Breabag

What an amazing day we have had today. James wanted to bag a Corbett and chose Breabag near Inchnadamph. Meanwhile Alasdair was keen to climb two Munros; Conival and Ben More Assynt, and persuaded Davie to accompany him. This tied in nicely with our plans because the start and end points of both expeditions are near to each other. Cat came with James and me because she has had a sore knee since last week and she didn't want to overstrain it.
The route to Breabag goes past the Bone Caves of Inchnadamph, which we have visited in winter by trudging over snow and ice. The valley looked very different today in the height of summer; green and full of birdsong, with underground springs bubbling up into rock pools. I felt a bit hot and bothered so after about half an hour I asked James and Cat to go on without me because I didn't want to hold them up. But after a rest I felt that I had given up too soon and decided to continue my walk and I met up with them at the ridge. I found the ascent to be quite rough; first across boggy moorland and then up through heather and boulders. I decided to go on to the summit (James and Cat had already been there) and when I got there it was so windy that I was almost blown off my feet, but I was rewarded with panoramic views for miles around. On the slopes near the summit there were several groups of deer watching me, they were lovely but timid and cantered off as I approached.
The trouble started when I set off back down the hill. There was no path at all, and it took ages to pick my way down a steep quartzite boulder field. The rocks were in no way attached to the hill and it felt very precarious as I slipped and slid. There were large slabs of rock too which provided some relief but they were very steep. Even when I got low enough to walk on patches of heather I could feel the rocks scraping together underneath, like the edges of a broken bone grinding against each other (and yes I do know what that feels like!) I felt as if I would never get down! I still really enjoyed the walk though, and doing two Corbetts in two days is amazing for me. Today was another 700 metres of ascent and about 5 hours of walking.
I got back to the Inchnadamph Hotel only ten minutes after James and Cat, whose descent via another hill was equally arduous, and Ally and Davie arrived soon after, tired but happy. We had a drink as we compared our adventures.
I had an embarrassing incident where an insect crawled down my t shirt. I set off for the ladies toilets to shake it out but since the hotel was so quiet I just pulled off my top in the foyer. I don't know what possessed me because immediately two male guests walked in through the door. I dived behind the reception desk but this must have looked strange because they came straight over and looked over the desk where I was sitting wearing my bra and trying to put my top back on. Luckily I will never see them again.
Anyway after a quick shower we went for our last night dinner to the Riverside Bistro where we had a hearty dinner and talked about our holiday. It has been great.