There was no mistaking the top of the bealach, as it was marked by an impressive cairn - seen here with Leac na Carnaich in the far distance (I think another year I may try to walk that ridge - take the track up Gleann Dubh Lighe, ascend Streap Comhlaidh, omit Streap itself because we're not here to tick mountains off lists, and follow the ridge to Monadh Ceann Lochairceig ... only then you seem to be stuffed for a continuation! Still, there is a bridge shown at NN 018913 which must be there for a reason ... but how to make use of it? Answers on a postcard please!)I took myself to the cairn, and looked for signs of an onward path. According to the map, there was one. But as we all know, cartographers have a peculiar sense of humour all their own. No path was apparent on the ground, so I noted that the path was supposed to descend the left bank of the Allt Cuirnean, and so kept the watercourse to my right. As I descended a track gradually began to appear; and then after a while it would fade away again.
It was about this point that my camera began to malfunction, too. I had been carrying it in a protective pouch on the waist strap of my rucksack. But the pouch was designed to protect it against bumps and blows, not to keep it dry. And we it must have been getting pretty wet with all the rain I'd been walking through. So I decided to relocate the camera to the inside of the rucksack where it might stay dry ... but it would be far less accessible, and so for a while I would only be taking photographs that justified stopping, dropping the rucksack, extracting the camera, takign the photograph, repacking the rucksack, and hefting it again.
Alternatively, if I had stopped for a breather and a glug, any photo opportunity which presented itself remained likely to be snapped ...
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