The weather forecast for Saturday 26th July looked good, so after some texting and calling we organised two ropes of two to go and climb the classic Hard Severe climb Ardverikie Wall near Laggan.

The weather held out, the climb was great and on our descent we picked lots of blaeberries which were delicious. The climb was made more entertaining by the party behind us - they had a radio ham in their midst. Adrian, an orthodontist at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, did the route whilst carrying a radio and talking to various other radio enthusiasts. Apparently there are 'radio hills' where 'enthusiasts' lug radio's to the top of and then call each other. Beinnnen Shuas, on which Ardverikie Wall is situated, is a recognised 'radio top' hence Adrian's ascent with a large heavy rucksack full of radio gear. If nothing else it gave us quite a bit of entertainment on the belays as we heard his squeaks as his various arials etc got caught on the rock.

As we are enjoying long days up here in the north we also got another route done, Kubla Khan. We rounded off a perfect day with a dip in the loch and then drove back to Fort William for a quick pint in the Grog and Gruel.

Anna