme was in a mess with his headache and it would only have taken a couple of words from me and I am sure he would have called it a day. The path continues up, through three deer fence stiles before reaching open country. By now the weather was foul, such a change from yesterday and we were in full gear. After the third fence we continued to follow the path but for some reason it seemed to be moving off the place we knew we had to go. This was a col, obvious even in the bad weather. At first we assumed the path would bend round but eventually gave up, broke away and made our own way to the col, over some rough ground. By this time the heavy drizzle had become a downpour and as we got closer to the col it became horizontal rain. This was the only steep part of the hill but even at that it was not difficult and is only a couple of hundred metres at most. As usual we were very slow with frequent stops, hindered not just by rain but by the wind which was against us and which got stronger and stronger as we neared the top of the col. On top of the col it was murder. I don't think we have had such wind since Schiehallion. Three times I was literally blown off my feet a few feet and it was just as well it was only a grassy ridge, although once I was blown onto boulders but grabbed one in passing and was OK. The walk from here to the summit is incredibly easy but on this occasion it was a question of lying down flat on the ground until the wind dropped slightly then making a dash for a few yards, then down on the ground again. The summit cairn is semi circular and is a shelter against the wind so I suppose it must always be windy up here. While having Guinness etc. two guys arrived, literally touched base and were off again. Graeme was feeling better but could not face going on to Ben Oss. At first I was not a happy bunny as it means we will have to do the whole walk again another day but soon realised that I was glad of the excuse to call it a day. The clincher was that apparently Ben Oss affords good views of Loch Lomond which we would not have got today. So it might be worth waiting for a better day.
Back down, though the wind seemed less fierce than before. At the col we saw a line of people coming up though they were not all together. A little further down we chatted to others and gave them horror stories about the col. Much to our surprise a few minutes later we saw them following us down. Seemed such a waste to climb so high and then give up. They soon passed us but not before we discovered a peculiar thing. Following the clear path these people had been climbing we quickly realised that somehow or other we had missed this path on the way up. There is in fact a path the whole way up. This path led to the third stile where we stood in amazement, absolutely baffled as to how we had missed this path and taken the path veering off to the right. We still don't know what happened. In fact, although we knew we were now on the path we had taken upwards there were parts that were very unfamiliar and one part, a very high fern path, we seemed to miss altogether on the way down. I can only assume that there are splits in the path but whatever we were back at the footbridge a good deal quicker than we expected. The last lap beyond the railway bridge is a bit of a drag as it seems to go on for ever but we were soon back at the car just as it started to rain again.
