The short version? Saturday was a looooong day.







You want the longer version? Oh OK then.
Alarm went off at 0300; I got myself ready, packed up boots and maps and sunscreen (optimism, eh?) and some supplies and via the all night garage for some fuel, I was at hers for 0400. To take her lad off to the airport. He's off to Rhodes for the summer to work as a tennis coach. An 0630 flight to Gatwick to connect with a 1425 flight to Rhodes. We headed out past an amazing sunrise; and I dropped them for fond farewells and sat and waited for them to take them home. 

And waited.

His flight was delayed; now showing 0930.... Great. So after checking him in, we finally left the airport an hour later; dropped them home and went off to get Barry and his dug Herbie. 
We went off to Aviemore; and swung off the A9 and up to the ski centre.

We had a plan to nip up Cairngorm (I've done it a couple of times previously) and then drop off the back. He needed Ben Macdui, I needed Beinn Mheadhion (pronounced Vane) and we reckoned if would take roughly the same time to do, so... 

A direct approach up by the furnicular railway kicked off around 0945; and were on the summit a little over an hour later. But windy. Not able to stand up windy. Fierce it was. But so far, so sunny. Just the odd spray of a shower. 

Then we dropped off the back; and I pointed Baz in the direction of Macdui; and showed him another walker to follow. (Baz is not the best at directions; he never usually bothers about navigation and is content to be led, and TBH has no real idea where he's been. He's got his munros logged online at Walkhighlands, but... I know better than him what's done / not done on the Munro circuit....)

So I left him to go for Macdui; I headed down Corrie Ruibert to Loch Avon; a lovely spot; surrounded by high imposing cliffs; wind whipping across it causing white horses across the surface. From there, I picked my way around the head of the loch and its golden beaches, past the Shelter Stone and upwards - steeply onto Beinn Mheadhion. At least by being further down, I was less exposed, but once I hit the summit plateu, the wind was back to fierce again. After 2 hours of not seeing a soul, I suddenly found a party of 3 also bearing down on the summit tor and passed them, barely able to hear the grunted exchange of pleasantries over the roar of the wind; and a quick scramble up the granite tor for the final 20 feet to claim the summit. 192 down, 90 left to do. 
Barry got to the summit of Macdui a full 3 minutes before I claimed my summit, so we sat and had our lunch 3 miles apart (the photo is me looking towards Ben Macdui from the top of Mheadhion.)

And so I staggered back across the plateau; greyer now, and damper too; dermal abrasion thrown in for good measure, the - almost hailstones? - stinging my face. 

Again - once down into the relative shelter of Loch Avon - rainbows and sunshine - and the sharp climb back up towards Cairngorm. Barry with a flatter walk was 15 minutes ahead and with increasingly aching knees I rejoined him at the car park. 
He'd covered 11 miles and 950 metres, I'd done 12.5 miles and 1500 metres. 

And so to the long drive home; 3 and a bit hours tired physically from the walk, tired mentally from lack of sleep. 

I dropped Barry and was home for around 1930; washing on, hot bath, dinner and was asleep by 2130. (I am stiff this morning; I need a bike ride...)

In other news, the laptop has died, hence the slow / intermittent blippage