A damp, cloudy and very long Five Sisters of Kintail
Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2021 10:05 amI had a few days off work and decided to head up to Glen Shiel, originally thinking of the Forcan Ridge and the south Glen Shiel Munros, but I decided against that on account of the night-long downpours and wet conditions. I decided instead to tackle the Five Sisters from the Glen Shiel car park to the east of the battle field site. Views were non existent on the tops unfortunately and it was a long day, but definitely 'atmospheric'.
Coming down off the northwest ridge of Beinn Buidhe, I missed the path left down to Glen Shiel and ended up further down towards the Allt a' Chruinn. I decided to just keep going and maybe stop for tea in the cafe in Invershiel, thinking the road loop would be quick and straightforward. This was a massive mistake as the path leads you off northwards meaning it's a very long walk around the end on the A87 and it turned out the cafe was closed anyway. It was a long hard slog up the road at the end of the day. The A87 has no verge for large parts of it so you are continually stepping up into the bushes to avoid the heavy traffic, not the best end to an atmospheric day - recommend avoiding it if you can!
- Glen Shiel looking a bit moody in the early morning from the car park.
- Looking back east down to the car park
- I made the mistake of heading up direct from the car park and had to traverse rough boggy ground to pick up the well-worn trail up to Sgurr na Ciste Duibhe (use the gate and path up through the woods about 300 m W of the car park)
- All the small burns and waterfalls were in spate
- Great view from higher up, where the path petered out and I had to make my own route up the last 400 m or so.
- And that cloud base was starting to look pretty final.
- ...and a lot closer
- The three munros were in solid cloud and it wasn't until the Bealach Buidhe that I got the sense that I was definitely on a ridge.
- It must be spectacular in clear weather, but it certainly made up for it with dramatic atmosphere
- The dizzying drop off the north face of Sgurr nan Saighead - literally went on forever in the cloud.
- Looking up the Allt a' Chruinn from the well-worn path after coming down off Beinn Buidhe in the background.
- View down to Invershiel
Coming down off the northwest ridge of Beinn Buidhe, I missed the path left down to Glen Shiel and ended up further down towards the Allt a' Chruinn. I decided to just keep going and maybe stop for tea in the cafe in Invershiel, thinking the road loop would be quick and straightforward. This was a massive mistake as the path leads you off northwards meaning it's a very long walk around the end on the A87 and it turned out the cafe was closed anyway. It was a long hard slog up the road at the end of the day. The A87 has no verge for large parts of it so you are continually stepping up into the bushes to avoid the heavy traffic, not the best end to an atmospheric day - recommend avoiding it if you can!
