Meall Chuaich

A fourth Munro in 3 days.

Had the boys to drop off, and then loitered by Go Outdoors waiting for Nic.O.La and Barry to arrive and whisk me off to Invernesshire for a none too promising jaunt up a hill.

The forecast was showers, and we drove through some fairly brutal downpours, but arrived at Chuaich with blue skies over our target.

Out and away with a stiff tail wind, there were burns in spate all over the place.

An easy wander in to the foot of the hill - I'd been here in Feb 07 with another colleague and had no view off the top. It was a day of cloud sitting over the top third of the hill and a dreary outing. Today had rainbows, so promised to be better if still not great.

The good weather held off until nearly the summit ridge when the wind picked up and the rain started. Wasn't too bad.... We sat behind the substantial summit cairn and had soup - sweet potato, chilli and lime - and only when we ventured out from behind the cairn to face the wind did it become apparent how wild it was. 'Aqua dermal abrasion'. Stingy rain in the face.

A 15 minute teeth gritting, head down descent cleared the worst of it and as we rejoined the land rover track, the rain stopped. (The wind didn't)

So yeah. 150 for Barry, 14 for Nicola. I'm still on 159.

Home by 6, Restful bath and then out to see her later. An evening of warm and gentle was a nice counterpoint to the wild rough day in the hills.