Untitled - Beeldbibliotheek

RAIN AND LACK OF RAIN 231us in the morning, while the summit of Slioch,in the only glimpse we had of it, was deep insnow.Loch Maree is completely surrounded by highramparts, except on the extreme West, wherethere is no passable road, and all that can be saidis that it is easier to get out at the end than atthe sides. Even then it is a heavy pull, rising700feet in less than three miles. It was stillraining when we left Kinlochewe, and all theworld was charged with water to an amazingdegree. It was as if the soil had been saturatedlong ago and could not hold another drop.Waterlay deep in every hollow, it trickled down everybank, it oozed up from the mosses underfoot andcoursed muddily along the road, it seemed toexude from the very rocks, making them glistenin the steel-grey light: and the air was full of theturbulent voices of the swollen streams. Thehill proved to be not nearly so bad as Bor-gie Brae,though it was fully twice as long, and Sam andSimon worked their way up it methodically inshort stages.The rain went off for a time before we reachedthe top and we had a last wintry glimpse alongthe loch, the heights on both sides now grey withmelting snow, before we turned the corner and