Weather/Conditions: Good weather lower down. Bit of cloud and cold wind coming on the tops.
Distance/Ascent/Time: 15.1km / 1200m / 5h
Accompanying: Alone

I should re-brand a two-Munro day as a rest day, because that seems to be about as close as I'm getting at the moment.

I've been on the trot a while, and I think today it showed. For some reason or another I felt a bit out-of-sorts. The body felt good, but I feel strangely all over the place...

I had a lie-in in Fort William and stopped by the Morrisons for food. Today's mountains, the Easains (as they are known), were waiting and I parked up at Fersit at lunchtime, from where the hills are accessed.

This really felt like the first day that I saw the forthcoming North-west Highlands in view and close-up. That was good to see! I headed up the ridge to Stob a' Choire Mheahoin, a rather long ridge at that, and although it wasn't a challenging day by recent standards, I didn't quite feel right. Physically I was okay, but maybe I got up on the wrong side of bed...



Stob a' Choire Mheadhoin was my 500th lifetime Munro, which was hard to imagine given the circumstances: in the midst of the Munro Round, I'm not in the mood for triumph and success, Munros at the moment are simply the building blocks that build the foundations for the final Munro, Ben Hope. It's all grunt work now, but it was nice to stand and think I've climbed 500 Munros. Next will be 1000! (Some years off I imagine...)

Stob Coire Easain was a quick out-and-back. It's a great looking hill, I've always liked this one. On the way back down to the car, I tripped up on the descent, somehow couldn't pull my trekking pole out the ground to stabilise myself, and fell flat on my face.

Oh dear. It really wasn't my day.



On the positive, it was nice to see all the hills of the month of May. I thought about the huge arc around Scotland I've now created. It's a hell of a thought that I still have all the north-west to go, too. Anyone looking in on my Round from the outside might see great progress. I feel that myself, but it's easy to loose sight of it, too. Being out all day, every day can feel wearing, and it's hard to stand back and see the whole picture when you're in the middle of it. All I ever have in my head is the immediate effort of the day, and a plan of action for the subsequent days. Everything else disappears into oblivion, back and front, not really worth thinking about too deeply.



I followed a path down the nose of Meall Cian Dearg as showers began to move through from the west. I got back to the car in a weird mood. Feeling wasted? I wasn't sure. I think I needed chat and a meal, because I got back to the Fort, and have been happy to sit and watch TV and have dinner at James' place. Anyway off to bed for now. I've got the Grey Corries to Nevis tomorrow (8 Munros!), it's going to be a really early start to make the most of the good weather in the morning.

At the moment, I'm generally quite tired. I've been on the move continuously for 11 days now. Tomorrow will be the twelfth, and those aren't small days either. So instead of pushing the boat out and going for the Mamores (in a oner) in two days time, I'll probably take a rest and then get stuck into moving towards Knoydart.

360° Panoramas

Stob a' Choire Mheadhoin


Stob Coire Easain