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Around 30 years ago, a very important old flame and I walked up Ben Mor Coigach on a hot summer's day and enjoyed our first stunning elevated views of Assynt. 30 years on, our interim lives lived, we're back together, so a return trip was high on the agenda, whatever the weather.
Although he's not been here in the meantime, I have. And as always happens to me on this hill, everywhere else was bathed in sunshine, but as we approached Culnacraig, we were driving into cloud, then rain and - this time - hail to start us up the hill.
Through the hail, we heard a cuckoo.
While we were ascending into the clag, the Summer Isles were clear, and with a cold wind, the crisp light suggested we'd get cracking views... if the forecast was to be believed, and the clouds were going to shift. ...
003 Summer Isles in sun - us in rain I normally strike up Fhidhleir first, get no view whatsoever (though did have my first and only Brocken Spectre so far up there), and then drop and rise to BMC. But my partner was keen to head for BMC first. That took us on to a path I've never known was there. When it petered out, we crossed the burn, now at the top of the chasm...
004 Fhidlheir and BMC - deceptively bland ... and like a pair of total numpties, kind of beelined up the steep flank of the ridge, which soon turned into a bit of a vertical beach.
009 Fhidhleir - Suilven - Beinn an Eoin We have a feeling we'd come down this way (like a pair of numpties) 30 years before - strong memories of very pi**ed legs! But neither of us can remember which way we went up. Anyway, it gave us an interesting angle on Suilven first, and a few slithering clambers on, Stac Pollaidh came into view.
010 Quinag behind Suilven - SP - Sgorr Tuath- Fhidhleir Our route, if you can call it that, brought us straight up on to the Garbh Choireachan ridge - perfect really, since the summit of BMC isn't the point, and after such a long gap for my chap, he was really champing at the bit for a repeat of 1991. And crikey, that's what we got - in fact so much better without the haze of that summer. So: it's shut-up and let the pictures speak time!
014c Isle Martin and Loch Broom 014d Our Garbh Choireachan ridge again in sunshine 014e View unseen for 30 years (There's been much more cloud for me each time I've been up here in between.)
015 Speicein Coinnich with Cromalt hills beyond to E016 An Teallach and Scoraig peninsula over Loch Broom 017 Over Loch Broom to Sgurr Mor and Fannichs018 Over Ardmair - Rhue and Ullapool to Sgurr Mor 019 Beinn Dearg group incl Beinn Enaiglair - r 020 View west towards Skye - clearest day yet We stopped and gazed, and lunched and reminisced, and enjoyed having all this to ourselves again. We discussed Outer Hebrides plans for a bit later in the year. And only the chill of the wind finally persuaded us to move. Even then, why rush? This is a sweet, sweet spot! Plus, you never know if you're going to get these views the next time...
021 Summer Isles Minch and O Hebrides from Garbh Choireachan 022 Stac Pollaidh - Fiddler - Quinag - Suilven - Beinn an Eoin 023 Foinaven and Arkle in distance - Canisp behind Cul Mor025 An Teallach - Fisherfield Beinn Deargs - Torridon-Beinn Eighe- in distance026 Beinn Dearg - An Teallach - Skye beind 027 Unbelievably lucky with conditions today I'd forgotten, somehow, how sculpted BMC's tors look - now I've been spoilt by Sgorr Tuath! - but they're impressive. Here's one...
028 Torridonian sandstone tor on Garbh Choireachan ... and another walker has a beautiful image of the little one further along on Flickr, so I hope he won't mind my shamelessly sharing it here:
Ben Mor Coigach ridge by
Iain Harris, on Flickr
Then it really was time to get going to Fhidhleir, with a quick visit to the summit cos it's there, and a look back at the ridge:
029 Garbh Choireachan in splendour 030 BMC summit cairn I normally have a bit of wildlife, and I had my eyes and ears out for dotterel, eagles, frogs - something! But it was mainly pipits today. Charming critters.:
032 Comedy pipit on Fhidhleir Ee headed for the lip between BMC and Fhidlhleir, to take an ogle at the mighty 'ship's prow' before ascending:
035 Fhidhleir prow again And for the very first time, instead of a bank of cloud up here, I got that Fhidhleir view I've known was there but been thwarted from seeing. My fella, meanwhile, had never been up here, and while he wasn't mad for standing out on the tiny top that is Fhidhleir's pointy pointness, he was overjoyed to be up here looking out to this:
036 The Fhidhleir view Ive never had before 037 Over to Enard Bay and Point of Stoer 038 Stac Polleidh and Suilven 039 Cul Mor - Cul Beag - Beinn an Eoin - and Fhidhleir topSo then, time to descend - with huge reluctance! It's great doing it this way round though, because one way or another, if you're not clambering down the BMC ridge to sea level, you're vertical heather bashing. This was a stroll.
040 Descent with Trotternish on horizonWhat's more, as we looked back up, an eagle appeared, then stooped, briefly rose again, then stooped again and was gone. All too fast for the camera, and I'm really not sure if was White-tailed or Golden (I think the latter, and I've seen both on Scoraig, though only a WTE on An Teallach at the other end of Loch Broom). A joy to watch any raptor stoop though.
ON BMC I thought I'd heard the tell-tale wind-up-clock of ptarmigan, but I've never seen one this far west. A little further down the Fhidhleir slope, however, here was a female, and though I looked and listened for a male, couldn't find one.
043 Female - no male visible or audible Back at base, the cuckoo was still going. Had it been blue-ming-cuckooing all that time? We'd taken nearly eight hours indulging in 'our' corner! You'd think he'd be pooped. Couldn't see it this time - all was golden gorse and un-topped fir.
046 Can still hear but not see cuckoo BMC is pretty underrated, being 'just' a Graham. But I hope it stays that way - it's always a particularly special hill for me, and I like it unpeopled!