A STUNNER IN THE BEN ALDER FOREST

Beinn Bheoil & Ben Alder from Loch Pattack

Karen on the ridge up to Carn Dearg

Still very snowy on Ben Alder

Beautiful walking on short cropped heather. Beinn Bheoil, Ben Alder, Lancet Edge and Carn Dearg

The wonderful views along Loch Ericht on the bike in this morning

Biking into the wilderness under azure skies :)

The Lancet Edge of Sgor Iutharn and final slopes to Carn Dearg

Loch Pattack, who needs a beach holiday?

Aonach Beag & An Lairig from the summit of Carn Dearg

Ben Alder from the summit

Himalayan bridge and weather

The fine, settled weather continues with a big high pressure sat over much of the UK. It was an absolute stunner of a day with wall to wall sunshine, no wind on the summits and much warmer than what was forecast. Karen and I headed into the Ben Alder area for the day. Biking into this wonderfully remote place shortens the day considerably. The track that runs from Dalwhinnie to loch Pattack is an easy 14km each way. This morning it was glorious with beautiful loch reflections. We had lunch at Loch Pattack and had time for a spot of birdwatching. We spotted Golden Plover, Lapwing, Oyster Catcher, Ringed Plover and a distant view of what we thought may have been Redshank and some very active Buzzards. With just a day jaunt into the Ben Alder Forest we decided on the Munro summit of Carn Dearg, being the closest for a leisurely day. We had the whole mountain to ourselves. We didn't see anyone on the bike in either. It was t-shirt weather all the way to the summit and back down with hardly a breath of wind. Ben Alder still holding a lot of snow in its north and east corries. Surprisingly, the plateau still has almost full snow cover too. The clarity was superb and Ben Alder being central we could clearly see The Cairngorms and Ben Nevis. Many folk traverse the Munro summits of Carn Dearg, Geal-charn, Aonach Beag & Beinn Eibhinn in a day but we were very happy to savour just our one Munro. Days like this don't get much better, do they?