Today was my last full day in Durness. I had been told that the cliffs at the northern end of the Kyle of Durness, on the cape-side, were worth seeing so I decided to take the ferry over and walk up to them. I could’ve gone on my way back from Kearvaig on Tuesday but missed them when I decided to catch the bus home. This would allow me to “finish” the walk back from the cape and give me one last day of walking around bogs and moors.

I walked out to the ferry in the morning and took the ferry over to the cape side (11am). I then walked along the road down the Kyle to just past Daill where I managed to find the track that heads north east up the coast (the road goes north west from here to the lighthouse).

Military buildings on the cape, between the ferry and Daill

Daill, with Fashven in the background (I think). You can alse see the bus (white speck) heading up the road to the lighthouse.

The track was . . . . “OK”. It would’ve been awful if everything wasn’t so dry at the moment! There were some lovely streams and half a bridge, which was funny as I had “F” marked on my map. “F” actually means “ford” but it could equally be interpreted in this case as “half a footbridge” (FB)!

Half a bridge!

I went up as far as the track goes, to an old building. There were some very interesting rocks here, and some parts where the water was swirling around the rocks in a very interesting way. I could’ve sworn there was an animal making the ripples but I watched for a very long time and it seemed to just be the waves bouncing off the rocks and, presumably, more rocks underwater that I couldn’t see. I didn’t see any amazing cliffs, but it was a nice enough walk all the same.

The building at the end of the track. Faraid Head in the background (you can just see the military control tower, “the Bee”, on top)

30x zoom of the Bee.

I walked all the way back to the ferry, just in time to catch the next set of ferry runs at 2pm. I was pretty sad on the way back, saying goodbye to my beloved heather and moorland. The tide was coming in, which led to some very interested cross-hatch wave patterns in the shallows. The Kyle is very tidal – it goes from almost dry (you can walk across some sections but there is sinking sand so you need to be careful) to reasonably deep.

Cross hatching waves as the tide comes in over the sandy shallows.

Back on the Durness side, I started walking back towards town. I had planned to walk to Balnakeil via the Old Manse Track which heads off through a paddock from the main road about halfway back into town. A lovely couple offered me a lift which I took, up to the track, telling them where I was planning to go.

When I got to Balnakeil I stopped in at the Craft Village, looked through a couple of stores then went to the chocolate shop, Cocoa Mountain. I’d heard about it, so wanted to see what it was like. I had a hot chocolate which was amazingly decadent and a couple of chocolate truffles. The couple who had given me a lift part of the way were already there, finishing their hot chocolates. Since I had told them about the place they’d obviously decided to come down and check it out!

Sugar overload! Hot chocolate and chocolate truffle at Cocoa Mountain.

After finishing my hot chocolate (and feeling a little bit over-sugared!) I walked back into town and had a look at the tourist information office. There was a wealth of information in there about local flora and fauna, traditional yearly activities in the area (a board for each month with the activities that traditional farmers would do then) and, . . of course, . . . rocks! Including a bunch of big rocks outside that were all labelled. While most of the northwest is quartzite on sandstone on gneiss (or some combination of these), there is a strip of limestone down the middle, particularly here at Durness and where I was at Breabag. But, it’s not that simple. There are heaps of different rock types all mashed together and mixed up around here. The geological map was pretty complicated!

I spent the rest of the afternoon chatting to Scott and his parents and cleaning my gear up, ready to pack and leave the next day.

And now for some gratuitous dog photos from Wednesday!

Kyle enjoying his time on the beach.

River posing on Aodann Mhor (Faraid Head, and the Bee, in the background).

I had a really good sleep and it was lovely to be able to get up and walk around in the morning! Normally in the tent getting dressed and packing up was all done sitting down and there was never much hanging around once I was up and about outside the tent. There were even some deer on the hill outside my window!

The view out my window thismorning. There are deer on the hill, although you probably can’t see them.

I had a very leisurely pack up, including a quick clean up and sweep out of my side of the bothy. Everyone else was still asleep (or at least in their beds) except for one of the kayakers, who I waved to as I headed across the hill towards the cliffs on the coast.

Looking back at the bothy and various tents and kayaks.

These are the highest cliffs in mainland Britain. They are pretty awesome. There was one section that was incredibly smooth – like a huge slab had broken clean off!

Very smooth and sheer . . but no big piles of rocks at the bottom??

Other bits were very jagged, or had cut deep back into the shoreline.

Impressive cliffs. (The highest ones are those really sheer vertical ones near the back I think)

There were hundreds of birds (mainly gulls, but some fulmars and other things), often nesting in the cliffs.

Seabirds nesting on the cliffs (still haven’t found my British Wildlife book so I’m not identifying them properly for you!)

There is a wall along the edge of the cliff. I walked on the cliff side for most of it, but it got a bit narrow for me in some bits!

A very narrow gap to walk between the cliffs and the wall!

There were also sections were the wall looked like it used to continue straight across what was now a crevasse. Evidence that the cliffs are not too permanent!(They are mainly sandstone I think).

Did the wall used to go across this gap?

I also found a cigarette lighter right on the very edge of the cliff. It was a bit rusty, but still worked. Your guess is as good as mine as to why someone put it there.

The cigarette lighter I found.

The other great thing about the cliffs, beside the views and general excitement of being up high, was that it was not at all boggy near the edges!

Right next to the cliffs is firm ground. A couple of metres away is . . . bog!

I followed the cliffs around the coast until I got past the highest ones then cut back downwards towards the road. It was a bit boggy in patches. OK, more than a bit!! It was still not too bad because, as mentioned yesterday, everything had dried out a lot, but would’ve been almost impassable if it had been raining I think. It did rain a little thismorning, but just a very light shower.

I walked down the road to a small building, at “Inshore”. As I was approaching a guy walked out the door with a big gun! He saw me, said something about “tourist” then went back inside. A couple of other guys came out and we had a chat. I thought they were military, but found out later they were stalkers.

Inshore. See the guy at the door . . . with the gun!

From Inshore I headed south to the biggest hill in the immediate area, Fashven. The easiest way up Fashven is to come up the ridge from the south-east. I was currently due north of it. The area around here was really boggy. Not all big black bog, but all wet and squelchy with lots of streams running through it. I was not interested in walking several kilometres through this stuff. I haven’t mentioned it much recently, but this stuff is still really hard walking. Not as hard as Glen Roy, but still much harder than walking across a field or through the bush back home. I was also a lot more comfortable with the Highlands terrain and had started looking at hills recently and thinking “oh, I’m pretty sure I could get up that bit too”. Fashven is a reasonably small hill so I decided it was a good opportunity to put my judgement to the test. So, I went due south and headed up the most direct, and really really steep, bit!

I was aiming for the scree section where the arrow is. Much steeper than it looks!!

Oh so steep . . . . and oh so long! I had to stop and rest several times before I even got to the steep rocky bit. Going up the last bit, the scree got a little bit slippery so I decided to go up the rocky steeps to my right. Again, these were steeper than they looked. So steep in fact that I was practically climbing, with hand holds and toe holds up an almost vertical rock face with my pack dragging me backwards off the rock face! It also still had lots of bits of loose rock. I knocked a rock off part way up and I think it bounced down about 30m before it stopped! I decided that this was not a good idea, so made for a shallower section of slope and eventually got to the top of the ‘cliff’. Sadly it was still a few hundred metres of surprisingly steep walking (with several rest stops) to the summit! OK, so that was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Definitely doable, but hard!

Looking down from the top of the steep bit of Fashven (not the actual summit). Inshore is on the far left, next to the loch.

The summit was not that interesting – big and wide, so not good for views. Plus, the weather was coming in (hazy, low cloud and rain), which ruined the views even more. It was also very very windy up there, so quite cold.

I headed back down the much gentler eastern ridge. Again though, I didn’t want a long walk through the bog so headed north sooner than I should’ve and ended up having to butterfly my way down (flit from side to side) off several outcrops. I was having fun though!

I saw a stalker coming up towards me, and had a chat with him when we met in the middle. Apparently two stags had been watching me from above as I was coming down. There was also a bunch of hinds on one of the other hills. He lent me his binoculars to have a look but they were so far away I still couldn’t make them out. He said there are also eagles nesting on the Fashven, but he hadn’t seen them lift off when I came down so we didn’t see them.

The stalker (full 30x zoom and cropped)

After he checked which way I was going so “he wouldn’t get in my way” (I was more worried about it being the other way around!), we parted ways. It was quite tricky getting off the hill because I still wasn’t clear of the outcrops and had to pick my way around quite a few, with some short precarious sections of descent. Then it was back to the road. The bogs were not too bad for the most part.

On this section I also came across an interesting selection of military debris and more signs warning me to “not touch any military debris as it may blow up and kill you”. Yes, that’s actually what it said!

I walked east along the road back towards the ferry to Durness and flagged the bus down as it came past. Luckily there was one seat left!! This meant I could get the 2pm ferry, rather than walking out and not getting home until after 5pm. Just so you know, the ferry is not a ferry in the traditional sense. It is more a dinghy!

The “ferry”! (across the Kyle of Durness)

I chatted to a couple of the tourists, who later offered me a lift back into town. I declined however as I wanted to walk along the coastal path down the Kyle to Faraid Head then back into town. One of the other tourists walked with me. Actually he asked if I knew the way to which I replied “no, not really, but I think there’s a path and it’s just up the coast anyway. Pretty sure I can find it”. He was English, holidaying (by public transport) around Scotland “before they become independent”. Not sure what difference that would’ve made to him being able to holiday here?

The walk was much longer than I thought but was an interesting mix of grass, cliffs, rocks and good views. The “path” through the grass sections was interesting. It was not really a path, . . you just kind of picked a section through the grass that went the way you wanted and looked slightly more bent than the other bits!

Some of the less thick grass to walk through.

At the beach in Balnakeil Bay I got to catch up with my kayakers again. One of them at least. The other had gone to hitchhike back to where they’d left a bike, so he could ride back to where they’d left the car, at the start of their kayak trip. It was good to see that they’d arrived safely anyway. (And yes, I did email them yesterday and they’ve replied with some stunning pictures of the lighthouse and cliffs from sea level!)

From here I walked back into town. It’s quite a long walk (about a mile) and I had messaged Scott to see if he wanted to pick me up. I got to his sister’s place so dropped in there before I saw him. It turns out that he had been there too, but had gone to pick me up . . . but couldn’t find me because I’d said I was walking UP the Kyle (as in upstream) when I was actually walking downstream (or in my mind “up” as in “north”!).

Once he got back they surprised me with cake and presents for my birthday, which was so delightful and heartwarming. Later I went home and had an amazing long, luxurious bath, then Scott took me out for a big (and yummy) dinner at the Oasis. It was a really lovely way to spend a birthday.

Yes, I’ve gone nuts with the photos today and completely blown my limit. But, this was my birthday, and it’s almost my last post of the holiday so I’m feeling a bit indulgent. Plus, this way you can appreciate how restrained I was for all the other posts!

I got a lift to Blairmore thismorning with Scott’s cousin’s husband who works at Kinlochbervie but was kind enough to drive a bit further up the road to drop me off right at the start of the track up to Sandwood Bay. It was a lovely morning and I’d finally managed to get to bed early the night before a walk!

There is a very good track all the way from Blairmore up to Sandwood Bay, through typical moorland and past a number of pretty lochs.

Stepping stones across the end of Loch na Gainimh, on the very good track to Sandwood Bay.

I climbed the hill just before the bay to get a better view. I’m not sure that this was really worth doing, but I had plenty of time and energy today. While up there I saw 2 guys, a dog and a wheelbarrow leaving the bay. Someone I spoke to later said they were probably removing rubbish from the area.

Two men, a dog and a wheelbarrow in the dunes at Sandwood Bay.

Sandwood Bay is considered an amazing beach around here and being so accessible probably gets abused a little (people leaving rubbish behind). Everybody asked me what I thought of it and, while I agree it is lovely, . . . there is a bit of a different standard of beaches in Australia so I was not as impressed as they expected. Besides, I think the beaches in Durness are much more beautiful.

I had to take my shoes off to cross the river where Sandwood Loch exits into the sea. I tried tip toeing across on the stones but it was just too far and my balance not good enough! The crossing was fine . . . although a bit cold!

The river I had to cross.

Then it was up the hill and across the moors. There is no track up here, just a vague idea to walk north (it is part of the “Cape Wrath Trail”. I had an interesting time crossing the Strath Chailleach river, which is quite large but has lots of rocky sections that look easy to cross . . until you get closer and realise the last gap is slightly to big to get over! I stayed dry, but ended up trying several different sections and going up and down a bit. Lots of fun though.

I crossed Strath Chailleach somewhere around here. There is another wide section of river on the other side of the big boulder so it’s not as easy as it looks!

Just before I got to the river and found a stile over a fence, which gave me some confidence that I was roughly where I was supposed to be!

Looking back at the stile across the fence near Strath Chailleach

The next section was wide open moorland which was, typically, a bit boggy . . . although not too bad. It was also harder to navigate than normal, with no large features to navigate by, so mainly on compass bearings. My navigation was not too bad but not quite spot on through here, with extra walking (although it doesn’t look too bad on the GPS data!).

I had chosen to go inland a little, around a hill, then a loch, then to a very specific point on the Kelsgaig River as I’d read that it was a little tricky to cross in other places. My navigation to cross the river was pretty spot on. I did have to actually jump across the section that I chose though! I really don’t like jumping, but got through this one safely.

Where I jumped across the Kelsgaig River

The river is just inside the military danger area – luckily no red flags out today so I was allowed to go in. Lots of signs though warning me of the dangers of being blown up!

The edge of the military danger area.

I headed north, a little inland of the cliffs, except for a couple of times I went to have a look over them. They are very impressive! There were also some strange big bare patches of ground on the hills, apparently natural and not related to bombing. I generally stayed a little way inland, as I was didn’t want to have to do any backtracking to get around cliff edges or bogs close to the edge. In hindsight, I probably could’ve walked right along the edge of the cliffs which would’ve been much more interesting and enjoyable.

I could see the road to the lighthouse from a long way away and the walk there took ages and was not very interesting. Still pleasant enough though. The ground was a little drier than normal at least.

I got to the lighthouse and had a good look around. I was peering over the edge of the cliff right next to the lighthouse when I saw two guys in kayaks below! Wow, . . . people crazier than me!!

Can you see the kayakers??

A closer view.

I had a look around the cafe and the lighthouse guy offered me a cup of tea and we had a chat. He also gave me some sandwiches later. How lovely!! (I mentioned I was Scott’s friend, who he knows well, . . but I was still pretty touched by his generosity) I also had a chat to the bus driver, who’d just brought a tour group out, to find out what time he’d be driving in and out tomorrow in case I wanted to get a lift back to the ferry.

After a decent rest I set off again, up the hill past some old buildings and down the other side. I followed a stone wall, then had to climb over it when I got to the end! There had been gaps earlier that I could’ve walked through but it looked boggy on the other side so I hadn’t!

The wall I climbed over. It is about 4.5′ tall.

I followed the line of the wall, on the advice of the lighthouse keeper, instead of walking along the cliffs because an inlet further down cut in a long way and I would’ve had to walk around. At the inlet I walked all the way down to the water where there is a stone jetty and a lot of old ruined equipment and vehicles. I then couldn’t be bothered walking back out, so just went straight up the side of the hill at the end of the inlet!

I walked down the hill here (steep) then back up the other side next to the building (very steep!)

Some of the old equipment.

I meandered eastwards, not exactly where I’d intended to go, but I wasn’t really fussed about my navigation. I knew where I had to go and wasn’t in a hurry, so I just wandered along. There were some pretty boggy areas but they were almost all dried out, so it was mostly pretty easy walking. I walked up along the headland for the last bit, which gave really good views of Kearvaig Bay and the cliffs.

Coming into Kearvaig Bay I dropped down straight off the side of the hill. It looked pretty steep so I’d considered walking around to a flatter section but I’m glad I didn’t bother. It wasn’t too bad, and there was even a gate at the bottom (fallen down), suggesting that it wasn’t such a crazy idea to go that way.

The side of the hill I walked down to get to Kearvaig Bay.

I had to take my shoes off to cross the Kearvaig River again. Also fine but a bit cold!

Crossing the Kearvaig River.

Heading across the beach I saw two kayaks pulled up on the beach, near a couple of tents. I went over and had a chat, telling them that I’d seen them from the cliffs (and that it was nice to see people crazier than I am!). They shared a beer with me (weight is not so critical in a kayak) and I stayed for quite a while chatting, until it got too cold! I said I’d emailed them the photos I had of them when I got home . . . . which I may finally get around to doing today!!

I then went up to the bothy. There was a father and son, from southern England, there who’d cycled in from the ferry and were staying tomorrow night too. The father was staying in the tent, while the son stayed in the bothy (not sure why they didn’t both stay inside as there was heaps of room). There was also one other older guy staying there. I had seen him at the lighthouse earlier, but didn’t speak to him on either occasion. Quite busy for somewhere in the middle of nowhere!

I took all myself to one of the upstairs rooms then realised that there was another entire self contained room (fireplace and sleeping benches) at the other end of the bothy, so I took all my stuff over there. The other section has five separate rooms in it.

The bothy was lovely. It was very windy and a bit drizzly outside, but safe, dry and cosy inside. I couldn’t light the fire (no experience lighting fire with just newspaper and coal) but lit some candles and sat in one of the window seats writing my diary. I had my dinner which was not as good as normal (the meat meals don’t seem to dehydrate as well as pasta) and dessert, which made up for dinner (Romney’s mint cake and chocolate)! I even got to read some Agatha Christie before bed (there is a small book collection here)! Such decadence compared to my normal camping!

It was pretty cool here.

While walking today I found a hat and an unopened 2L water bottle, which I then carried for the rest of the walk because I felt bad about pouring out perfectly good drinking water! I’m obviously from a dry country! I saw a seal and young guillemot (probably) while walking to the kayakers, and saw a little mouse (or something similar) outside the bothy window. I also saw quite a few deer today, which I wasn’t expecting on the Cape. Not sure why not!

I got up very late thismorning and eventually tried to cook myself bacon for breakfast and wash some clothes. I was messing around with the washing machine when all the power in the entire house shut off! Oops!! I found the fuse box but everything still looked OK, so I was stumped. Luckily the bacon was cooked enough to eat.

I waited for Scott to get up and sheepishly told him that I thought I’d broken his house. It turns out that the power here is prepaid . . . so you pre-buy a bunch of power onto something like a USB stick, then plug that in. I know, the actual power isn’t on the stick, just the recognition that you’ve paid for a certain amount. So, nothing broken and I got to finish my washing!

I was still incredibly tired today, even after a good night’s sleep. My legs just did not want to do anything. I got a lift with Scott to the Smoo for lunch (he was starting work at 12), intending to come back and go for a walk around town afterwards. I ended up staying, sitting at the bar not moving, all afternoon and evening . . . even borrowing the car to get into town to buy more power and some food!! I did manage to perk up by the late evening though when there was a party for one of the Czech summer workers who was leaving that week. (A number of young Europeans come into town for the summer to do hospitality work)

The following day was bacon and eggs for breakfast (no power issues and I’d bought eggs the day before). Then around to Scott’s parents’ place to pick up the dogs for a walk. I took River for quite long walk, out to Loch Caladail and Loch Meadaidh then up to Beinn Ceannabeinne, the hill just outside of town.

River at Loch Meadaidh. Beinn Ceannabeinne in the background.

It was very windy on top and River was not too keen on posing for pictures near the edge.

River, not too excited about the wind. Durness in the background.

I had walked up the long way (all the way to the south of the hill then up the ridge) but had seen a spot on the way that looked like a suitable shortcut to come down. I saw it on the way back and went to go down. River stopped and stared at me like I was crazy then when I told him to go on, he took off like a rocket, tearing down the hillside! I thought I’d lost him for a while but he showed up shortly afterwards.

Looking doubtfully at the rather steep descent I chose.

It was very steep and quite rough on the way down, but certainly doable and a bit of fun. When I looked back I saw the section I had just come down . . . and the section I’d planned to come down. They were quite different!!

Looking back at Beinn Ceannabeinne. We came down the green bit immediately to the left of the highest knobble. I had been planning to come down the very gentle zig zaggy green bit on the far right!

We followed a track back into town and stopped by the Smoo so Scott could say hi to River. Then back to his parents’ place to pick up Kyle for a short run at the beach.

After this, dinner at the pub, then back home to pack as I was being picked up in the morning for an overnight walk to cover the last section of my original walk (Kinlochbervie to Cape Wrath).

We had organised for Scott’s cousin to pick me up at 7:15am to take me down to Achfary (the estate/hamlet in between Ben Stack and Arkle) so I was up at 6am thismorning to pack everything into a daypack. This was particularly unpleasant as I hadn’t got home until 2am that morning! His cousin works at the estate so I could go down with her in the morning, walk all day then come home with her in the afternoon. We also dropped another couple of people off (that’s how things seem to work up here – if you’re going somewhere you often end up with a few passengers wanting to go to the same place!). One of them was a “pony boy” from one of the estates, who looked very smart, all dressed up in tweeds. Apparently pony boys use the ponies to bring home any deer that the stalkers shoot.

The Achfary estate office.

I had a choice of Ben Stack (the next hill on my original route) or Arkle, or I’d considered the possibility of a round trip to do both. Both hills were covered in cloud. Arkle’s looked slightly more permanent so I decided to go up Ben Stack. I thought I might go over it then follow my planned route (backwards) towards Kylesku then come back to Achfary along the track that the Cape Wrath Trail suggests. This was ~30km, and mostly track so should’ve been possible.

I set off, a short walk up the road then turn along a ‘track’ (bog) up towards Ben Stack. It was very boggy (the whole area, not just my track). Also, my legs were very tired . . . and I was very tired too!! It was a very long slog up the hill. One of my guidebooks had said “keep to the left of the rock spur” but I was seriously doubting that was the easiest way! I saw a bunch of deer on the way up too, and got some nice photos of them.

Deer, next to the big rocky spur I was supposed to keep left of. There are three in the photo – can you see them all?

Up and up and up I went (with a few bits of across and a few rests) then . . . oh, . . that’s the summit shelter! It was a bit anticlimactic really. The summit of Ben Stack is interesting though – it’s a dual ridge, with a dip in between.

The dual ridge on Ben Stack (summit shelter just visible on the far ridge)

The entire ridge was fully clouded so I sat behind the summit shelter for a bit and had some food. Then, the cloud on the far side (east) cleared, so I ran over there (down into the dip, back up onto the other ridge). Nope, it had covered over again. Then the other side (west) cleared! I ran back. Nope, covered again! This happened quite a few times until eventually enough of the cloud cleared, . . or I ended up on the right side at the right time to get some views.

Summit shelter and view SW

View to the NE (Loch Stack on right)

I continued northwest along the ridge, which got very narrow in some places. There was cloud below me and it was very windy . . . . a little bit scary! I was half crouching as I walked across some of the narrow exposed sections. Then I was off the ridge and into the descent. It was very steep, slippery and rocky. It was also still covered in cloud and very very windy in some places!!

Partway down the descent. Photo taken to try to indicate how crazily windy it was!

My original plan was to walk this hill in the opposite direction (NW to SE). This would definitely have been a better way to tackle it. The steep tricky rock section would’ve been quite fun to climb, with the long, gentle descent being an easy way to finish. Instead, I had a long slog to get up then a very tricky and unpleasant descent.

Once I got off the steep rocky bit onto the lower slopes I couldn’t really find which way to go. There was supposed to be a track to the base of the mountain but I couldn’t see it from where I was. I ended up getting stuck on top of an outcrop just before the track and having to backtrack and go around. When I did eventually walk up and find the track it was so obvious! This would’ve been another good thing about going the opposite way – it’s much easier to find a track junction aim for a mountain than leave a mountain and find the exact spot that a track peters out.

Somewhere there (towards the right of the photo) is a path. Can you see it? I couldn’t.

The path is incredibly obvious at this end!

I walked east towards the main road and had a look at the stepping stones (marked on my map) across the River Laxford near Stack Lodge.

Stepping stones across River Laxford. I’d been thinking about crossing here – glad I didn’t have to try. I don’t think I would’ve managed this one with dry feet!

I then turned back and went along the same track, past the base of Ben Stack this time. I had already decided that I wasn’t going to do my original route backwards (towards Kylesku then back to Achfary along the Cape Wrath Trail) – I was just too tired. Plus, my shoes were definitely not waterproof anymore! Instead I decided to have a very leisurely walk back around the base of Ben Stack through Strath Stack (a strath is like a glen, but wider . . . ie a valley). There was a signpost on the mainroad that advertised this walk. I followed the track to the far side of the hill then turned into the valley. For a signposted route, this turn was incredibly inconspicuous. There were no signs and the track I turned onto was barely visible! From here, it was not so much a track as a bog. I spent most of my time walking parallel to the path about 10 metres higher up the valley.

The “track” through Strath Stack (NW end). It is that muddy patch on the right of the photo.

In general though, this was a lovely walk. The scenery was beautiful and it was very peaceful. I was really loving the countryside and was thinking about how hard it would be to leave Scotland.

A lovely track (with drainage and everything) at the SE end of Strath Stack. And incredibly lovely, enjoyable walk through here.

Somewhere along the valley the track started up again, then I headed into a pine forest and back into Achfary. I still had an hour or so to kill until hometime so I walked down the main road (SE) for a little bit. Despite being the main road to Inverness, it was actually reasonably quiet. There were some large birds of prey wheeling and calling out of the ridge to the west –they may’ve been eagles, but they were too far away to get a good look.

There were some very interesting stepping stones across the bit between Loch More and Loch nan Ealachan (I tried to follow the path out to them but it turned into a marsh).

Looking NW up Loch More at the stepping stones and tiny bridge. Arkle in the background, still crowned in clouds.

A close up of the stepping stones and bridge.

I sat on a little stone pier for a while, taking photos and generally enjoying the scenery. Arkle, in particular, was looking stunning (still with its crown of clouds). I hadn’t really been a fan of this hill thismorning, but it has really grown on me throughout the day and is quite stunning. Here is my new favourite picture of Arkle!

I headed back to the estate, absolutely exhausted by this point and after a short wait (with a cup of tea and a seat in the estate office) we went back to Durness. I cleaned myself up then staggered over to the Smoo Cave Hotel for dinner. What a struggle! I was so tired, I barely made it there.

Ben Stack is quite steep.

It was a dry night and the midges were mostly gone by morning. The campsite had been reasonably good. I packed up and headed across the bog, which was not too bad as it was starting to dry out. I was heading at a bit of an angle towards the road, thinking that the start point car park was further north but not entirely sure if I hadn’t missed it and gone too far north already. Shortly I saw people, the bridge and then the road signs.

Once I got there I filled my water bottle at the bridge (filtering the water, as it was a bit of a muddy stream) then headed up the path. I “hid” my pack off the track just pass the turn off to Spidean Conich (the southern ridge/peak). It was well hidden from the road side but pretty obvious to anyone coming back from the hill. It was the best I could do though with the flat terrain and low scrub.

My pack (the white dot on the left), a good path, carpark in the distance and Glas Bheinn in the background.

It was a reasonably good path but it seemed to take forever to get to the col. The col on Quinag is very low down (only about 580m, vs 800 for the peak) but there were still very nice views out to the west from here.

Views to the west from the col.

After having a good look off the edge I headed NE up to Sail Garbh. Sail Garbh is the highest of the three peaks and is a small quartzite cap on top of the main sandstone ridge. It was easy enough going up on the sandstone but much harder going on the quartzite. The change between the two rock types is so obvious!

Heading up to the Sail Garbh summit. See the change from pink sandstone to grey quartzite?

On the way there I came round a corner and saw a crazy old sheep – I’m not sure who looked more surprised, him or me!

Crazy old sheep! Hasn’t seen a shearer in a while.

The summit of Sail Garbh has a theodolite mount on it, as do quite a few of the peaks around here. I was very happy to be on the peak of my hill, and even happier at having a theodolite mount there (as well as loving geology, I’ve dabbled in old fashioned surveying. The thought of carrying an old theodolite up here doesn’t excite me though!).

Survey mount in summit shelter on Sail Garbh (Spidean Conich on the left, Suilven in background)

From here I headed further north, coming down off the summit and along the long sandstone ridge to the very end. Coming off the peak was a bit loose and slippery, but not too bad. Then it was sandstone pavement all the way to the end of the ridge. It was stunning. Awesome. Wow! I was so excited to be there! This was the ridge that I’d seen 2 years ago that had dragged me back here, and now here I was, standing on the very end of it! It was a pretty impressive end too. A lot of places look steep from a distance but up close are not so bad. Not this one. The edges of this ridge were almost sheer all the way down to ground level. I walked around for a while with my arms out like an aeroplane, marvelling in the feeling of the hill and air and just being there.

The view to the north off the very abrupt edge at the end of the Sail Garbh ridge.

I simply can’t explain how amazing it felt to be standing up there.

There were also some birds nesting just off the edge near the end of the ridge, which was pretty cool.

I was going to get a small piece of sandstone from the end of the ridge and a small piece of quartzite from the summit, but I completely forgot in all the excitement. It’s pretty amazing for me to come home from a holiday without any pieces of rock but after I didn’t have rocks from here (my favourite ridge on my favourite hill) it just seemed silly to collect any from anywhere else!

Looking back at the summit from the end of the Sail Garbh ridge, along easy walking sandstone.

After soaking up as much of the atmosphere, and view, as I could, I headed back over the summit then onto the Sail Ghorm ridge (the north western one). It was a really long way out to the end of Sail Ghorm. Lots of ups and downs, narrow ridges, chimneys and buttresses. Amazing views. I went all the way to the end of the ridge again. Again it was awesome. I was very happy.

Rocky formations and view south-west partway along Sail Ghorm ridge.

Looking back at Sail Garbh from Sail Ghorm. Spidean Conich can be seen poking over the top in the background. All the lumps and bumps to the right of this are the Sail Ghorm ridge I’ve just walked along (except the big one immediately to the right, which I went around!).

From here I was going across to Spidean Conich. I ran some of the way back, partly through sheer exuberance and partly to make up time (I was getting picked up at the base in the early arvo). The path back to the col actually drops down even lower and then comes back up. I wasn’t interested in doing that so ended up scampering around the side of the hill on a goat track, across some scree slopes then straight down the edge! I was getting pretty good at this! (although I had jammed my ankles several times already today!)

The hillside I scrambled around on the right (across the scree and probably just below that lower dark patch). Spidean Conich looking fairly unassailable although you can just see the path snaking up the far edge. Suilven in the background.

Across the col, admiring the views again, then up the apparently unassailable Spidean Conich. It was not as bad as it looked, although there were lots of very high ‘steps’ – so high that I had to put my knee on one and lever myself up because my little legs were too short to get my foot up onto it! Up I went, all the way to the top. Spidean Conich is primarily quartzite so it was reasonably tricky walking. While it was a pretty cool climb up, this was the least impressive summit, partly because it was so wide and partly because I’d seen so many amazing views already today!

The final rise up to Spidean Conich. Looks impossible, was certainly interesting!

After the summit it turned into a big boulder field for the descent, similar to Breabag’s ascent, wide and semi directionless. It was very difficult at first, although eased off into grass and rock or mostly flat (sloped) quartzite pavement. It actually looked like there was a small patch of sandstone in there too?!?

Boulder field and quartzite pavement down the expansive, wide flank of Spidean Conich (looking east).

Towards the bottom the quartzite pavement became interspersed with bog. I followed the pavement strips too far, missing the path back to the main track (where I’d started). Once I realised this I cut back to the north and soon got back to the path. I’d seen signs on the way in asking people to “please use the new path to preserve the fragile heather and bog”, so I was keen to follow their request. Besides, walking through bogs sucks (no pun intended)!

The new path to Spidean Conich. It is lovely, very obvious and was definitely worth backtracking to find!

It was an easy walk back from there then back to the road, with a slight detour to retrieve my pack. I was back right on time . . . about 10 minutes before I was scheduled to be picked up at 2pm. Then it was off home to Durness with a big smile on my face!

Breabag had been really good yesterday and I wasn’t sure if Quinag would be able to top that. Oh it did though. She was amazing. Even better than I thought it would be. I love that hill!

I had planned to make dinner (homemade pasta) with Scott’s sister that night so once I’d got home and showered I headed round to her place. We put the kids to bed, opened a bottle of wine (we needed the bottles as rolling pins . . . at least that’s our excuse!) and made an amazing creamy salmon pasta. Yum!! Her partner was home and we had a great evening chatting, eating and drinking. Scott was working, but came round afterwards to try the pasta. Some small payment for driving me around all week! You can see some more photos of Quinag, and our pasta making effort here.

I saw, and talked to, a lot of people on top of the hill today. I talked to one guy twice (while I was going out and then back from Sail Ghorm), who had camped up here last night (what?!?!?! – he said luckily it didn’t get windy so he was fine) and was heading to Suileag bothy for tonight (what?!?!?! that is miles away! – he said he’d done the walk before, it was mostly track . . .but crappy, boggy track). We shared our enthusiasm and love of the hill. I spoke to an older couple also while coming back off Sail Ghorm and told them that going out to the end of the ridge on Sail Garbh was amazing, and not so difficult, and they said they might give it a go (at first they thought going out there was a crazy idea). On the way to Spidean Conich I saw a German Shorthaired Pointer (dog) swimming in the lochan up there. His owner was just descending from the peak (which I struggled to get up, but apparently the dog had no trouble coming down!). He said the dog loves heights and water so he is in heaven up here. I also saw at least 8 other people up there. Just before I got back to the carpark I also helped a young couple who were trying to find the Eas a Chulaiin waterfall by telling them how to get to it and showing them my map and guidebook (the little one I got in Inverness).

Man and his dog coming off the middle lump up to Spidean Conich.

I emerged from my tent to find that the midges had got up before me. It is the first time they’ve been really bad in the morning and I didn’t put my headnet on so got eaten a fair bit while packing up my tent.

The road walk up to the old cannery at the start of the Breabag walk was fine, with very little traffic at this time of morning. There was a car parked in the Parking bay near my campsite, with someone asleep inside! There was also a campervan parked a bit further down the road so this was obviously a popular place to stop last night. The stalking information sign at the cannery said they were stalking on the 17-23 August (a few weeks ago), so I should be fine to walk through (I had tried to check all stalking information before I left but hadn’t been able to find any for this area).

I walked up the valley diligently reading my Rock Trails guide to make sure that I saw all the attractions on the way. This area is limestone with the “attractions” being mainly the river (Allt nan Uamh) disappearing and reappearing along the course of the river. There are a number of springs, sometimes on the edge of the valley, and sometimes right in the middle. The weather had been good for this section of the walk, with a mixture of wet and dry. Recent rain meant that the springs were running well, but the dry summer meant that the water table was low so the river still disappeared a lot in between them. (This is what I think anyway, . . it may be completely incorrect reasoning)

The river (Allt nan Uamh) is actually that dry bed up the right hand side. The water on the left comes from the spring (see how it stops at the wall)

A large spring (not running) in the centre of the valley. Also dry river bed showing behind it.

A short way along the valley I went part way up the southern wall to visit the Bones Cave. This is an area of Special Scientific Interest and is called the Bones Cave because of the number of ancient animal bones in, some naturally occurring and some evidence of humans. There are quite a few caves, but no big accessible network so not especially ‘scenic’. I took a bunch of photos, including one which very closely mimics one from my Rock Trails book!

View out of one of the Bone Caves, looking at the opposite ridge (Beinn nan Cnaimhseag?)

From the Bones Cave it was back down to the valley floor (seeing some ‘pipe rock’ on the way – this is fossilised remains of worm castings) and following the still disappearing and reappearing river. It was much further than I had expected from here to the start of the hill proper. On the way were a series of waterfalls (all described in my Rock Trails book). The first big one, it said “you can’t walk up next to the waterfall but it’s worth seeing, so go up to the base and see it, then backtrack a little and go up the lefthand side of the valley”. I went and saw the base of the waterfall . . . but of course once I was there I wasn’t interested in backtracking all that way! The right hand side of the valley looked climbable right here, so up I went! I must admit, it was only just climbable, and there were a few wobbly moments (bear in mind I had a full camping pack on at this point too!).

The first main waterfall (I climbed up slightly off picture to the right).

A bit after this was the second interesting waterfall, this one being more of a water slide, with tilted layers of rock.

The “waterslide”.

After this I was into the quartzite. Quartzite (sedimentary, not metamorphic) is basically sand that has been solidified into rocks. When it breaks apart it does so firstly into quite sharp, angular blocks. Then, when it erodes further it basically turns back into sand. It is very hard and provides very little soil for plants so is quite a barren landscape. At least this means there is less water and bog . . . although when it does get wet it gets very slippery.

The walk up Breabag is not particularly steep but is very very long and not easy. There is lots of loose rock (that moves when you stand on it) and thin layers of slippery mud (that slide when you stand on it). Some bits actually had a covering of grass, which made things a lot easier.

There were a lot of deer on the way up and as deer are still a novelty for me, I took a LOT of photos of them! I think I actually chased the same herd of deer across the entire hill today as I kept seeing them at different parts of the walk.

Deer (top right) and typical terrain on the way up to the top of Breabag.

The final approach to the summit is almost flat, but again difficult. Almost completely barren, loose rock. The actual summit would be indistinguishable except for the large cairn/summit shelter there. The views from the summit were pretty good, with no clouds. It was a bit hazy, so visibility was reduced, and the photos aren’t stunning, but it was a lot better than I’d had from Suilven yesterday so I was happy!

Views from the summit to the west – Suilven is the double peaked one in the middle, Canisp is to its right. Quinag is the large multipeaked ridge on the right behind the loch.

I also saw some ptarmigan up here (I’d never seen one before, but they looked like what I thought a ptarmigan would look like, and I looked them up when I got home to confirm), and something that may’ve been a hare. It was bigger than a rabbit but still had a white tail (no photo, it was too fast!).

Can you see the ptarmigan? And typical summit terrain on Breabag.

My book suggested walking back along the eastern edge of the hill. Breabag is a bit of a one sided hill – the side that I’d come up was a very long, gentle (by Scottish standards) incline all the way along, with just a few outcrops. The eastern side, in contrast, was steep corries – circular bowls carved out by glaciers. This was definitely worth seeing. Wow! There were clouds floating up out of the corrie, obscuring the view but it was still very impressive.

Fog swirling out of the corrie.

A bit later on the clouds cleared so I was able to get some decent photos of the corrie and the views to the east. The corrie walls were pretty steep but it actually looked like some parts might’ve been possible to walk up (I was getting a better feel for the landscape by now and what walking conditions would be like).

Better views of the corrie wall, and valley with the River Oykel.

I now had a long walk along the top of Breabag to the northern end. There was no track and lots of loose rock and false summits. It was a bit of a gamble which way to go but I think I picked a pretty good path. At one point there was a huge split in the rock all the way across the ridge! Luckily it was not too deep and there was a broken bit in the middle that I could climb up. I wonder now if someone broke this bit deliberately to make it easier to get up, or if it is just there naturally.

Looking left . . .

The one non-sheer section of the wall in front.

Looking right . . .

There was also another section that had part of a stone wall built along the edge of the corrie.

Looking east, see the wall on either side of the edge?

A close up on the right hand wall.

At the northern end of the ridge I had to drop down into the Traligill Valley. I had researched this section quite thoroughly as it was quite steep, with lots of outcrops (cliffs). I had to go to the east a bit to get down to the valley before turning back to the west. Looking from a distance, the drop into the valley looked like it would be very steep and difficult. As it was, I followed my planned route on the map and then . . . . suddenly I was in the valley. No difficulties at all! In hindsight it may’ve been easier, and slightly shorter, on another route not as far east as I’d gone, but not having been there before I was very happy with the route I chose. I was also very excited because there was a beautiful track along the valley! Finding tracks where they’re supposed to be is exciting enough . . . finding one that’s not even marked on the map is amazing!!

This was quite a long walk, always with a little doubt about whether I was going the right, or best, way. There was always a chance I’d end up walking into some cliffs, or unclimbable rocks and have to backtrack a lot. That said, this was a very rewarding part of my walks . . . and that is probably the reason why.

The river valley (“follow the river”) was a very easy walk until suddenly the river dropped off the edge into a steep gully! Luckily the track kept going for a while, higher on the ridge. When that disappeared (Scottish tracks just do that) it was crosscountry again through bogs. Yay. I also saw a sinkhole (this happens in limestone, and I’d seen evidence of it in the aerial photos of the area) so was a bit more careful than normal while tromping through bogs.

A sinkhole in the Traligill valley (looking straight down on it probably ~0.5 x 1.5m)

I got back to the river (Allt a Bhealaich), which was also disappearing and reappearing . . . . until at one point it just disappeared completely. There wasn’t even a dried riverbed to follow! I thought I must’ve missed a turn but, nope, I checked the map and the river just ends!

Luckily shortly after this I found a track again. And, wow, it was a real track, with stone gaps to allow water to flow (love those things)! I was just getting excited about this when I saw some other people and the turn off to some more caves. One cave opens up into an underground river! Not a trickle seeping through the ground but the entire river flowing underground! There was nothing on the surface anywhere near here. I’m guessing that’s where the Allt a Bhealaich ended up.

The main cave entrance in the Traligill valley.

A close up panorama – see the water rushing through.

As I was coming out of the cave, a guy walked past. He asked if I was OK. Maybe he thought I’d slipped into the cave? Or maybe I just looked a little crazy?! They (there was a woman too) started following the track back to the main road, so I looked around the other caves then followed them.

The track, then road, gave a lovely scenic walk back to Inchnadamph. I was quite indignant about seeing a new house (complete with round turrets) on the hillside which was not marked on my map! Yes, my maps are that detailed that each house is marked!!

Following two people (who looked a bit like my parents in the 70s) down a good track towards Inchnadamph. See the new house (distance) with turrets, and Quinag in the background.

On the way out I saw another stalking sign. This one said that they were stalking this week. Oops! Obviously the sign I saw at the start of the walk hadn’t been updated.

I took a slight detour south to the Inchnadamph Hotel, thinking a pint would be nice, but it didn’t look open so I didn’t try. I’m glad I didn’t have to use this as my resupply point on the original walk! I read some signs about geology in the area then headed up the road (I had learnt that road walking was preferable to cross country across hills!). On the way I stopped at a plaque for a geologist (so excited to see something turning geologists into heroes!), at Calda House and at the signs for Ardvreck Castle (I didn’t go to the castle as I went last time I was here). I also saw a bunch of sheep walking up the road, including one who decided to sit down in the middle of the road and have a rest. I kept hearing cars braking suddenly and honking their horn, but it didn’t care! A jet also screamed through at about 500m, judging from the way it went between the hills rather than over them!

Just after Ardvreck Castle I turned off onto the side road to Achmore Farm. The track continued past the farm and was OK for about another kilometre before it turned into that worst kind of Scottish track: the bog! At this point the track actually becomes worse to walk on than the surrounding countryside. I walked parallel to the track for a while, then decided to just make a beeline for the carpark near Quinag, as much as you can beeline in bogs and lumpy hills! I saw a few sinkhole like things around here too so was being careful.

A Scottish track, aka bog!

I ended up finding a campsite a few hundred metres off the road, in view of Quinag and less than 1km from the carpark marking the start of the Quinag walk. It was reasonably flat, not too lumpy and not too boggy so decided to stop here rather than risk not finding anything else suitable. It was quite good, except for the bugs! I got eaten by midges AGAIN, mistakenly thinking that I could set my tent up quickly enough and electing to not put my headnet on! This means I got eaten at both ends of today – I would be so lumpy and itchy in a couple of days! Also tried using mum’s Avon insect repellent, which didn’t help at all!

The midges kept me locked inside and I’d pitched my tent tail into the wind which unfortunately meant I couldn’t look out my front door towards Quinag. Still, I was very happy to be sitting (and sleeping) so close to my mountain. I was hungry tonight and couldn’t be bothered waiting for my past to rehydrate fully, but it still tasted OK (just a little crunchy!). I was also loving my Romneys Extra Strong Mint Cake, and chocolate, for dessert! I was still not filtering my water but was at least selective at where I took it from: some directly from one of the main spring (Fuaran Allt nan Uamh), and some from a tiny lochan right at the top of Breabag. No sign of getting sick either! I’d also decided by today that my shoes weren’t waterproof anymore.

Today was a fantastic day. I saw some amazing views, conquered some difficult terrain, found my own path and enjoyed the whole thing. Not that some bits weren’t still very hard work! I also may’ve been going slightly crazy from spending too much time on my own. Here are some of the random thoughts I wrote down this evening:

There is so much water in this country I’m surprised its inhabitants don’t have webbed feet and gills!

I like my tent. I like being in my tent. Maybe something about when I’m here I’ve stopped for the day and I’m safe from midges and rain and anything else. I don’t need to do anything. It’s my own little world.

I feel like maybe 10 days of this would’ve been too much. I feel like I’m already going a bit kooky after 2 out here. Plus, it’s REALLY hard. 10 days would really wear me down. I’m also, while enjoying being here in my tent and living this life, also really looking forward to being picked up. Partly so I don’t have to walk/work anymore. Partly because I’m looking forward to seeing people (which wouldn’t have been the case originally).

Yes, I know, I blew my photo allowance again today, but I thought I did pretty well given that I took 230 photos today (vs my usual ~100)! There are also a couple more lovely photos of this walk here.

It was a very early start thismorning to get ready to leave by 6:30 so Scott could drop me off and get home in time for work. He did get back in time, but only just . . . not helped by me feeling car sick on the way there and the fact that I had glossed over the fact that I wanted to go to Inverkirkaig, rather than Lochinver . . . . not realising that the extra 5km to Inverkirkaig would take so long due to the incredibly narrow, incredibly windy, incredibly hilly road!

I set off along the track to the Falls of Kirkaig just before 8am. It was a lovely walk along the rushing River Kirkaig, through pretty forest, only marred by the fact that the midges were out and about. A little way along the track I passed a fisherman coming back the other way. I was quite surprised – it was still very early in the morning and he’d already been out, done his fishing and was coming home.

Good path along the River Kirkaig.

The walk to the falls was very nice. It was a good track, only a little bit muddy in sections, and the forest opened up into heather and bracken moors, getting rid of the midges and giving good views of the river and countryside.The ground was quite rocky, typical gneiss countryside, with the river cutting a very steep valley through it. I also had some good views of Stac Pollaidh, and my first glimpses of Suilven.

A (zoomed) view of Stac Pollaidh. I think I got to that lower flat bit towards the left of the middle (but am not sure because I couldn’t really see anything!)

An early view of Suilven, being gently crowned by clouds.

The final bit of path down to the falls was very steep (as the guide book I’d picked up in Inverness said) but not too difficult. I stopped on a ledge a couple of metres above the base of the falls and was very surprised to see a fishing rod poking over the top! I thought it must’ve washed down the river during a flood and somehow got stuck here. Then I heard voices! I very quietly peered over the edge and saw two guys there, eating sandwiches! I didn’t want to interrupt them so crept back away from the edge, took some photos then quietly climbed back up the path away from the falls.

Falls of Kirkaig (with fishing rod!)

I continued along the path which goes to the southern side of Suilven. It got progressively more boggy as it went along. I went almost to the neck on Fionn Loch, despite my guidebook suggesting I cut across the top. I think that would’ve been better, but it was nice to see a bit more of the loch and this let me check out the start of the River Kirkaig, where I’d considered trying to cross. It probably wouldn’t have been a good idea!

Kirkaig River where it exits Fionn Loch. I was thinking about trying to cross here . . . glad I changed my mind!

Walking along the northern side of the loch, the path just got worse. There were whole sections that were completely impassable that I had to detour around. This is also where I sunk (see here). New lesson in bogs: black mud with gravel on top is NOT sound.

I could see Suilven quite clearly at this point. It looked huge and unassailable, but I thought I could just see a path up.

I wanted to walk a bit further up Fionn Loch to the end where I’d planned to cross the Uidh Fhearna (coming from Stac Pollaidh) to see if it would’ve been possible. It was about 1km further, difficult walking with an almost non-existent path (I couldn’t see it anyway). Plus, it was almost midday, I still had a long way to go and I was getting a bit tired already. (I had also decided by this point that starting a long walk after a late night and lots of beers is NOT a great idea!)

So, I turned north and started up what might’ve been a track to the base of Suilven. It was quite an overcast day – great for walking, but not so good for hill climbing. The top of Suilven was only just free of cloud at this point. Up I went, stopping before the really steep bit for a rest and half of my lunch.

Looking up towards Suilven from the south. Somewhere here (in the foreground) is a path.

From here there was no path. Or 10 paths, depending on which way you look at it. It was basically a scree slope with a number of stream run-offs that you could clamber up, but it was all very loose and slippery. Suilven (like most hills in this area) is sandstone so is being eroded quite rapidly into loose dirt. In a few (hundred) years it will probably lose its lovely smooth rounded top and look a lot like Stac Pollaidh.

Eventually I reached the col and walked up to the wall that very strangely straddles the top of the ridge. I propped my pack up against the wall and headed up to the summit without it. I didn’t take a photo of the wall, but I’ve found a couple from other people (they don’t count as part of my picture allowance!). I also didn’t take my GPS logger out of my pack, so it only shows my track going to the wall. Clearly I wasn’t thinking very well at this point!

Someone else’s photo of the stone wall across Suilven’s ridge (from: http://hawkins.cx/gallery/main.php/v/scotland_june2008/IMG_1346.JPG.html)

Another sign that I wasn’t thinking too clearly was that I headed off to the summit with only my camera. No food, water, jacket, map or compass! The wind had picked up (being so high) and the cloud was now all over the summit and all the way down to the col. Even though there would be no views I had decided to go to the summit anyway. It seemed stupid to ‘almost go to the top of the hill’!

More what the wall looked like when I was there (minus two people and a dog) (from: http://www.songofthepaddle.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?16859-Five-do-7-Lochs-1-Mountain-amp-4-Portages-in-10-days!)

There were some very narrow bits along the walk to the summit. It was a bit windy, but not too bad in most parts, and visibility was OK (in the immediate vicinity – it was completely white beyond that). The summit was a long way off, with 3 or 4 minor ups and downs on the way. I was getting a bit worried about not bringing anything with me! In the end it was all OK . . . I just couldn’t stop too long or I’d get cold!

One of the very narrow (and also muddy and slippery) sections on the ridge going towards Suilven’s summit.

Coming back towards the wall I heard voices and came across a young American couple who’d come up from the north side and were going back down the south side. They looked like they did this sort of thing a lot. They were staying in Lochinver (I think) and said that on previous days they had actually been able to see people on top of Suilven from there (as tiny moving dots). Obviously they were a bit disappointed in the cloud cover today! I warned them about the scree, and the bog at the bottom, and they said the north side was much the same. I felt pretty sorry for them after descending because if they thought the north side was bad, they were in for a rude awakening on the southern trip! The descent of the north side was actually not too bad, but still pretty tough just because it was long. The tracks at the bottom were also quite good. Still a bit boggy but nothing like what I’d already been through.

I saw another lady (European) heading up towards the hill and had a quick chat to her. She may’ve been lucky because when I looked back about half an hour later the cloud had cleared from the summit. I was back onto proper tracks now, roads even for the first part, along a series of lochs.

An impressive bridge and proper road at the bottom of Suilven (across Abhainn na Clach Airigh?)

It was all pretty good walking except where I lost the track at the end of Loch na Gainimh and ended up cross country through some boggy grass and heather for a while.

A more modest (but still lovely) path along Allt a Ghlinne Dhorcha, looking back at Loch na Gainimh and Suilven

My navigation was all good (with lots of checking to make sure I was going the right way). The river crossing at the start of Lochan Fada was a long series of small stepping stones which I managed with dry feet. I also filled my water bottles here. I didn’t bother filtering it – clearly hadn’t learnt my lesson from my previous walks!

The stepping stone crossing where Allt a Ghlinne Dhorcha joings Lochan Fada. Safely negotiated with dry feet!

I had a short section of cross country navigation to finish the day and did a really good job of it. The track I was on continued south to near Elphin, whereas I wanted to go east to the top of little Loch Awe (I say little because there is a much bigger Loch Awe elsewhere in Scotland). I had chosen to come a little way south then cut between the two Cnoc an Leathaid hills (Bhuide and Bhig). This kept me on a track as long as possible and offered very easy navigation (easy to aim for the saddle between two peaks then follow a fence line up to Loch Awe). I was very happy with both my route selection and my navigation on this section. That said, navigation in Scotland is quite easy in this countryside and clear weather. You can see everything, for quite a distance and hills/lochs are often quite distinctive. It’s a big change from trying to navigate in dense forest on rolling hills in Western Australia!

The low spot between the Cnoc an Leathaids, from where I left the path.

I was also very impressed with my bog traverse here. The Cnoc an Leathaids were quite boggy (not just wet and squelchy but the big black hole type boggy) and I picked my way around them reasonably efficiently and effectively. That’s my opinion as a novice outsider anyway!!

Looking down from between the Cnoc an Leathaids to where I was going (left hand end of the loch, Loch Awe). The black maze on the right is bog. The grey hill in the background on the right is Breabag (tomorrow’s destination).

The slope down to Loch Awe was a bit tough – covered in thick, long grass. I had picked this route to utilise the footbridges across the rivers (Allt Mhic Mhurchaidh Gheir and River Loanan). Sadly the first footbridge had been washed aside! I tried to cross on some rocks, which went quite well until the biggest, stable-est looking rock tipped, dumping that foot in the water! At least I didn’t have too far to go with a wet foot.

The footbridge over Allt Mhic Mhurchaidh Gheir. Not much good to me!

Where I did end up crossing Allt Mhic Mhurchaidh Gheir. I think that concrete block used to be one of the bridge foundations! I got across the difficult looking bit safely, it was one of those big rocks that was my undoing.

The second bridge was fine.

I walked up to the road, to a Parking place, and decided to camp near here so I could tackle the 2.5km of roadwalk to the start of the next walk in the morning when there would be less traffic. I was also a bit tired so didn’t want to be wandering along the road trying to find a campsite. I went down a path to a ford across the River Loanan and found a good enough spot to camp nearby. It was reasonably close to the road (and in sight) but was down a hill so not too obvious. The ground was lumpy and tussocky so not great for pegs, or the tent floor. I found when I was setting up that I’d lost one of my carbon stakes, either here, or probably at my last pitch, before Stac Pollaidh. Not a problem as I had spares, but a bit disappointing still as I’d managed to not lose anything so far.

I also discovered at this point that I’d been particularly lazy (or scatterbrained) when I got to Durness after bailing out of my walk. I had just dumped all my gear in the corner of the room so everything was still wet! I should’ve unpacked and dried everything. Silly, bad me.

As it was, I pitched the inner and lay the fly out on the ground to give them a chance to dry, then mixed my dinner and rinsed off my gaiters, pants and shoes (still filthy from the bog incident thismorning). I finished pitching the tent (definitely tail into the wind this time in case the weather turned again!), hung my gear out to dry and retired into my tent.

Drying my gear since I was a very bad hiker and didn’t unpack properly after the last hike!

My dinner (pasta this time) had rehydrated properly (45 minutes, with cold water but in my pocket to warm it a little) and was surprisingly good. I settled in and read my book for a while – I had brought my Rock Trails book on this one since it was a shorter walk so less weight critical, and felt a bit like a tourist!

All in all, today had been a good day. I was reasonably happy and very much enjoying being in my tent again. Hopefully the clouds would lift tomorrow as Breabag was apparently a very featureless summit and difficult to navigate with cloud cover. Also, obviously the views are much better without clouds too!

Elevation for the pink line above. As you can see, Suilven is quite steep! This is without the ridge/summit section though.

And, I’ve exceeded my photo allowance for today, but I don’t care! I cut out everything I could but these all seemed essential to tell you the story.