Saturday 30th September 2017. An ascent of Meall nan Each 490m/214m and Ben Laga 512m/356m on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula, Western Highlands. 11.5km, with 820m of ascent. 4hrs 50mins.

We (DB, RP, BC and I) had a Airbnb house booked on the western side of Loch Eil for five nights, but ministering to my father in hospital curtailed my break by two nights. Eventually I escaped south-east England and headed there, after a night at home, to join them, secure in the knowledge that my aged father was well cared-for in Farnborough Hospital.

I joined them on Friday night. The original plan, based on the forecast, was to attempt some Munros from Glen Spean. However, the forecast shifted overnight. We did not fancy a dreich day in heavy rain with no views. The best prospects were to head as far west as possible and keep below 600m, so that's what DB, RP and I did. BC took a rest day on the train to Mallaig.

These two Marilyns, which I had not bagged, on the eastern end of the Ardnamurchan Peninsula, fitted the criteria, and they proved to be a good choice. We parked in a lay-by just east of the settlement at Laga and took the track up the glen past the house and onto the open moor. Near Loch Laga we followed deer trails beside a burn up to the trig point on the summit of Meall nan Each for a moody panorama, with rainbow.

We returned to the loch and worked our way up a grassy rake onto the craggy north-west ridge of Ben Laga. Heading south on this complex hill we reached the two ridges enfolding a beautiful large lochan, making our way east along one of them to reach the cairn on the summit. The panorama was even better than that from Meall nan Each, enlivened by the moody weather.

To descend, we made our way down to the northern shore of the lochan, and then by a series of grassy rakes between the crags back to the track in the glen, using our outward route back to the car.

A good day, making the most of a short weather window. On the next it rained and blew all day. Not a day for the hills, but for mooching about in Fort William. Then it was south, via home, to attend to my father again in Surrey.