Munro bagging at Cluanie.

In 18 days of walking up Grahams and Corbets around Fort William in the last three weeks, Jim met other people on the hills on only 2 of those days! There is lots of space up here and plenty of hills to enjoy walking up, down and around. Today was just the same. We went to Cluanie Inn and walked up the delightful Munro Ciste Dubh and saw nobody all day. Even with the Easter holidays and the town being quite busy, there is lots of space to get away from it all and find a bit of peace and quiet, some breathing space.

Ciste Dubh is a very nice peak which is found above a gentle coire directly north of Cluanie Inn. We walked up the coire on the vehicle track near the stream, rather than the old stalkers path up the slope to the east. It seems to be an easier walk on the track even when it starts to disappear. We got to the big, three way col and climbed the steep slope above to find the ridge that goes all the way to the summit, getting more and more narrow as it does so. There is a nice path though to take away from the long steep slopes down both sides and the wind was blowing on the other side, leaving us in a bit of shelter. The rain held off until we were on the way down too.

Back on Ben Nevis Tom, Tom and Freddie climbed Castle Ridge on nice dry rock in the main, and kept out of the stronger wind. They stayed off the snow today, but to reach the summit you need to walk over big patches of snow still on the Pony Track. We've had brilliant weather, even if it has been windy and cold. Today was a cloudy day making poor visibility on the top and someone made a mistake on the navigation to get down from Ben Nevis and ended up at the top of the cliffs above Coire Eoghainn. He needed Lochaber MRT to help him back onto the path and to get down. A little practice with a compass and some pacing to measure distances is all you need to keep on the right track when the visibility is poor.