Monday 11 04. Glen Affric again.
Hamish was dutifully uncovered, awake and dressed with his all day ticket by the time the Forestry boys drove around for a brief look.
With walking kit and rucksacks we set off to bumble up and down the Glen, making an anti-clockwise circumnavigation of Loch Affric. 
One person swiftly passed us in the morning and we met a couple towards the end, but mostly we had the Glen to ourselves.
The path on the north side maintains the sparkling loch to our left with mountains towering above us and the occasional burn to ford, one requiring rock replacement and balancing which made it all the more adventurous.
At the end of the loch we hung a right up An Caorann Mor along the Affric to Kintail Way towards the youth hostel at Altbeithe. Here snow capped Munros surround the Glen and on this sunlit day provided a truly marvellous spectacle.
We retraced our steps back to the loch, rescuing a lost 40th birthday balloon, and took pasty veg soup on a makeshift ladder bench out of the wind behind the new bothy being constructed for the ‘Trees for life’ volunteers, who are supporting the re-forestation of the Glen.
Sadly Alastair’s feet began to hurt (plantar fasciitis) for the first time in ages due to the hard track so returning to Hamish was a bit more effort than expected. Had an afternoon kip to make up for it. 
The carpark cleared and we took a celebratory beer then tea, one of our pre-prepared meals from Hamish’s freezer.
Then as dusk descended to our surprise and delight a single red deer appeared from the gloaming to her supper just ten yards away from Hamish. Recovering from our surprise we looked out of the other side of Hamish and realised there were another three behind us gently grazing. Awesome gift as we went to bed.
