Joe g prepares his passenger for take off
screaming up to base with paul m
cocked up the entry to glen lochay (johann breezed it getting a great climb off the bump W of creag na callich) and despite regaining height in the lee behind creag na callich and the the small ridge to the north with bob g i missed the right moment to follow bob round the top of meall ghaordie and landed high on the flat moor there. I wasn't actually too sad to be landed as it allowed me to release a knot in one brake line. After walking forward for a bit I took off again and enjoyed gentle thermals all the way along lochay (SE wind) resisting the temptation to get drifted back into glen lyon.
tim j with glen lochay behind and twin peaks of cruachan just visible in the distance
at the head of the glen i made a long glide SSE on full bar to get onto the SE face of ben challum where i arrived very low in a SW valley wind flowing up from glen dochart.
looking wsw at ben challum at the head of the glen (bob went through the notch on the north side not so visible here which was probably a better route)
view from head of glen lochay. ben cruachan on the horizon
just managed to work my way up after a long fight and my reward was a glide towards tyndrum and a good thermal from the valley/lee taking me back to 4500 over the village (strong ESE wind)
looking back east to Tyndrum and Ben More behind
from there ben cruachan started winking at me and i headed west again down glen lochy before jumping back into lower glen orchy
lower glen orchy where a zero with strong drift eventually scraped me enough height
and then glen strae before the best climb of the day on ben eunaich....cruachan was now only a glide away but it started to rain and with strong lift everywhere and a wall of black over loch awe i burned 4000ft and landed at the top of loch.
cruachan and glen noe
gathering rain over loch awe
