The wind gods have fallen out with me.....Meall Chuaich

Hill: Meall Chuaich (The hill of the Quaich, a drinking vessel)
Type: Munro
Height: 951m

Firstly lets look at the scenario. Today was to be the best day of the summer so far, that couldn't be hard, with blue skies and warmth forecast.
I woke up to the same as almost every day for the last 6 weeks, grey skies, cloudy, but at least no rain.
In the car the nice man on BBC radio Scotland said it was great to have summer here at last. A few expletives, this man clearly was not broadcasting from this part of Scotland. Immediate switch to Planet Rock.
Grey skies until Glasgow, a flicker of blue, gloomy at Stirling and and an absolute pea souper between Stirling and Perth, what is going on?

Meall Chuaich straight ahead

Slightly brighter skies when I got out to start my walk, almost blown over, was it a convoy of articulated lorries passing on the A9, nope just the wind, wow.
On my way to Ullapool so I decided to break the journey and tick off another of my A9 hills.
The names of some hills in Gaelic give you a double take, like where did they get that description from? Meall means a rounded hill and this one is a perfect description. But the drinking vessel?
This bag is a journey of two halves or 4 quarters, unless you throw in the two Dalwhinnie Munros, covered a couple of blogs ago, but if you do this have two cars unless you are super fit. Or, you could throw in the nearby Graham Creag Ruadh, but I was saving my legs so a straight forward one hill up and down.
Four quarters. A steady hour long trek along a hard packed estate track. Followed by an hour up the hill. Then reverse. Another tester for the tendon.

Money maker at a cost to nature

This is shooting estate land and they have built this running water system, no doubt at some cost and also no doubt for profit. The damage it does is that the natural burn from the glen, Allt Chuaich, is now almost bone dry and the natural life surrounding it gone, sad times. The aqueduct carries the water to Loch Ericht and on its perimeters wildlife is negligible. The burn would have had trout and all the insect life that goes with that.
At least there is a view of the rounded one as I hike in. 
A young family out for a low level walk were delighted as I spotted a Golden Eagle coming over Ruadh and pointed it out, a first for the family, hopefully the kids will remember it.

Get off the shooting track, head up that scar

There are estate tracks all over the place but the hill track is obvious even without the sign, shooters don't want you on their tracks!

Once over that you have a view of the next section

As said, an hours plodding up a sometimes grassy, sometimes very boggy, sometimes no track at all, just boulders trail. A few false summits before you hit the open top. The wind has been trying its best to knock me over, it has been brutal. I don't know what mph it is but easily the strongest over the last few weeks and no gusts just full on blowing strong. And on this rounded top nothing to break its strength.
Nice view down to Loch Cuaich, note another OS map spelling mistake? 

The large cairn

A foreign couple were just in front of me and the girl scrambled on to the large cairn before quickly deciding this was dangerous and not so elegantly slid off before the wind blew her over.

Descending The Fara straight ahead with Ben Avon behind left

Reasonable views, only because hazy in distance, would be cracking on a crisp winters day.  There are 360 deg views over Kingussie, Newtonmore, Badenoch, Cairngorms, Ben Alder etc but to the south it looked like rain coming this way so no hanging around.
After my brief stay up top trying to stay erect I followed the same route back, it was easier to avoid the bogs on the descent. 

Revealing the history

I also noticed this tree debris sticking out of a peat bog. I presume a remnant of the natural original forest covering before sheep and grouse became more important than the natural landscape and people of course.

Creag Ruadh on the right, Loch Cuaich (OS misspelling?) in view.

The view down was pretty enough but the estate tracks are numerous and scar the landscape. 
I stopped off outside one of the locked private bothies and enjoyed an apple, taking in the hill and surrounding landscape, sheltered from the winds, nice.
A long walk back with a throbbing tendon, not sure if Sunday's biggie is going to happen.
Back at car the heat has been down here, my looked forward to after walk Aero bar had melted!

Wildlife: Golden Eagle; Raven; Pied Wagtail; Meadow Pipit; Wheatear; Stonechat.
Ascent: 647m
Distance: 15.8km
Time: 4.15