I should have made a Munro my first walk of the holiday to get a March one done but instead I faffed all morning and then it was too late. T5K was motivated to tick off our closest hill, which was probably a Marilyn and do-able from our front door.
We packed up and set off up the hard- standing /rocky/boggy sometimes-path to our local hydro station and continued above it as far as the associated river dam. The route was TSK's but the navigation was mostly mine. New trails existed on the map but they veered off in gungho directions towards other mountains, so when a path appeared which went on our route, we gratefully trudged along it - the natural stone-on-moss effect was perfect for progress and dog paws and better than the bog-hop it must once have been.
In fact, the luxury ran out in the middle of the hillside so we stopped to eat bagin' of cake, banana & crisps and I offered to head back as I was tired. I had realised I'd left my head torch behind and was now concerned about the light since Andrew's arthritis was moving a bit slower today.
The instruction was to keep going so I switched to glasses that actually enabled Map reading and walking, removed a layer since I was boiling & started the trudge across the bog & the hillside to gain sufficient elevation to be in the river valley below the summits. I tried to count the rivers on the map but since I didn't have them all on the Garmin, we ended up following the main river around & hunting for paths. Time dragged on, so I suggested finding the path heading straight down to base without a sumint. A popular idea.
We overshot on the easy line & I put 2+2 together and realised we were in the wrong valley. It was already too late so I called it too energy-sapping to go around the hill. The best bet was over the top and along the paths so we did summit Meall Tarsuinn eventually. Delight at 664m.
When we realised the path down was tenable TSK called another rest stop, and no-one was arguing... just to find somewhereout of the breeze.
Sadly, the redt of the descent was quite slippy and Andrew hit the deck twice. I almost went over twice. He slowed right down but soon it didn't seem far to go to get back. Me and Lena went on ahead to make tea and toast our success.
