The Half Way Loch

Our son L has a part in his school play, The Crucible, and he had to attend the first rehearsal today down at the school between 1.00pm and 5.00pm.
After dropping L off there was little point in returning home, much better if I could take Caley for a walk in the available window somewhere nearby. Factoring in the short approach drive you –and I really mean I- can’t do a big mountain in just four hours. Caley says “Speak for yourself!”
We decided on the Half Way Loch from the North Face Car Park. May be I am getting the benefit of these evening jaunts up Bohuntin Hill because we arrived at the tranquil lochan with time to spare. Another 20 minutes would easily get us to the top of Melantee (Meall an t-Suidhe) so it was game on. For such little effort the views were lovely today. Also, despite being within ten minutes (at its closest point) of the crazy madness of the tourist footpath Caley and I had the place to ourselves.
Its funny, many visitors to Fort William will arrive aware that the town is at the base of the highest mountain and will confuse the Melantee for the Ben. It is an imposing hill rising abruptly from the moors behind Claggan and the Aluminium Smelter. It looks high from such close quarters but is only 711 metres; just over half the height of the Ben. Given the popularity of its lofty neighbour it is clearly subject to a tiny fraction of the foot traffic.
I hate walking to dead lines as you are always scared of running late. I was back outside the school 33 minutes early and, as it turned out, the rehearsal concluded half an hour early too.
This is a posing picture at the Half Way Loch, not really what I had in mind but Caley kept trying to push me in. You can see some more from the walk here