I’m not sure whose journey was the longest: Tim’s 30 years to climb 282 munros from the south of England, or Fraser’s and my journey from Aberdeen(shire) to Corrour! Scotland’s not that big, but there are no shortcuts. It’s only about 110 km from Fraser’s house to Beinn na Lap, but it was about 4¼ hours each way - including sneaking through a closed road, and getting the last parking spot at Crianlarich.
We met Tim at the station and boarded our train. Luckily Fraser has excruciatingly detailed knowledge of the trains, and so we knew to find the right carriages, and avoid heading off to Oban. The train ride offers views of many summits, and Shadow received much attention from a group of German/Austrian lady hikers.
We had plenty of time, so took a gentle pace up the hillside. The route is pretty straight forward, although without a beeping Garmin watch we’d have walked to Fort William without noticing. A few false ridge tops later, and we were on the final ascent. The weather was very variable, brief showers would pass nearby, or overhead, clouds would loom then disappear, but the wind was fairly consistent in blowing from the SE.
At the top 
When the final cairn came into sight (not too far away due to the cloud) the moment of realisation hit Tim 
, as he paused before taking his final few steps….and compleat!
Celebrations were held - cake and booze aplenty for us and two others who were enjoying the peace of the summit before we came along. (Turns out this was his penultimate munro). With bellies full of birthday cake, fizzy wine, and whisky, it was time to get down to serious business.
Tim setup on the top, and was starting on 40m, I was going on 20m and Fraser was trying 2m. 40m was good, 20m was average and 2m very quiet! 15m was decent, I heard a couple of US stations but didn’t manage to work any, however, Tim did work ND0C on 15m. It was good to work many familiar callsigns and hopefully everyone who could managed to work Tim.
Head down in the radio meant I nearly missed the views opening up as the cloud lifted. Spectacular views all round from Ben Alder to Ben Nevis, but the next time I looked up the cloud was back and the rain was starting. We packed up and sat out the rain in the cairn and helped lighten Fraser’s hip flask.
The rain eased off and we started back towards the station. As we stopped to admire Leum Uilleim, GM/WS-110, Tim spotted a golden eagle soaring overhead - it’s huge wings and brown plumage contrasted dramatically with the white sky. We watched it rise higher and higher, as we tried to think what else could happen today to make it more special! 
Back at the station and it was time to continue the celebrations! Dinner options included venison casserole, venison burger or venison curry!
It was soon time for our train back to Crianlarich. We wished Tim well on the rest of his Scotland trip, and Fraser and I headed back around and up to Aberdeenshire. What the roads lacked in traffic, they made up for it with cones, road works, and most painfully, 10 mph convoys.
