It’s my birthday in a few days, so to celebrate a group of my friends and family headed up to Bridge of Orchy to climb one of my favourite mountains, Beinn Dórain. After everyone arrived, we set off up through the village.

We passed under the railway line, and came out onto the track which runs up to Coire an Dothaidh.

There were clouds in the sky, but it was dry, and that’s what matters!

The path gets gradually steeper as it approaches the Coire, and after just half an hour the height gained means impressive views back down over Glen Orchy and Loch Tulla.

We were making steady progress, so rewarded ourselves with a break for lunch before continuing up to the edge of the Coire.

Once through Coire an Dothaidh the path turns south at the head of Coire an Ghabhalaich, with views east to Beinn a’ Chùirn.

The path ascends the slab-rock edge of Beinn Dorain on its way to the summit.

There are several false summits, which becomes obvious when looking back along the shoulder of the mountain.

Eventually, after a couple of hours climbing, we reached the blustery summit, where we posed for the obligatory photo.

The views from the summit are magnificent – west over Glen Orchy, east towards Glen Lyon, and south to Beinn Odhar.

It was really quite windy, and everyone was hungry, so we didn’t hang about and instead soon started our descent.

Every time I’ve been up here (apart from in winter!) I’ve seen either frogs or tadpoles in Coire an Dothaidh, and this time wasn’t any different, as we saw several frogs, including this little guy.

But again, we didn’t stop for long – the call of The Bridge of Orchy Hotel was strong. We had tables booked for dinner and were staying the night, so we continued to make our way down the mountain to continue the celebrations indoors.