Chris Kershaw offers his view of the highlights of the Club's annual Spring trip to the Scottish Highlands.

Meet Report: Scotland, Spring 2003

Chris Kershaw offers his view of the highlights of the Club's annual Spring trip to the Scottish Highlands.

The setting, in Poolewe, Wester Ross couldn't have been more idyllic; the accommodation was excellent (though I managed to avoid the traditional organiser's perk by allocating myself and Karen the only apartment without en-suite bathrooms). The only problem was that the nearest Munro was about an hour's drive away. Actually, no-one seemed to mind the drives, especially the Daves Dean and Booker, who spent a fair amount of time zooming around the deserted roads in Dave B's MG while dressed up as Biggles and Algy. Dave D would have had his sports car too but for an unfortunate incident involving his neighbour's gatepost.

The weather in the early part of the week was on the so-so side of OK. The first couple of days were showery, but , miraculously, it only rained when we were in the car on the way to and from the hills. Then it got a bit blowy- so much so that Karen and I had to abandon an ascent of Beinn Liath Mhor because it was becoming impossible to stand up on the ridge.

Nevertheless, most people got out on the hills most days; we had parties on all of the Torridon Three (Beinn Alligin, Beinn Eighe and Liatach) as well as An Teallach and other, lesser-known, but still magnificent mountains.

Then came Friday, and the weather was perfect - hazy sunshine, but not too hot. Paul Mandel and Steve Kennedy headed off early to do Beinn Dearg, another party went to An Teallach, and 13 of us set off for Liathach, probably the scariest of the Torridon Hills. We didn't all go in a single group - that would have been a bit unmanageable, but we ended up in more groups than we started with due to "a bit of a drama" on the exposed Pinnacles (Derek, Cliff or Jayne can supply further details on request). This caused a bit of chaos with the carefully-planned 2-car arrangements which required a bit of hitching to sort out (including possibly the shortest hitch-hike in history by Kate Ward and Michael Brooks). It was still one of my best ever days in the Scottish hills.

The Poolewe Hotel loved us (Jayne, in particular, made lots of new friends). Not only were 9 of us staying in their apartments, 20+ of us descended on their bar every night. We drank them out of their two real ales - one of them twice, and we had the traditional Thursday night dinner there, too. Credit to the one waitress, Katherine, who managed to serve all 23 of us by herself.

All in all, a very good week - thanks to everyone who made it such good fun.