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    Streap Comhlaidh from Streap.

3.30pm, 05/08/95
    Fraoch Bheinn, Sgurr Mhurlagain and the head of Loch Arkaig, from Sgurr Thuilm.

8.30pm, 05/08/95

~ From the shoulder just south of the Thuilm summit, to be precise, and I was in for a disappointment before long. The ridge to Streap had been more laborious than I had reckoned with, each successive bump higher than the last, and the slog up the flank of Thuilm is dispiriting at the best of times, so I was looking forward keenly to putting the Phoxhole up  just by the cairn, but to my astonishment - it's never happened before or since - I found the summit occupied. Just two lads in a small tent, and all credit to them, but still. My scunnerment was profound, and we exchanged greetings through gritted teeth - mine were anyway, and I imagine theirs were too - but etiquette (one tent's company, two's a crowd) demanded that I withdraw to some other top.

It was too late in the evening - no it wasn't, I was too whacked - to make Coireachain the destination, so a flat patch of grass on Beinn Gharbh was gratefully pounced on. Scenically, it may even have been better than Thuilm.
    Sunrise from Beinn Gharbh.

5.30am, 06/08/95

~ Sgurr Mhurlagain and the head of Loch Arkaig.