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Grim though it's undoubtedly been, the ongoing issues with the Virus-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did at least have a Silver Lining for me in hillwalking terms, in that I got to enjoy three very different domestic holidays this summer in previously unfamiliar bits of Scotland, and I was lucky enough to get some great walking in during all three breaks. I even got good weather for most of it, which is fairly unheard-of
....
Having had a week away with the extended family in Iona and Mull earlier in June, I was lucky enough to get another week with a different family group on Harris during the last week of June, and needless to say I was keen to get a couple of walks in. The forecast for the Monday 28th June was looking very promising, so I got an early start and set off to tackle Harris's sole Corbett, the rather distinguished An Cliseam, via the "interesting" horseshoe route up Gleann Sgaladail. It didn't go entirely to plan navigationally speaking: I made it a longer and more knackering walk than it needed to be by descending via the direct route that most people come up by, thereby giving myself a rather long and unpleasant road walk along the A859 at the end of the day - ho hum; you live and learn
. It was still a great walk, though.
I parked in one of several lay-bys on the east side of the A859 just after it passes the craggy prominence of Caisteal Ard, and set off north down the road to the bridge over the Abhainn Sgaladail. Just to the north of the bridge, a surprisingly good path (that isn't marked at all on the OS Landranger map) sets off up the north side of the Abhainn, extending all the way up to its headwaters at Loch Mhisteam.
The start of the route on the A859 - a road that I'd become all too familiar with, later in the day!
The start of the path up the north side of the Abhainn Sgaladail, with An Cliseam looking impressively craggy from here:
The main attraction of tackling An Cliseam via this route is that you get to take in its entertainingly rocky north ridge, which sports two Corbett Tops known as Mulla bho Thuath and Mulla bho Dheas. "Mulla" presumably comes from the more familiar Gaelic word "Mullach" meaning "mountain" - I have no inkling of what vagary of the Gaelic language causes them to drop their terminal "ch" in this case, but this pair of Mullas certainly had a stern and craggy look about them!
The path along the north side of the Abhainn gives unexpectedly quick going (or it does if you get to do it in glorious weather as I did, anyway), and I got up to Loch Mhisteam more quickly than I'd expected. From here, the route onto An Cliseam's long north ridge looked straightforward enough, heading up the easy east ridge of its first northern top, which is not a Mulla, sadly, but just a straightforward Mullach: Mullach an Langa is its name, according to the OS map. The two Mullas were hovering threateningly to the south, however.
There was a grand view back down to Loch Mhisteam on ascent, with an intriguing dome-shaped hill keeking out to the south from behind Cliseam's shoulder: I'm still not entirely sure, but my best guess is that it is maybe Todun, one of a seemingly countless number of intriguing S2K Marilyns in the Western Isles. Honestly, you could spend a very long time walking in these parts without running out of interesting hills to tackle
.
Yet another view of the photogenic Loch Mhisteam, with the wild Park peninsula of eastern Lewis in the distance I think:
Up at Mullach an Langa's surprisingly large cairn now, with the two Mullas and An Cliseam itself looking very impressive on the ongoing ridge to the south:
An Cliseam once again, with that impressive dome-shaped maybe-Todun hill in the distance:
I was at least able to identify these two intimidatingly craggy hills to the west as Harris's highest Graham, Uisgneabhal Mor, and its northern Top, Teileasbhal.
Another lovely view of ... yes, you've guessed it, Loch Mhisteam - with a bit of sea in the distance to the east:
It was time to tackle the first of the Mullas, Mulla bho Thuath, which proved to be entertainingly rocky with some nice exposure to the west, but without any real difficulties. This was the approach to its airy summit, with a big drop and a grand maritime vista out west:
Uisgneabhal Mor again as viewed from Mulla bho Thuath, and looking well craggy once again:
Looking onwards down the fine and ... did I remember to mention, craggy? ... ridge towards Mulla bho Dheas and An Cliseam:
Uisgneabhal Mor and Teileasbhal again, looking spectacularly, um (...struggles unsuccessfully to find a synonym for "craggy"
):
With Mulla bho Thuath having been dealt with, and with surprisingly little fuss, it was time to tackle the rather more challenging second Mulla, Mulla bho Dheas. The ascent from the north wasn't too bad, and from the summit, Cliseam wasn't looking that far away now:
This is a bit deceptive, however: the direct descent from Mulla bho Dheas to the bealach is very - well, sorry, but CRAGGY - with some seriously challenging scrambling. Thankfully this can be avoided by backtracking very slightly northwards from Mulla bho Dheas's summit, to pick up a midly exposed bypass path that traverses across its northern flanks to the bealach.
Before tackling that, though, I made sure to enjoy the fine view back north along the ridge towards Mulla bho Thuath and Mullach an Langa, with the head of Loch Langabhat away in the distance:
The bypass path was a bit loose at the start and required care, although it got easier once it got going properly:
Looking back from the bealach to the Hard Scramble that I'd bypassed: well left alone, I'd probably say
!
Well, having negotiated the two Mullas, I was now expecting an audience with the Grand Vizier himself, An Cliseam ... but nae such luck! Before meeting the Cliseam, there was one more annoying minor acolyte to be dealt with. This was the prominent outcrop of An t-Isean, which doesn't even get named on the OS Landranger map but which is a not insignificant obstacle. In fact, it definitely belongs in that all-too-familiar class of hills known as Confounded Nuisances (well, that's the polite term anyway!). Thankfully it didn't detain me too long though, and from its un-cairned summit, An Cliseam was definitely looking very close at last.
Well, probably best just to get the unattractive An Cliseam Summit Selfie out of the way early. Guess who forgot his suncream
?
Looking north-east to the small settlement of Scaladale, with Loch Seaforth in the background:
A lovely cloudscape over the three Grahams to the west:
Looking southwards, with the dome-shaped maybe-Todun prominent again in the foreground:
Another long vista down Loch Seaforth, with an uninhabited island that sits in this long sea-loch, Eilean Shiophort, looking surprisingly big from this angle:
It was now, however, that I somewhat spoiled what had been a fantastic walk so far, by a bit of sheer navigational laziness. Instead of getting the compass and GPS into action to tackle the pathless and intricate descent around the flanks of Tomnabhal, which would have been the sensible way back to my starting point, I just headed down the "easy" way, all the way down the direct path to the south-east that most people use both for ascent and for descent. I suppose I had in my head that it would get me back down to the A859 quickly and easily, and although it was a bit further down the road, well, a road walk is straightforward, innit?
A proper look at the map, even for a few nanoseconds, would have told me that it would be a loooong and aggravating road walk, particularly in today's heat. I was cursing my stupidity all the way back north up that long and winding road, and it was weeks before my feet and my back fully forgave me for all that tarmac-bashing.... Definitely not the best way of completing this horseshoe! A really lovely walk, all the same
.