It had been raining overnight, but I had a good sleep. I was away by 0820. There was no one at the ruin, but I think I saw Lynsey about an hour ahead of me on the opposite side of the river heading for Invergarry. Looking at the terrain up to this point, I think I was lucky with my choice of campsite. It was raining quite hard now, and would remain like this most of the day.
Despite the weather, I decided to stick with my original plan, and headed up to the path that is the usual start of the South Cluanie Ridge and try for Beinn Loinne. I was surprised to meet Richard Fuell and Rosemary Bryant also heading for the Old Military Road. At the road we parted company; they headed for the Cluanie Inn, while I decided to give Beinn Loinne a go. This was a mistake. As well as the weather being against me, the conditions underfoot were boggy and tussocky to say the least. After 30 minutes of jumping peat bogs and generally splashing about, I concluded that, especially being on my own, this was not the best or safest option for the day and returned to the Old Military Road.
I did consider going to the Cluanie Inn, but decided to head down the road to Loch Loyne then walk along the north shore to the Loch Loyne dam. This was very difficult, wet and boggy ground although it was generally flat, and only a sketchy path. This stretch harboured 12 dead deer, probably too heavy going for them as well. I reached the dam at 1505hrs, very tired but not quite as dead as the deer.
I found a useable spot for the tent across from the dam. Seeing that the weather for the next day was also going to be poor, I revised my plan of going over Meall Dubh into Fort Augustus, and decided that a plod along the Glen Moriston road, then up the Old Military Road to Fort Augustus, was probably the sensible Foul Weather Alternative (FWA). I managed to get a phone signal and phoned Challenge Control to let them know what I was doing.
See more photographs in my Flickr pages TGO Challenge Part 1 and TGO Challenge Part 2
Foul Weather Alternative (FWA) 