Glen etive / Glencoe weekend

Scott and I thought a weekend in the GlenEtive area would be good he could run a few Munro's and I would do some walking.Scott contacted Lucy and Richie to see if they were up to it and lucy was keen but Richie could not manage it.
The weather was not looking too good but we thought what the hell just go for it so with car packed with the camping gear I was to drive to Bridge of Allan and pick Scott up from the railway station as he would get the train from Edinburgh. I was keen to get up the west while we still had light to find somewhere to pitch the tents and set up a base. Lucy contacted and said she would be arriving later that evening.
We had a good drive up and managed to find somewhere to set up camp within walking distance of the one and only pub.Managed to meet up with Lucy and she pitched her tent "next door" to myself and Scott.Had a social evening killing beer / wine / and a "little whisky" fending off the dreaded midge and rain. Later all crawling off into our own tents out of the weather.

A very wet place in the morning Scott and I on the left, Lucy on the right.
We managed to get some coffee on ( thaks to Lucy as Scot and I did not get round to buying any on the way)
Had some porridge in the damp and talked about the days options , Lucy not sure about running due to injury recovery and Scott thinking the visibility for Munro bagging was to poor.I had a couple of Geocache locations one being very near to where we were camping so I introduced Lucy to the geocaching "game".

We made a call that we drive down to Loch Etive and do a walk back round the glen on a trail through the next Glen. Kipper ( Lucy's dog ) had been shivering and Lucy put her North face jacket on him which turned out to be the funniest photo shoot of the weekend. I have not the best one but hopefully Lucy will print the one she took.
We set off down the road twards the loch before parking up and heading off on our walk.We had a stange incident when we were part way up the side of the hill a car had stopped and someone was shouting up to us but we could not hear for the torrents of water. We just waved and climbed on up the faint track ( We think in retrospect he was trying to tell us the burn was to high to cross )
I 'm not sure when it happened but Scott and I were following Lucy when I thought were the hell are we and I'm not on a track anymore. So had a few hands out of pockets moments along side the raging burn and a bit of a drop if you went in.

After managing to find the path again and getting near the top we found that we wanted to be on the other side of the burn. After a bit of a look round and a will we wont we moment we went for it knowing it would be a wet one. Managed to get over without being washed away then Lucy and scott followed with "kipper" being hung on to at one point by Scott as his legs were just about washed away.I took my boots off and tipped a few gallons of water out and with soaking socks squelched off up the hill.
After this little adventure we looked around and realized that the visibilty had improved and we could see right down the Glen. I think at this time Scott made the call that he was going to run up the nearest Munro. Lucy very kindly took his rucksack so he did not have to come back down that way for it and we would meet over the pass.I walked on for a bit Knowing Lucy would catch up with me in no time even if she was carrying two backpacks !!. We had a nice walk over the pass meeting other walkers heading the same way "kipper" was having the time of his life sniffing / digging / and running all over the place.

Scott caught us up after having a good run over the ridge and we headed off together back towards the main road.

the view back
I think I will skip the next part as it just consisted of walking part of the main road and the most uninteresting part of the WHW, before back down in the direction for Loch etive and the tents / car/ dry socks and shoes
I got changed while Scott took Lucy back for her car (nice how they look after the old man ) Then it was off to the pub for food beer and a social evening. We all had a good night chatting with away with the other whw walkers etc and a few pleasant hours were passed.

A Night in the pub ( I think it was worth the wet / midges/ and poor sleeping.
The next morning (I had a rough night so little sleep ) we all packed up and headed for the green welly shop for coffee and breakfast I was nodding in the car while Scott drove down. After meeting up with Lucy Callander was the next call as the two ultra runners had an idea of doing a couple + of hours having a run the sun was out and sky blue only problem I was dead. Callander was reached and we parked up and Lucy and scott got ready for their run and me and Kipper stayed in the car. I did try to take Kipper a walk be he just wanted to stay in the car which we both did and we were both asleep at one point.Scott and Lucy came back after what they said was a very nice run and Luck kindly took us to a very nice coffee shop. Enjoyed a very nice bowl of soup and chink of bread plus tea and cakes. Have earmarked that place for a visit with Scott's mum sometime.We said our goodbyes to Lucy and we all set off home after what was a very pleasant if not uncomfortable (at times) weekend.