Loch Ossian and the Bealach Dubh.
mid-day, 05/04/80
~ Easter Saturday, and the early train to Corrour. Blissful weather.
I pitched the Vango not far up the loch, across from the YH, and in the afternoon did the circuit of Lap - Chno - Sgriodain, with a weary plod back over the shoulder of Lap.
The thick dead grass made a wonderful mattress, and I slept like a lamb, woken only by the sharp cold of dawn. Loch Ossian was a flawless mirror - I've never seen a large body of water so still - until at sunrise a thin whisper of a breeze tickled the surface. Leaving the tent standing empty, I went up the lochside to the Uisge Labhair path, tackling Ben Alder from the west and descending, a bit too steeply for comfort at times, to the south-east and the Bealach Breabag. Then Beinn Bheoil, and down to Benalder cottage.
The bothy occupants were sharply polarised into two camps, with clearly no love lost between them. The scenes the previous night were not too hard to imagine. I shacked up with the Cavaliers (mainly because there was more floor space in their room than in the Roundheads'), and, with most of the bevvy already consumed, had a very reasonable night.
The weather continued fair for the return over Gaibhre and Carn Dearg (I was in the throes of Munrobagging as you can see) to the tent, and back to Corrour for the evening train.
