Grey Corries - Stob Ban, Stob Choire Claurigh & Stob Coire an Laoigh

After something of a hillwalking drought in recent months - mainly due to work pressures - it was good to be able to see a good forecast and head north. The forecast had indicated that Friday would be better than Saturday so it was up early on Friday and north via the A9 and across to Spean Bridge, taking the quiet road to Coirrechoille Farm. The farmer was outside and I asked him if it was OK to drive further down to track past the closed gate. He said, in a great highland accent, it was fine but "If you have any respect for your car, you will drive slowly on the track."

He was right and it was a bumpy, pot holed track that led us up to a parking place. By the time we had got ourselves ready it was about 11:30. I was a bit concerned because this was going to be a long walk and I could see us getting down late at night, but we would have the daylight.

It was warm and windy, with a gusting wind driving down the Lairg as we walked in the 5 miles to the bothy. 5 miles....this was going to be a long one!

We took 5 minutes or so nosing round the bothy and I wrote in the book, before heading up on the north bank of the burn which came down from the bealach between Stob Ban and Stob Choire Claurigh. This was a visible path most of the way (unlike the risible one we were to be on later) only petering out near the bealach itself and pretty woon we were at the bottom of the north side of Stob Ban. From the bothy it had looked like a real pyramid of a hill but up at the bealach it seemed quite wee.

A path intermittently zigzagged up the scree to the small summit which gave great views off towards the mamores, glen coe, the Laggan hills, Schiehallion and more.

A few times on the walk in it felt like it was about to rain, but the cloud was passing over - high and harmless and now the main meteorological concern was the wind. "I wish someone would turn the fan off!" I was told. We did not linger on the top of this first munro for long but dropped down quickly sliding through the scree and back to the little lochan that lay in the bealach, regrouping before the climb onto the main ridge.

Accessing the ridge didn't seem to take much and we were soon up on the 1177m top of the second munro of the day gazing along an exquisite ridge, suspended high among some of the most spectacular hills, the terrain folded in sharp ridges to the south and west.

The walk along the ridge was spectacular. The wind at our backs, and the views absolutely stunning.

Too soon we reached the last munro of Stob Coire an Laoigh climbing again over another top before heading north along a grassy shoulder to the glen below, eyes pulled back every few minutes to the majesty of the ridge we were leaving.

This is where the length of this walk began to kick in. The shoulder was easy but lengthy, depositing up eventually at a small dam on the other side of which was the path we wanted. The guidebook had noted that it was not possible to cross at the damn but that the river was fordable a few metres upstream. By this stage I was not up to faffing around and walked straight through letting my feet cool on the remaining miles. It was a not day and I'd been wearing trail shoes anyway.

A track led us back to the forest and then we found the path - marked on the OS map as a dismantled tramway - which led finally back to the car. This path was crap - muddy and wet with huge clegs and flys buzzing round. They sounded heavy somehow, like helicopters. It was a long time getting to the end of this bit. The day was over, the hills climbed and now it became an endurance test to reach the car.

Anyway, after 9 and a half hours(!) it was back to the car at 9pm and a drive to the Great Glen Hostel (best in the Highlands) for a quickly heated curry....and bed.

A superb day. Wandering down at the end of the day - most of which I'd spent in quiet with my own thoughts - I was thinking just how much I love doing this. The beauty, the freedom, space and solitude. Unbeatable.