We left the ice-axes in the car....

Stob Daimh and Ben Cruachan. We did the route anti-clockwise, fourteen Kilometres, all of it rough and steep. 

Nature notes;
Snow Buntings 2
Ptarmigan 2
Lark 1
Wheatear 1
Golden Eagle 1

Wild strawberries, primroses and wild violets in bloom. 

Read the guide book. Read it properly and respect it. It will save you scrambling about on a stone slab over a three thousand foot drop when there is an easy safe traverse below. 

Oh, and take your ice-axe, you may only use it for five minutes, but those five minutes are the most important of the day. 

Ben Cruachan. What a magnificent ridge,