A silly walk

I had checked the weather forecast the night before and it was meant to be boiling hot until midday, with an hour of thunder before rain for the rest of the day. I thought that didn't sound too bad so I packed up from the night before and headed down Glen Feshie to climb Mullach Clach a'Bhlair and Sgor Gaoith. The weather was as predicted for the start of the walk - absolutely boiling hot! The ascent was particularly hard in the heat, and I was ready to welcome the storm clouds. 

When I got halfway up (still hardly any clouds in the sky), I thought I heard thunder so I turned around and saw an extremely localised thundercloud about 15kms away. It was about 2km across with torrential rain and thunder inside, as well as lots of lightning strikes. I was also aware of a thundercloud above behind the first munro peak - I could hear it! However, the way the wind was going meant that they should have passed by me with no issues whatsoever. 

As I got to the top of the first munro (which was just a huge plateau), I realised that the first small thundercloud was getting closer and bigger. However, I still wasn't too worried so walked to the top cairn and took a couple of photos. As I started to turn and walk to start the next munro, everything went a bit wrong - both storm clouds from earlier joined with a completely new one that seemed to appear out of nowhere, and they all converged on top of me. The wind seemed to be going in every direction too.

I have never been caught in the centre of a thunderstorm before, and I never want to be again. There were lightning strikes all around me less than 500m away each time, torrential rain, and my whole body felt tingly. I panicked and stupidly decided to get to low ground as quickly as possible - down a steep waterfall - and wait out the storm. After a few slips and a cut hand, I was lower down but feeling horrible and very scared. I tried waiting out the storm but it just wasn't going, and I felt more exposed than ever. So I did the most running I have ever done - up the waterfall onto the plateau, across the plateau, and all the way down the munro. When I got onto flat ground, I decided to walk the final 1km to a nearby bothy. However, that's when the static got even worse so I just ended up running faster!! 

Thank goodness for the bothy - I spent over an hour sitting in the middle of the room on a chair hoping that the storm would go. But it did not. I was tempted to stay the night - I had spare thermals and a bivvy bag, and it was fairly warm. However, I had no signal and I had told Bruce that I would contact him by 8pm, and I did not want mountain rescue searching for me! So I dealt with my fears and walked the flat section (about 5km) back to the car as quickly as I could, now and again having a little panic and a cry. Thankfully I made it back to the car and drove straight to Aviemore where I felt much safer. I stayed in my car for about 2 and a half hours before moving again! The storm lasted the whole day, and I could still hear thunder when I went to bed. 

It was a really stupid decision, and I definitely won't be walking again in a storm anytime soon. But thankfully it all worked out and I have learnt a lot from it. I'm sure these things make you stronger! 

Photo is on the morning of the walk when everything was warm and sunny and happy.