Kintail Holidays

I’m very fortunate this summer; having returned from my German adventures, I spent two nights at home before heading off again, this time to Kintail with Bruce. We had great plans for a few days of hills; sadly the weather conspired against us and we (Bruce) had to make alternate plans.

Fort Augustus

I LOVE Fort Augustus, with a fascination for the locks. Bruce definitely took one for the team here; while he’d happily watch a few boats go through one lock he has no inclination to be there for hourson end, unlike me.

Luck was on my side as we arrived to find six boats about to pass through the locks on route from Inverness. They were closely followed by another larger boat and I got to see them all pass through all the locks! Result! Well done Bruce, and thank you for your patience!

Eilean Donan Castle

We then drove to Eilean Donan Castle where the rain was absolutely tipping down. Bruce got out to take photos while I crowd watched from the car.

Throw in some coffee earlier in the day and this was almost the perfect start to the hols, just a shame about the lack of hills.

Gleann Lichd and Plockton

Bruce is good at planning and made an effort to find alternative walks for driech days; just as well, or we’d just have been holed up in our cabin drinking tea and reading!

Our second day saw us walk up Gleann Lichd. It was a fine walk, atmospheric with the low hanging cloud. We carried a brolly just in case but found it to be more hassle than it was worth. The rainy spells didn’t get too bad, any precipitation being light rather than soaking.

An out and back route, it filled a good few hours and got us outdoors which is always good. We then spent the afternoon in Plockton where there’s not much to do other than eat cake, drink coffee and wait for the evening food service.

Balmacara to Kyle of Lochalsh

More low cloud the next day, we drove to Kyle of Lochalsh, caught the Citylink bus back to Balmacara, and then walked back.

First up though, a stop for soup and sandwiches in the wee café at Balmacara. This was by far the best value place we ate in, many other places appearing to be exploiting tourists.

This was a pleasant walk and it made a change to go point to point. It’s always preferable when you have to get somewhere (like the car).

Cnoc a’Mhadaidh Ruaidh, Kyleakin

Our next stop was across the Skye Bridge on what should have been a lovely, scenic walk. Again though, courtesy of the low cloud, we didn’t see a whole lot, the Cuillins appearing to have disappeared.

We did, however, pass the afternoon enough to justify going back to Kyle of Lochalsh to visit the Fisherman’s Kitchen. The food offering there was outstanding!

South Glen Sheil Ridge: A Bagger’s Paradise (7 munros in a day)

Finally the weather appeared to be changing in our favour so the decision was made to hit the South Glen Shiel Ridge. This was one of those daunting days, the prospect of such a long effort leading to a restless night (for me) while Bruce slept soundly as usual.

Up and packed, we were fortunate in getting a lift. This allowed us to leave our car at the end point of the walk before getting dropped at the start point, up by the Cluanie Inn. I had a brief moment of panic at this point as I couldn’t remember picking up the map when we left the car – we had the WalkHighlands route downloaded but it’s always good to have the security of a map. Thankfully Bruce had it, unlike his baseball cap which was hanging back at our cabin.

We eased into the day pretty gently, following a minor road and then a very good track. This would eventually lead to the path that would see our big climb for the day, both Bruce and the route profile reassuring me that once we were up there elevation differences would be minimal.

Once onto the smaller path that would lead up to the ridge we just had to slog it out. Our hope was that the weather would improve as forecast allowing the tops to clear and the magnificent views that Bruce was privy to on his last walk here to be seen by us both. However, at this point it wasn’t raining and we were happy to take that.

Having started warm with only a thin top on, as we gained height I started to feel a wee bit of a chill from the breeze. This breeze was keeping the midges at bay so we were grateful for it; they also disappeared as we gained height having been something of a nuisance during the initial stages of the walk.

Within a few hours we’d reached the first munro summit of the day, Creag a’Mhaim.

We didn’t linger, other than to have a snack, Bruce being sensible in suggesting that we eat a little on each top to keep our energy levels up throughout the day.

After a very short descent and a walk across the broad ridge, the ridge narrowed quite significantly to reach the second summit.

At this point, my legs had a little wobble, as did my confidence, but I kept going having committed to the plan for the day.

Reading the route guide, I was relieved that there was nothing of concern ahead of the next summit, the only point of note being a few kilometres between them. At this point we were able to see some of the views as the cloud parted at times, wisps blowing and clearing in the gentle breeze.

The third summit saw us reach the high point of the day.

The broad ridge then carried us to the next summit, crossing a couple of smaller bumps along the way. There was nothing too challenging here, or rather nothing that couldn’t be tackled with at least three points of contact, my bum being one of my favoured options in this regard!

A last wee pull up and we reached our next summit for the day.

With four munros in the bag, I was excited to continue on to see what was ahead. The legs were feeling pretty good, all was well with the feet, and our only gripe was that the cloud was stubbornly hanging around, impacting on the views. The next munro looked large in the distance.

In some ways the cloud cover helped as it was sometimes a challenge to tell where the summit was and how much more ascent was required. This was another decent pull up, followed by a very short out and back from the main ridge.

The next summit was very close taking no time at all to reach.

It was a pleasant walk to the next and final summit of the day. While the route guide suggested that this would be a chore for tired legs, we found it was okay. If nothing else, knowing we were on the home stretch made this easier.

Reaching the final summit of the day was cause for celebration, the only thing taking the shine off this being the prospect of what lay ahead, in the form of ‘a short, straightforward scramble’.

The scramble that followed was indeed pretty simple with good hand holds to grip and obvious foot placements. I think part of the challenge with scrambling for me is the fear of getting stuck or picking the wrong route, not sure of what’s ahead. I therefore just want to get up, not stopping to pause for unnecessary photos!

Finally we were on the descent path and it was a long way down! Initially we followed an old dyke, keeping an eye out for a small cairn that would mark the turning to lead back to the glen below.

As always, Bruce being quicker than me saw him further ahead. At one point he was stopped and pointing at something with his walking pole. Given that the nature watch for the day had this far focused on slugs and beetles, I was astounded to see a stag higher up in the ridge watching us. It stood there for quite some time, us eventually losing sight of it rather than it moving. I imagine having the height advantage gave it the confidence to remain in situ; had we been above it I don’t think it would have remained there for long.

Thereafter, the path to the car was slow and tedious. We were tired, having been out for over 9 hours by this point, and the bouldery terrain did not make for easy walking.

Reaching the steam crossing, we picked up the midges once again, hastily reapplying some Smidge.

Down, down, down we went, occasionally stumbling, over a loose stone, watching the placement of our feet, and finally reaching the car parking area where we were mighty relieved to take off our boots.

Car windows wide to release the midges, we congratulated ourselves on a job well done as we drove back to the Cluanie Inn for our dinner.