Escape from the Computer

Stupid - we ignored the clear warning painted across this morning's sky and, instead of getting out early and enjoying some bright sunshine we lingered indoors to complete an on-line form.

Over two hours later, thoroughly fed up, we abandoned the computer, jumped into the car and drove out of the village on the Sanna road.  We pulled in to the first available lay-by, on Kilchoan township's common grazings, went through the gate, crossed a small burn, and set off.... for the most distant peak visible.

The peak is Meall an Fhreiceadain, and it's a great walk for working off one's frustrations as it's an unremitting uphill climb through very typical West Ardnamurchan scenery, and another of those walks which offer increasingly spectacular views.

Fhreiceadain seems to mean watch or guard, an appropriate use for a hill which has superb views from its summit.  By this time a blanket of cloud had started to draw across the sky, and the colours had seeped out of the landscape.  This view looks back across Kilchoan Bay and the Sound of Mull towards Mull itself, with the telecommunication masts on Glengorm clearly visible.

This looks a bit further round to the east, almost straight down the Sound of Mull towards a Beinn Talaidh with its summit lost in cloud.  The lochan in the right foreground is Lochan Sron nan Sionnach which means something like the lochan of the point of the fox.

Northwestwards, the summit gives views towards Sanna, Achnaha and the section of the north coast which we walked on Monday, bathed in the last of the sunshine.  By this time not only was the cloud lowering but a thin mist was seeped across land and sea.

When we reached the summit after a walk which took over an hour, it was one o'clock.  One o'clock is time for home-made pea soup and home-made wholemeal bread, so we hurried down, reaching the car in less than half-an-hour and feeling far, far better than when we set off.