Half Way Loch

Mrs SJR was meeting her friend L for lunch. L is a Fort William girl but lives and works in Aberdeen. The girls haven’t seen one another in over a year though are well up to date with life through social media.
Anyway, they were going to the pub at Achintee. Anyone who knows the area will realise that the footpath to Ben Nevis starts at the front door of this building. Mid day is too late to start on such a trip but Caley fancied the Half Way Loch again. Our last walk here was on a superb Sunday and while my rucksack was light I cursed the absence of my tripod and SLR such was the beauty of the loch in serene light that day. The girls went to lunch and Caley and I went up the path. This time I had the full compliment on my back, 2 km in I realised the attraction of travelling light. Though very well engineered even the lower section of the Ben ascends steeply. Despite really feeling the weight I still had to overtake a lot of less laden walkers.
Once level with the loch you can depart from the path and head across open moorland. The spot I wanted to revisit was at the outfall from the loch at its far end maybe 1km from the path. The solitude was brilliant. The light was not as I had hoped and a light breeze set up ripples on the loch but I did have all the clobber with me so was determined to use it. Caley had a few swims and I tried to get him to look good for the camera.
At this point you have line of sight to the North Face Car Park at Torlundy. This was a much more inviting onward route; largely pathless and generally quiet. I phoned Mrs SJR. She was just having her coffee and asked if she could collect me at Torlundy instead. That was fine and she came a short distance up the forest path to meet her favourite yellow boy at the end of his walk.