Jock's Spot, Laggan

24-26 September 1999

Present: Helen and Peter I, Marcellus S, Anne M and Brian S plus Fen*.

*Guest guard dog in the car!

There have been some very successful meets in the past to Jock's Spot, which is conveniently situated on the Newtonmore to Laggan road between Speyside and Lochaber. The hut's position makes it possible to go east to the Cairngorms, along the road to Creag Meagaidh or west to the Grey Corries/Aonachs/Ben Nevis! On this occasion, however, the poor weather and a small turnout resulted in a somewhat less than memorable meet in mountaineering terms.

Having collected the hut key from the Braeriach Hotel in Newtonmore, the small select group made their way to the hut to find that two members of the JMCS (Edinburgh), who own the hut, were in residence having spent the week ticking off various local Corbetts. Given the small FMC turnout, however, this was not a problem and a convivial evening was enjoyed by all.

Activity on the hill was limited to Saturday due to the weather. Pete and Helen went up Creag Pitridh and Geal Charn (Munros) whilst Marcellus, Brian and Anne along with Fen ascended the nearby Creag Dubh. This was Marcellus's first meet and he had hoped to tackle some of the Creag Dubh crags had the weather been better so had to content himself with looking at the routes from the safety of the grass below! Brian and Anne meanwhile ventured down the north side of the hill in an attempt to make a circuit but were forced to reconsider their decision when rifle shots from a nearby stalker broke the afternoon silence. After staring at the stalker through binoculars doing the same thing for several minutes, they returned whence they came and joined Marcellus in crag gazing lower down!

After the usual overindulgence of food and alcohol on Saturday evening, little more was done on Sunday and everyone made their way home early. Marcellus, Brian and Anne stopped at Creag an Eighe north of Dunkeld, en route, to fit in some crag climbing. The weather away from the hills was indeed much better and the dry rock provided late consolation for the lack of any climbing in the area of Jock's Spot itself. As usual, we are grateful to the JMCS for the chance to visit Jock's Spot and look forward to better weather on a future occasion.

Brian S