Cathair Mhic Dhiarmaid

With the fine weather continuing - people are now saying they haven't seen a winter like this for thirty years - we were again out looking for hills to climb. Walking conditions are ideal: it's dry underfoot, there's no bracken, and, while it's sunny, it's not too hot.

Today our target was Cathair Mhic Dhiarmaid (Son of Diarmid's Bench), which we approached from the Achateny fork on the road to Kilmory and Ockle (NM526686). It's a stiff, 300m climb, made worse by a small herd of red deer hinds who went bounding up it, leaving us exhausted in their wake.

It was well worth it, for the views from the top are spectacular. Far below to the east are the villages of Branault, Achateny, Kilmory and Ockle, and, in the distance, the snow-capped hills of Moidart, while to the south and east lie Loch Mudle and Ben Resipole.

Close to the summit, lying in a shallow bowl in a plateau-like area, is a small lochan. It has hardly rained in weeks, the grass is brittle it's so dry, yet the water level in the lochan was brim full.

The trouble with reaching most summits is that there's always another one standing challengingly over you, in this case Meall nan Con (Hill of the Dogs), separated from Cathair Mhic Dhiarmaid by the deep valley of Allt Fascadale.

If today's walk took us three hours, that one will take us a day.