Ben Ledi

David Kaye

2 June 2021

In a break with tradition, no one called off at the last minute. Jack came close. He had to call off the day before, but as he had only decided to go that morning we can only award him a half mark.

Alex stepped in as the traditional last minute acceptee.

My advice that the car park would be busy and it may be necessary to park down the road, had the desired effect with everyone turning up at least twenty minutes early, which was just as well as Al lost an argument with a Glasgow Harpy for the penultimate parking place, but squeezed in at the end.

Thus it was that a strong team who set off in pleasant conditions. Newbies Moira and Crawford were welcomed by Issy, Sandra, Al, Alex, Mike, Russell and David.

After some discussion Mike convinced us to get the metalled road section out of the way first, while warming up and getting the blood flowing. So we tackled Stank Glen first. Lack of match fitness combined with the heat had its effect on many of us, especially Sandra who hadn’t completed her training schedule. After an hour or so she threw in the towel and advised that she would sit by the burn and watch us start on the steep climb before heading home. Some time later we arrived at the bealach and set about First Lunch. We were approached by a couple who advised that a lady had given them a message to pass on to us. Sandra, for it was indeed she, had decided to continue the climb, but we were not to wait!

Some considerable time later we duly arrived at the summit where we ducked out of the wind for Second Lunch. The views were outstanding. With more than a little help from Crawford, we identified Ben More, Stobinian, Ben Ime, The Cobbler, Ben Narnain, Ben Lomond, Stuc a’Chroin and Ben Vorlich, with a few other wild guesses / bluffs thrown in.

We had just assembled at the Triggy for the summit photo call, when Sandra strolled up to join us, looking fresh as a daisy.

The Marauders (Junior Section) smiling happily at the summit. I had been replaced by a puppet operated by Russell with his hand up it’s back.

Curiously, we were intimidated by a monster raven lunatic who mugged us for the remains of our sandwiches:

The return by the conventional route provided excellent views of Loch Venachar and Loch Lubnaig. We made it back to the cars without further incident. By common consent, Mike’s anti-clockwise route was deemed to be a wise move, contributing to an excellent day on a serious mountain.

A combination of evening commitments and exhaustion caused us to body swerve the traditional tea and sticky buns. Double rations next time.

Cheers, David